Debating between RDM or BRD. Need opinions of hardcore mages

[Max™]

there goes my fool proof plan.

Moral of the story, never level a job that you don't want to play.

Yep.

If your first love, most favorite job to play, the one that keeps you coming back, is not:

Pld
Brd
Rdm
Nin
Whm
Blm

Do not level them, if you do, deny it.

Myself, I leveled Rdm very rapidly with a static when I started, then finally after hating it and just not being able to stand it anymore, quit, retired the job, started in on the meleeness, and that has kept me playing.

Every time I got asked to use Rdm for something, ANYTHING, I went and suicided with it, its gone from 58 to 37 now.

As was said, NEVER level a job more useful than your favorite job, or deal with it when you never get to use your favorite job.

Undoing levels of a job is time consuming, given the option, I wish I'd just never leveled the job at all, and used the time I exped on it on anything else.

[Charlemagne]

I tired the whole "Suxy bard” it worked for a little while, don’t know what happened. Lol but now I am trying to level blm so I can come as something else. And its just plain ole fun to nuke things

Also it’s cheaper to play brd, it’s very useful and if you accidentally put your flag up, you can expect to get at least 2 invites. It’s like being a celebrity.

[Max™]

I remember mining on Rdm/Thf back when it was still the highest job I had leveled.

I was anon, but it was someone who had seen me log in apparently before I put anon up.

Asks me to come party, I point out that I'm in a mine, mining, not seeking, and in fact anon, I have no mage gear at all, and if I did show up, it would be meleeing, subbing thief, and since I don't have macros for it, not casting anything.

He waited a bit, and then asked if I was sure I didn't want to come party.

[Calais~]

1. Rdm. I like meriting as bard, competitive pulling and running around and actually doing stuff is funner than sitting back and being haste whore. Unless I'm super lazy or tired, I'd much rather do events as rdm though. Standing there and casting ballad over and over for three hours of Dynamis is just unbelievably mind-numbing.
2. Depends on your shell
3. Relic horn brd > good rdm > good brd

IMO, level both to 37. If you still like either job after that, go to 50-60 and see what you think.

[Hellfury]

I have to disagree with the people stating that you should just level RDM to 60'ish (or less), RDM kinda starts at 75'ish (/- a little)

[Septimus]

I have to disagree with the people stating that you should just level RDM to 60'ish (or less), RDM kinda starts at 75'ish (/- a little)

RDM starts in the early 50s. You have to haste and refresh an entire party while all of your enfeebles get resisted to hell and back. It will prepare you for end-game.

[Midnightjade]

3. Both. RDM = solo ego, BRD = mass adoration

That's what I did. I started as BRD, and while being camped for merit parties the second you unanon is fun, I got really tired of wet paper bags beating the shit out of me, so I did RDM for a job that's a little more durable.

I've experimented with BRD/BST a little bit, and it's surprisingly good for low-end solo work (skilling up, quests, chaining EM-T+ mobs, etc). Only major drawback is that both jobs have to be 70+.

[layoneil]

BRD/BST can be okay but RDM or WHM /BST wipe the floor with it, PLD or NIN /BST can be pretty good too.

don't know where BLU/BST goes but it should be up there.

[Max™]

Guy I know has been doing Blu/Bst so far, he's soloed 37-58 (he duoed to 37 with me on Gob pets, but then I had a short break and he flew on) and said it rocks.

You lose leave, you gain remarkable control over the fight, mob winning, head butt, pet winning, heel/etc.

[Admo]

I have to disagree with the people stating that you should just level RDM to 60'ish (or less), RDM kinda starts at 75'ish (/- a little)

RDM starts in the early 50s. You have to haste and refresh an entire party while all of your enfeebles get resisted to hell and back. It will prepare you for end-game.

I agree and disagree. RDM does start in the 50s, but if you hate it, just back away then because you'll be doing a lot of the same things at 75. However, once you hit 75, RDM starts to really shine as they can bring 95% of the mobs out there to their knees. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when Fafnir is twice as slow (with a BRD debuffer too) and Paralyze procs 3 times in a row. <3 It's those simples pleasures in the life of a RDM.

[Septimus]

I have to disagree with the people stating that you should just level RDM to 60'ish (or less), RDM kinda starts at 75'ish (/- a little)

RDM starts in the early 50s. You have to haste and refresh an entire party while all of your enfeebles get resisted to hell and back. It will prepare you for end-game.

I agree and disagree. RDM does start in the 50s, but if you hate it, just back away then because you'll be doing a lot of the same things at 75. However, once you hit 75, RDM starts to really shine as they can bring 95% of the mobs out there to their knees. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when Fafnir is twice as slow (with a BRD debuffer too) and Paralyze procs 3 times in a row. <3 It's those simples pleasures in the life of a RDM.

And then you go to Sky or Sea and cry yourself blind because all of the time you put into merits and all of the effort you put into gear are suddenly invalidated and you are suddenly a level 50 RDM in Kuftal Tunnel trying to debuff a level 63 crab all over again.

[Max™]

I have to disagree with the people stating that you should just level RDM to 60'ish (or less), RDM kinda starts at 75'ish (/- a little)

RDM starts in the early 50s. You have to haste and refresh an entire party while all of your enfeebles get resisted to hell and back. It will prepare you for end-game.

I agree and disagree. RDM does start in the 50s, but if you hate it, just back away then because you'll be doing a lot of the same things at 75. However, once you hit 75, RDM starts to really shine as they can bring 95% of the mobs out there to their knees. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when Fafnir is twice as slow (with a BRD debuffer too) and Paralyze procs 3 times in a row. <3 It's those simples pleasures in the life of a RDM.

And then you go to Sky or Sea and cry yourself blind because all of the time you put into merits and all of the effort you put into gear are suddenly invalidated and you are suddenly a level 50 RDM in Kuftal Tunnel trying to debuff a level 63 crab all over again.

*sends a galka to hug sept*

There there, it's ok.

[ClassicRed]

Just to /toss this out there ~ I think the OP said he had PLD and NIN lvl'd?


RDM/NIN gives you another option to try with tanking Its alot of fun! And alot of survivability (as stated by other posters) ~

I <3 RDM - I love challenging myself with dif gear setups/hate control/enfeebs etc...

[Admo]

And then you go to Sky or Sea and cry yourself blind because all of the time you put into merits and all of the effort you put into gear are suddenly invalidated and you are suddenly a level 50 RDM in Kuftal Tunnel trying to debuff a level 63 crab all over again.

Hahaha...yah...it'll always be a pain to even stick an enfeeble on those things.

Oh... and... don't go RDM if you don't like gear swaps. RDMs are typically one of the worst at blinking (draw blinking) because of all the situational gear they need to swap into with nearly every spell. Actually, I think the only person that does it worse than me is a certain BLU (you know who you are!)

RDM/NIN gives you another option to try with tanking Its alot of fun! And alot of survivability (as stated by other posters) ~

I never really understood this... Yes, it's a fun thing to do, but PLD can do it way more effectively and so much needs to be put into RDM tanking so it'll work. To me, it's just sacrificing effeciency for epeen. *shrug*

[Max™]

I remember swapping the appropriate staff into each macro (just had it as the first line) along with the extra bits of Mnd or Int or whatnot for that spell, one general Mnd and Int macro, a Light and Dark staff macro, since I did everything light based from Menu, and having one or two slots that I swapped depending specifically on the mobs we were fighting, when I hit 51.

So yeah, you'll be blinking like mad.

I carried this to melee jobs, where I went so far as to accumulate +Parry skill setups for skilling it and the like, and had macros to swap them in and out, along with fashion macros (taru+ohat=no thanks)

[Bakthi]

Oh... and... don't go RDM if you don't like gear swaps. RDMs are typically one of the worst at blinking (draw blinking) because of all the situational gear they need to swap into with nearly every spell. Actually, I think the only person that does it worse than me is a certain BLU (you know who you are!)

I blink twice for every buff on BRD (appropriate instrument and -cast body before starting the song, and -enmity/HP/VIT/CHR body before finishing it). I'd do it for debuffs if I had windower, and if I also had a Refresh body piece, nobody would ever be able to cure me again.