Quote:
Why would a rdm need to melee in a party anyway ? it gives the mobs more TP for how much dmg ? ...
I never understood. Please enlighten me.
Well, the TP thing has been disproved, as far as I know.
As for meleeing, I don't. And I don't need to; I'm not under the illusion that I'm going to help kill the thing any faster. It's just fun. ;)
Or at least it was, up until my sword started doing >30 damage, and my casting became nonstop, and my mage duties took precedence over my so-so hit power.
I had a Japanese party insist that I melee in Gustav Tunnel. I didn't do HORRIBLY, I critted for 50 while using pie and wearing gear any melee would be humiliated to show up in...but 99% of the time, it was just one more damn thing to do. ^^
Red mage is much too busy a job to melee. Those precious seconds used to cast an enspell, take out a sword and engage the mob are better spent casting Refresh, debuffing the mob, buffing a party member or catching MP.
On that one occasion that I meleed in the party, I very rarely even had time to allow my sword to swing. I probably hit the stupid crab about twice per fight. :P
The battle rages on in the red mage forums. When I left the game, things were more in the 'melee if you want to' area, but now they're back over in 'melee and you're some kind of gimp'.
I don't have any problem with RDMs who DO melee, as long as they're good at it and have their stuff together.
I personally find it too much distraction for too little return, but I do miss the days when I could still do it effectively.
Edited, Thu May 5 15:29:36 2005 by Sioux