Eh.

It's really hard to see a Red Mage in this game. While I understand Yoshi really wants to put the class in here, I don't understand exactly how they will do the role properly.

In essence, a Red Mage is a combination of the Black and White mages, albeit on a lower scale. They also are a jack of all trades/master of none deal. So what, do we decide that we're going to have this class be able to be pretty much everything? You could...would make it a very wanted class.

The way I could see a Red Mage work, personally, is if you allow them to pretty much be all three roles:

Tank - A stance that allows them to focus on weapon strikes embued with magical attacks to generate threat. This allows them to use a shield, like a Paladin, but focused more on sword dances and more focused on evasion. You could see an evasion tank work with Red Mage due to the fact their weapon of choice is a Rapier, either way. A lot of parries and evasion skills with the ability to chain a multitude of skills. Really, the only difference how I see a Red Mage and Samurai right now, in my mind, is the fact that one would use magic with their weapons and the other would use a solid two handed steel blade to smack things dead. In essence, they would have the same type of tanking. That's why it's plausible in my mind to see Red Mage as a tank. (Red Mages were also able to wear heavier armor than their mage counterpart.)

DPS - This would be a focus on their dark elemental magic as well as possible White Magic enfeebling skills to reduce the damage or increase their own attacks on a mob. This would be more of a ranged spec similar to the other classes and a stance that empowers their magical attacks, at the cost of increasing their damage (Can't have a tank type architect be able to sit back and take hits without worrying about mechanics, now can we.) This would focus and be more in tune with the lore of the Red Mage, being a caster and enfeebler.

Healer - This would have a stance which allows them to heal in a pinch situation. It would focus on the healing skills and enhancers and possibly could return skill such as haste spells and other enhancing skills. Again a ranged user.

But how exactly do you balance their stats is the question. This would probably require their own gear set and I would think they'd be in the range of Monks in regards to taking damage. The stances they would have would allow them to do well, but never be the best at it. They could easily do the content but there will always be a bit of a low placement in regards to the ability of doing the role. That would be extremely hard to manage to do, and a lot of people would not like playing the class knowing that doing the role they want, they'd be gimped, but that would be the cost of having a character that can pretty much do anything in the game, role wise. That's how I perceive Red Mage to be, which I honestly am not sure at all if they properly implement it.

That's why Red Mage, to me, is a long shot to be added in the game right now. The setting just...doesn't feel right for the class just yet. Maybe another expansion cycle and Red Mage can make its re-entry.

I wouldn't mind them delving into FFT classes, honestly. It was one of my favorite Final Fantasy games so I'm all for it.