Red Mage looks Incomplete

[Klongol]

SMN: Aetherflow, Energy Drain, Lucid Dream
BLM: Convert, Umbral Ice, Lucid Dream
RDM: Lucid Dream

Notice anything wrong?

No?

A sizable part of RDM damage is the melee portions, which use TP to execute an the new HUD resource to execute. This means RDM's will likely be using Mana less often and may not need more mana regeneration.

Let's not jump to conclusions.

[Felis]

SMN: Aetherflow, Energy Drain, Lucid Dream
BLM: Convert, Umbral Ice, Lucid Dream
RDM: Lucid Dream

Notice anything wrong?

BLM - full MP mage
SMN - full MP mage
RDM - MP+TP mage

[Vexander]

BLM - full MP mage
SMN - full MP mage
RDM - MP+TP mage

This feels like it would work -in theory- in a perfect setting, but if you're a RDM and you're in a party where people keep dying (including the healer), a handful of Verraise feels like it could shut down a Red Mage entirely.

[Edit]: I shouldn't say, 'entirely,' since the melee combos will work fine without Mana of either type. However, the effective DPS will be severely handicapped, with no way of restoring it without begging a BLM/SMN for a Mana Shift.

[Felis]

This feels like it would work -in theory- in a perfect setting, but if you're a RDM and you're in a party where people keep dying (including the healer), a handful of Verraise feels like it could shut down a Red Mage entirely.

1 Verraise on the healer and not more. If the healer die again, then let the wipe happen.

[Vexander]

1 Verraise on the healer and not more. If the healer die again, then let the wipe happen.

Hrmn... fine for a 4-man party, but with an 8-man and everything goes bad, well... I don't know. It just seems strange to include such an MP heavy and crucial skill for Red Mages without giving them the skills to sustain its proper use. I don't know about anyone else, but I've generally found when a group needs a raise once, they need it a lot more than once.

[Klongol]

To address OP's original items, and not just one:

I personally resigned myself to the fact that RDM would not resemble the RDM I enjoyed playing in 11.

1) I don't find it odd that they don't have a dedicated mitigation ability since they appear to have advanced mobility over the other casters.
2) See previous comments
3) En-weapon spells would have been neat, but it's clear they intended to do things differently this time around.
4) The Melee abilities, though they use TP, appear to do unaspected damage, which likely means they will be affected by Embolden. I could be wrong though.
5) We'll have to wait and see how Vercure works. But I'm with you - Here's hoping it scales off int so it can be more than just a wasted ability. The trick is to make the ability to enough healing to be useful, but not too much as to replace a healer in a group. It's a fine line to walk.

[Vexander]

To address OP's original items, and not just one:

I personally resigned myself to the fact that RDM would not resemble the RDM I enjoyed playing in 11.

1) I don't find it odd that they don't have a dedicated mitigation ability since they appear to have advanced mobility over the other casters.
2) See previous comments
3) En-weapon spells would have been neat, but it's clear they intended to do things differently this time around.
4) The Melee abilities, though they use TP, appear to do unaspected damage, which likely means they will be affected by Embolden. I could be wrong though.
5) We'll have to wait and see how Vercure works. But I'm with you - Here's hoping it scales off int so it can be more than just a wasted ability. The trick is to make the ability to enough healing to be useful, but not too much as to replace a healer in a group. It's a fine line to walk.

Thanks for the replies, and excellent points. As far as Vercure goes, I can't see a RDM replacing a healer unless Healers are doing more DPS than Red Mages. Which, given how MCH and AST were at Heavenward's Launch, it could be possible for Red Mage to be under-performing. I'm hoping that Vercure will have been designed more for sustainability of solo play, and as a stop-gap measure while a recently raised Healer gets back on their feet. It'd be -enough- to give Red Mage that hybrid feel.

[Vexander]

4) The Melee abilities, though they use TP, appear to do unaspected damage, which likely means they will be affected by Embolden. I could be wrong though.

I should have clarified. As a Group Buff, this is good for NIN/BRD/MCH/MNK/SAM/DRG/WAR/PLD/DRK. But it doesn't really do anything for WHM/AST/SCH/SMN/BLM.

[Morari]

Red Mage seems to have really really low MP costs compared to the other magic users, so MP management may not be an issue.

[Aitheriondark]

Plus Sword attacks use TP so less MP used there too.