Rdm or Drk?

[Chewey]

I started with rdm, and got to rdm32/whm16 then stopped because I felt like rdm wasn't doing much to help the group, although I obviously was never in a group which didn't have a rdm to be able to tell the difference. Also, I was spending massive ammount of money to keep my armor and spells up to date.

I switched to drk and am currently 15/7war, for two reasons, I wanted to do some heavy damage, and not have to spend an arm and a leg every few leves to stay on par with my equip. I read alot of the drk forums and noticed that after 40 its horrendous finding groups, which seems about the time when rdm begins to shine. I also noticed that when my grp has a rdm, the rdm is really horrible and I constantly have to teach them their role in battle. Granted, these are dunes groups I'm talking about, so pretty much everyone sucks, so it kindof inspired me to switch back to rdm (still have all my equip) and help clear up the bad name all the young rdm's are giving the job.

I would just like to have one job high level, without spending my entire life playing. Anyone have a reccomendation as to what I should do? Go back to the rdm or stick with the drk? Thanks in advance.

-Chewey

[Gaunt]

If you have a team you group with often go with what you want.

If you rely on pick-up groups, well, when i check for members there is usually 3-4 DRK and 3-4 DRG sitting and hoping someone needs em.

As a RDM I don't even have to put up my seek flag to get invites.

[MMan530]

I agree with Gaunt completely. Once you hit level 40-41 rdm, all you have to do is log on and you can get a party. The longest I've ever waited was probably around 10 minutes and right after that I got 3 simultaneous invites.

The downside is that you have to keep up on your spells, etc. Please please please PLEASE don't be the type of rdm that is just concerned with levelling. I've partied with other rdms that had horrible eq, a sub that was under level 18, and they were also missing key spells. I can remember a rdm that I partied with around level 45-48 who had a sub of 16 whm and didn't even have raise (which is 38 rdm 5k gil on Midgard @ AH).

If you're not willing to keep up on stuff, you'll end up looking just as bad as those Valkurm rdms. If you're dedicated to paying a lot for spells and equipment, rdm is a really great job to play.

[sr22ger]

I would have to agree that rdm's have an easy time getting pt invites even at lvl 30. I rarely wait long with my flag up.
As for the rdm's not being useful....
I think that depends upon the makeup of your party. With a taru whm and blm i usually cast a few buffs, keep regen on my tank, cast poisona or others to get rid of any conditions, and backup cure in case of an emergency. If the whm is low on mp, they will sit and I will take over the curing duties for a while. I do not think that is not being useful. Granted i don't cause a lot of melee damage, i don't think that was ever the point of being a rdm.
If I find a party with a whm that is some other race other than taru, or a pt without a blm, I usually stand back with the mages and cast.

Keeping downtime to a minimum is always useful to any party.