Anyone disappointed with the new Red Mage asthetics?

[Kling-Klang]

No, I think RDM looks fantastic. Very hyped to be able to play this job.
It fits my taste 100%.

[Greven]

The RDM looks very stylish overall, I can see many being hyped by it.
That said I don't really like the flying crystal too actually but it gives even more "uniqueness" to the job aesthetic. They could have made rapiers with a crystal already attached under the hilt but it's a clear choice for a more magic look. Players seems to like flying things: many felt in love with the AST weapon.
In the end don't forget that RDM is a ranged DPS, most of its skill are going to be magic for sure and it will fall under the DoM group.

[GMERC]

The RDM looks very stylish overall, I can see many being hyped by it.
That said I don't really like the flying crystal too actually but it gives even more "uniqueness" to the job aesthetic. They could have made rapiers with a crystal already attached under the hilt but it's a clear choice for a more magic look. Players seems to like flying things: many felt in love with the AST weapon.
In the end don't forget that RDM is a ranged DPS, most of its skill are going to be magic for sure and it will fall under the DoM group.

Frankly, I'm hoping the Crystal-Attached RDM weapon isn't present only for cast animations only to have it pop off in between them. An ideal here would probably be spells cast switching to scepter mode until the next sword-based ability, after which it pops off and you go to town on the enemies.

Again, the way the sword is presented looks like they grudgingly added it. An afterthought instead of something more core to the job, despite melee being a part of the RDM concept. They could easily build a ranged job around chainspell, not added the positioning gimmick and it would still be nearly the same. Again, at that point you might as well call it Sage and not Red Mage.

Now, since you avoided the question the first time, I'll ask again: why not just remove the sword, strip the job of the hat, call it Sage and be done with it? If you don't care for the sword that's been in that job's hand since the beginning of the Final Fantasy series, I'm sure you have an actual argument you can present to back up your stance on this.

Because a Red Mage doesn't need to use a sword as their primary means of attack just to qualify as a Red Mage. A Red Mage's swordplay isn't nearly as integral to its identity as you seem to think it is, to the point where I'd honestly say they included a lot more than I would have expected out of a Caster. But of course, anything that isn't a close quarters job to you is going to be considered "tacked on" (whereas your idea of a melee job that flings spell procs couldn't possibly be considered tacked on magic).

You keep bringing up Sage like it's somehow supposed to be this grand checkmate to me, a guy who doesn't care whether or not Red Mage uses a sword or not, but it's not nearly as effective as you think. Red Mages can equip a sword and use it a little. That's enough to qualify as a Red Mage, whether you like it or not.

Except "a little" in this case entails a currently unknown quantity of melee attacks supported by another currently unknown quantity of spells to cast, because we have less than 1 minute of footage to go off of.

[ErikMynhier]

I'm not sure how any hard and fast opinion on the job can be made when we literally only saw it fight for 18-25 seconds. I'm not interested in leveling it, so I'm neutral anyway, but maybe its best to hold off judgment until we know more.

[Deedsie]

He keeps bringing up Sage because it historically can also use white and black magic, but notably better than Red Mage. Difference is, they can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

[Claire_Pendragon]

Am I the only, in old school FFs, used RDMs melee for trash mobs, heals out of combat/boss fights, and only nuked when the mob was weak to the element? (or i attacked when my MP was getting low, due to RDMs lower MP pool, and near identical dmg with a sword anyways?)

If anything, I melee'd more as a RDM, than I casted on trash mobs, and I used healing more than anything else on bosses. (In remakes of FF1, used a lot of support spells, so my WHM was free to keep healing.)

So I do see RDM using its melee nearly as much as its black and white magic. (So far, im pretty content with RDM in XIV, as long as it does what SE says, and uses all 3 to some extent, to maximize its performance, even if it doesnt fit the same role I give it in prior FFs)

The RDM looks very stylish overall, I can see many being hyped by it.
That said I don't really like the flying crystal too actually but it gives even more "uniqueness" to the job aesthetic. They could have made rapiers with a crystal already attached under the hilt but it's a clear choice for a more magic look. Players seems to like flying things: many felt in love with the AST weapon.
In the end don't forget that RDM is a ranged DPS, most of its skill are going to be magic for sure and it will fall under the DoM group.

The Crystal in the Off hand is a representation of fencers, who used lanterns in their off hand, because more modern fencers were required to duel at night, to avoid trouble with the law.

[Duelle]

Because a Red Mage doesn't need to use a sword as their primary means of attack just to qualify as a Red Mage.

This is debatable, considering the job is built around sword & spell.

A Red Mage's swordplay isn't nearly as integral to its identity as you seem to think it is

And how do you reach this conclusion? If you're going by console FFs and only console FFs you're limiting your spectrum of options because those games hinder the job due to turn-based combat. Hence why the three aspects of RDM were segregated and SE had to give the job other gimmicks to help it (see: Doublecast).

But of course, anything that isn't a close quarters job to you is going to be considered "tacked on" (whereas your idea of a melee job that flings spell procs couldn't possibly be considered tacked on magic).

My suggestion is actually quite different, because you still keep the main benefit of ranged spells. Hypothetically, a RDM that can use a proc to insta-cast Fire in melee range still has the option of hard-casting Fire from range depending on the situation. So if the boss were to take to the air, far enough that only ranged can hit it, a RDM has the option of dealing heavier damage than a PLD using Shield Lob or a DRG using Piercing Talon; the trade-off being MP consumption and a decent cast time.

That's an entirely different story from standing in range only to sometimes melee before going back into range.

You keep bringing up Sage like it's somehow supposed to be this grand checkmate to me

Actually, I bring up Sage because if you want a caster that does both black and white magic with no fighting skill at all, Sage is the job you're looking for. If you want a sword (plus the melee skill to actually use it in addition to the other elements of the job while sacrificing some spell power) and a pimp hat, you want a Red Mage.

Except "a little" in this case entails a currently unknown quantity of melee attacks supported by another currently unknown quantity of spells to cast, because we have less than 1 minute of footage to go off of.

As I've said before, if they wanted to display the job's elements, the demo was the perfect opportunity to do so. And what was shown to us was a guy standing far from the target spamming magic, doing an arbitrary dash to the enemy before leaping back out and casting a flare lookalike.

Considering the demos for other revealed jobs have been mostly representative of their subject matter (I think AST's was the only one that was very very vague, not counting the ACN/SCH/SMN reveal footage), I believe it is acceptable to be concerned.

You're right in that we don't have much to work with. I'll add that the developers haven't said anything about gameplay (and likely won't until the February fanfest), but that doesn't mean concerns shouldn't be voiced. Concerns do count as feedback, after all. Even when you don't agree with them.

[GMERC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmwFQmXIZW0

[Kit-Kat]

With the rise of ice mages, I can aleady see it happening, melee only RDMs just because they wanna be fully melee and will not use ranged spells l0l. Then will complain they get kicked from duties. Hear me on this one.