Red Mage has been shafted all expansion and "but Verraise" doesn't cut it

[CelestiCer]

- RDM just keeps dying everywhere

In All content against Raidwides at full HP in random parties. Personal opinion and observation though, take it with a grain of (himalayan?) salt.

The lack of Self-mitigation in their kit is glaring... " Pls my lovely party? Mitigate the Raidwide " - while they Vercure their HP to full ( a DPS loss... ) is about all a RDM can hope for. And Vercure is not a self-mitigation as it doesn't shield you from anything. Magick barrier only provides 10% Magic Shielding against magic damage, which does nothing vs Physical and no matter how much others will tout that it covers your Raidparty, that still amounts to 10% magic self-mitigation in their kit.

RDM rotation isn't as easy as SMN that has less casting then a SAM a melee job. I don't base DPS based off of Job difficulty cause Square clearly doesn't either. It probably does suck, but it is what it is. RDM is a powerhouse in Prog without question, but after Prog period is over, nothing is blind, fights are mapped out, strats are tested and flushed out... then what... So, RDM are...

• Ranged Taxed
• Utility Taxed
• Prog Taxed?
• Self-Mitigation Taxed?

I'll just chat-weave " Feels RDM " whenever they are the only one dying to a raidwide full HP. Making it tradition. Not to bash them... I just don't see being brought up enough. RDM doesn't need to ask for much to be that much better of a Job, and somehow that's regarded as to much to ask cause you have some juicy Utility... okey dokey.

[Taranok]

IMO i think devs don't read forums when it comes to this AND don't play RDM cause for them it's "Prog Mage". Just swap to SMN when you get to enrage on savage and it's all good! It's sad to see a well designed job being neglected like that. They gotta put on their minds ppl play RDM because it's an awesome job not because it's good for prog.

RDM isn't even really a prog mage. The amount of fights in the game that straight up kill you on deaths that also hit a number that healers cannot deal with it can be counted on 1 hand for endwalker. And even that might be overstating it, as it's mostly dungeons where the healer dies.

Hell, if there's a true prog role, BLM should be what people are going into, but even current numbers off fflogs show that BLM just still isn't being played, and is well (~31%) below the average on play count, and no. 3 least played class in the game despite even with awful play being the strongest caster in the game.

I wouldn't even call it a prog role. People are playing it because they like the playstyle, but at ~48% of the entire CDPS populace, SMN is overwhelmingly what people are playing anyways. Why bother playing a frustrating class, regardless of the numbers it offers? It seems a plurality of the CDPS population just wants to play the fun class.

[Ghost_of_Ebina]

If they add some type of phase in future extreme / savage content that kills off half of the party automatically (or everyone other than healers), then RDM may be seen as necessary

[Valence]

You people just don't get it, they tried to keep the vanilla flavor of classic FF red mages, where they overperformed during early leveling but absolutely suck in endgame due to their jack of all trades and lack of specialization nature.

[NightHour]

RDM shouldn't come close to BLM in terms of damage simply because RDM provides a raid buff, raid mitigation, heal and a raise.

BLM brings nothing but damage.

But I do agree that RDM has been shafted this expansion.

[VerRaisingway]

Raid buffs are actually a point against balance, in this case
In the context of something like Void Dais, if you consider just raw damage RDM is third to last but when you factor in raid buffs it falls to dead last. The 600 or so DPS provided by raid buffs aren't saving it from the garbage heap. If Embolden got moved to 8 or 9% it may catch up to SUM
To catch up to BLM (which I wouldn't ask for, just as an example) it would be like 18 to 20%

[Taranok]

Raid buffs are actually a point against balance, in this case
In the context of something like Void Dais, if you consider just raw damage RDM is third to last but when you factor in raid buffs it falls to dead last. The 600 or so DPS provided by raid buffs aren't saving it from the garbage heap. If Embolden got moved to 8 or 9% it may catch up to SUM
To catch up to BLM (which I wouldn't ask for, just as an example) it would be like 18 to 20%

This is one of those things where it's being killed by optimization moreso than strictly because it's bad. RDM and SMN both do about the same damage, even in Dais, after factoring in for rDPS. This is also combined with fights just not being fun for casters in general in endwalker. The expansion has fundamentally ruined the role in entirety.

[Ghost_of_Ebina]

You people just don't get it, they tried to keep the vanilla flavor of classic FF red mages, where they overperformed during early leveling but absolutely suck in endgame due to their jack of all trades and lack of specialization nature.

Agreed with the reference to FF1 -- they have added some FF1 Red Mage / Red Wizard elements such as the addition of "Magick Barrier" which was called "NulDeath" in FF1 in the English version (both are called "Bamajiku" in the Japanese version). Also, Red Mage in FF1 had spells that cause the silence status on enemies which was reflected for PvP.

Still missing are spells like "Haste" "Focus" "Invis" and "Temper" which were all great buff spells that would be great to have in FF14.
Those were also spells available for Black / White mages in FF1, but seeing that Black Mages are fully DPS and White Mages are basically pure healers with some DPS, buffing should be more of a strong point for Red Mages in FF14 if the development team wants to pay homage to FF1.

Personally, FF1 Red Mages were a favorite -- as long as you equip the "Murasame" and cast Temper and Haste on yourself, you can end up with a formidable DPS (and Warriors can wield Excalibur after all).

[Valence]

Just in case this wasn't obvious, I was being ironic.

[Mithron]

Just in case this wasn't obvious, I was being ironic.

Nonetheless it is how RDM should be in FF14. They should be among the 3 lowest aDPS, only above BRD and DNC because of how much party DPS buffing/utility they should bring with Embolden and others. That is the job fantasy RDM should be fulfilling. You should want to play RDM because you want to be a jack of all trades, master of none, and fulfill a party buffer and utility role as a caster that gets to melee sometimes. Essentially, RDM should be the BRD/DNC of casters.