Red Mage could use some help.

[Llugen]

idk I played RDM just fine during prog, but now that SMN is really good yeah you'll probably never catch me playing RDM again until Gammascape (affectionately named), and hopefully not even then. The only reason I play either of them is necessity to be versatile in the caster role, which is of course always a good idea, but still frustrating when you're shunned off your main job.

The idea that you "need" to have a RDM for progression is abhorrent to me, and the fact that groups desire one so strongly for both its support, progression utility, and simplistic rotation/consistent damage makes it all the more sickening. This illustrates a big part of the reason that I'm very (very very) opposed to buffing RDM damage, at least relative to BLM/SMN (I will concede buffing it to be stronger than BRD would be nice). Based on this thread, perhaps you (all) too have felt what it's like to have groups bully/coerce you into playing a job that you don't want to play. The feeling pretty much is awful.

The job is THE BEST progression job hands down, and while it may not be "competitive" with SMN/BLM/BRD for post-prog, it's still very capable of clearing the content efficiently and effectively with its party support (and to be honest its damage is certainly not weak; if you're looking for assistance with how/when to do what on the job, hit me up). Furthermore, it's not like people "don't want" people to play it; no one is going to complain about having a RDM in their group. I will assert once again that the real issue with the caster pool in general at the moment is the fact that BLM is falsely advertised ("strongest" caster) and that the physical meta is just way too strong, NOT that RDM doesn't do enough damage on its own.