FFXIV's interpreation of the Red Mage is absolutely fantastic the way it is. I also do not know why you would want it to be mostly a melee profession, and how that would fit the lore (or maybe I am missing something very fundamentally?).

For another thread I checked the numbers and created a pie-chart, and as far as I remember it was 29% rapier melee fight and 71% ranged magic in potency (Verholy and Verflare only counted once in that value and only Enchanted melee versions) (I am on my tablet, not my PC)- This makes sense for a Red Mage, not what you came up with. Lore-wise, Red Mages utilize Black and White magic, not focussed on Black Magic as you suggested (again, did I miss something?)

I really don't see why that would be fun to play by taking away the obvious White magic part (heals and resurrection included) and turn it into some weird...I can't even a name for that bastardization...


Sincerely,