Answer me this...

[MindP0w3r]

Red Mages are mages even though they can wield a sword, so this means they should always stay back from the combat in a party, correct? If this is true, it would make the Red Mage always weaker than a BKM or WHM because they solely concentrate on magic? I am new to this game so please help me out, I am thinking about making RDM my sub but I need this question answers, also if there is already a thread like this I couln't find it, is there some type of "Search the Forums" I could find somewhere?

[Akai]

Re: Answer me this...

well, at lower lvls rdm can melee, but at higher lvls, the sword they carry becomes absolete and is replaced by elemental staffs @51

its true they have lower black magic but their white magic is practically the same except for the fact that they dont have cure5 or aga- whm spells such as protectra, curaga, bar-ga spells otherwise, due to convert and refresh, they can play a nice whm they do get spells later of course :x also, their blm spells are only like 200-off of a nicely equipped blm, but they can make up for it with pimp equipment

[Jei]

Re: Answer me this...

Your top priority is to cast spells. As long as you manage you spells and MP fine, you can melee.

- Stay focused on your spells while you melee. If meleeing distracts you so much you're not casting enough spells, then better not to melee.
- if your MP goes low, sit and rest. Don't keep swinging your sword.

The higher you are, the more spells you're responsible for.
Personally I think our job can get sooooo busy, to the point that meleeing just add uneccesary amount of work load. Especially after refresh at level 42.

[tdh]

Re: Answer me this...

If you go to each and every Job forms, there's bound to be a post that's sticky talking about what sub jobs work for what situations.

BLMs often sub RDM for Fast Cast and a few extra INT you get, and WHMs sometimes, though not very often, sub RDM as well.

RDM is a Jack of all Trades, but Master of only Enfeebling. I meleed to about Lv.29~30 for RDM, then completely gave it up. Others will tell you you should never melee past Lv.10, but to each their own.

RDM will get all of the base Tier I through III of Black Magic base spells. (Stone, Stone II, Stone III) We don't get any of the BLM Enfeebles natively (Burn, Frost, Chock, Rasp, etc), or the AoE elemental spells. (Blizzaga, Firaga, etc) BLM will get a 3rd Magic Atk Bonus I believe, and RDM only has two. RDM has a C+ rating in Elemental Magic, which is rated behind DRK.

White Magic side of the fence are pretty close as well. RDM will not get any of the status removal spells, or the AoE Bar spells. (Poisona, Paralyna, etc; & Barwatera, Barsleepra, etc) We do learn Cure I through IV, but not Curaga I through IV. RDM has a C- rating in Healing Magic, but even under leveled a RDM can Main Heal fairly well.

[Aeni]

Re: Answer me this...

RDMs make decent melee in soloing. In soloing, you need to melee as well as use your magic, because without either, you're not going to fare very well against EP~EM opponents.

In exp situations, however, RDMs do not fare well meleeing. Their melee counterparts blow them out of their water and enspells can only do so much. Even if they were able to pull up with the damage (Melee + Spellcasting) the primary role of a RDM is to support, which is similar to WHM, BRD, SMN and COR and to a lesser extent, THF as a hate controller (I hate the term mages, because in almost every case, a BLM does not fit into the description of "support.")

[Icemage]

Re: Answer me this...

Back in the dawn of FFXI, Red Mages were exactly as described; not so great at offensive magic, not so great at defensive magic, just so-so in everything.

The "modern" Red Mage is totally different, and fills a role all it's own. Red Mage is interesting in that it can change its role based on need, but it performs best as a party support mage: strong enfeebling magic, strong magic recovery abilities and spells, and moderately good support magic of other types (healing and attacking).

Sure, on an individual level, a Red Mage can't out-damage a Black Mage, nor out-cure a White Mage, nor mimic the special powers of a Blue Mage, but Red Mages stand alone among the mage jobs that have a quick-casting Dispel to remove enemy boost effects, the ability to cast Refresh (a spell which recovers MP over time), and make use of Convert, which gives Red Mages a nearly limitless reserve of magic to draw from.


Icemage

[Patchinko]

Re: Answer me this...

The search function is at the top-right corner of the forum next to the logout button. Click on it and enter your search terms.

*tips hat and puts hand on chin as if in thought*

As others have said, there was a time when the Red Mage was just a weak Black Mage and White Mage combined. It's true, they could land any enfeebling spell they wanted on monsters, and they were okay with a sword and shield, especially with a few nice enhancing spells like Stoneskin and Blink available to them, but beyond that they couldn't do very much. That was a sad time for Red Mages all over Vana'diel.

Then a great Red Mage by the name of... well, his name escapes me now, but he was very famous and intelligent... but anyway, this great Red Mage found an ancient tome that described the magic abilities that stradle the line between Black and White magic. He learned how to reverse the famous Erase spell and use it on a monster and he called it Dispel. And he learned how to make the famous Regen spell regenerate MP instead of HP and he called that Refresh. And then he returned to, I believe, San d'Oria and taught other Red Mages these abilities. He even learned a spell called Phalanx that increased the amount of damage the Red Mage could withstand by an incredible amount, and how to imbue his sword with the power of any of the major elemental magic schools!

Now of course almost every Red Mage knows these spells, but the older Red Mages can remember a sad time when they were unknown to us.

And of course, now the Red Mage is revered as one of the most powerful types of mages on Vana'diel. It's a rare party that doesn't want to have a Red Mage along because of all the wonderful abilities they bring with them.

And that is the story of how Red Mages became the greatest mages in Vana'diel.

*bows*

[tdh]

Re: Answer me this...

The search function is at the top-right corner of the forum next to the logout button. Click on it and enter your search terms.

*tips hat and puts hand on chin as if in thought*

As others have said, there was a time when the Red Mage was just a weak Black Mage and White Mage combined. It's true, they could land any enfeebling spell they wanted on monsters, and they were okay with a sword and shield, especially with a few nice enhancing spells like Stoneskin and Blink available to them, but beyond that they couldn't do very much. That was a sad time for Red Mages all over Vana'diel.

Then a great Red Mage by the name of... well, his name escapes me now, but he was very famous and intelligent... but anyway, this great Red Mage found an ancient tome that described the magic abilities that stradle the line between Black and White magic. He learned how to reverse the famous Erase spell and use it on a monster and he called it Dispel. And he learned how to make the famous Regen spell regenerate MP instead of HP and he called that Refresh. And then he returned to, I believe, San d'Oria and taught other Red Mages these abilities. He even learned a spell called Phalanx that increased the amount of damage the Red Mage could withstand by an incredible amount, and how to imbue his sword with the power of any of the major elemental magic schools!

Now of course almost every Red Mage knows these spells, but the older Red Mages can remember a sad time when they were unknown to us.

And of course, now the Red Mage is revered as one of the most powerful types of mages on Vana'diel. It's a rare party that doesn't want to have a Red Mage along because of all the wonderful abilities they bring with them.

And that is the story of how Red Mages became the greatest mages in Vana'diel.

*bows*

Bravo!! Very well said. Red Mage, the Ultimate Mage! ^^

[arkaine23]

Re: Answer me this...

For any jobs above level 64, red mage can be useful for a soloing subjob... It gives you a weak protect, shell, phalanx, blink, and stoneskin for damage mitigation, some curing ability and regen. Whiote mage gives all of those things except phalanx, and at lower levels, and a tad more mp as a subjob. A nice bonus of course is fast cast. This is sometimes put to use by bards who are very busy trying to cast 2-4 8 second songs per fight, and fast cast reduces these to 6 second songs. Black Mages often sub red mage in higher levels for faster casting and defensive spells, and because it gives a little more intelligence stat than subbing white mage does. Paladins can make great use of red mage sub for soloing. They have a native Enhancing Magic skill, so Phalanx and Stoneskin are not as weak for them as they would be for many other jobs trying to /rdm. It gives them great defensive spells and some more mp. They can even make use of enspells for a little extra damage.

Other than that red mage is not often subbed. Usually white mage provides the many of the things needed as a subjob in the defensive/curing department as red mage would, but at lower levels. Black mage offers nothing to main jobs without native Elemental Magic skill, except some MP and warp/escape.


Red Mage main job is a whole other matter.

[Jei]

Re: Answer me this...

just want to point out that stoneskin is 28Whm 34Rdm. So you have to be a little higher for /rdm to use