Quote Originally Posted by Renathras View Post
Bit ironic, but I remember thinking when RDM was announced (so in 3.5) "So Red Mage will just be White Mage, but instead of Stone 3, Aero 1, 2, and 3, it will have Fire 3 and Thunder 1, 2, and 3? Isn't that how White Mage already plays?"

Of course, RDM gutted the "actual White Mage" part (the heals) and does the stupid thing of not learning Cure 1 until level 54 and not learning Raise until 64 (that is, the first and third spell I'd want to learn as a White Mage - simple healing and emergency revival - are some of the last spells Red Mages bother with...), and then a melee combo into a burst phase. But my naive sweet summer child self thought "Heals with some attack magic, isn't that White Mage already?" and that RDM would actually have made sense (in FFXIV) as a healer Job.
As silly as it sounds, if this game had specs/skill trees/whatever, I'd absolutely play healer RDM, so long as it kept the basic mechanic of building up to a melee combo. Toss in a Vermedica and a few essential heals, change a few of the oGCDs to be healing oriented, and it would be my go-to healer by far.

As for the topic at hand, I don't think we need a 40/60 DPS/Heals split. I'd lean more towards 30/70, but focusing on making the kits overall more interactive with each other instead of disparate healing and dps buttons that just kinda exist in tandem. Have them interact more ala Blood Lily or Addersting (but ideally better).