RDM Advice Needed!!

[Enialas]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

So what WhtM Magic and Blck magic will I learn at lvl 26-30 as a RdM?

regarding the bar- spells, they cost gil and clutter your magic tab, however, everyother black magic, white magic and red magic spell i recommend. save up for dispel and/or goto Rabao (i think i heard it's sold there)

if you want to know specifically which ones are available... (|Um..|) I haven't a clue. I've done Eco Warrior (cap 20), BCNM20, 2-3 cap 25, and BCNM/Ballista 50, So knowing Sneak, Invis, Sleep and what other spells you can and can't cast are important....

since I've never done a prommy-holla/dem/mea or bcnm 30 I just can't help any further than to "check the AH"

[Gwynn]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

This is just my personal experience, but like many of the Red Mages here I've never really had trouble getting parties. There was one time in Kazham when I seeked for like 7 hours and didn't get anything, but that was the only time. Generally if you seek for about an hour tops you'll get a party.

Best general advice for low level Red Mages is this: be versatile. Have multiple subjobs if you can manage it. Keep up on your spells, especially Red Mage specific spells. Be efficient with your MP, as it can be rather tough before you get Convert/Refresh. Get used to not meleeing, especially against mobs with AoE. Make sure you are comfortable playing in multiple styles: Red Mages will be called upon to main heal, back up heal, enfeeble, nuke, backup nuke, and in certain situations meleeing. Learn to Dispel and Refresh! If you can't manage to do anything else, at least get used to Dispel and Refresh.

[Nautica]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

Galaxia, don't evel turn an ear to those people that say that Rdm are worthless and get no invites until 41. I leveled VERY fast from 11 up to 41, took slightly over a month. The biggest problem that you as a Rdm in a party will deal with, is a misguided leader that fails to understand one Key fact......."RDM'S ARE NOT WHM'S!!!!" You will sadly, deal with this is you haven't already, and they wil pull mad amounts of IT+ mobs, taking more damage that you can cure. Then when the die, you'll take blame. Ask any Rdm out there, they'll tell you the same. When you hit 41 going to 48, keep Refresh on the mages, and enfeeble the crap out of the mob, then take a knee and rest. Nuke if you can, but not a lot. Same for backup healing, just keep people alive when the Whm is being an @$$clown. At 48, same process, except keep Haste on the D.D.'s. Rdm is a balanced class and we get pty invites....just remember to take the advice of some who're higher than you, and keep a macro for Dia, Slow, and Paralyze. You'll earn a rep as a good rdm who listens to advice, and people will invite you more.

[Taskmage]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

Don't forget to always Dispel any buffs the mob casts also.

Someone said this before me, but whenever I sit it never fails that someone's Refresh or Haste fades, the mob buffs itself, or the SC goes off and I'm late on the MB (usually the only time I nuke). As such, after 40 I would recommend boosting your MP as much as reasonable and keep your HP above it (issue for me as taru) and learn to ration your MP out so you run out just after Convert becomes ready. RDM rest when they die, so never. That's what's worked best for me, anyway. Obviously this is a lot easier to do in a party with a WHM or a competant NIN tank. Even at 52 I consider it a rare treat to have a WHM in the party.

...

Nautica, your hume is hot.

[Nautica]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

True that! ^_^ My forgot the Dispel bit! That's assuming you don't have a hella-on it ninja using Magic Finale. If you have another good Rdm along with yourself, the 2 of you can make a VERY good heading pair! As long as the pty doesn't take mega damage, and remember to let the both of ye recover your MP having had used Convert

[Aeni]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

Something about dispel ...

... Many RDMs will tell you, "but I did dispel."

Word to the wise, as a RDM, when you solo something, say a monster that cons Even Match. Do you buff up? Yes? If so, how many buffs do you apply? Lots? Yes?

When you dispel, all you are doing is removing the last buff which the monster applied to itself. You do not know if a monster has 1 buff, 2 buffs or 20 buffs.

Always pay attention to the screen. Rather than filtering out everything, I highly advise changing text color so that the important system messages you are keeping track of will stand out from the rest of the spam, but that you still have the ability to see the spam in case you miss something (e.g., You dispel and remove Monster A's shell buff but notice that the melees are hitting for 0s or low #s. Casting another dispel here will remove the stoneskin or defense buff)

[Deathguise]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

^^
Also people have to remember we are sometimes doing other things, and that we need to wait for the short recast of Dispel first. As melee's tend to get cranky when they hit for 0, fighting buffed mobs is sometimes hard on the Dispeller. :<

[Taskmage]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

This is especially true if you're fighting beastmen with other spellcasting beastmen nearby. Even WAR Antica or DRG Sahagin are likely to have 2-3 buffs on them from the nearby casters.

That said, it really annoys me when the party is up against crabs or beetles or somesuch and the melee are yelling at me to Dispel as soon as the mob gets to camp or midway through the fight when they see their damage sucks and I know that I haven't let any defensive specials through. I always do to make them happy, and it never fails that my spell finds no buff. These mobs do not come prebuffed, and I'm a pretty competant RDM, so if I hear a Rhino Guard or what have you, there's a Dispel in the air before the effect even resolves or the next available instant after my current spell finishes. If your damage still sucks, I'm sorry. IT++ is not something I can Dispel.

[Gwynn]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

There will be spurts of levels where you're fighting mobs that do not buff themselves... my advice is to not let it phase you. It can be very hard to get back into a rigid Dispelling mindset after 50k+ of exp without casting it.

[aegina]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

any job that can cure has to beat the invites off with a stick. it's not a matter of which level you are at, or how well you can cure. there are too many melee's and not enough mages in this game, so any job that can cure is set for invites.

think of the pre-patch dragoons, lfg for weeks. think of the darks and monks who sit in jeuno for days waiting for a pt, not because they aren't useful, but because there's too many jobs who fill the same pt slot as they.

the white mages, summoners, red mages and black mages have it made when it comes to pt invites, because every pt needs healers, and there never seems to be enough to go around.

and as for soloing, all jobs have trouble soloing, even easy prey. even the infamous bst has trouble soloing, it's just not as obvious with them. this game is rigged to try to make soloing for exp as near to impossible as it can get. don't be surprised if you get killed by an easy prey, it happens sometimes (though less often to the red mages )

for red mages, soloing doesnt really get easy until you get refresh. before then, you're basically just like all the other jobs when it comes to soloing mobs. once you get to the refresh levels, you've learned a bunch of neat buffs (stoneskin, phalanx, etc) just buff up before hand and you'll be fine^^

[Armando]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

Also keep in mind that you can't expect to rush at a mob with +INT/MND and +MP gear, no +VIT or +STR, no attack food and uncapped sword skill and expect to live before you get the really vital buffs/abilities (Phalanx, Refresh, Convert) ^^ Mobs are designed to have a lot of HP as it is so that you take them on as a group, and you really have to be decked out like a melee if you want to melee ;3 Regarding invites, I've always loved having RDMs in my parties even though I had never levelled with Refresh until this week. I always keep an eye out for them when forming parties. As a melee/tank I REALLY appreciate Gravity's Evasion -10 and the backup healing, as well as watching the mob slowly try to approach mages when they pull hate, and when levelling mage jobs it really helps me out to have someone taking care of a good deal of the enfeebling.

And yeah, what Aegina said holds true. I don't enjoy doing it, and I know most RDMs don't either, but there've been occasions where I've had to ask a RDM to be a main healer, or to work together with another mage to keep us alive. Sometimes it works, but it's hard. Even when we don't need a main healer, it's nice to have another person that can cure for when things get rough. Maybe you won't get as many invites as a WHM or BLM, but you'll still get plenty ^^

[Kafeen]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

That said, it really annoys me when the party is up against crabs or beetles or somesuch and the melee are yelling at me to Dispel as soon as the mob gets to camp or midway through the fight when they see their damage sucks and I know that I haven't let any defensive specials through. I always do to make them happy, and it never fails that my spell finds no buff. These mobs do not come prebuffed, and I'm a pretty competant RDM, so if I hear a Rhino Guard or what have you, there's a Dispel in the air before the effect even resolves or the next available instant after my current spell finishes. If your damage still sucks, I'm sorry. IT++ is not something I can Dispel.

I know that feeling. I've had numerous time where I've had someone shouting for a dispel when nothing was cast. One in particular was adamant, I told her nothing had been cast but she insisted that a crab had used defence boost. I dispel to see the "Dispel has no effect" text. I pointed out that nothing had been there to dispel to which she replies..."Then why am I doing more damage now?", some people just can't admit that they're wrong.

[Taskmage]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

Actually, I'd say RDMs soloing ability starts at 33 with Phalanx. At 34 with Phalanx and Stoneskin I was able to solo an EM Quad in Rolanberry. I ended the fight with not enough MP to cast another spell and dangerously low HP, but even with the weak soloing skills I had back then, beating an EM was possible. Convert and Refresh just remove most of the downtime, much as they do in an exp party.

At 52, I often go hunting DC mobs for fun and skillups. DC beastmen are a little more dangerous, but other mobs shouldn't put you in any real danger as long as you pull them to a safe place to avoid links and aggro. The experience isn't great but it's there. Back in the 40s I got antisocial for some reason, and spent a whole level soloing DC-EM Gazers in Eldieme. It took me a couple days, but I got a level solo from scratch. Party experience is always better, of course.

[Orpheausjr]

Re: RDM Advice Needed!!

Im a RDM for life, the olny time I lvl something else it is to better the rdm. And as far as pting goes they may not be as good nuking and healing but its always good to have back up, and with that I have never had to wait for a pt. With the /sub I would have both keep BLM and WHM at the same lvl, I mainly pt with BLM but evry now and then you will need WHM. To close this up (I am at work and there calling for all sale man to the office lol) Just have fun with RDM its a great job. 8^)

Double Post Edited:
P.S. Rdm/NIN is a ton of fun!