Thought about RDM's utility

[Duelle]

And the act of putting Verraise on a cooldown in itself addresses that, since the availability of an instant Verraise would be equal to Swiftcast-Raises for other casters. At least in the vacuum where other casters don't pop other CDs to cast additional Raises quickly or for reduced cost.

Outside that vacuum you run into the possibility of Swiftcast being on cooldown (from what I'm told, SMN uses Swiftcast as part of their rotation), making SMN's contribution effectively nil. In that scenario the advantage still goes to RDM.

It doesn't actually dismiss the possibility of giving it an additional charge, particularly when strictly limiting our Raise ability to a cooldown bears its own potential tuning knob (ie adjusting the cooldown to, say, 90-120 sec while still retaining 2 charges; still fairly reasonable without being crippling, and enough to call it an alternative to what SMN currently brings without being worthless).

I might be willing to go with a 120s cooldown on Verraise, though overall it still feels like an arbitrary exception.

I guess the best way to explain this is that changing battle rezzes for DPS across the board gives every raid the same emergency button (i.e "you get one chance to salvage your run and if you screw up a second time, you wipe"), whereas you want to give raids different emergency buttons. That's the part that makes little sense to me.

Since we're keeping this going:

The combination of sword and magic is something that has potential, maybe, but either way it lacks the precedence that your signature implies with statements like "It's supposed to be this instead." Supposed to according to... your headcanon?

Ignoring your appeal to authority (because the FFXIV devs are absolutely infallible), it boils down to looking at the elements that make up the job and what makes sense given that knowledge. If you tell me a class is built on a combination of sword and spells through concept and aesthetic (RDM), then I'm going to expect to see that well-represented in gameplay. I can understand if there's limits or things that can't be done in one specific medium/genre, but that can only be taken so far.

And you can't call it my headcanon when the idea sprouted from SE's own games. While FFXI helped the concept evolve, RDM was always the FF series' original hybrid. You can't even say this is something only I wanted, as there were also threads asking for a RDM with melee & spell mechanics (partly to avoid Refresh-botting, partly because the sword should not collect dust) going as far back as the beta to ARR.

And personally I'm not against RDM gaining similar skills here -- in fact I've suggested as much many times. However, to nebulously state that 11's ideas "should be built upon" without any mention of how to do so in a way that would have separated it from its contemporary Rune Fencer comes out as a lofty demand with no thought towards practical application.

Well, since you were nice enough to ask, assuming we want to go with sword enchanting as a mechanic for RDM, you can go the route of building a resource that can be spent piecemeal on sword enchants. An alternative would be combo bonuses where following a spell with a specific sword strike grants an enspell buff that lasts for something like 20-30s.

Assuming you want melee & magic mechanics, you can go the way of weaponskills granting RNG procs for instant spells, melee skills granting a stacking buff that reduces cast time of the next spell, or melee strikes building a resource that allows certain spells to be cast instantly. To ensure the rotation between sword and spells is followed, have melee strikes gain a secondary effect if used after a spell, or have spells apply a short debuff that increases damage taken from your melee skills.

Mind you that neither of the above are mutually exclusive, but given the FFXVI developers' understandable aversion to button bloat, there's that to keep in mind as well.

As for Rune Fencer, considering the concept of the job (cast Flare Sword => whack away at target), sky's the limit with what you can do with it. A long time ago I suggested having it brand enemies using sword skills and then doing something with said brands to deal damage. An alternative would be charging their blade with elemental runes and once the runes have grown strong enough (what I called "maturing") spend the runes on elemental sword skills. Yet another alternative would be making them a tank that uses elemental runes on themselves to generate aggro and deal damage, or elemental shields.

Hell, you've said nothing about why such expansion would be incompatible with the base we already have in 14!

In order for melee to have a bigger role in the current design, you'd need to:

- Adjust how mana is consumed (you can't automatically consume mana like the current design without adding a second melee combo)
- Adjust how mana is generated (either remove mana gains from everything but Verfire/Verstone/Verthunder/Veraero or make melee strikes generate mana)
- Change melee skill and spell potencies (buff melee skills, nerf spells)
- Create an incentive to use melee skills outside of 80/80 (or de-emphasize the use of Jolt so that it doesn't eclipse the melee skills)
- Throw in a mechanic that ties sword skills and spells (sword combo lets you cast a spell instantly)

All of this is very doable (in fact, most of these come from a thread I made shortly before Stormblood launched). It's also very unlikely because the devs said they wouldn't do an overhaul again after WAR during ARR.

Besides, I'm fairly certain that Embolden was the devs' attempt to provide an En-spell in the absence of an elemental wheel, particularly when it was released in an era where all melee jobs provided vulnerability debuffs to physical damage types but only SMN had a magic damage buff.

Embolden was more an excuse to say "hey look, you have party utility!" than anything else. Their attempt at enspells came via the enhanced melee combo. The live letter after the reveal had Yoshida say as much (since he referred to the combo as the 魔法剣 or "spellblade" combo).

Why should that matter?

Because without Dualcast RDM would not have been in FFV. It wasn't a natural element of the job, and instead something pulled out of the ether. If delay reduction between spells cast had been a thing for RDM since the first Final Fantasy game (like maybe spells cast by a RDM always go first in an attack turn), I could have been convinced that it's just natural progression for the job. That, however, was never the case.

Dismissively saying it's "oversused" [sic] doesn't actually invalidate the point being made.

If you want to discuss points connected to RDM's design and concepts, I'm all ears. Using the mage argument basically means you have no real points, as that argument is used in bad faith to try to kill the discussion.

"Mage who uses both White and Black spells (but lower ranked, with other stats to compensate, including in melee areas)" versus "Knight who employs Combat Magic"

What I'm arguing for doesn't move RDM into the latter. If anything, it's essentially the former but actually putting the entire concept to work. Bonus being that it'd be true to how the job is presented in-world for once. FFXI had RDM as more than just mere mages, making the player want to be like Rainemard (especially once you meet him during Wings of the Goddess) instead of the Refresh-bot that hangs in the back lines. Likewise, FFXIV has the whole crimson duelist thing but then gives us gameplay where the sword is an afterthought. I get that SE has a track record for pulling crap like this, but that stopped being funny at around the time of Vision of Abyssea.

[Connor]

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been wondering if they really need to change Verraise for Red Mage to get personal DPS increases.

I’d understand if it gave some kind of damage increase, but isn’t the MP cost and DPS loss from not using Dualcast for damage already enough of a ‘tax’? If Red Mage had Vercure / Verraise exactly as they do now, but their personal DPS was higher than say, Dancer and Bard (which from what I understand would be the two lowest DPS if Red Mage and Ninja we’re properly balanced?), would it really make them too overpowered? It would be a bit strange to me if they just deleted Vercure/Verraise and shot Red Mage up to like, Monk/Black Mage/Dragoon levels (though their DPS levels are a whole different debate lol)

I guess what I’m trying to say is, why can’t we have both Vercure/Verraise, and properly balanced damage output? Would Red Mage really be overpowered if it had decent damage but could still Vercure/Verraise, given the costs they already come with to MP and damage? I mean, look at the amount of utility a Dragoon brings. Summoners can Raise and heal (Everlasting Flight) very easily and don’t come across MP issues as quickly as Red Mage does, but clunkiness aside they also do good DPS. Why can Summoner ‘have its cake and eat’ it but Red Mage has to have either all these restrictions on the same abilities or bottom of the barrel damage output

[TcomJ]

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been wondering if they really need to change Verraise for Red Mage to get personal DPS increases.

I’d understand if it gave some kind of damage increase, but isn’t the MP cost and DPS loss from not using Dualcast for damage already enough of a ‘tax’? If Red Mage had Vercure / Verraise exactly as they do now, but their personal DPS was higher than say, Dancer and Bard (which from what I understand would be the two lowest DPS if Red Mage and Ninja we’re properly balanced?), would it really make them too overpowered? It would be a bit strange to me if they just deleted Vercure/Verraise and shot Red Mage up to like, Monk/Black Mage/Dragoon levels (though their DPS levels are a whole different debate lol)

I guess what I’m trying to say is, why can’t we have both Vercure/Verraise, and properly balanced damage output? Would Red Mage really be overpowered if it had decent damage but could still Vercure/Verraise, given the costs they already come with to MP and damage? I mean, look at the amount of utility a Dragoon brings. Summoners can Raise and heal (Everlasting Flight) very easily and don’t come across MP issues as quickly as Red Mage does, but clunkiness aside they also do good DPS. Why can Summoner ‘have its cake and eat’ it but Red Mage has to have either all these restrictions on the same abilities or bottom of the barrel damage output

Considering the amount of utilities and buffs mnk have or even drg has, what they treat other classes are not justifiable whatsoever including RDM just because it has a raise. Should it be the lowest dps out of the casters? Perhaps. Should it be the lowest 3? NO.

[wereotter]

Unrelated note, I disagree highly with your signature. RDM has never been a melee-centric or melee-heavy job, and in fact usually spends more time casting in the entries for which it is available; the fact that it has better melee equipment or physical stats in older entries is, for the most part, consolation for limiting their access to stronger spells. The Red Mage has only ever been about combining White and Black magic into something more, with swordplay being largely vestigial; in fact the "iconic" use of a rapier is actually quite recent in series history, around FF11 I think. By comparison, it's been a "turret" as long as it has had Dualcast, introduced in FF5.
For a job focused on combining sword and sorcery, you may mean Rune Fencer, Spellblade or Mystic Knight. But first and foremost, the Red Mage has always been... a Mage.

Only a handful of games in the series even have red mages, so your assertion that red mage has never been a melee job (then proving that it has been a melee job) seems to only be thinking of one title as the end all and be all of the job.

Consider the full history of the job:
FF1: all-rounder job limited in access to higher level spells with fewer cast charges than its black and white mage counterparts. Had access to medium weight armor and swords.
FF2: non-existent
FF3: starter job that was outclassed by other jobs pretty quickly. Acted similarly to FF1 in that it had access to a few spells and more swords and armor.
FF4: non-existent
FF5: continued the trend of being able to use low-level magic alongside being a melee fighter. Unlocked the Dualcast ability that helped red mage keep up with magic damage of other casting jobs, and being even more powerful when used by other dedicated casters.
FF6: non-existent, though one could consider Celes a red mage archetype. She learns magic naturally, but most of her spells are weaker than Terra's in the long run, and is highly competent with a sword.
FF7: non-existent
FF8: non-existent
FF9: no playable red mages exist
FF10: non-existent
FF11: this is the title that you seem to be referencing, and I expect is where you are trying to distinguish red mages from the other jobs. I never played the title, but from what I understand while being the most recent implementation, it is also the outlier of what the job is.
FF12: non-existent in the original. The Zodiac Job release continues the trend of giving the character a wide variety of spells, along with some unique magic, and includes a mace and shield as weapons.
FF13: Lightning is very close to being a red mage, and her initial paradigms include offensive caster, healer, and melee fighter, all of which she is equally competent at.
FF14: this game
FF15: non-existent

So to that end, explicit red mages, and if we expand the definition to include Celes and Lightning, have always been competent fighters with a sword. Depending on your playstyle, it's also highly likely that a player would rely on sword attacks first and magic as a backup for enemies like flan that need magical damage or as a backup healer. Just as likely as someone who views them as a caster first and melee fighter once their mana runs out.

[Lium]

Are the requests for RDM buffs based on savage/extreme content? Because I feel like we are fine for normal raids/trials/dungeons.

[Drayos]

Are the requests for RDM buffs based on savage/extreme content? Because I feel like we are fine for normal raids/trials/dungeons.

If u look at dungeon logs we really aren’t the difference is it doesn’t matter if ur dps is bad in that content

[Archwizard]

Outside that vacuum you run into the possibility of Swiftcast being on cooldown (from what I'm told, SMN uses Swiftcast as part of their rotation), making SMN's contribution effectively nil. In that scenario the advantage still goes to RDM.

Once every several minutes on average, sure.
It largely depends on the needs of the raid and the rate of dying. If players are not dying, or are dying as quickly as/less often than Swiftcast/a charge of Verraise comes off cooldown, the difference in value is moot. If players are dying more often than Swiftcast/Verraise comes off cooldown, the RDM is only at an advantage in the sweet spot where only exactly one extra charge is needed, after which his contribution becomes not just effectively but literally nil.
Outside of Swiftcast, with one reserve charge it's a case where it's much more arguable whether RDM truly is at the maximum advantage (versus far and away being the best rezzer now), since once that extra charge is spent, you're out unlike a SMN or other healer who can still fullcast Raise at-will... and that's continuing to assume a 1 minute charge time to match Swiftcast.
And that SMN would even continue to have Raise, which is a separate argument entirely.

Ignoring your appeal to authority (because the FFXIV devs are absolutely infallible), it boils down to looking at the elements that make up the job and what makes sense given that knowledge. If you tell me a class is built on a combination of sword and spells through concept and aesthetic (RDM), then I'm going to expect to see that well-represented in gameplay. I can understand if there's limits or things that can't be done in one specific medium/genre, but that can only be taken so far.

And you can't call it my headcanon when the idea sprouted from SE's own games. While FFXI helped the concept evolve, RDM was always the FF series' original hybrid. You can't even say this is something only I wanted, as there were also threads asking for a RDM with melee & spell mechanics (partly to avoid Refresh-botting, partly because the sword should not collect dust) going as far back as the beta to ARR.

You're sliding away from the actual point though. My concern isn't the validity of such desires, but the assertion of the statement that the job is "supposed to" match them just because that thing's what players wanted it to be when we have no evidence it matches up with dev intent.
Your use of "supposed to" is a giveaway that you got your hopes up -- like a kid ripping open packages on Christmas morning only to be disappointed an expensive gift from Santa was "supposed to" be under the tree -- but its literal phrasing implies that the devs were ever bound to your design, which is patently untrue.

Sure, the devs are fallible, but you can't state they made a mistake as a matter of fact just because you're dissatisfied with what was delivered, particularly when many players are either satisfied with what was released or optimistic about the base design.

Well, since you were nice enough to ask, assuming we want to go with sword enchanting as a mechanic for RDM, you can go the route of building a resource that can be spent piecemeal on sword enchants. An alternative would be combo bonuses where following a spell with a specific sword strike grants an enspell buff that lasts for something like 20-30s.

Assuming you want melee & magic mechanics, you can go the way of weaponskills granting RNG procs for instant spells, melee skills granting a stacking buff that reduces cast time of the next spell, or melee strikes building a resource that allows certain spells to be cast instantly. To ensure the rotation between sword and spells is followed, have melee strikes gain a secondary effect if used after a spell, or have spells apply a short debuff that increases damage taken from your melee skills.

Mind you that neither of the above are mutually exclusive, but given the FFXVI developers' understandable aversion to button bloat, there's that to keep in mind as well.

[...] What I'm arguing for doesn't move RDM into ["Knight who employs Combat Magic"]. If anything, it's essentially ["Mage who uses both White and Black spells (but lower ranked, with other stats to compensate, including in melee areas)"] but actually putting the entire concept to work.

Here's the thing though: Mechanically, you've just designed a melee job. Not "a caster DPS who also uses melee in near-equal shares", literally a melee job that punctuates combos with spells.

Sure, maybe every other attack or so is arbitrarily designed to have a range, but the same could be said of NIN mudras, DRG dives or any tank's MP skills; nothing is actually compelling you to back up when a spell comes up in the rotation, and you would functionally never want to back off unless compelled by encounter mechanics, making the act of giving the spells a range niche at best and largely flavor at worst. Ultimately you're not only at the greatest advantage when dug into melee range, but literally unable to use most of your spells in the first place without being close enough to charge them with your melee.
It's a core melee job in Int gear (and even that would be a point of contention).

In other words, you've flipped the equation exactly on its head, not "balanced" it by any stretch.

Now, maybe that's your intent, but as I've previously explained, the devs have already made several melee jobs who alternate magic, and it's a separate archetype. If I wanted to play a melee with magic finishers, I would just play NIN, or hold out for RUN.

In order for melee to have a bigger role in the current design, you'd need to:

- Adjust how mana is consumed (you can't automatically consume mana like the current design without adding a second melee combo)
- Adjust how mana is generated (either remove mana gains from everything but Verfire/Verstone/Verthunder/Veraero or make melee strikes generate mana)
- Change melee skill and spell potencies (buff melee skills, nerf spells)
- Create an incentive to use melee skills outside of 80/80 (or de-emphasize the use of Jolt so that it doesn't eclipse the melee skills)
- Throw in a mechanic that ties sword skills and spells (sword combo lets you cast a spell instantly)

All of this is very doable (in fact, most of these come from a thread I made shortly before Stormblood launched). It's also very unlikely because the devs said they wouldn't do an overhaul again after WAR during ARR.

I wouldn't say it's unlikely at all, just unlikely to happen overnight exactly the way you dictated. I could see many of these being taken as directions for advancements of the job in future expansions, and in fact we've already seen a slow creep in that direction even with what little we gained in Shadowbringers. Mana generation rates and melee skill emphasis were increased with the introduction of Scorch, while Reprise and the buff to Manafication made us more liberal with Mana spending outside of the 80/80 combo.
Besides, ShB literally overhauled WHM, AST and BRD. Never say never, particularly with statements made a half decade ago.

If delay reduction between spells cast had been a thing for RDM since the first Final Fantasy game (like maybe spells cast by a RDM always go first in an attack turn), I could have been convinced that it's just natural progression for the job. That, however, was never the case.

And on the other hand, the "combination of sword and magic into something more" wasn't in the original Final Fantasy either -- at least not in a manner that set Red Mage's use of spell and blade apart from Knight and Ninja's access to magic. In fact, the concept of adding elemental enhancements to weapons through magic wasn't introduced until FF4 with Cid's Engineering, and wasn't attributed to a job until... ah.
FF5.
Just like Dualcast.

If you want to discuss points connected to RDM's design and concepts, I'm all ears. Using the mage argument basically means you have no real points, as that argument is used in bad faith to try to kill the discussion.

It's only made in "bad faith" if used in the same dishonest manner as a common troll. Given I'm still yammering on about it, I think I've demonstrated at this point that my backing of this point is as genuine as my belief that you've misconstrued the point of the job. T'is a hill I will die on.

Only a handful of games in the series even have red mages, so your assertion that red mage has never been a melee job (then proving that it has been a melee job) seems to only be thinking of one title as the end all and be all of the job.

Consider the full history of the job:
FF1: all-rounder job limited in access to higher level spells with fewer cast charges than its black and white mage counterparts. Had access to medium weight armor and swords.
FF2: non-existent
FF3: starter job that was outclassed by other jobs pretty quickly. Acted similarly to FF1 in that it had access to a few spells and more swords and armor.
FF4: non-existent
FF5: continued the trend of being able to use low-level magic alongside being a melee fighter. Unlocked the Dualcast ability that helped red mage keep up with magic damage of other casting jobs, and being even more powerful when used by other dedicated casters.
FF6: non-existent, though one could consider Celes a red mage archetype. She learns magic naturally, but most of her spells are weaker than Terra's in the long run, and is highly competent with a sword.
FF7: non-existent
FF8: non-existent
FF9: no playable red mages exist
FF10: non-existent
FF11: this is the title that you seem to be referencing, and I expect is where you are trying to distinguish red mages from the other jobs. I never played the title, but from what I understand while being the most recent implementation, it is also the outlier of what the job is.
FF12: non-existent in the original. The Zodiac Job release continues the trend of giving the character a wide variety of spells, along with some unique magic, and includes a mace and shield as weapons.
FF13: Lightning is very close to being a red mage, and her initial paradigms include offensive caster, healer, and melee fighter, all of which she is equally competent at.
FF14: this game
FF15: non-existent

So to that end, explicit red mages, and if we expand the definition to include Celes and Lightning, have always been competent fighters with a sword. Depending on your playstyle, it's also highly likely that a player would rely on sword attacks first and magic as a backup for enemies like flan that need magical damage or as a backup healer. Just as likely as someone who views them as a caster first and melee fighter once their mana runs out.

And on the other hand:
- Much like the devs in FF5 and FF11, I made a distinction multiple times (including in the section you quoted) between a Red Mage and a Spellblade-archetype, and Celes is literally called a Rune Knight with access to one healing spell. It's telling that you didn't point to an example like Terra, whose repertoire much better balances damage and healing like a classical Red Mage, and whose primary weapons are even small swords.
- Implying a Red Mage is a melee-centric job just because it can equip a mace is like implying a White Mage is melee-centric because it could wield hammers in FF1. But not to be accused of another "bad faith" argument, the Red Battlemage has by and large lower LP costs on spell upgrades than on weapon and armor upgrades.
- The Lightning example further reinforces my point. The most distinctive thing about her kit is that her faster attack animations and greater access to innate Haste skills gives her the functional equivalent of a Chainspell element (as close as you can get in a game where all spells are already instant), making her exactly the kind of turret we're discussing.

[Duelle]

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been wondering if they really need to change Verraise for Red Mage to get personal DPS increases.

I’d understand if it gave some kind of damage increase, but isn’t the MP cost and DPS loss from not using Dualcast for damage already enough of a ‘tax’? If Red Mage had Vercure / Verraise exactly as they do now, but their personal DPS was higher than say, Dancer and Bard (which from what I understand would be the two lowest DPS if Red Mage and Ninja we’re properly balanced?), would it really make them too overpowered? It would be a bit strange to me if they just deleted Vercure/Verraise and shot Red Mage up to like, Monk/Black Mage/Dragoon levels (though their DPS levels are a whole different debate lol)

I personally don't think anyone here would have an issue with just a potency increase or a DPS output buff while leaving everything else intact. The problem is that to my knowledge, the devs have said that RDM damage is tuned the way it currently is because of utility like Verraise. That's largely why the response from some has been "okay, nerf/change/remove Verraise then".

Here's the thing though: Mechanically, you've just designed a melee job. Not "a caster DPS who also uses melee in near-equal shares", literally a melee job that punctuates combos with spells.

What I presented is simply one element of a bigger design. There is room to add ranged options, though the last time I suggested something along those lines I was told it made the design unfocused.

Sure, maybe every other attack or so is arbitrarily designed to have a range, but the same could be said of NIN mudras, DRG dives or any tank's MP skills

A NIN or DRG is not going to be able to cast cures or offer utility in a pinch. The closest thing we have right now is PLD with Clemency, and even that required a trait that removed spell interruptions from the table. That's where RDM's versatility would shine, and why I would push for melee strikes allowing instant spells. The player would have the choice between spending their instant spells on heals or nukes.

nothing is actually compelling you to back up when a spell comes up in the rotation, and you would functionally never want to back off unless compelled by encounter mechanics, making the act of giving the spells a range niche at best and largely flavor at worst.

You shouldn't be compelled to back away from a mob unless you absolutely have to. This is why I say that the current use of Corps and Displacement are wasteful. They were thrown in partly for "style" (except that resulted in the job jumping around the battlefield like an idiot), partly to fill space between GCDs.

On a personal note, I find the idea of hitting an enemy with a sword, followed by throwing a fireball at them at point blank range very satisfying.

Ultimately you're not only at the greatest advantage when dug into melee range, but literally unable to use most of your spells in the first place without being close enough to charge them with your melee.

Not necessarily. Spell use facilitated through melee is very different from spell use being allowed through melee. If you're at range for any reason (long telegraph, boss flies out of melee range), you could just hard cast spells or introduce a secondary mechanic that involves casting spells back to back. You'd do way more damage than a DRG (lolPiercing Talon) or NIN (assuming the NIN is waiting on a mudra cooldown) at range.

It's a core melee job in Int gear (and even that would be a point of contention).

I'll agree with you here. My earlier RDM write-ups had it as a DEX DPS, though that's largely because a ton of DEX gear was given aesthetics that suit RDM (Amon's hat comes to mind). I'm willing to be flexible on this, though.

I wouldn't say it's unlikely at all, just unlikely to happen overnight exactly the way you dictated. I could see many of these being taken as directions for advancements of the job in future expansions, and in fact we've already seen a slow creep in that direction even with what little we gained in Shadowbringers. Mana generation rates and melee skill emphasis were increased with the introduction of Scorch, while Reprise and the buff to Manafication made us more liberal with Mana spending outside of the 80/80 combo.

I don't celebrate the existence of Reprise, as that skill is basically Scathe 2.0 in how it relates to the rest of the kit. Unless Manafication was recently changed, a 110s cooldown (still way too long) and a buff to magical damage dealt doesn't really lean in the direction of more sword use.

Besides, ShB literally overhauled WHM, AST and BRD. Never say never, particularly with statements made a half decade ago.

I can only hope you're right.

I commend your willingness to actually discuss this stuff. As such, I'm gonna leave this here as well, in case you're curious as to what one of my completed ideas look like. Far from perfect, but a direction I would have wanted for the job.

[MaelleRiou]

Are the requests for RDM buffs based on savage/extreme content? Because I feel like we are fine for normal raids/trials/dungeons.

It's not that far behind Summoner. On its worst fight its ~700 DPS behind Summoner. Then it's behind Black mage by 1,500-2,000 on most fights. Raise really doesn't make up the difference because DPS requirements in raid are rather tight and if you need a Red Mage for Raise then you're probably going to wipe to the enrage timer anyway.

[Archwizard]

Gonna keep this locked in the spoiler box just to keep it from potentially derailing the thread, but it seems to be winding down...

A NIN or DRG is not going to be able to cast cures or offer utility in a pinch. The closest thing we have right now is PLD with Clemency, and even that required a trait that removed spell interruptions from the table. That's where RDM's versatility would shine, and why I would push for melee strikes allowing instant spells. The player would have the choice between spending their instant spells on heals or nukes.

No, but a NIN or DRG wouldn't be spending GCDs on said sub-par healing either at the cost of their personal DPS. RDM still faces the same ability to be interrupted with Vercure, particularly since even Dualcasting Vercure (which is a terrible waste of the proc, mind), getting that proc means having full-cast another spell before it anyway.

On a personal note, I find the idea of hitting an enemy with a sword, followed by throwing a fireball at them at point blank range very satisfying.

I mean... the Verflare combo says hi.

Not necessarily. Spell use facilitated through melee is very different from spell use being allowed through melee. If you're at range for any reason (long telegraph, boss flies out of melee range), you could just hard cast spells or introduce a secondary mechanic that involves casting spells back to back. You'd do way more damage than a DRG (lolPiercing Talon) or NIN (assuming the NIN is waiting on a mudra cooldown) at range.

Big problem there though. Dualcast in itself is only a DPS gain not because it makes affected spells instant (which in itself only has a DPS value while moving or while oGCDs are available), but because it reduces their cast time below the GCD. This assumes then that, in order for a Dualcast proc mid-melee to come as a DPS gain, the spells it affects have to already bear cast times longer than the GCDs they consume.
So when it comes to spellcasting at range, as you've suggested, we're left with two potential options:

• One, that we're stopping while at range to hardcast spells that otherwise have a cast-time longer than the GCD. You would be hard-pressed to name one situation where a melee job being forced out to range but also limiting their mobility for longer than a GCD comes as a safe combination, much less a DPS gain; every situation I can think of usually involves a lot of running, and BLMs expressly gained tools to avoid that dangerous level of stutter-stepping. In fact those very situations are why DRG's Piercing Talon makes a fair comparison in the ABC game: it's instant, so you can keep moving.
• Two, that you have another spell to proc Dualcast with, like a Jolt or "VerScathe"... wherein the actual design is little different than what we have now, just with a general damage shift towards melee.

My earlier RDM write-ups had it as a DEX DPS, though that's largely because a ton of DEX gear was given aesthetics that suit RDM (Amon's hat comes to mind). I'm willing to be flexible on this, though.

I mean to be fair, it does wield a rapier. DEX would absolutely make the next most sense behind INT as far as melee, though I should point out that Amon's Hat and so forth are actually Physical Ranged DPS gear (which is, hilariously, the exact opposite role to what you're proposing).

I don't celebrate the existence of Reprise, as that skill is basically Scathe 2.0 in how it relates to the rest of the kit. Unless Manafication was recently changed, a 110s cooldown (still way too long) and a buff to magical damage dealt doesn't really lean in the direction of more sword use.

To address your second point first: You might be surprised! The reduction to Manafication's CD has now created two potential rotations based on whether or not you conserve it to align it based on party comp/coordination. The "120s Rotation" employs the use of Moulinet to delay our main combo for buff alignment.

And back to the first point: ... the fact that the above means we use Moulinet in single-target is rather jarring to me, which is why I had hoped Reprise would have been a substitute skill for that very purpose instead (in addition to other cases of "ABC is about to overcap my Mana but it's too dangerous to get into melee"). Alas, the fact that it spends even less Mana now means overcapping is less of a waste compared to multiple GCDs of it.

As such, I'm gonna leave this here as well, in case you're curious as to what one of my completed ideas look like. Far from perfect, but a direction I would have wanted for the job.

I don't think you're without interesting design ideas, just that they're misplaced to put them on the mantle of the Red Mage. I still think they would be much better suited towards a hypothetical Spellblade-esque job separate from the RDM.