Quote Originally Posted by Duelle View Post
What I suggested is a sword swing. Sword swings are restricted to melee because swords have a limited range. That's sort of how they work. And despite rumors to the contrary, Red Mages use swords (FFXIV's version of the job tends to use them as props instead of weapons, but that's neither here nor there). Also, for being touted as a "melee and ranged hybrid" (Yoshida's words, not mine), there's a lot more ranged than there is melee. Even without a redesign of the job on the table, I'd aim to correct that where possible.
The issue with this is that we are a) a caster, b) balanced around being a caster, c) only in melee for short bursts which is a skill-tester for any caster when we're taking up a ranged spot and therefore expected to deal with ranged mechanics which put us at range, and d) a caster.

The fact that YOU believe that it's supposed to be some gishy sword-mage thing, despite that not being its actual identity except in that one MMO with wonky job design, doesn't make it so. RDM's always been about having -spell variety- at the cost of reduced raw spell power and charges, with auto-attacks as something the RDM can do between casts, though not with as great effectiveness as actual melee attackers.

Then, once FF5 hit, the 'turret' identity became solidified, with chainspell being the big thing it eventually brings to the table.

That's why RDM's identity is based around chainspell. Because chainspell's been what it's been about since FF5.