I'd like more sword play from RDM in the future, melee and ranged

[Duelle]

What you want is for it to be a Ranged Caster and Melee.

That's not what I'm asking for. To avoid further back and forth, I suggest you read the write up in my sig. It's far from perfect, but reflects the direction I would have wanted the job to take.

I don't think it's tricky to define a hybrid.

My point is that one should avoid boiling hybrids down to a gimmick. Which is why I take issue with Dualcast being treated as RDM's main "thing", because much like Refresh it undermines the rest of what comes with the job.

They certainly could do it, but ultimately the argument you're making applies to Red Mage as well so it's kind of moot.

It actually doesn't, because despite my issues with the job's gameplay, RDM is still a guy with a sword that casts magic. Discounting said gameplay, RDM has what it needs to stay up to concept.

The system would fall to pieces if you just removed the sword skills, because you're also removing the Enchantment aspect. If you removed any of the three current components the job would not work without replacing them.

I did mention things you could replace them with. You regardless would have to fill those ability gaps with something to keep this hypothetical Sage in line with all other jobs in the game.

My point with XI was simply that in XI Red Mages are still not "guy who spends half his time in melee, half his time at range".

This depends on the content. I could melee, weaponskill, skillchain and magic burst in certain content (even spot heal if needed). Stuff like Dynamis and Omen were the bane of my existence for the aforementioned dispels/silences/paralyzes that forced me to stay far away from the battle.

As is, we have a Magic DPS who uses magic primarily and enchants their sword for flashy things. That's pretty fitting for a Red Mage.

I'm not on board with this, because the current implementation is slightly less insulting than the sword mage from Revelation Online (which never uses the sword and carries it as a stat stick).

As I said, you could have had a Melee DPS who uses magic much more rarely and basically inverting things. Maybe it would be a Melee DPS that focuses on long term enchantments. Personally, for me Red Mages should be, you know, a Mage, it's in the name. So that requires being a Caster DPS. Note that in a perfect world I would want a full on Melee Mage category (Green, Blue, Red, no idea on a fourth off the top of my head, maybe Geomancer?), but we have to work with what we have. Jobs have to be built to match the system.

Once again, I'll point to the write up in my sig.

The sword is 1/3 of the primary aspect of Red Mages. The remaining 2/3 are White Magic and Black Magic. 1/3 of the current Red Mage, roughly, relies on the sword. That is a proportionate ratio all things considered. The issue with Red Mages is not "they don't have enough sword" but that White Magic is ultimately just recolored Black Magic, but even that is inevitable given the job role.

The white magic thing is more because of how they established white magic in FFXIV. I actually addressed this to a degree in my write up because I believe there should be a distinction in the purpose of the spells RDM has access to. Black magic to hurt things, white magic to protect and heal, sword to swing and stab.

Doing worse than the two other Caster DPS for... no real uptake is not a terribly great balancing point. If your design relies on Red Mages being subpar at ranged that's not really a good argument.

RDM being able to deal good damage at melee range and comparable damage to BLM or SMN at range would be both overpowered and undermine the melee aspect of the job. Keeping its damage below the intended DPS at range not only prevents it from eclipsing other DPS or give it undue mechanical advantages, but is also in line with the concept of RDM's raw magical damage losing out to the "pure" casters that don't have to stand in melee range (because just like RDM uses magic to make up for what it lacks in brute strength, it can and should use the sword to compensate for what it lacks in firepower).

I imagine future updates will add things at roughly a proportional rate. Just double checking to make sure I'm not missing anything if anything Swords are the only one of the three categories who got anything new from the post 70 abilities, the magic things were original to Red Mage (or at least how I read Scorch).

It's a bit of a wash. Reprise is okay to a degree, Engagement is a decent idea (though I'd love the 200 potency to go to Engagement, remove the damage component from Displacement and give the two abilities their own cooldowns). I could call them steps in the right direction if I dim the lights enough, as the job has remained relatively untouched in terms of gameplay.