Quote Originally Posted by ScottNUMBERS View Post
If the mob doesn't AoE I don't see why a Red Mage shouldn't melee, sinse many do not approve of Red Mages meleeing I don't tell them or expect them to, nor would I melee as a Red Mage. Perhaps someone can explain why Red Mages don't melee, if there is no AoE I don't understand why not.

I never get a Red Mage to main heal (Unless there's two of them), they don't have very much MP and they learn spells that might be required (Cure II in the dunes for example) later than you may need them. Of course it is possible for a Red Mage to main heal in some cases, but it's not a task I like to entrust to them. Early on I expect Red Mages to fulfil a missing role (No Black Mage = Red Mage can nuke). Later on (Level 41) it's just Refresh, Refresh, Refresh.

I'd say that was a Bad crop, even though I don't understand why Red Mages don't melee, any Red Mage that does melee I should imagine are new to the game and haven't learnt exactly what is expected of them. Another thing is that if they were expected to main heal they shouldn't be wasting their spells on nukes.
I disagree with a lot of this. RDMs make the best healers in the game outside of WHMs. They're better healers than SMNs for sure and as a SMN, 80% of the time I'm asked to main heal. So in a situation where there isn't a healer in the party, I would absolutely expect the RDM to be main healer. And in a situation where there isn't a BLM, I would expect the RDM to toss out nukes and magic burst occassionally.

RDMs get Cure II just three levels after white mage (14 instead of 11) and that's 8 levels before SMNs. They're perfectly able to be main healers although, granted, they will never be as good as WHMs.