Was anyone else disappointed in RDM? anyone?

[EdwinLi]

I like it as it is what I expect it to play out as. I just may switch to that as my new Main if I enjoy the actual gameplay experience.

Red Mage was mostly always casting spells from range in other Final Fantasy Games serving as either the sub-Black Mage or Sub-White Mage until the player could obtain a actual decent Black Mage or White Mage character to replace the Red Mage. I enjoy how they took this concept and put it into FF14.

In a way it also should remind players that while Red Mage has a Sword they mostly used Range Spell attacks for majority of their combat.

That probably won't be worth anything unless you spend a lot of time not using a sword and casting from range to build up black/white mana to empower it.

Since people are bringing up their grievances or mentioning their lack of affinity for RDM, I'll start with the most glaring problem: it's a ranged caster with a sword. Their decision to implement it as such is mind-boggling when you take into account how other MMOs have done battle-mages/melee-casters/hybrids (because FFXIV supposedly looked to its contemporaries for ideas and inspiration) in addition to 5 years of suggestions and feedback.

There's also minor nitpicks.

- Weaponry: Why a floating crystal? If you wanted to give it a casting focus, adding a jewel to the hilt of the rapier would have worked. If you were bent on trick weapons, a small scepter to go paired with the rapier would have sufficed. Bonus being that you could use the scepter on its own to cast instant-spells where fitting and use it in slightly interesting ways. If you need to cast a big spell, then you could combine scepter and rapier into a staff.

- Animations: Seeing that there's a second item involved, the stance looks silly. The Agrippa stance RDM is using is supposed to be for wielding the rapier by itself, since the offhand is behind you partly for balance, partly as a result of you turning your body sideways to give the enemy less of you for them to hit. There are dual wielding stances (for rapier and dagger) that could work, or could be modified to work with RDM.

There's also the issue of how the rapier and crystal are sheathed. The rapier should be sheathed on the left side, with the crystal being set either under the hilt or next to it (similar to how a buckler is carried with a sword/rapier). They're currently rigged like they were hand-to-hand weapons, which makes things look really weird.

I not trying to be rude but what you are looking for is the other Spell Sword type Jobs from FF series such as Runic Knight which focus more on using their sword by infusing it with spells. Red Mage are mostly well known for their history for being the Sub-Black Mage and Sub-White Mage in FF series dating back to their first appearance before they obtained Dual Cast

Red Mage was majority of times in FF series always focused casting spells from the distance with the Sword mostly there as a Aesthetic means for the Red Mage Iconic look for casting spells from a distance while wielding a sword.