Can any exp redmage answer this please?

[Antmf]

Hey all I have narrowed down to two jobs red or whitemage. Now for my question... I really dont want to be just a heal bot I want to feel a little more useful then just heal botting and want to be able to solo some things in game mostly for just vanity I guess and be very vesatile. NOw is this what a redmage is and a whitemage is not? Please let me know because I am seriously battling what job is for me and being a noob I am not sure. Please let me know. Also is MP a problem when main healing as a redmage and is it possible to main heal ad do redmages run out of mp a lot faster the whm? PLease let me know the pros and cons. Thanks all...

[Spiritbear]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

I haven't played much of my Rdm but I can tell you that Rdm is able to solo. Whm is not the job you want to play as you will be healing and buffing the party as Whm.

If all else fails you can play all the jobs and try them out to see if you like them.

[Tirrock]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Q) I want to be more than just a heal bot and to be able to solo, is this what RDM is and WHM isn't?

A) In a nutshell - yes. WHM aren't amazing soloers, and honestly can't do much outside of buffing/healing and maybe enfeebling in exp parties. RDM aren't quick soloers, but from 34 on, they're near indestructable with their stoneskin and phalanx combo. So long as you don't bite off more than you can chew.

Q) Is MP a problem when main healing as RDM?

A) It can be. It really depends on your party set-up, the tank(s) skill, and your level. As well as your equipment, skill, and items. Sometimes you'll get a party where nobody is really a tank, just a bunch of damage dealers with provoke. You have cure, so you get made the healer, just like they get made the tank.

Leveling your cooking skill up to be able to make your own pinapple juice is a good idea. It helps keep your MP up and is fairly cheap to make. Ginger cookies are inexpensive (as cheap as 11 gil a cookie) and make it so you get more MP back while resting. Keeping debuffs on monsters will also help your MP by reducing the amount of damage the tank takes.

Q) Do RDMs run out of MP a lot faster than WHMs?

A) Eh...that's kind of hard to answer. RDMs usually spend more MP, but they're also capable of getting it back faster. A WHM usually needs some form of refresh (either from bard, corsair, or red mage) to be effective in a group after level 40ish. Although WHMs get more MP back than a RDM does while resting, RDMs can use convert, which swaps your HP and MP totals. (You have 500/500HP and 20/400MP, use convert and you're at 20/500HP and 400/400MP.)

If you're going into the path of a main healing RDM, I'd suggest leveling WHM anyway. WHM gets access to spells that remove negative status effects on players that other jobs just don't get. You'll likely want to use it as your subjob for most (if not all) of the groups you main heal on.

For soloing, you'll probably want to level other subjobs though. Ninja is popular for being able to evade attacks. (Especially useful at high levels.) DRK gives you access to drain/aspir spells, stun, and some weapon skills you can't normally use with your sword. I personally like to solo exp on RDM with THF sub for the evasion bonus/treasure hunter/gil finder. But I'll probably switch to NIN sub if things start getting harder, or DRK sub when I can cast drain on RDM.

Oh, and don't overlook BLM as a subjob either.

[Jei]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Heal botting.... relax friend. RDM's role a group is more complex than that.

First you have 2 spells you have to keep track of on a timely basis. Refresh on MP users, this spell gives back MP. And Haste, which fasten attack speed for melee.

Second, you're expected to debuff/enfeebling the mobs. Critically, silence to stop mage mobs from casting spells. Slow to slower their attacks, dispel to get rid of their buffs, paralyze to randomly stop their attacks.

Third is your role as a healer.

4rth, and least important in the EXP party imo, is DD/nuke.

5 sometimes Rdm has to be the puller too.

6 crowd controlling with your sleep spells.

You will never be a good RDM if you can not do ALL of the above. Refresh and haste alone will keep you very, very busy already.

Rdm can even tank with the right equipments and spells. Not until much later tho.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

They have said it all. Rdm is a very busy job, you have to think fast on your feet and basically cope with everything that is thrown at you. Most of the time, it is fairly straight forward, but sometimes something fun comes up.

I'm building my tanking set atm - my ls is actively encouraging people to try different things out. Tanking could be fun!

[Mhurron]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

I'm building my tanking set atm - my ls is actively encouraging people to try different things out. Tanking could be fun!

You are so dead.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

lol nah. We have rdm tanking wyrms a lot.

And what is a little bit of xp loss? It isn't like I can't make it up again fast.

[Murphie]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Actually, they regularly use RDMs to tank Fafnir in her LS. Probably other HNMs too, I dunno.

[Jei]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Rdm tanking faf is becoming so popular.

[Taskmage]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Sounds fun. How does it work?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Rdm tanking faf is becoming so popular.

Beware the SE nerf gun, it shot BRD's ego. I hear the bullets ignore buffs.

Anyway, I will say that if you don't like curing... like, at all, you're not going to be a very popular RDM. Still invited? Sure, people are desparate, but you should be willing to be flexible.

RDM solo is decent, I personally don't think its very exciting when you're buffing as often as you're hitting, but that's just me.

If you want to be a battle-oriented mage that isn't expected to heal that much, I'd honestly look into Blue Mage over Red Mage, they're quite potent soloists as well.

[Murphie]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

You don't buff as often as you hit. That's hyperbole at the very least.

BLU is a better "battle-mage" than RDM. But RDM and BLU both do well in different situations. There are some things one can do well that the other can't, and vice-versa.

[Taskmage]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Rdm solo does take a lot of patience though, and we do spent quite a bit of our time buffing if we're going to melee solo something of decent strength. I don't think anyone would call it exciting, but to the OP, we can be quite good at it.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Beware the SE nerf gun, it shot BRD's ego. I hear the bullets ignore buffs.

Anyway, I will say that if you don't like curing... like, at all, you're not going to be a very popular RDM. Still invited? Sure, people are desparate, but you should be willing to be flexible.

RDM solo is decent, I personally don't think its very exciting when you're buffing as often as you're hitting, but that's just me.

If you want to be a battle-oriented mage that isn't expected to heal that much, I'd honestly look into Blue Mage over Red Mage, they're quite potent soloists as well.

Yeah, but in the mean time it is fun, doesn't cost a HUGE amount of money, and gives a challange till I can afford to go all out on levelling a new job. Rdm solo isn't all about buffing hehehe - and can be good for farming - gives access to places few others go and solo.

Agreed, flexibility is key to rdm, but solo isn't all that bad.

As to how it works - rdm/nin. Load up with plenty of +emnity gear - those chainsaw sword, etc etc. Dispel, bind, blind, sleep etc all build a ton of hate. Once hate has settled, your mages and melee can go about doing damage the normal way. Faf is dual tanked, often with back up tanks - terror sucks. You can chainspell at the start to ensure you hold hate.

[FortMan]

Re: Can any exp redmage answer this please?

Sounds fun. How does it work?

As I understand, go /NIN, cap hate using dispel, blind and the like. The advantage seems to be that RDM has more damage mitigation and takes less magic damage than PLD or NIN will. Note that I have not tried this myself, though.

It does sound fun, however.

Edit: Kristeena beated me to it, guees I need more caffiene.