[Yellow Mage]

SE never lied about what the promised for RDM

I never said they did. In fact, I constantly hope that they didn't.

RDM got updated

When? Four years ago?

Guess what? Your job is not alone in that issue.

I never said that Red Mage was alone in this issue.

Its really not SE's problem what the community does with a job. SE can not like it, they can try to influence us to do something else, but if they don't feel the job itself needs to change, then the community will use the jobs as they see fit and if the RDMs conform to what the community wants in pick up groups against IT++ or TP burns, then RDMs have no one but themselves to blame for being healers in PTs.

It is within your power to form your own PTs.
It is within your power to go to other camps.
It is within your power to seek like-minded players.
It is within your power to form small PTs.
It is NOT within yout power to make us invite you for something we don't want you to do.

Some days I don't want to do what I get invited to do. I don't take the PTs that want me to do it because I don't have to.

You know what? I'm kind of getting tired of this "don't take invites you don't want" argument, because I don't. You're telling me to do things I already do.

And, really, I think this old post sums up the rest of the population beautifully:

We can spout noble personal philosophies and pretty ideals all we please, but so long as we don't argue the reality of the matter. The reality is that people, like all things, will take the path of least resistance. Even the majority of RDMs.

Hell, when ToAU was first released, nobody saw what would become of RDM. Even I couldn't see the future when my SAM buddy invited me to Bhaflau Thickets, offering the the insane exp rate chaining Puks and the occasional Mamool Ja, with a simple setup of four melees /NIN, a BRD, and myself main healing. Even I couldn't see the soul-sucking, amoral virus the phenomenon was to become.

At any rate, you talk about blaming the RDM community for not taking a stand against main healing, for pigeon-holing RDM in the place it is now. But while the cause is evident, none have any right in placing blame, since we all have a habit of going with the smoothest flow. Better instead to blame the FFXI community at large, for shunning BLM, shunning PLD, pushing WHM to second-choice healer, and eschewing hate management, as well as basic tactics(Skill Chains), in favor of more mindless hacking and slashing to satisfy their parser results.

But hey, don't blame the community at large, right? They're just doing what's most efficient, right?

If it were a simple matter of the game being the choice of the player, of playing RDM as a manner of choice, then I wouldn't have to worry about soloing(my personal choice), and sacrificing the merit-per-hour parties that require I put aside only my self-respect to main heal for them.

Am I comfortable with the fact that playing how I choose might cost me significantly? Actually, I am. I haven't been in a party outside of large-scale events for six months now, and haven't looked back.

However, I have a rather large beef when choosing to play a job as it was intended somehow becomes anathema, while playing it was a watered-down version of another sees boundless reward. A bigger beef still, when people somehow think that's solely the fault in social consciousness of one portion of the community, and don't stop to consider even once that changes in gameplay might have brought about that fault in social consciousness.

Yes, it IS in part the fault of RDMs that complain about backlining, then turn right around and perpetuate it. But don't ignore the blatantly large changes in gameplay that brought us to this point:

RDM's difficulty in credibly contributing to frontline melee damage...

... the imbalance in Healing skill that makes WHM's capability in it easily replaced by RDM...

... the current burn phenomina that that requires so little responsibility in hate management, tactical spell use, and(seemingly) so little effort in healing.

And for the record, while I believe that S-E might be pleased with the overall popularity RDM enjoys, I'd wager against you that they believe it plays at all like they'd intended.