wich melee dmgdealer?

[Lionx]

Unfortunetly you might as well quit now when you dont want to farm. You said you play WoW, things are easy to get there i heard, in FFXI nothing usually comes free and most of the time it takes work to get the item you want/need. You pretty much are required to, which is why to ease some boredom have a good LS, or do them with a friend. It makes the item more worthwhile and have more value however, in which i value whatever gear i spent alot of time getting as well.

All classes need big ammount of gil to be really good at, but every class can get by minimally or decently without too much gil spent(if you think under 100K too bad D: ). However its still better to farm as gear will increase in price as levels go up. Theres many ways to farm, you just have to find out which one fits you the best.

RDM is always welcomed in parties yes. However lately there are a ton of bad ones. The main problem is, that RDMs melee alot. They should not melee in experience parties as it benefits the party nill(past the Valkurm Dune stages). They also insist that they melee and that they should, but that is a mistake and it also adds onto a bad name for RDMs Sure they can wield a sword, however they are better off using a sword soloing or doing anything outside experience parties and boss fights/critical fights. Wands and Elemental Staves are better for RDMs and staying in the back line with the mages. Red Mage is a mage first, melee last(however some dont even count it). Theres many reasons why but i wont go into them unless you are interested. . (long post otherwise)

RDMs main draw at lower levels is the same a WHM, at a reletively low level you get higher level Cures. Its not as early as WHM but its good enough that RDM can main heal, and that is your biggest draw. It will continue to be your biggest draw until you get to level 33 where you learn Dispel(77K at vendors) which is very good vs DEF up mobs at those levels and the levels beyond. Watch those status buffs. Around level 25 you will find that your enfeeblement skill is greatly better than every other mage, hence you are to fill that role as well. Around 41 you will learn Refresh and that will be your primary draw from then on, as Refresh is MP regen. Using Refresh and proper conservement of MP and Convert(which switchs MP and HP) you can get theoretically unlimited ammount of MP and therefore more exp and faster chains.

So the role of a RDM should they level past 41, would be to do a Refresh Cycle for all magic users(with good priority i hope), Enfeeble the monster(later on other mages cannot enfeeble as well as RDM, as a 64 WHM i swear RDMs are much much better), back up Cure, and the occasional Nuke and Magic Burst(in order of priority). However you could be asked to do many mage duties as well that might make you neglect one or two of these and you have to adjust according to your party, the strength is flexibility as a mage.

You might also be recommended to level both subs up(i highly recommend it) as in both WHM and BLM. When you are asked to main heal and WHM is not availible, a WHM sub with for Curagas, Status heals and Bar-ra spells. If theres is no BLM and you are not asked to main heal, a BLM sub for Elemental Enfeebles(Shock Burn Choke..etc) are nice to have to cover it up. Of course when asked to main heal refresh and curing takes precedence over other things.

When soloing and with right gear you can take Toughs although it is a battle of who will last the longest. Here Sword and Shield, and add on Phalanx, Stoneskin, and Refresh can make you last quite a while, not to mention Regen. Of course be smart, RDMs are not invincible soloing and it depends heavily on your equipment and the mob you are facing(depending on toughness). You definetly cant solo for exp well like every other job but you CAN solo, just not for exp usually. For example with right gear and level RDM/WAR can tank Avatars, a RDM/NIN at 74 can fight Shadowlord alone, and RDM/RNG for specific parties can do decent damage(mostly skillup though).

Big spells for RDM that cost alot are Phalanx, Dispel, and most higher Tier Elemental Dmg magic. Magic cannot be refunded so i always put them as more than the gil value indicated. If you are needed to sub WHM post 64 i might recommend you to get the 700K-1mil Erase scroll as well as you might be main healing and some status effects like Slow are detrimental to some tanks.

Anyway...blah blah blah blah Oo;