Quote Originally Posted by Kiote View Post
The problem is, making a class the is centered around short buffs that have to be cast repeatedly is not fun. It's actually incredibly annoying. It is exactly what Red Mage deteriorated in to in XI. Refresh Haste Refresh Haste Refresh Haste Refresh Haste. You spend so much time buffing people that you don't actually get to do anything fun. It sucks. The only reason Red Mage was popular in XI is because of it's ability to Solo. No one really enjoyed playing it in a Party.

Red Mage has a place on the front line. The same place it has since the Beginning. All the way up until XI completely failed to give it reasonable Melee Damage. The Key to making Red Mage a front line Job is by not gimping it's melee skills. Ignorant people would think this over powers the Red Mage, but it doesn't. You can't melee and cast at the same time.
I'm not really sure where this idea of Red Mage came from. Even in the single player games they were supporters filling many roles so it's completely valid to branch them from any of these roles to fit a MMO.

This concept of being boring is also subjective. You could make the same argument with White Mage since its just Cure Regen Cure Regen Cure Regen Cure Regen Cure. Actually ANY class can be broken down into this. In reality it's the enemy mechanics that make a role fun. As I mentioned, they just need to make enemies that play to the strengths of an enhancement class to make them fun just like with any other class.