Need some 60+ help...

[Drynavere]

Ok... so here's the facts...

I'm a 41 RDM, retired at the moment on my RDM, because I didn't like the fact that I'd be standing there the whole battle, doing nothing but making sure people had refresh. Now my question is:

Does this ever change??

At levels 50+, or even 60+ say... is the role of a RDM in a party, still to be a refresh whore and stand around and look cool?
As a RDM I wanna be nuking... I don't mind refreshing people, just don't wanna dedicate my entire MP pool towards doing so... and if you've gotta refresh 4 people, thats 160 MP, so if you plan on chaining, your basically stuck doing nothing but refreshing to conserve mp for chains.

What is your role as a RDM in a party at higher levels... and can it be altered to suit your wants? I want to be a RDM still, because my DRK is getting boring again, but I don't wanna stand around fulfilling demands of 'Refresh now please!!'... I wanna be able to backup heal and nuke, and still have some MP left to do so. Is this possible? At what level? Thanks ahead.

[Silkiv]

For me at 53 its mostly refresh, dispel and other enfeebles.

I also like to nuke but am having to many resists for my liking. I'm guessing if I saved up for a ice staff I could nuke a little. Moldavite earring and AF hat (60+) and elemental torque (65+) would probably make it easier too.

[MMan530]

60+ will be the same. The reason you're invited into a party is for Refreshing and enfeebling.

My job goes down like this:
Refresh
Enfeeble
Haste
Magic Burst
Elemental Seal + Nuke if possible

If I still have MP over, I may toss in a nuke here or there- but we're enfeeblers. Unless you spend a lot of gil raising your elemental magic and int, you'll never get great returns on your nukes. Even then, you'll only be as good as a mediocre blm- blms have access to higher strength spells.

Instead of buying elemental staves and an elemental torque- spend it on an enfeebling torque!

[DrSerpico]

Extra thoughts added

Calixta has the jist of it.

Our main job is to sacrifice our mp to keep everyone elses up. We are the downtime killers. Together with brd, there's no other class that can cut downtime so effectively as the Red Mage.

Enfeebles makes the mob do less damage and take more, so that saves whm mp. Haste makes partys dmg go up, less time wasted, less damage taken, more mp left.

Refresh... Errr, we know what this does.

And nuke on bursts for that extra wittle damage, you will after 1 hour have added about 3k+ dmg through bursts.

Now, about the eq... I'm a fan of elemental staves. In my own opinion, they help my enfeebles. Greatly. Discussion is up about corresponding staves increasing the accuracy of your enfeebles... When you get some more monye, dark staff is a given buy. Ice Is next, macro in for nukes. I've also purchased an Earth staff, solely for landing slow reliantly.

Slow lowers the dmg output GREATLY. That spel must land within 2 casts. ^^ And with earth staff, at least for me, it lands ALMOST every time. Next up is a wind staff to be able to silence even nasty resistant mobs. Light staff for cures is another one.

These however aren't required. But make sure to pick up the enfeebling torque at 65. +skill = good for you. (hence why ice staff helps so much)

Well well... I ramble, as always. Read, use what you like, discard the rest. Good luck!

[Chucklez_1]

Here's what I do if there's a BLm in the party and pld and whm as MP consumers:

Refresh Me
Aspir (if enemy's got MP)
Haste 1st melee
Gravity
Refresh Paladin
Dia II
Paralyze
Haste 2nd melee
Refresh WHM
Slow
Blind (because the prick Flash can't be removed by Blind)
Refresh BLM
Rest then maybe burst here or just dispel like a maniac (depending on mp left)

Post 48, you're job is to now try consume most of ur mp every 10 minutes to make the pt work at its best. You're a haster/refresher/debuffer/mber RDM.

Many times now I've been asked to be main healer...but only once have I ever been asked to be a main nuker (Ok I only did like 250 per nuke...300 if I'm lucky...but it was 'decent' and i actually got aggro a few times despite that it was a 2 ranger pt)

[bonovoxpsu]

INT GEAR
refresh
gravity
poison2 (sometimes bio2/dia2 used instead)
MND GEAR
refresh
slow
para
NUKE GEAR
refresh
NUKE
NUKE
refresh (last one)
NUKE
etc.

being a taru rdm/blm with ice staff, moldavite, wizard's earring among others gives me the luxury to do this. the whm takes care of dia2 and hasting.

staves and enfeebles? meh. go with +int or +mnd gear instead. i've had much better success having +++mnd as apposed to the ice staff when landing para.

basically i look at getting through my refresh rounds and enfeebling rounds and look forward to the nukies. i average anywhere from 10%-15% of our pt's total damage, chain4'ing IT proc's right now in boyhada (not sure if they're IT anymore, just ding'd to 65 last night). that doesn't count the DOT's - poison2 to be exact.

with that ice staff, burn almost ALWAYS sticks (elemental enfeebles). i usually back up the blm, if his misses, i toss it as quickly as i can. back up your blm's!

and if our blm has been nuking hard, i look to finish the mob so he can save some MP. when you get down to that little sliver of HP left, i go blizzard I and thunder I to try and finish real fast.

i've found my job to be quite a bit more then a refresh whore lately. but then, i've also made it that - tons of elemental gear (gonna get the elemental torque and enfeebling torque now). i don't anticipate every race can do this, though. but for me, it is NOT just a refresh whore - but that is my #1 priority.

[DrSerpico]

Odd.

Have you tried sticking para with mnd eq+ ice staff instead of your wand? Or did you "just" use the staff?

I tried it over a couple of hours, and I noted a difference. Maybe I just got delusional from grinding exp for 5+ hours straight, but hey, we've all been there. Then again, maybe you get more out of mnd since you're a taru?

I totally condone with nuking every now and then if you're a taru rdm... high int and extra mp to burn. I do it on bursts and sliver hp only. Mithra int sucks ^^

[Pounce]

Refresh is the main thing I've been doing since 41.

Stick enfeebles at start of fight, supplement the WHM's healing between Refreshes as necessary.

Nukes I generally reserve for MB or towards the end of fights when the mob "just has to die right now".

I know many people swear by melee too, but I stay out of it.

[Tomoh]

RDM job doesn't change in 70's either. The job is really tiring. I've switched to leveling SMN and enjoying the change. I will rotate from RDM-> SMN-> BLM.

BTW, I don't melee anymore in 70's since mobs area attacks makes me ineffcient. I go to Sky to skill up my 1-H sword and Dagger skill. I'm also doing the WS quest. What for? I don't know. Just like to have things completed.

[Vinen]

If I ever come back to FFXI I dread the new point system for gaining stats. Grouping is way to tiring for me in FFXI.

[Beener]

I nuke more than any rdm i know

When i hit my Elemental Macros my INT gets to +20 with an ice staff, i never miss an MB (500 dmg is nothing to balk at)

I don't melee in parties but my dagger and sword are both maxed at 228 (thx sweetie ^^)

an important factor in nuking is +elem skill (ice staff, wizard's earring if /blm, AF hat) and making sure the mob is weak to what you're casting if not MB

[Pounce]

Awww....Vinen, you quit? -_-;