New Red Mage Melee or not to melee

[Blackwolf795]

Ok i am currently a lvl 12 Elvaan RDM/BLM and am in need of advice on the topic of melee. I was in a party last night i found that i could not land any debuffs. So i told my party that i was going to equip my wand and go to purely mage so i could debuff. They said fine and it worked fine. Right now my equipment is full scale mail with traveler's hat, spatha, aspis, saintly ring enimite's ring (i think that is +2 int lvl 10 ring) and 2 onyx earings. And i carry the lvl 9 wand +2 int and mnd wand with me. I need to know if i should break down buy copies of my rings and change equipment based on the spell or just not melee or what to do. I am pretty sure that i will just buy the rings but i would like input on wether to or not. I am planing on changing between an Int set, a Mnd set, and a MP set of equipment once i get to lvl 20. My main question here is should i break down and change equipment at my lvl or should i just fire off my debuffs till they land and continue meleeing for all i have. Thanx in advance for all help that anyone gives.

By the way plz dont flame me for being Elvaan because it is my favorite class and it is what i am going to be.

[Hopkins]

People are really getting hung on Elvaan recently huh....anyway.

1st is your enfeeble skill capped? If no then just keep plugging away until it is. VT/IT mobs will resist debuffs if you are not near your cap.

2nd. I did much the same, went the way of the wand when i realised I wasn't doing much damage at all to mobs. This wasn't until the low 20's however, at 12 you should still do decent melee.

Strive to cap everything you can. When your looking for PT cast protect, ba-spells, whatever you have over and over.

When in PT's if you have a black mage offer to take over blinding/bio etc to increase your skill. Or go solo easy mobs to boost those skills. A Red Mage who has poor casting skills will turn out to be nothing but a poor Red Mage.

[Tifa]

/agree

Another note, Elvaan have the lowest INT stat of any race, so when casting black magic debuffs, you will be resisted more often than a non-elvaan.

However, you have the highest natural MND stat, so your white magic debuffs should stick more often than other races.

[DM337]

Go ahead and melee, you're still at an early level. RDMs can melee fine until in their 30s. I did it, so you should melee if you feel that it isn't impeding on your magely duties.

[Blackwolf795]

No my enfemblment isn't maxed i am trying to raise it now.:sweat: Thanx for the info. I think I will keep trying to melee. And about my low Int it is normally the black magic debuffs that dont stick. I also have a real problem with sticking paralyze to gobs. But thanx for the help and i will try and max that enfeblment.

Edit: I also chose to sub black mage to try and boost my Int. as much as possible.

[kevinsal]

Grab a sword and get going... You can still cast spells inbetween hacks and hits..

I am a lvl 30 RDM right now and im hitting pretty good with my long sword. I usually hit 1/2 - 3/4 the amount of a warrior at my level with a en-spell.

There is no reason not to melee as a RDM, unless you are the lifeblood of the party as the only healer.

Keep your sword capped though or itll get rough at the higher levels..

[midnilux]

Don't melee. You're a mage.

The only RDMs im ok with meleeing is those that have equipment swap macros and caryy diferent set of gear on the fly, and can handle dispeling, refreshing, etc... I'm only 36 on my RDM and I cant even handle backup healing if I melee, not to mention I do shit damage so I just put on a MND/INT wand stand back and just use magic

[EtRNaL168]

Bah, I still see 65+ Rdm who melees. The decision is entirely up to you I guess. I personally do not melee at all. If I need to skill up my sword, I attend skill up parties.

I don't intend to get poisoned, or get tricked onto by the thf, and all that other good stuff by squishing myself around the mob.

[EtRNaL168]

Oh yeah, btw, a rdm's meleeing will only add some fun factor to the rdm, but the damage he does is extremely insignificant, unless, of course, he does a spirit within when he gets 300%.

[midnilux]

and if he gets a 300% that means he hasnt been resting for like 8 battles cause 90% of their hits are miss

[Discordian]

redmage is probably the best sneak+trick partner around. Stoneskin+phalanx+blink and you are untouchable since you probably have such low agro that it doesn't matter anyways. Our armor for some reason is some of the best AF in the game for this.

[EtRNaL168]

rofl

[kevinsal]

Originally posted by midnilux
Don't melee. You're a mage.

The only RDMs im ok with meleeing is those that have equipment swap macros and caryy diferent set of gear on the fly, and can handle dispeling, refreshing, etc... I'm only 36 on my RDM and I cant even handle backup healing if I melee, not to mention I do shit damage so I just put on a MND/INT wand stand back and just use magic

This is a complete joke, please do not follow his advice. The RDM was designed to melee in battle, he obviously isnt the best but he can melee very well.

The RDM is allowed to wear tough armor and in higher levels you recieve Stone Skin & Phalanx which makes you an even better melee player.

Please dont listen to this clown, if he cant backup heal while melee he has NO skills.

[Smitty]

These fighter-mages can utilize both black and white magic, as well as the arts of the sword.

[Rubicon Scarlet]

I'm currently a lvl 60 RDM/WHM and I still melee. I can successfully enfeeble, refresh, dispel, and melee without problems.

I refresh before battle, slow, para, engage the enemy, refresh PLD, dispel if needed, blind, poison, refesh the WHM, dia 2, dispel, chill a sec, refresh BLM, wash-rinse-repeat.

Obviously that's not always the case but it's usually the norm. If you can't do that then you need some RDM practice. If my party asks me to stop meleeing then I will but usually I hear, "Holy sh* you're good."

To me, that's what RDM is about.