Thank you for (job changes): Thank them!

[Duelle]

Its likely for RDM they focused more on the magic side simply because it was likely to be more visually readable and entertaining. So id like to think its quite possible their melee is more robust than we initially thought, its just... Would it really look as awesome as spam casting spells on a somewhat low rez video?

Which would leave the question of mechanics. The skill spread treats melee abilities as a mana dump. On top of that, using melee skills while Chainspell is up consumes the buff, so you can't even weave melee skills with spells the way an actual sword & spell hybrid would.

Combine this with the fact that you're using spells to build up black/white mana and the overt emphasis on casting from range. This means you're spending the bulk of your time spamming spells from range to build mana, then dash in for a little bit to dump it using sword skills, then jumping back out. That's assuming not-Flare and and its white mana equivalent don't deal more damage.

As a melee weapon Rapiers arent exactly the most versatile in use, and much of what their good for dislike heavy handed movements.

This depends on the school of fencing. While some focus entirely on thrusts, others utilize cuts. Even acknowledging that cuts aren't as effective on their own, there's nothing stopping a RDM from quickly covering their blade in flame or lightning before delivering a cut and either comboing that into a thrust attack or casting a quick offensive spell as a follow up. If we want to get really fancy and unrealistic, acrobatics can also be thrown in (see: the Maria boss fight from Nioh's DLC).

I'll grant you that we don't have the full list of 28 skills plus the lv61-70 skills. I will, however, say that SE has had plenty of opportunity to prove me wrong, and so far, they haven't.