Red Mage confirmed or nah?

[Atlaworks]

That also tended to make them very powerful while leveling, but a bit weak for endgame. I'm not sure that would work as well here. Certainly it would be a deal-breaker in a typical one job per character MMO, but I wonder if it would be viable in one like this. It certainly doesn't seem likely to be anyone's choice for savage mode raids (unless they change the job beyond all recognition, which I'm hoping they don't), but if it were good for regular dungeons, that could still be enough to make it popular. The majority of players don't raid anyway, and those who do do other things as well.

The idea is to make them not-as-good at a lot of things, but as good as(or slightly better!) than the norm by combining everything they're kind of good at. That can be balanced for endgame as well as anything else- balancing numbers is not inherently tied to how those numbers are outputted, after all.

[Saito_S]

I'm not sure about healer. The way this game works, I highly doubt we'd see a healer that uses a melee weapon, where said melee weapon is expected to be used often and effectively, yet the class is still a healer. So if RDM is a healer, they wouldn't do much with their sword.

I would absolutely love an RDM centered around either a traditional rapier or a gunblade. And in either case, I strongly doubt that "combining white and black magic" would manifest as "it gains several spells from WHM and BLM and uses them". Rather, it would have its own skill set that draws from the role and feel of those classes - i.e. some support or healing abilities, some magic-based damage abilities. But you wouldn't just straight-up cast Fire 3 or Cure 2. At least, I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if that was the case.

With either weapon, I could see it working well as either a tank or DPS. As the former, it could be essentially an evasion tank, using a fast, flourish-y sword style, with the animations for its damage mitigation moves involving a lot of dodging and weaving - successful use of a move might have the RDM spin out of the way and then dive back in for a quick strike. That kind of thing. As the latter, the idea of elemental sword spells (mentioned by at least one person elsewhere in this thread) could be interesting. It could be a set of spells you have to cast prior to using your melee weaponskills; these would have much shorter cast times than classic "spells" (i.e. WHM/BLM), and you'd apply one based on what you wanted to do, with the different elements either having BLM-like effects (Thunder adds a dot, for example) or something new.

I REALLY doubt that this game's environment, particularly at high-levels/end-game raiding/etc., would allow for a class that is truly a jack of all trades, master of none. If you had a class that could take damage to the face and survive better than any non-tank, but still not as good as a PLD, and could cast offensive magic from a distance better than any non-mage, but still not as good as a BLM, etc etc...

No one would ever want that class around. They'd just take the better classes for each category. So I don't think we'll see a true "hybrid" in that sense. Something that is a hybrid in some other way (using both MP and TP, or having an even mix of melee vs. ranged skills, for example) is entirely possible.

[Zari]

People on these forums just like to naysay and fuss. If its probably RDM and when it gets confirmed for real in a few months all the people complaining that its to obvious or slap on tinfoil hats saying YP is trying to trick them will act like they knew all along. Post history is hilarious for looking who the blowhards are.

Best part is these are probably also the very same people acting like the kata from the girl in the Stormblood trailer means Dancer confirmed. Apparently big Red Mage hint is a trick but a girl in the trailer who is probably actually a monk confirms dancer? ha

[Zari]

I, personally, would love for red mage to be a contender with SCH.
A healer with more dps uptime while still having good heals.
I mean, don't see why that wouldn't fit the whole white magic and black magic thing.

Red mage would use white magic for its heals and then black magic when dpsing.

I wouldn't mind it as a melee/caster hybrid dps either though~

[Toranja]

Red Mage is coming with the Expansion.

Alisaie is a Red Mage and she was a DPS.

[Fevelle]

Am I the only one that does not get the whole red mage hype? In the original games Red Mage was nothing more than a cross between Black Mage and White Mage. What's so special about that? Why do people want this class so badly?

FFV made the fame. Red Mages had the most valuable magic skill, called Doublecast/X-Magic, that allowed for 2 spells to be used in the same turn. It's also pretty iconic design-wise in the FF series.

As for FFXI, I hope they don't go with that idea, because FFXI was EVERYTHING but a Red Mage - more like a disguised Mystic Knight.

I, personally, would love for red mage to be a contender with SCH.
A healer with more dps uptime while still having good heals.
I mean, don't see why that wouldn't fit the whole white magic and black magic thing.

Red mage would use white magic for its heals and then black magic when dpsing.

I wouldn't mind it as a melee/caster hybrid dps either though~

I have the exact same thought! I just don't want it to be a tank.