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

[Duelle]

I'd love them to expand on RDM's melee abilities as well. The problem is they've kind of designed themselves into a corner with the way the job is set up and it's difficult to think of ways to do so without completely overhauling the job's playstyle.

This is something I very much agree with. The way the job plays is airtight to the point you have almost no venues to make additions. Incidentally, this is why we got Scorch, replacement skills (Engagement) and upgrade traits with Shadowbringers.

It is possible to add some sword follow ups after Scorch, though we might run into the issue where you lose out if the combo gets interrupted for any reason, which is already a bit of an issue if the boss does prolonged stuns for phase changes or becomes untargetable. I am more on board with oGCD additions that can be weaved in during regular gameplay, though I also feel that has the risk of butting heads with Fleche and Contre (and Corps/Displacement/Engagement if you use them on cooldown). Then again, it would probably lead to an organically-created priority system, which might turn out to be a good thing. Bonus if it contributes in some way to resource generation (which means even more enchanted melee combos).

Or, you can have it work like it does currently, where {white magic} is actually present even if it's just in the form of the damage spells.

As I said, I'd aim for distinction in the uses for the magic RDM has access to. I'll also appeal to tradition here since RDM's damaging magic has been the Fire, Blizzard and Thunder spells.

Changing the role name requires changing the underlying system where ranged vs melee carries weight.

The name change itself would does little other than necessitate SE saying something to the effect of:

"We're very excited to introduce Red Mage as one of the new jobs for Stormblood. Since the job will be joining Black Mage and Summoner and has a martial/melee/physical side that these jobs do not have, we'll be changing the label/category/role name from Ranged Caster DPS to Caster DPS. Black Mage and Summoner will still play like they do, but this will allow Red Mage to ply its trades as you venture into Ala Mhigo and beyond!"

during the event where RDM was unveiled. Then you'd need to tune the intended DPS output for the job and go from there.

And ultimately sword and magic are tied together currently in Red Mage. You keep stating desires that are covered by the existing system.

Considering my beef with the gameplay is how underrepresented sword use is, no, what I wanted is not covered by the existing system.

What happens if you remove Dualcast versus what happens if you remove the Balance Gauge?

Resource generation slows down to a crawl, leading to players either just spamming Jolt/Jolt II or eating the 5s cast times for Veraero/Verthunder and praying for Verfire/Verstone Ready procs. DPS output falls down off cliff, though utility would stay similar in terms of off-heals (no rez mage meme which I guess would be the silver lining). You'd also see a lot of complaints about how dull and one-note the job plays.

The balance gauge works because of Dualcast and the flow of gameplay is dependent on same. The design as such would fall apart and be in need of big revisions if you were to remove it.

If you remove the Balance Gauge you remove the entirety of their enchanted attacks, all of their upgrades, and in general lose what makes the job what it is.

......

You have to replace them because, again, they're a key part of the way the job works. You could replace them without spenders. But then what does the job look like? It doesn't fit the same way. Thereby indicating you need them to make it really click together.

You'd lose enchanted attacks and the finishers. And because when we can't leave gaping holes in ability lists, we have to replace them with something to take the place of what we removed.

Also, removing "melee combo => Verflare/Verholy" and replacing it with "not-Flare => not-Holy => not-Meteor" does little to the current design other than making the mobility skills less useful. You'd also be able to stand at range 100% of the time.

And if you describe the job gauges and such for any job they don't fit.

Except I'm describing the gameplay, not just the gauges.

What you've proposed is either a 2:1 or a 1:1 ratio when it comes to physical vs magic, when it would, at least, need to be 1:2 because again, it's a mage.

If RDM were the average robe-wearing caster like BLM, I could accept that physical damage wouldn't figure in the equation much, if at all. That's not the case, because by concept the job wields a sword and magic.

So then you need to look into the current system and see what you can do.

There isn't much room for anything in the current system because of how tight the rotation is. The most we'll see is incremental changes, if we're lucky.

Just for the record, my write up isn't meant to be a bunch of changes I'd apply to the job right now, because it's way too late for that (players have already been exposed to the current design, and some like it; a major change right now has the chance of going over as well as Heavensward's version of Wanderer's Minuet). It's only there to illustrate the direction I feel the job should have taken in development. If SE ever manages to adjust RDM to the point I see it as a satisfactory alternative to what I wanted out of the job, I'll change my sig and remove the link to the write up.

It's a Ranged DPS, and ultimately this is the way it should be because to do otherwise destabilizes the system.

I'm assuming this is tied to DPS output, which I've mentioned can be tuned and adjusted where necessary. I'd personally aim to have it land roughly where it currently is in terms of DPS output, being the lowest of the three casters, about on part with DRG and MNK (assuming the 95th percentile in FF logs is an accurate representation of where they land DPS-wise).