Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
Okay, but... does it have to be? And ought it to be? Is RDM made more fun by having its sword be basically an ornament?
Have to be? Probably. For balancing reasons. Otherwise they'd have to try and figure out how to give them the toughness of a melee without making its ranged too good with that toughness (Or something like that)

Ought to be? Arguable. Personally, I felt a little let down when RDM was touted as a Caster/Melee hybrid but then its gameplay was merely Caster with a melee burst CD (That, until level 50 is actually not worth using because its DPA is lower than your spells...)

Then there's also some other oddities, like at level 1 (Which is literally only relevant in PotD) RDM only has Riposte and no actual spell. Jolt is learned at level 2. Which would suggest some more melee focus. But alas, that is not the case and the class ends up feeling quite BLM-y as a result (Especially given how GCD's function with "Instant Casts" so you don't even feel like much of a spell slinger with rapid casts... Especially if you use a high SpS build on your BLM...)