Quote Originally Posted by Archwizard;5181649
So either RDM "isn't Red Mage" and is "just a Sage in red with melee tacked on" (surprise, melee was [I
always[/I] "tacked on") until it subsumes all concepts of a Spellblade as well, or RDM gains more branching melee and is a Spellblade in all but name but is no more a mage than NIN, DRK or PLD.

There's a no-win scenario for Red Mage here.
False dichotomy. You absolutely can expand upon the job's melee abilities without it suddenly becoming "no more a mage than NIN, DRK, or PLD."