Quote Originally Posted by Dynza View Post
So did the video give us an indication of the Chainspell ability? That's hard to say, but I don't think we saw it. From what was described in the slide, I get the sense that Chainspell may end up being something similar to a Machinist's Wildfire ability in that Chainspell is cast and places a buff on the caster. Then the RDM casts several spells over a fixed duration as "prep" or "storage" and then activates those spells through another ability or through the same ability. Still, I could be wrong.
While this seems likely given what we've been told, it'd probably give the job terrible pacing, since Wildfire at least manages to flow into the MCH rotation (nevermind how restrictive it is and how much I dislike Wildfire). This sort of forces you slow down/stop just to start a Chainspell. Not to mention that dealing with mechanics would make it a pain since you'd have to stop to cast spells.
So how will the red mage play in more detail? Is it weapon skillchain oriented like dragoons, ninja, dark knights and paladins? Or do they play more like the casters? My guess is that the RDM may play more like the BRD and the MCH with some mix of the traditonal melee. I suspect they will have one skillchain, but I also believe that their spell-line (and most abilities) will be function with proc-chances with different combinations with triggers that force melee or spellcasting to maximize damage. Keep in mind the FF14 is very much structured under the idea of managing rotations, and/or resources and I don't see the red mage trending too far from that style.
The demo showed us a total of 7 skills (three casts, Lunge, Million Stab, gap opener, nuke at the end), which is 1/4 of the skills available to a job at lv60 (28 skills, 18 regular abilities and 10 quested abilities), so there's some room for stuff. That being said, something seems to proc when the RDM used Million Stab. I don't know if it's connected with the nuke at the end, but that was the only ability that procced anything out of what that RDM used. Which would mean nothing is proccing off combos (since no combos were shown).

I personally don't think the job would have much in the way of melee, as otherwise the keynotes would have emphasized the job having mobility instead of making up a term like fast positioning and describing the use of the sword as if it were secondary.
Legacy/signature abilities? That would depend on what some would define the red mage to be. In the past, when it came to developing and strengthening the red mage's uniqueness, SE often focused on its ability to cast spells, and more specifically, how quickly it could cast them. Red mages were prided not just on their versatility, but their ability to cast several spells at once through abilities like Double-cast or Dual Cast. Whereas black mages could cast a greater number and more powerful versions of spells, the red mage stuck to a limited set of core spells and could weave them together quickly and efficiently. In the time it'd take a BLM to cast Flare or Meteor, a RDM could cast two fires, heal two seperate allies with a single-target powered cure, and have Ramuh and Shiva dishing out Ice-cold lightning. A red mage was prided on the quality of doing a lot with little. And that can translate pretty well into FFXIV.
This sort of went out the window when they decided to invent Red Magic. They seem to want it to be its own magic school instead of playing on the fact that, as you said, RDM has "less" to work with due to limited access to black and white magic.

I also think the keynotes would have emphasized RDM's versatility instead of banking on the melee-ranged thing.
Lore
Looking at the AF, I noticed something interesting. A sort of dragonish motif in the embroidery on the outfit. The crystal itself also has a similar motif, which for some reason made me think of Hraesvelgr in Sorh Khai ("Dragons fight with both clawsword and spell"). It's certainly a stretch, but yeah.