Quote Originally Posted by DrakeWurrum View Post
The few RDM players I've been talking with about END (plus RDM is my caster DPS of choice as well), have told me they plan to basically stay in melee anyways. Even NOW, I basically just sit in melee unless there's a specific mechanics reason not to.
See, this is annoying to me, both thematically and from a gameplay perspective. Now, an argument could be made that everyone, ranged and melee alike, should generally remain somewhat close to the boss purely for AoE heals and area effects like Sacred Soil. That said, the whole RDM theme of charging into melee, slashing the target to ribbons, then backflipping out and dropping massive spell nukes on them is really really neat to me.

You can even see this being the "proper" theme of a Red Mage in the Endwalker trailer, with how Alisaie attacks at the beginning. She drops a couple sabre slashes, then leaps back and drops a Verholy, and starts casting what is presumably Scorch before being side-swiped by another monster. That's the entire "fantasy" of a Red Mage, going back and forth between melee slashing and spellcast nuking from ranged. So I rather dislike the notion of just being a melee class with a cast bar. And tbh, that's basically what we have right now, since the cooldowns on Corps-a-corps and Displacement/Engagement don't necessarily align with our melee combo. For optimal damage, we should be largely staying in melee range, and that's a problem, as far as I'm concerned.

That's part of why I'd rather those mobility buttons be purely for mobility. That removes the need to in melee range, except for the melee combo. It gives us far greater control over when we're charging in or dashing out, since we don't have to be concerned about things like raid buffs and such for them, or ensuring we don't cap on charges. It lets us properly exist as a class that darts in and out of melee range, and to do so tactically, rather than simply to maximize damage.