Red Mage confirmed or nah?

[Dualblade]

The shirt and (from what I read here) the 2015 Rising event are both the strongest indicators that Red Mage is coming. So no, not CONFIRMED, but if it isn't Red Mage 90% of the player base would lose money if we were betting.

On why people want Red Mage, for me personally Red Mage is what I always thought they would be if it was out sooner. Even if it was the worst class ever that noone would want in their party.

[Kaurie]

If we get Red Mage (fairly good assumption), how do you all feel it will be implemented?

My understand is that a red mage is a hybrid White Mage/ Black Mage, but that doesn't really fit in well with the current Trinity set up. Do you think it will end up being implemented similarly to a Spell Fencer? i.e. like a melee DPS with magic imbuements? Maybe as a melee magic healer?

Note: I am not a long time FF Fan and have never seen/played a Red Mage before.

[SenorPatty]

If we get Red Mage (fairly good assumption), how do you all feel it will be implemented?

My understand is that a red mage is a hybrid White Mage/ Black Mage, but that doesn't really fit in well with the current Trinity set up. Do you think it will end up being implemented similarly to a Spell Fencer? i.e. like a melee DPS with magic imbuements? Maybe as a melee magic healer?

Note: I am not a long time FF Fan and have never seen/played a Red Mage before.

I think it'll be a hybrid. You'll have spells you'll want to take distance to cast and others will be up close and personal. I also think that devs will use that as a req for certain wpn-related spells (must be in range).

In the end though, I have a strong feeling rdm will emulate spellblader/fencer, with spells like Cura, Fira, etc just to differentiate it from blm and whm in terms of naming and animation

[Balipu]

Red Mage is pretty much a hybrid everything, Kaurie. White and black magic, ranged and melee, physical and magic.
Personally I would add another twists to it. Dunno what you guys say but I would update the traiditional rapier into a gun rapier. Ala Mhigo was famous for its magitech even before the Garleans came, and having playable benefits of Garleans rule could make the central conflict more effective. Is the occupation really that bad?

The gun part could help channel some of the offensive black magic spells.

As for role, it could pretty much fit any role.

TANK: IRL rapiers come with hand guards and have been traditionally wielded with off hand daggers and shields for defense. Also RM could use white magic for damage mitigation beside parrying.
DPS: It has a sword designed for stabbing, and a bunch of black magic spells. I don't think this needs more explanation. It has damage written all over it.
HEALER: might cause controversy if this ends up being real, but with white magic spells it could happen. Like and anti bard. The two support jobs turn into ranged dps and melee healer.

As a central mechanic I could see red mage balancing white and black magic. Maybe if you use too much of one type, a debuff locks you out of the other. Or perhaps you could build up aether inside you with melee combat and use that to launch powerful spells. (Looking at you, dear Alisaie)

[Kaurie]

Red Mage is pretty much a hybrid everything, Kaurie. White and black magic, ranged and melee, physical and magic.
Personally I would add another twists to it. Dunno what you guys say but I would update the traiditional rapier into a gun rapier. Ala Mhigo was famous for its magitech even before the Garleans came, and having playable benefits of Garleans rule could make the central conflict more effective. Is the occupation really that bad?


The gun part could help channel some of the offensive black magic spells.

As for role, it could pretty much fit any role.

TANK: IRL rapiers come with hand guards and have been traditionally wielded with off hand daggers and shields for defense. Also RM could use white magic for damage mitigation beside parrying.
DPS: It has a sword designed for stabbing, and a bunch of black magic spells. I don't think this needs more explanation. It has damage written all over it.
HEALER: might cause controversy if this ends up being real, but with white magic spells it could happen. Like and anti bard. The two support jobs turn into ranged dps and melee healer.

As a central mechanic I could see red mage balancing white and black magic. Maybe if you use too much of one type, a debuff locks you out of the other. Or perhaps you could build up aether inside you with melee combat and use that to launch powerful spells. (Looking at you, dear Alisaie)

Do you not think that it being a Hybrid would pose as an issue for FFXIV's meta? If so, do you think that the dev team will just implement it this way, or do you think they'll make it less of a hybrid than its tradition (in the name of balance)?

Personally, I am against the idea of a gun. I really really really hate guns in fantasy settings. It's my biggest issue with MCH, and I'd be sad to see another job added again with a gun. If they do add it though, that still leaves (hopefully) at least 1 other job that won't have a gun that maybe I can try.

Which role would you prefer? Personally, I am hoping it's a DPS - but I'd be down with a healer too.

[Atlaworks]

Am I the only one that does not get the whole red mage hype? In the original games Red Mage was nothing more than a cross between Black Mage and White Mage. What's so special about that? Why do people want this class so badly?

In the original games, red mages were able to be good at but not the best at... white magic, red magic, melee, tanking, pretty much everything. They're the quintessential example, at least in the FF series as well as a good deal outside of it, of the "Jack of all trades". That's why people want one- not just for magic, but the idea that they could be good at anything. Even me, I'm looking forward to it in a locked DPS role, because it'd be the first DPS class we have that can melee and use magic at the same time. Maybe a class that actually uses both MP and TP for once? Revolutionary.

[Niwashi]

Scarlet=Red
Witch=Mage

This is the obvious assumption that everyone is going to make. However I'm seeing some people saying they may introduce a new class with similar abilities to Scarlet Witch. One of the ones I've heard 2-3 people throw around was a "Psychic" class (which doesn't even make sense, lore-wise) and I've been seeing Sage thrown around as well.

If he'd intended to be subtle, he would have just worn the shirt without announcing that the shirt was a hint about one of the new jobs. These "hints" of his tend to be as straightforward as he can come up with. Combine that with the fact that Red Mage was already one of the most talked about possibilities, and the chances of it meaning anything else are pretty slim.

[Balipu]

Do you not think that it being a Hybrid would pose as an issue for FFXIV's meta? If so, do you think that the dev team will just implement it this way, or do you think they'll make it less of a hybrid than its tradition (in the name of balance)?

Personally, I am against the idea of a gun. I really really really hate guns in fantasy settings. It's my biggest issue with MCH, and I'd be sad to see another job added again with a gun. If they do add it though, that still leaves (hopefully) at least 1 other job that won't have a gun that maybe I can try.

Which role would you prefer? Personally, I am hoping it's a DPS - but I'd be down with a healer too.

See. I like speculation as well when it has somethin solid to base it on. XD

Back on topic: Yes it can't stay a hybrid so it has to be nudged in one direction or the other. Like Bard was. It likely won't be equally good at healing and dps. BUt we do have scholar which is a healer build unto a dps class, so it is possible to a degree.

To each their own. In some setting they reall would look out of place, but we have seen pretty sci-fi stuff here already.

Well it mostly depends on what other jobs we get. If we get samurai and dancer I'd like RM to be the healer. Actually I might go with healer here. I am starting to realize that I actually like being a healer and ninja gameplay isn't as much fun as I hoped it would be so I'm most likely going to switch mains in SB anyway. And it will likely be to a healer. So I want as many fun healers to pick from as possible.

[Niwashi]

In the original games, red mages were able to be good at but not the best at... white magic, red magic, melee, tanking, pretty much everything. They're the quintessential example, at least in the FF series as well as a good deal outside of it, of the "Jack of all trades".

That also tended to make them very powerful while leveling, but a bit weak for endgame. I'm not sure that would work as well here. Certainly it would be a deal-breaker in a typical one job per character MMO, but I wonder if it would be viable in one like this. It certainly doesn't seem likely to be anyone's choice for savage mode raids (unless they change the job beyond all recognition, which I'm hoping they don't), but if it were good for regular dungeons, that could still be enough to make it popular. The majority of players don't raid anyway, and those who do do other things as well.

[Beckett]

Red Mage is 99.9% confirmed. There is a 0.1% chance that Yoshi-P and SE are just trolling us with that shirt, knowing full well that they will lose expansion sales and subscribers when they announce they're not releasing Red Mage after all.