Redmages any good?

[Aebel]

Never played one but they look cool, I'm wondering how their damage and support abilities stack up to other classes in a non raiding enviroment

[Lubu_Mykono]

Never played one but they look cool, I'm wondering how their damage and support abilities stack up to other classes in a non raiding enviroment

Has less overall damage than Black mage and Summoner, but is better for progression in most raid environments because of their heals and easy revive possibilities. You see them a lot in Eureka and Heaven on High. The rotation is quite simple between building up the two mana bars with black and white magic before doing the sword combo up close and then using the VerHoly or VerFlare. Has a gap closer and backflip too. and some powerful oGCDs.
No Dots, just focusing on dualcasting proc based spells after hardcasting to build mana.
Has one team buff Embolden - that buffs DPS but drops quite quickly.

It's a great casual job but has uses in a lot of settings, just not as much in hardcore endgame instances.

[Aebel]

Has less overall damage than Black mage and Summoner, but is better for progression in most raid environments because of their heals and easy revive possibilities. You see them a lot in Eureka and Heaven on High. The rotation is quite simple between building up the two mana bars with black and white magic before doing the sword combo up close and then using the VerHoly or VerFlare. Has a gap closer and backflip too. and some powerful oGCDs.
No Dots, just focusing on dualcasting proc based spells after hardcasting to build mana.
Has one team buff Embolden - that buffs DPS but drops quite quickly.

It's a great casual job but has uses in a lot of settings, just not as much in hardcore endgame instances.

Hmm sounds interesting, I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks for the reply!

[Cidel]

It seems like in situations/trials where everything is scripted/choreographed they're pretty "eh."

But I notice they shine in situations where the fights/ environments can go off the rails but still be recoverable, such as Heaven-on-High and Eureka, and then the ability to whip out an insta-cast VerRaise or back-up heals is a pretty significant tool. They are also pretty comfortable (and sometimes the only/best option) to solo with, in the sparse places that allow it (again, HoH and Eureka).

[ChaoticCrimson]

Red Mage is a fun job. It may not do a ton of damage for a DPS class, but there are people who enjoy using it for its raises in progression, as stated before. I think of RDM as a sort of "self-sufficient" job, in that it has the tools that allow it to do solo content more easily thanks to the fact that you can heal yourself with ease while still having more damage potential than a typical healer and even tanks. The drawbacks, however, are that despite its rezzing capabilities it really doesn't offer much else in terms of support skills as Embolden is a very minor buff that degrades in effect gradually until it runs out. Furthermore, you only get one way to restore your MP, and that's Lucid Dreaming. This makes Lucid even more of a mandatory role skill for RDM, as without it you might just find yourself totally useless for much of a fight, particularly if you do a lot of rezzing. Verraise eats a ton of MP with each use, which puts a limit on the RDM's rezzing utility, something that a lot of people seem to forget.

Overall, I'd still definitely recommend you give it a try. I use RDM frequently for non-raiding content, personally. It's a very forgiving job that's relatively easy to understand the basics. Once you understand the flow of alternating between black/white spells, building your mana gauges up to the right amount while keeping them balanced, and then unleashing your enchanted melee skills to proc your finishing spells, it all becomes second nature before you know it.

Edit: as a side-note, if you don't have Verstone/Verfire procced, you should always hardcast either a Jolt spell or Impact first, then use your Dualcast to use Veraero/Verthunder accordingly. You should almost NEVER hardcast Veraero/Verthunder, except during the countdown before a fight after using Acceleration to ensure you get at least one spell proc in your opening. I've seen many new RDMs try to hardcast those spells. Now you don't have to be one of them.

[Maero]

If you do not raid or just do Ex Trials it is fine even for solo content. At lower levels it does have some advantage over other jobs.
The job is enjoyable and it is a nice break from playing complex jobs.
Having played blm for around 4 years i was feeling like a change this expansion and Red Mage suited me fine.

[Darkkos]

Rdm is Excellent for short fight because you dont have to keep any buff up ,dots or whatever. For everything solo its one if not the best jobs. Even for raid its pretty decent because the rotation is so easy , so if you play with only casual player : You can be the top dps simply because every other jobs have a much more complicated rotation... Rdm you can basically only screw up if youre not balancing your mana gauge Well enough or if you go OOM

[Kidria]

For non hardcore raiding, RDM stacks up fine. Especially in PUG situations like the 24man raids, RDM can save the day when a whole party wipes. When Ridorana first hit I can't tell you how many times I was able to revive half the raid and save a fight (albeit sometimes you end up dying anyway lol).

For the actual endgame, I hear they're not very wanted. I don't have an FC large enough/have a consistent work schedule to do statics, but from what I see around the forums and PF, people prefer SMN for caster DPS.

Now if you go into Eureka? The instance tends to be 75% RDMs.

[Shiroe]

even in Hardcore enviroments Rdm is fine, .. if you're good at the class, there is no problem

sure, Rdm damage is not high, but its enough, besides thanx to its "easy" rotation and mobility, Rdm have a more constant dps

but its true, most hardcore statis will chose a Smn over a Rdm (since Smn has high damage output and can still rez if absolutly needed, just not near as easy and frequent as a Rdm can)

[Vorx]

OP, RDM has always been a jack of all trades class. Its listed as a range class but can easily be turned into a melee style class with the right materia. RDM also has a good AOE output with Scatter, Moulete, and another skill with helps out a lot in dungeon runs.

Tons of people play RDM "untraditionally" or differently then some of the elite players suggest, but even if you don't focus on the play style they suggest you still put out decent DPS and the AOE always help.
With the right materia an RDM can hold their own with a ninja in melee even before the power up the spells give them. Its a great class for anyone who likes to play their own way. You can literally play three different styles, melee, range, or support healer.

If anything else it never hurts to try.