#RIPRDM

[Hyrist]

I didn't miss your point. I ignored it because it was so poorly thought out. Let's debunk quickly.

1) forces the player to use turns as efficiently as possible.

That's what a Rotation is - using your 'turns' in this case, your global cool-downs, most effectively as possible.

2) lacks mechanics that tie physical and magic attacks to one another.

That's what "Casting Spells with Swords" does. I'm beginning to doubt your experience with Final Fantasy extends much past Final Fantasy XI. In their quintessential incarnation, Final Fantasy V, Mystic Knight's spells added magical damage to the physical attack calculation (additionally adding an additional animation to the attack command) this could be combine with any other job action combination that involved base physical attack, such as Charge and Dance, which some pretty well known moves were conceived from doing. It is also the same basis from which Enspells and the Runes Runefencer utilizes.

It should be noted that the very same game is the one that debuts Red Mage's most defining trait - Dualcast, which has evolved into Chainspell over time. It also, in the same game, allowed cross class functions, which meant Red Mage could utilize its balanced physical and magical skills to use the Mystic Knight's power to decent effect, but there were far better ways to stack stats.

The mechanical limits RDM has in those games are notable, and I'm not sure why it's so hard to understand that.

Except they're really not - Not any more than any other class in those games, including Mystic Knight. It was the statistical limitations to the class that put it as second tier, and by design, as the game wanted you to experiment with classes and come about combinations that you found more effective. Red Mage at that point could be seen as an earlier form to other classes and combinations (Not that it couldn't also be used to become a powerhouse on it's own, there were just easier exploits.)

And those limitations are irrelevant to the actual premise of your argument, which is to say that Red Mage should be more like Mystic Knight.

And I say that as someone who has praised them when appropriate.

I challenge that. I'd say you praise them when you agree with them. That's not 'when appropriate' so much as when it fits your own bias. The entire basis of your disappointment was centered off of an unfounded expectation, and a misconstruction of which end of the archetype Red Mage fell on.Worse, you delve into hyperbole in the process. That's not being critical. That's being both misleading and insulting.

You're using criticism as a form of attack in this sense, not as a form of critique, they're two different uses for the same word. While the first is 'feedback' in the most general sense, it's often going to get lost if it isn't backed by mass numbers or sound critiquing, of which I see none of either.

Duelle. Let me say that I would have preferred rdm to be more melee focused as well and I fully agree with your right to criticize what has been presented. But let me offer this:

Let's wait and see if rdm has any other melee based attacks first as we don't know every single ability it has in its arsenal and we shouldn't take the brief showcase as an example of everything.

Secondly, it's always possible that if the community makes enough noise and complains enough they'll change the design. Brd and Mch losing their cast times is proof of that. I certainly plan to advocate for more melee abilities if it's as limited as it appears on paper.

Presented as pure preference - this is fair.

I would recommend putting that effort into something that will gain more traction. I'm all for more physical abilities on Red Mage, but changing the class to essentially a front line DPS is not going to happen. It's on a much larger scale than taking Cast times off of Ranged Physical DPS. You're asking them to change the very category Red Mage has been slotted into - Ranged Magic DPS.

If you're looking for a more melee orientated front line Magic-Physical attacker, you have another class to root for in order to fit that better, Mystic Knight. To which I want to put a point - why NOT Mystic Knight? Is it the imagery?