Red Mage could use some help.

[Llugen]

I mean, I've been saying that for quite some time now @Tzain in relation to BLM.

There is no such thing as "raw damage is utility" in this game, because jobs that buff the party will ALWAYS be preferred by parties (this is a no-brainer) and the total DPS will be stronger 9 times out of 10.

Parties want to BE FED, parties don't want TO FEED ONE PLAYER. Therefore, all classes should have SOME kind of utility buff, period. Not all need to be heaping with it like BRD is, but SOMETHING.

[Tzain]

I mean, I've been saying that for quite some time now @Tzain in relation to BLM.

There is no such thing as "raw damage is utility" in this game, because jobs that buff the party will ALWAYS be preferred by parties (this is a no-brainer) and the total DPS will be stronger 9 times out of 10.

Parties want to BE FED, parties don't want TO FEED ONE PLAYER. Therefore, all classes should have SOME kind of utility buff, period. Not all need to be heaping with it like BRD is, but SOMETHING.

Indeed.
In the case of the Black Mage, as I've said before, the main unique utility of the class is the spell "Sleep". On paper, this spell is insanely powerful, an AE Mezz type Control spell with a quick cast time and no cooldown?! I've played games where that sort of spell would have been considered game breakingly OP.
But FFXIV goes out of it's way to avoid giving the spell any use whatsoever. Even in places where it should be super valuable.
So if "Group DPS" is a Utility, and Control is a utility, then in order to be balanced they should be of equal value.
I think we can both agree, that's not even close to the current scenario.
I mean, imagine if nothing in the game was resistant to sleep. Black Mage would have the ability to, nearly at will, pause a boss fight for 30 seconds. Trap an add where he popped. Interrupt/delay a major ability.
With that sort of power, they could do the damage of a wet noodle and still be an automatic add to a party.
I feel Red Mage is in a slightly similar boat, their utility is about "Recovery" in Vercure and Verraise-dualcast. Which has a valuable usage, up to a point anyway. If no one needs ver raise or ver cure then the utility has no ver value.

[PrismaticDaybreak]

There is no such thing as "raw damage is utility" in this game, because jobs that buff the party will ALWAYS be preferred by parties (this is a no-brainer) and the total DPS will be stronger 9 times out of 10.

By your own logic wouldn't it be better to push for Red Mage personal DPS to be increased rather than offensive utility as you keep saying? That way it wouldn't become the mandatory mess that NIN is and doesn't push other classes out of relevance.