Quote Originally Posted by Duelle View Post
The two are not mutually exclusive. RDM could be given more melee options and sword use in regular gameplay while still making it possible to add a spellblade/mystic knight job. Right now the job is basically a caster with a decorative sword, which is a far cry from where the original hybrid of the FF series should be.

I won't disagree with the overhaul part, because as is the job was built on mechanics made for a caster (also why I say that removing the sword would hardly be felt from a mechanics perspective). Adding combos or extra buttons won't do much unless you have them stand in for Jolt => Verspell spam in some capacity.

That said, a suggestion off the top of my head would be an oGCD skill that would share a cooldown with Fleche but be melee range. It would interact with Verfire/Verstone Ready, generate mana while consuming the effect and dealing more damage. This way you have this melee oGCD skill when in melee range, but still have Fleche in case you're not near the target for whatever reason. Melee additions would have to be along those lines if you want to keep the rest of the design intact.
Red Mages in FF proper are a three way hybrid. That... isn't going to happen. It's not going to use Black Magic, White Magic, and Melee in equal amounts. What you got was a job that was basically leaning towards Black Mage with some aesthetics of the latter two. And honestly that's the only way it can be in this kind of system. The ratio can't, and really shouldn't, be a 1:1:1 thing. And honestly in FF Red Mages are really poorly balanced too so it's for the best that they didn't try to push that. Though I suppose they could have traded places with Blue Mage and then do all roles.