New to RDM

[Dyft]

Hello everyone, I suppose a little back story on the situation might help. For the last couple years I have been playing, I've been running a 2nd account with a Tarutaru Whm/Blm. However I recently decided that I wanted to make him a RDM/WHM or pink mage if you will. I suppose the key factor behind this decision is that my main (on the main account) is a Blu/Nin. When I started playing the game I had chosen RDM because at the time I had thought of it as a melee mage. Basically I had the impression of how my blu/nin plays. Anyhow this is all really a long way of saying that I felt a RDM capable of healing for my BLU in a duo and would rather have refresh.

Having said all of that I was wanting to know if you all had any thoughts? Do you think this is a good idea? Do you think a RDM is an adaquite main heal in SMALL parties (3 man or 2 man)?

I played RDM to 37 on my main account but felt as a Elvaan my mana pool was too small and went to focus more on melee jobs. At high levels, say 70+ which duo (played by 1 person) do you all think would be more effective? Rdm/nin + Rdm/nin , Blu/nin + Rdm/nin , or Blu/nin + Rdm/whm?

Last but not least, If i were able to grind out the remaining 4 levels, would I be less hindered by the Elvaan mana pool? (having convert and refresh) or would I still contintue to feel like my smaller mana pool is an issue?

Thanks in advance for all advice and imput and thank you for your time.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: New to RDM

If you're coming to Red Mage just to main heal, you insult the job. I mean, that's nothing you can't do just as well, if not better on your Blue Mage.

Seriously, just try going BLU/WHM (or "cyan mage," if you will) and healing your party crazy. It's an abysmally underutilized part of the job, anyway.

Also, ignoring all forms of Refresh and MP modifiers gained from equipped gear/spells, Red Mages and Blue Mages are actually equal in terms of MP.

Any Red Mage in the party that isn't Refreshing you, especially if you're freaking healing the party, is him/herself a much bigger insult to the job than your preconception of it, anyway.

[Feenicks]

Re: New to RDM

If you're going to two-box, then RDM/WHM is the best job to level up for your secondary character. It will support your BLU in every way that you would want it to, and free your BLU from healing duties in duo/trio situations and let you focus on damage.

Ignore most of what Yellow Mage says, it sounds like he's missed the part where you're thinking of using it for two-boxing purposes.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: New to RDM

Ignore most of what Yellow Mage says, it sounds like he's missed the part where you're thinking of using it for two-boxing purposes.

That I did. I missed any and all implications of him using it as a dual-box support.

My points still stand, though!

[Dyft]

Re: New to RDM

Feen, First off, I'm glad that you think that the RDM will do what I want him to. I figured that RDM would probally be the best due to refresh, I know they dont have quite the healing UMPH that the WHM has (at least from 1-31) but its close enough to get the job done. So far the only problem I am having is not having raise.. (25 whm 38 rdm? seriously comeon....)

Yellow, I do know that a RDM can do much more then be a healer with refresh, and I am sure that eventually id be using him to solo stuff for my friends and I. However at the moment I am just wanting a good reliable healer, especially one that has refresh. (11 more levels!) 2 days ago the RDM was 26 so hes trucking along quite well so far.

I have been working some macros for enfeebling. I have heard mention of a <bt> command for macros? can anyone explain to me what it is and how it works? Currently I have 3 macros for debuffing and if I could trim it down to 2 or maybe even 1 that would be awsome. Currently the first macro is the /assist macro, which i suppose has 4 lines left that could be used. The 2nd macro is dia slow para 5 lines used (got the waits in there) with the 3rd macro being gravity and blind. Ive been using gravity since I heard somewhere that it lowers the mobs evasion?

Currently the way I try to work him is at the start of the fight he does the enfeebles and tosses a regen on the tank (which at the moment has been me... leveling war for subjob. To my supprise my war/nin has been holding up rather well. My friend is currently working on his dancer (70) so for 5 more levels for him hes locked in on dnc. That means when I log on to play I'm currently sitting with a RDM/WHM, WAR/NIN, and a DNC/NIN. Due to RDM not having raise yet, we have been getting a WHM/who cares for the party incase someone dies, and filling the last 2 slots with dds. Having 3 competent healers may be why my War/Nin is holding up so well. Anyhow back to the RDM

So what are the best enfeebles and what do they do? I know the core enfeebles such as Slow (reduce attack speed), blind (reduce accuracy) sleep (sleep enemy) dia (reduce defence) paralyze (cause paralyze) but what are the other good ones out there? If mana permits on my RDM id like to have the mob as enfeebled as he can get without wasting mana on pointless enfeebles. Also how long do they generally last? on long fights i have generally been casting them at the start of the fight and at about half hp, on easy fights just at the start.

Once the RDM hits 75 (haha in like 4 years from now J/k) I wouldent be supprised to find myself maining the RDM and 2nd boxing the other account, as ive always had this unhealthy love for melee RDMs (and yes i know they suck at it post like 20 but as long as i can melee T and lower id be quite happy. Also, do Taru's make good RDMs?

Thanks for the advice and support and I hope to hear more from you all

[Auro]

Re: New to RDM

FFXIclopedia.

Best site ever!

Look up each of the spells in question and you'll get detailed, tested and confirmed answers

<bt> is like an assist target... thing... It causes the spell to be cast on the mob your party is engaged with. Whether or not you use it is a personal choice. Personally I don't use it for enfeebles because... say you sleep an add, and you want to enfeeble the sleeping mob before the pt engages it, if your enfeebs are <bt> you won't be able to. For that same reason, I don't put my big 3 enfeebs in 1 macro.

Also do NOT use <bt> in your sleep macro lol. Or you'll just sleep the mob your party is fighting.

I do sometimes use <bt> for nukes, because you don't have to target the mob to cast the nuke on it, which makes MBing while buffing or healing easier.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: New to RDM

I NEVER EVER use <bt> and I don't recommend it to anyone either! <bt> targets the mob who's name is red (or whatever color) that your party is battling. Sometimes with links, you'll target the wrong mob and do whatever spell on them. Now this could be a simple sleep spell which isn't too bad unless you just wasted it on the wrong mob. Or it could be something harmless like Paralyze or Slow which you'll end up doing anyways. For nukes, it could be a very bad thing if you nuke the sleeping mob and not the one that your pt is engaged on. BUT if its something more devestating like Bio or Dia, then you could be in a world of hurt and could end up wiping your party. Is it really worth the chance for a tiny bit of convienence? Imo, no its not but everyone is different.

[The Mauva Syndicate]

Re: New to RDM

Slow>Paralyze>Dia II
That's pretty much it for the enfeebles unless you need a dispel. Maybe Bio II if your fighting mobs with very high attack. as you get higher you will need to fill in between those with your hastes, refreshes and such.

eventually you will be in two states - healing for mp or frantically busy casting
if you can dual-box around that (like maybe another job that is busy/not busy)

[Nuriko]

Re: New to RDM

Personally, I like using <bt> to pick up a target (on incoming pulls and such) but never use it for anything else. A possibility that might be worth considering is using an /assist line to pick up your own target.

[Ellipses]

Re: New to RDM

I wouldn't recommend putting multiple enfeebles in one macro. What are the odds that they're all going to wear off at exactly the same time? Most of the time, you'll be stuck either waiting for the other two to wear to recast so you don't waste MP, or casting 2/3 right on top of themselves again. Plus eating up all that casting time every time instead of being able to cast one, cure if you need to, cast the next, etc.

I have one /ta <bt> macro to target the incoming mob, and then everything else is either <t> or <st(pc)>. <st> would probably be a pain for 2-boxing, though.

You might have a better time setting up a macro set for each party member for the spells you need to cast a lot (Haste, Refresh, Regen, various cures/status removals), and have a /macro set up to swap between them. (e.g. Alt-0 on all sets switches to the switching set, then Alt-2 on that set switches to the party member 2 set, where all the non-enemy-target macros are /ma "Whatever" <p2>.)

I think that's how I would roll if I were to 2-box. It's not as nice as a dedicated mage, but no 2-box main healer ever is.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: New to RDM

Yellow, I do know that a RDM can do much more then be a healer with refresh,

Please clarify: do you mean much more than a healer with refresh or much more than a healer with refresh? I want to know whether I'm offended or not.



That aside,

However at the moment I am just wanting a good reliable healer, especially one that has refresh.

As far as jobs capable of healing and reliably restoring their own MP at the same time, your options are basically Red Mage and Scholar, though other jobs can arguably do the job for you. While Scholar can also appeal to you on various levels, don't forget Dancer either, as they are low-man machines. For dual-boxing, just set the Dancer to auto-attacking for TP, then just Samba and Waltz as necessary, no MP required! You can also enfeeble the enemy with various Step attacks, then perform special attacks with Flourishes.

And please, heal on your Blue Mage once in a while anyway: the job is more than capable of it, and yet it is depressingly its most under-used aspect (kind of the opposite position Red Mage is in, but I digress).

As far as actual Red Mage advice, everyone else pretty much covered all the bases. Gravity is a pretty good Enfeeble to cast once in a while, too, as aside from the more obvious movement speed reduction (which is pretty much only good for kiting stuff, which I don't think you plan to do), it is practically one-quarter of a Shield Break, which is kind of awesome if you just want to have your party land hits that much more.

[Auro]

Re: New to RDM

Poor Blind...

Nobody's even mentioned it lol, which makes me feel better for not even having it macroed (though I cast it manually every now and then)

[Dyft]

Re: New to RDM

First I would like to say, for dual-boxing <bt> has been a godsend.. /assist locks me onto the target and its such a hassle to unlock from the target and everything else to heal after casting my enfeebles or to heal. On the rare circumstance that we actually do get a link my sleep macro is set up to <stnpc>.

As far as putting enfeebles on the same macro, It comes down to time efficiency vs. micromanagement. Yes its true I could spend a lot of time watching the chat log waiting to see my enfeebles wear off. But 99 times out of 100 I'm also the main heal. I've just been tossing the set of enfeebles at 98% hp and then again at 50% hp. I have never had a single complaint on that. While yes I know, I could micromanage it more and get more enfeebles in there, Its just not as efficient as putting that energy twards my warrior who is shadow tanking (dont ask me why.... he was just doing 3-4x better then the NIN in the party. (my guess is because I have the Eisn+1 set + shadows where as the nin has soil set + shadows. )

The RDM is 33 now and I have to say, my first complaint is not getting raise until 38.. W T F.... I cant believe SCH gets Raise before RDM.... :/ that kinds stings a little. I haven't unlocked scholar yet or partied with many of them but they seem very similar to a RDM in the aspect that they get white magic and black magic but dont see why they get raise before RDM. Why not the same level?

As far as being able to main heal and enfeeble, its been a bit of a challenge (only have about 350 mp at 33 which is laughable compared to what I had as a WHM at that level (Think I broke 400 in the early 20s). I have been unable to try out Dia II yet as my warrior (leveling for subjob) is only 30 and well... I've been syncing him for the last 13 levels. I am now 8 Levels from refresh and 7 from convert. My little Tarutaru RDM is starting to salivate at the mouth for these little tricks. Most of my parties are a balanced melee type so once i hit 41 the refresh cycle shouldn't be too rough... just myself and maybe a Pld. The usual setup is Rdm, War, Dnc, 2DD (9/10 they are melee DDs) and the 6th slot usually goes to a DD or WHM (Whm if its somewhere getting a raise is difficult, and the only reason we pick one up is because the Rdm cant raise yet. I think at 38 this will become a permanent DD spot)

P.S. I have healed MANY MANY MANY MANY times on my Blu, I actually have a full set of gear for healing. I have done this as /Whm and /Rdm. I have played in a 6 Blu party before, now that was an interesting party. Xp was average id say.... bout 3k an hour if i remember right.

[Dyft]

Re: New to RDM

well this is going to be a short post as I am posting it from my Iphone. Having said that, I would first like to say that the rdm is now 41. I haven't used refresh much because I hit 41 then went and got my af1 sword which is in my backpack because I'm using the +5 int/mnd wand then called it a night cuz it was 5am. The rdm is really starting to pick up as a healer now. I absolutely love gravity. Anyhow I'll try to post more later.

[MrMageo]

Re: New to RDM

Taru makes great RDM, all races do really.

As for your ambition to be a melee RDM, it is quite possible throught your leveling, it just requires a lot of time to get gear (and/or money). At 75 with a decent build you can do really well as a hybrid type melee on all common merit mobs (birds,mamool,trolls). On HNM's you can hit them but you don't hit that hard, best advice for them, when you get there. Store up 300TP open a Skill Chain, burst off it, and then swap to an enspell build (can reach about 85% ACC on enspells with 300+ enhancing and about +10 MACC).

The potential to be a combat caster is there it just takes a lot of time to make it work. Which is why most people give up or dont try it at all.