MMORPG.com Final Fantasy XI Correspondent Wesley Bond writes this quick look at the Red Mage job in Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI.

The mythic Red Mage of the Final Fantasy series has been a coveted class since the beginning. With the power of both black and white, the job has been touted as a god like class in the early Final Fantasy games. In Final Fantasy XI, the Red Mage isn’t quite so mythical, but it is a powerful class none the less. Red Mage is my personal favorite mage class to level, as you can wear scale armor, swords, shields, self heal, buff (self/weapon) and enfeeble mobs. As a Red, you can also be a very effective healer both as backup and main however your ability to nuke/magic burst is much weaker in comparison to that of a Black Mage. Versatility is the name of the game with the Red Mage and it becomes a very busy class when in a group scenario.

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Very nice description.

The most wanted class to play in this game and the best one. At higher levels everyone wants a RDM in their group.

Good article.   You probably should have touched on the Red Mage / Ninja instead of the sub War.  The RDM / NIN is truly the closest thing a player in FFXI can come to being god-like.   Nice job though.

I can see that I probably should have expounded upon RDM/NIN a little more.  I added the /WAR just for something different to mess around with at low levels and generate some conversation.  RDM/NIN is one of the most powerful combinations in FFXI.  They compliment each other very well for exploiting elemental weakness and damage mitigation.  High level Red's can kite some seriously nasty bosses and mobs. Great solo class in the beginning and especially toward the end.  A dual sword wielding Red Mage with Utsusemi/Stoneskin/Phalanx is nothing to sneeze at.

Red is my favorite mage class to play then Blue, and finally White.  I remember back in the early days when I took so much heat for playing a Galka Red.  Never discount the ability to take a hit or two when things go awry.  Red Mages get two thumbs up in my book.

-Wes