How are Red Mages?

[Goldesper]

Re: How are Red Mages?

I used to play a little bit of guild wars (only the demo's they would release, never actually bought the game.)

RDM is comparable to a mezmer (enfeeble oriented) but can throw out some light nukes, and cures, and has 2 potent abilities to restore MP (Convert-HP -> MP MP-> HP, can only target yourself) and Refresh 3mp/tick MP Regen.

WHM Is comparable to monk, mostly curing.

and BLM is um... basically you cast the spells that makes the enemies fall downs.

In FFXI your subclass is limited however, making some job combonations useless for party play (IE RDM/NIN is situational, mostly for solo), However, you can switch your sub class (main class too!) any time your in your mog house.

(BTW, its been a long time since I played GuildWars, so some of that might be a little wrong.)

[Bricklayer]

Re: How are Red Mages?

Help a newbie out

I've been looking for get FFXI for sometime now, but I only just decided to purchase it. I'm an active Guildwars player, and the two games seem so different

One of my friends reccomended I go Red Mage. So I just want some oppinions. How do they play? Are they useful? What roles do they play in party's? Is it worth leveling? What secondary job goes well with it?

And answers and comments appreciated.

^^

I guess I'd decide first a general category you want to pursue (such as mages, or physical DD's). Pragmatically, I would start by lvl'ing WHM (easy to find parties) to 18 (?) to get a subjob. Then, I would level a couple of jobs in one category, such as WHM/RDM/BLM or WAR/MNK, to 30+. This should save you some money on equipment, save you storage space, and also make leveling subjobs a bit less painful. If you feel like getting quested jobs (SMN, DRG, etc), then you can do that after 30.

At that point, you should start to get an idea for what job you want to take to 75. Of course, as the other posters (with FAR more experience than I) have stated, some jobs, like RDM, change dramatically at 41 (or other levels), so it may be worth your while to do some research (read read read) on what jobs look like in the higher levels.

This is my current strategy, and I've already noticed that BLM, WHM, and RDM have very different party roles, though I haven't decided which one to take up to 75 first (I originally planned on RDM myself, and may still go that route, who knows?).

Hope this helps some.

[Aeni]

Re: How are Red Mages?

LOL speaking of class comparisons, I kinda of thought RDMs in this game were like Shamans in WOW. But I heard Shaman Wind Fury spec got nerfed. *cries* I'll have to respec my shammy later.

[Bricklayer]

Re: How are Red Mages?

LOL speaking of class comparisons, I kinda of thought RDMs in this game were like Shamans in WOW. But I heard Shaman Wind Fury spec got nerfed. *cries* I'll have to respec my shammy later.

Is that a recent thing? Did they lower the proc %, or the attack bonus? Anyway, enhancement shaman is fun! 2H mace anyone?

From what I've seen, I think it's hard to compare RDM to any class in WoW. I'd say RDM is more like a WoW pally in the damage department, but then en-spells are kinda like the elemental weapon buffs on shaman.... *shrug* shaman has a totally gimped, never used mana totem... useless {refresh}?

Anyway, back to my original post... I'd just think about whether I wanted to do big damage or be in a support role. Then, further refine from there. If I had the time and mog space, I'd want to take every job to 75 just to see everything.

[Amarok]

Re: How are Red Mages?

A couple of things that I don't think have been mentioned so far is:

Since you have to level another job once you get your 1st job to 18 (after you complete your subjob quest), you'll get a chance to try out another mage job anyway (most likely WHM). FFXI is a game where you can change between any jobs in the time it takes to go home and swapout your armor (which in the case of RDM, WHM and BLM you can get by with pretty much the same set of armor).

Because of the subjob thing, most people do their 1st job lvl 1-18, then do their second job to 30 (allowing the 1st job to be a viable half strength sub during all those levels). So with that in mind you might want to start out as WHM, then switch to RDM when you reach 18, and take RDM to 37 before you have to switch back to WHM to stop it being an underlevelled sub.

I know its a long way off, but RDMs have the most difficult time beating the level 70 cap quest (the Maat fight). I know of 2 people who have given up trying to beat Maat as RDM once they reached 70 and have resorted to levelling another job to 70 to break the lvl 70 cap. The fight is of course possible, and if you like a challenge its probably a positive rather then a negative.

Ama

[Vaigrant]

Re: How are Red Mages?

Just to throw in for some earlier commesnts I saw. I for one dont believe after 41 its all about Refresh. Refresh is a large part of it yes, but its not the End all of your egsistance as a Rdm. Enfeebling is(At least to me) the most Important thing you can do.

Dispel is probably the best spell a Rdm Gets as far as Im concerned, theres no bettter feelign than seeing an Evasion Boost or Defense Boost just Disappear without a second thought.

If you let Refresh consume your entire existance as a Rdm you'll lose a good part of what being a Rdm is.

At 32 Dispel plays a very large role in Rdm, learning what Monster abilities you want to Dispel takes a bit of research and trial and error.

The bread and butter spells like Paralyze, Slow and Blind will always be used, or at least should be. Silence if its a mage as well should always be implimented.

Rdm is highly versitile, but dont go in expecting to do alot of Damage. You are first and foremost a Support Job. Rdm/Whm and Rdm/Blm are the most ACCEPTED ways of playing, but Ive started to take an interest in the workings of Rdm/Brd.

Rdm/Nin Ive heard of in PTs before but only in extreem cases, its mostly a Solo way to play, but as a Rdm/Nin it is possible to take down various Mobs that no other job can.

Rdm/Drk is of course the one of the least used of the combos Ive really heard about and looked into. Used mostly for Endgame God Battles for its Stun+Chainspell combo.

Im sure peple will argue my points but this is what Rdm is to me, everyone has their own opinons. So you should really try out all the Jobs before dedicating to one. . .I was origionally a Thf when I started, it was a short lived career though lol.

[Karinya]

Re: How are Red Mages?

Dispel is probably the best spell a Rdm Gets as far as Im concerned, theres no bettter feelign than seeing an Evasion Boost or Defense Boost just Disappear without a second thought.

Actually there is; when you do the Assault "Lamia No. 13", you'll see. :D

I agree with the rest of your post though, and I would add that your second best spell (IMO) is Silence. Silence can really shut down a lot of monsters and almost single-handedly make them half as dangerous as they would be otherwise (or less). Particularly in areas like Dynamis, where one unsilenced monster can sleep, paralyze or even petrify 30+ players at once.

The combination of Dispel and Silence makes RDM the game's number one anti-caster. Mage-type beastmen, skeletons, weapons, etc. are much weaker when you have a good RDM to take away all their magic.

[Vaigrant]

Re: How are Red Mages?

Oh I whole heartedly agree about Silence. Even if Im just soloing or farming it even makes that much easier when I can take away the ability to cast. I think too many have build up Refresh as the End all Be all of Rdming.

I was just writting posts at 2am(Thanks insomnia) and didnt really feel like writting all I felt about Rdm. I love Rdm, I lov eplaying and Id love to think Im good if not great at it(Ive had alot ofPT members tell me so), but there are some general pet peeves that get to me from time to time.