Quote Originally Posted by Wayfinder3 View Post
although it'll be hard pressed, you'd need to voice to SE for your disapproval of these healing abilties (granted thats apart of the rdm identity and personally, i would keep vercure and expand on the white magic support. verraise is a different story) however, RDM is first and foremost a dps, it'll be balanced as one and as such will be entitled to be closer to BLM and SMN. the fact that it isn't will result in uproar and even the jp community is desperately trying to get RDM some buffs because they don't understand why it's so weak. I don't see the need for a 5th melee, i think 4 is the absolute limit as Samurai's would likely fade away if they got even more competiton.
You make good points, but it's not the healing itself that's the problem per say. It's the idea that my class fantasy for a Spellblade is crammed in with someone else's for an expanded healer kit. I can say I want nothing to do with healing at all, and you and Katie are right in saying "but that's Red Mage's identity." So it feels like I'm stuck with an undesirable identity just because it's the closest I can get to a Spellblade.

I honestly wonder sometimes if Red Mage should have been a healer from the outset. The way healers in this game work, it would be much easier to accommodate a "hybrid role" class fantasy.