Red Mage: I am not a Back line class

[Draven]

Jack of all trades is the way to go for Red Mage.

They should be on the front line, slashing gracefully and comboing with a sweet looking sword.

TP for weapon skills and MP for buffing party members and enfeebling enemies. Buff spells should last as long as other buffs like Protect. Enfeebles on the other hand should last a shorter time and have lower cost.

They wear medium/light armor so what will keep them alive for close encounters will be powerful single target buffs that they can cast on themselves.

Red Mage should never be as powerful in casting cures or elemental spells so as not to compete with White Mages and Black Mages. They should be there to enhance the party members effectiveness, not replace members roles.

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[Duelle]

Red Mage should never be as powerful in casting cures or elemental spells so as not to compete with White Mages and Black Mages. They should be there to enhance the party members effectiveness, not replace members roles.

If you do that all you end up with is a watered down bard with mediocre heals and nukes. Elemental nukes would be better tied to melee somehow (spellblade, instant cast as part of a combo) instead of being stand-alone spells. Heals should be situational and on an as-needed basis, where hardcasting outside of procs would eat up more MP or something along those lines. Generalists do not work in MMOs, and we have to keep that in mind moving forward. Because of this, RDM is due for an adaptation rather than try to copy/paste what it was in prior FF's, including XI.