Quote Originally Posted by Diadumenos View Post
As much as I <3 my RDM and DRK in FFXI... IDK, I just get the feeling they would screw it up XD Maybe not DRK so much but as RDM (Jack of all trades master of none) really doesn't have a place in this FFXIV. Unless you wanted something that was for solo play only =/
Red Mage as a jack-of-all-trades is more a game-specific role. At its core, the job is a mix of melee and magic with middle-range equipment all around. This arose directly from FF1's design, where single-target damage was for melee jobs and AoE damage was for mages. You could only have 4 jobs of 6 and couldn't swap them out, so Red Mage did everything decently. That need disappeared in future job-based FF games, which is why Red Mage ended up with the doublecast ability. In FF3, it tried to be what it was in FF1, and that role no longer existed, so the job just sucked. In FF5, it got doublecast and was pretty boss until you mastered the ability and put it on other jobs.

In FFXIV, Red Mage would clearly be a DPS job. Mechanically, you can even pay homage to FF1 by focusing the spells as AoE damage and weaponskills as single-target damage. It also offers the opportunity to use more close-range spells (cone, line, PBAoE, even channeled ones). You could create any number of additional mechanics for keeping things interesting, but that's all beside the point.