Bad Red Mages?

[Whimsey]

This is kind of a two-fold question, with a little story to go along with it. It's not on the flameboard, because it's really not a flame, no matter what the title may imply.

Story time;

I was in a party the other night, Monday night I think, we had just gotten to camp and gotten started, exp was flowing and it was generally grand and bam, I d/c. Okay, I log back on, they reinvite, we pull again and bam, d/c. About the third time this happens, I come back to a half dead party, I do a search, there's another rdm looking, and I ask the party leader if he wants to just get that rdm instead, since I can't seem to stay connected.

He says "No, you're a good rdm, and we don't want to lose you. ^^" (I've taken liberties with the grammar.) So I stay. A few d/c's later, it seems to sort itself out, and we go on merrily.

Now, I've been hearing about how awful rdm's generally are from my husband since about level 20, and have been told I was a good rdm on a couple of occasions now, but this just seems ridiculous.

Question time;

Are rdms in general really so awful that people would rather put up with one d/cing every three minutes, than chance another one?

And what should I be doing to make sure I stay a good rdm?

 

[Morwen]

Just make sure that you keep on paying attention. Debuff the mob, keep up on haste/refresh cycle and generally be willing to help out and compromise if needed (ie. main healing depending on the party set up, etc). A lot of RDM become primadonnas quite easily (just like WHMs do, dont get me wrong). If you're already doing well you shouldn't have to change much at all. Keep up the good work.

 

[Tristam Green]

Are rdms in general really so awful that people would rather put up with one d/cing every three minutes, than chance another one?

If you're asking whether they'd put up with a good one disconnecting rather than chance getting a shitty one, then the answer is probably "yes". Most people are more understanding when it comes to Internet connectivity than the masses would let on, especially if the person disconnecting explains what's happening.

As for shitty Red Mages in general, the sad fact is that increasingly people will tolerate bad ones, not giving worthwhile advice other than "stop playing red mage", while still allowing them to progress badly simply because they're blinded by the lust to get to 75 on yet another job.

On the topic of you keeping on top of your game: If you're ever in any doubt, ask other Red Mages here. Most of them are more than willing to share experiences, tips and the like. Read up on the wiki about Red Magery, since there are plethora tutorials concerning it. Most importantly though, if someone critiques (read: not criticizes) your skills in a reasonable manner, don't take offense - just learn from it and move on.

That's what I've always done with Dark Knight :thumbsup:

 

[Linhjah]

Since RDM is such a versatile job, there are many different ways to play it. What makes a good RDM is recognizing what your party needs and taking on that role. Whether that is refresh/haste whore, main heal, debuffs, or some combination of those. There are a lot of players - with any job - decide they are going to play their job a certain way and refuse to deviate from that. It may be a very effective way to play in one situation, but each situation is different. Good players know when to flex their style.

In a standard xp party, you should be refreshing/hasting (share haste duties with your WHM if there happens to be one), enfeebling the mob (if you have a NIN, make sure you coordinate so you aren't casting the same enfeebs) - make sure you watch for dispel, healing/removing status effects (whether that is main heal, shared, or back up), and magic bursting for skillchain.

I notice many RDM and WHM that have issues with refresh/haste cycles. For me, it is most helpful to cast those spells on myself first and then just go down my party list hitting those I need to as soon as the recast is up. I am not very good at paying attention to the chat log for when stuff wears, so this solution works pretty well.

Another pet peeve of mine is dispel. Make sure you know what moves need to be dispelled and watch for them, whether your watching for the animation or chat log. This is a role that only you can do (until later levels where some other jobs /RDM), and taking care of that evasion or defence bonus (etc) will make things go a lot quicker and a lot smoother.

The fact that you ask for feedback/advice is already a step in the right direction. /cheer for you

 

[Zaltana]

Red made is a key job to just about any function in the game. always has been, always will be. As such they are held to a higher standard then other mage jobs. If people are telling you you're doing a good job you most likely are. just don't let it go to your head.

RDM was my first 75 job. i like to think i was a good one but i got negative complaints in my early days, but through listening to helpful individuals i became a lot better. looks like you will too. :bb:

 

[Whimsey]

Just make sure that you keep on paying attention. Debuff the mob, keep up on haste/refresh cycle and generally be willing to help out and compromise if needed (ie. main healing depending on the party set up, etc). A lot of RDM become primadonnas quite easily (just like WHMs do, dont get me wrong). If you're already doing well you shouldn't have to change much at all. Keep up the good work.

For haste; Who should definitely always have it? I try to always keep it on the tank, and then things like ninjas, or high delay weapons. If there's a whm to pick up half the party, it's not an issue at all, but if it's just me, 160+ mp every few minutes is a lot, and occasionaly it's just not there.

If you're asking whether they'd put up with a good one disconnecting rather than chance getting a shitty one, then the answer is probably "yes". Most people are more understanding when it comes to Internet connectivity than the masses would let on, especially if the person disconnecting explains what's happening.

As for shitty Red Mages in general, the sad fact is that increasingly people will tolerate bad ones, not giving worthwhile advice other than "stop playing red mage", while still allowing them to progress badly simply because they're blinded by the lust to get to 75 on yet another job.

On the topic of you keeping on top of your game: If you're ever in any doubt, ask other Red Mages here. Most of them are more than willing to share experiences, tips and the like. Read up on the wiki about Red Magery, since there are plethora tutorials concerning it. Most importantly though, if someone critiques (read: not criticizes) your skills in a reasonable manner, don't take offense - just learn from it and move on.

That's what I've always done with Dark Knight :thumbsup:

Hah, I'm still working on one job to 70. 75 is still in the realms of Unattainable.

I've read all the stuff on the wiki about rdm, a couple of times now, except about the Maat fight. I started to read that one once, figured I was only level 20 and had plenty of time, moved on to something else. Started to read it again the other night, realized that 63 is a lot closer to that fight than 20, got a stomach ache and went to lie down. Then felt silly for getting all nervous over a video game.

I'm absolutely willing to listen to any advice people have, I just haven't gotten any. I know I can't be All That, that's a little conceited even for me.

 

[Tristam Green]

Hah, I'm still working on one job to 70. 75 is still in the realms of Unattainable.

How long have you been playing? It was nearly two years to the day I unlocked Dark Knight that I hit 75 (my first), and Stine had been playing since PC release before we both hit it in April lol.

I've read all the stuff on the wiki about rdm, a couple of times now, except about the Maat fight. I started to read that one once, figured I was only level 20 and had plenty of time, moved on to something else. Started to read it again the other night, realized that 63 is a lot closer to that fight than 20, got a stomach ache and went to lie down.

Don't sweat it; you don't lose exp when you lose to him on the first job, so nothing lost except some gil on food/meds.

Then felt silly for getting all nervous over a video game.

Good.

 

[Bluefrost]

The other day, I had a red mage in my party (I was on my RNG). We decided to take on some Imps in the Mire. We didn't camp in the safest spot, and an Imp turned around and started to attack the PLD. We got our Fly down to 10% health, and our tank went down. Not only did he not cure the tank once during the surprise attack, our RDM tried to sleep the Imp. While we (BLU, DNC, RNG) tried to tank so the SCH wouldn't get any hate.

The SCH goes down, and I start running back to town so I could R3 my party, and what do I see? The RDM warping back to town. He just kept, over and over, casting Sleep2 on the Imp. He didn't use Elemental Seal either.

 

[jamal]

This is kind of a two-fold question, with a little story to go along with it. It's not on the flameboard, because it's really not a flame, no matter what the title may imply.

Story time;

I was in a party the other night, Monday night I think, we had just gotten to camp and gotten started, exp was flowing and it was generally grand and bam, I d/c. Okay, I log back on, they reinvite, we pull again and bam, d/c. About the third time this happens, I come back to a half dead party, I do a search, there's another rdm looking, and I ask the party leader if he wants to just get that rdm instead, since I can't seem to stay connected.

He says "No, you're a good rdm, and we don't want to lose you. ^^" (I've taken liberties with the grammar.) So I stay. A few d/c's later, it seems to sort itself out, and we go on merrily.

Now, I've been hearing about how awful rdm's generally are from my husband since about level 20, and have been told I was a good rdm on a couple of occasions now, but this just seems ridiculous.

Question time;

Are rdms in general really so awful that people would rather put up with one d/cing every three minutes, than chance another one?

And what should I be doing to make sure I stay a good rdm?

Proper Haste / Refresh Orders
Proper Debuff orders
Watching what debuffs a NIN lands (if in party with one) and making up for the others.
Ability to Help Cure or Main heal
Proper subjobs

As you approach 75, you're going to want to prepare for merit parties as well, these are vastly different from traditional exp parties:
Keep haste up if at all possible
Ability to quickly cast cures.
HMP (MP recovered while healing+) set
Convert Set (1:1 or as close to it as you can get HP:MP ratio)

Was called away from my desk 45 minutes ago, let's see how much of this has already been said

 

[Whimsey]

Since RDM is such a versatile job, there are many different ways to play it. What makes a good RDM is recognizing what your party needs and taking on that role. Whether that is refresh/haste whore, main heal, debuffs, or some combination of those. There are a lot of players - with any job - decide they are going to play their job a certain way and refuse to deviate from that. It may be a very effective way to play in one situation, but each situation is different. Good players know when to flex their style.

I try, but I definitely prefer not to be main heal. Like when I first started on Colibris, I pretty much didn't bother with enfeebles, they died so fast and nothing would stick anyway. After a level and a few more points in enfeeble skill, I could land stuff better.

In a standard xp party, you should be refreshing/hasting (share haste duties with your WHM if there happens to be one), enfeebling the mob (if you have a NIN, make sure you coordinate so you aren't casting the same enfeebs) - make sure you watch for dispel, healing/removing status effects (whether that is main heal, shared, or back up), and magic bursting for skillchain.

I notice many RDM and WHM that have issues with refresh/haste cycles. For me, it is most helpful to cast those spells on myself first and then just go down my party list hitting those I need to as soon as the recast is up. I am not very good at paying attention to the chat log for when stuff wears, so this solution works pretty well.

I try to work with ninjas, and blus, too. Sometimes they just go crazy and leave me with nothing to do. A ninja in my ls and I were talking about that, and he puts in his macros what each spell does. I told him I wished more ninjas did that, cause I can never remember.

Ugh, skillchains, ugh. Ages ago, when people planned skillchains, and announced them, I could land bursts pretty well. No one does anymore, and now I've gotten to a level where it's a bunch of higher-teir skillchains and I don't even know what to burst. I suck at magic bursting.

That's pretty much what I do. Me first, then everyone else. Except I don't usually haste myself, but I'm decent at watching the chat window, and if I cast refresh on myself a second time before I've re-hasted, then I assume I've missed it and re-do hastes anyway.

Another pet peeve of mine is dispel. Make sure you know what moves need to be dispelled and watch for them, whether your watching for the animation or chat log. This is a role that only you can do (until later levels where some other jobs /RDM), and taking care of that evasion or defence bonus (etc) will make things go a lot quicker and a lot smoother.

The fact that you ask for feedback/advice is already a step in the right direction. /cheer for you

I think I'm pretty good on dispel, except for shadows/stoneskin. Those are frustrating, because half the time the DDs have taken care of them before I do, especially if the ability goes off while I'm in the middle of casting something else. Then it's just wasted MP, and I don't like wasting mp. It's ultimately a pretty small frustration, really. At least the mobs taking damage again.

 

[Yurirem]

For haste; Who should definitely always have it? I try to always keep it on the tank, and then things like ninjas, or high delay weapons. If there's a whm to pick up half the party, it's not an issue at all, but if it's just me, 160+ mp every few minutes is a lot, and occasionaly it's just not there.

Typically, the setup of the party tends to balance itself out in this manner. Even if you're the only mage.

One example is 3 DDs, a COR/BRD, a PLD, and you. If it's a merit group, the DDs *should* be subbing NIN, or be SAMs to help not kill your MP. Refresh the PLD+yourself, upkeep haste on the 3 DDs. Should be easy.

Now, should there perhaps be another DD in place of the COR/BRD, things will be a little more busy, but still doable. Bottom line is MP conservation is very important. Always be wary of your Convert timer, and you should do fine. If there's no "backup refresher" for you like this, I'd say skip Hasting the PLD and focus on the DD. If the tank was a NIN, though, it'd be a different story.

As for deciding which order Hasting should go in, it's not overly important who gets it first, as long as everyone DD-based gets it. (Aside from the tank.) It helps to be of a systematic mind here.

In the case of DRKs and BLUs, make sure they're pulling their weight if they're gonna be refreshed too, and you already have like...four others to Refresh. However, DRKs don't actually need refresh until their MP starts getting low, and only if they use it regularly.

And yes, I'm a DRK too. A magic whore at that.

 

[Whimsey]

How long have you been playing? It was nearly two years to the day I unlocked Dark Knight that I hit 75 (my first), and Stine had been playing since PC release before we both hit it in April lol.

I think it's been just over a year. I know I missed the Christmas event but made the anniversary. So sometime between January and May of last year.

I'll get there eventually, I've been by no means rushing. I think I've just been thinking about it a lot lately because a bunch of people in my ls are all getting ready for Maat fights.

The other day, I had a red mage in my party (I was on my RNG). We decided to take on some Imps in the Mire. We didn't camp in the safest spot, and an Imp turned around and started to attack the PLD. We got our Fly down to 10% health, and our tank went down. Not only did he not cure the tank once during the surprise attack, our RDM tried to sleep the Imp. While we (BLU, DNC, RNG) tried to tank so the SCH wouldn't get any hate.

The SCH goes down, and I start running back to town so I could R3 my party, and what do I see? The RDM warping back to town. He just kept, over and over, casting Sleep2 on the Imp. He didn't use Elemental Seal either.

For the record, I was not that rdm.

Wow.

Proper Haste / Refresh Orders
Proper Debuff orders
Watching what debuffs a NIN lands (if in party with one) and making up for the others.
Ability to Help Cure or Main heal
Proper subjobs

We've gone over haste/refresh order a little, if you have anything to add, please do. That seems to be where the emphasis really is on rdm in a party.

Debuffs; I usually go (Silence)>Paralyze>Slow>Blind>DoT's>Gravity, depending on who (if anyone) else is debuffing, and what they're using, and how fast the mob is dieing. Is there a better order?

What subjobs should I have? I have WHM done, BLM almost there (33). I've been told I'll need DRK and NIN for end game stuffs, and I haven't gotten SCH yet. Is there anything else?

As you approach 75, you're going to want to prepare for merit parties as well, these are vastly different from traditional exp parties:
Keep haste up if at all possible
Ability to quickly cast cures.
HMP (MP recovered while healing+) set
Convert Set (1:1 or as close to it as you can get HP:MP ratio)

I'm working on an hMP set. I have dark staff (10), seer's tunic (1), baron's slops (1), mobwha sash +1 (2) (saving for a qiqirn +1), beak necklace (2?), antivenom? earring (1). Which makes 17. I don't remember if the seer's +1 adds to hMP?

Why is this 1:1 ratio so important? I understand getting extra mp for "free" cures for myself, but if the gear I'm going to be doing most of the casting in is going to be substantially less than the mp I'm getting from convert and it's all just going to be lost, I'm not sure I understand.

Right now I'm getting minimal mp from gear, it's mostly focused on +int/mnd.

 

[Tristam Green]

I don't remember if the seer's +1 adds to hMP?

It does (+1), but Red Mage can't wear Seer's gear.

Why is this 1:1 ratio so important? I understand getting extra mp for "free" cures for myself, but if the gear I'm going to be doing most of the casting in is going to be substantially less than the mp I'm getting from convert and it's all just going to be lost, I'm not sure I understand.

In short, you want to maximize how much MP you'll get back and how much HP you'll be curing for. I only just reached lv41, so I'm new to Convert myself and can't give much more insight than that.

 

[Whimsey]

It does (+1), but Red Mage can't wear Seer's gear.

Hah, you're right. I feel foolish. Was listing the pieces I knew I had with +hMP.

 

[Linhjah]

I try, but I definitely prefer not to be main heal. Like when I first started on Colibris, I pretty much didn't bother with enfeebles, they died so fast and nothing would stick anyway. After a level and a few more points in enfeeble skill, I could land stuff better.



I try to work with ninjas, and blus, too. Sometimes they just go crazy and leave me with nothing to do. A ninja in my ls and I were talking about that, and he puts in his macros what each spell does. I told him I wished more ninjas did that, cause I can never remember.

Ugh, skillchains, ugh. Ages ago, when people planned skillchains, and announced them, I could land bursts pretty well. No one does anymore, and now I've gotten to a level where it's a bunch of higher-teir skillchains and I don't even know what to burst. I suck at magic bursting.

That's pretty much what I do. Me first, then everyone else. Except I don't usually haste myself, but I'm decent at watching the chat window, and if I cast refresh on myself a second time before I've re-hasted, then I assume I've missed it and re-do hastes anyway.



I think I'm pretty good on dispel, except for shadows/stoneskin. Those are frustrating, because half the time the DDs have taken care of them before I do, especially if the ability goes off while I'm in the middle of casting something else. Then it's just wasted MP, and I don't like wasting mp. It's ultimately a pretty small frustration, really. At least the mobs taking damage again.

Sounds like you've got a decent handle on most things. If you are killing quick, it doesn't make sense to stack on enfeebles, you're right.

It took me quite awhile to learn NIN spells, too. LOL I would normally just chat with my NIN before and see which he will be casting and didn't worry about casting those. And I remember having WHM and NIN in party and feeling like I was completely useless. I'd keep refresh up and dispel, and I had so much MP, I would just nuke. Whatever keeps the party flowing and killing quick.

Communication and initiative are the keys. If there isn't a skillchain, put one together. There are tons of skillchain charts on the intarwebz, and, with those, you can even check out the magic burst.

Haste is a really good spell for you to have on yourself because it helps your recast timer for all your spells. This means getting through your refresh/haste cycle quicker, and is great with spells with longer recast timers period. Again, these things help the party move right along.

 

[K. Ishitar]

Proper Haste / Refresh Orders- party setup may vary but your orders

in refresh- pld>you>whm> others such as blu, smn, sch doesn't need refresh > drk

In the first order I mentioned the first 3 can be interchanged based on the situation, say if you're at full mp and the pld only has 100mp....you'd refresh him first and if the whm was in the same situation as the pld and refresh yourself last.

The middle section is variable because one of these jobs may be main healing, co healing, or using a lot of mp and it's possible to have blu and smn in a party refresh the one who is using more mp than the other or is performing the "more vital" role in the party to staying alive like refreshing the smn before blu if he's main or co healing.

I intentionally left out bard because they usually do not need refresh from my experiences, later on you may have the bard pulling at merit or higher levels such as 70+ ask if they have a minstrel's ring otherwise try to keep the mp up since at higher levels it will be just you healing in a merit party along with a bard or another mage. Lastly why is drk on the bottom?

(every once in awhile they get get refresh if they need it; they should not need it every fight or something is wrong).

As far as haste goes I usually haste the 2handed before the dualwield since their delay is usually larger but I go down the list at merit level. However, the pld or nin tanking gets haste first then the others.

Proper Debuff orders- For example, you would first land silence on magic caster before he comes to the party, then dispel the buffs, and use para, slow,etc. Generally I cast silence first if they use magic, then para, and then slow then rest. Elemental enfeebles such as shock, rasp, etc. can help a party use each combo(don't remember offhand) such as drown, rasp, and....<help?> to reduce damage taken or use burn, frost, and <don't remember> to increase damage.

They can all be used interchangably unfortunately as you get higher you'll be concerning yourself with Dia II, silence( on imps and yes it's possible^^), para, and slow, mobs will be killed faster needing less debuffs

Watching what debuffs a NIN lands (if in party with one) and making up for the others. This is somewhat important, however I like to beat the nin anyways in an exp pt because of the potency issues concerning debuffs, I'm under the impression that the debuffs as far as para and slow are concerned are fairly weak, and a good rdm should be one that uses different sets of gear to get the job done.

White based debuffs such as slow,para require high builds of mind for the greatest effect, int for back up nuking or making sure you hit the max gap on stuff like blind if you wish but blind from rdm is pretty meh only a hate tool

Ability to Help Cure or Main heal- This becomes important especially with the shortage of whm post Aht Urghan areas 52+ Please don't try to avoid it, you help the other 5 members get exp and yourself by volunteering.

Proper subjobs- if this is your first 75 in this order, /whm>/blm,>/bard(situational very i hear not for exp)> /nin(also situational not for exp. /whm for mainhealing /blm for a non mainhealing one.

As you approach 75, you're going to want to prepare for merit parties as well, these are vastly different from traditional exp parties:

Keep haste up if at all possible- depending on what melee are eating the bard will be singing the converse to make up for the accuracy or the attack/str they do not use from using meat or sushi(correct?) Usually I've seen bards just go all out madrigal though or a combo of acc and haste. Haste is also a factor at this level to speeding up kills since mobs should be killed as fast as possible for highest exp/hr

Ability to quickly cast cures. make macros for cures using <stpc> and use regen to reduce mp used for cures

HMP (MP recovered while healing+) set-pretty much a necessity gear this up decently first then work on mnd and int gear

Mnd gear and Int gear

Convert Set (1:1 or as close to it as you can get HP:MP ratio)- Obtain convert gear in this order...hp+ and mp+ gear(not many) such as the intensfying cape, this allows you to increase your 1:1 ratio slightly. Then mp gear and depending race hp gear and subjob, I don't know much about this since I'm an elf and my mp is always larger than my max hp so I'm sure Neisan can point you in the right direction there.

Also something not mentioned yet was chat filters...for stuff like haste and refresh you should filter out everything that mobs, party members(except mob specials and their effects for dispel), and outside people do. This helps you see when a person's haste or refresh wears or when mob debuffs wear and you aren't arsed with being asked for them.

Was called away from my desk 45 minutes ago, let's see how much of this has already been said

this is pretty accurate let me expand on your points and add some

crap...don't have time to update gallery now D:

 

[Uzor]

Most things has already been said. Haste all melees (including tank), refresh mages, tank if he have mp, DRK, BLU etc. Although its situational, as with everything. For example, don't haste everyone on spiders, as their slow overwrites haste. Also, if you have a WHM, have him haste at least the tank. Your job is to make others job easier, thus increasing the exp/hr. That's not to say you can't take the role of another job. Say, WHM for example.

 

[jamal]

We've gone over haste/refresh order a little, if you have anything to add, please do. That seems to be where the emphasis really is on rdm in a party.

Remember that my perspective on what a good rdm is is big picture. The specifics I won't be able to go into, but I can tell the bad red mages right away.

Remember that the haste spell does 2 things:
1. Reduces Recast Timers:
Vitally important for NINs. Most huge haste gear is not available until 75, so Haste is of utmost importance with NIN tanks, as well as cutting the flash recast on plds.
2. Reduces weapon delay
Within a few fights you can see who's doing more damage in a party. Whether the person is using one or two handed weapons, hasting them will reduce weapon delay, meaning more damage is done to the mob, meaning quicker kills. The only drawback is more damage = more hate...so I would recommend Haste order as Tank > /nin melee / non /nin melee.

Post 74 in merit-cannon type parties, the NIN or first voke is important to ensure haste is on, but it's almost more important to keep haste on the person who holds hate most often. Everyone should try to have haste on them, but if you have to cut someone out of the loop to steal some time to get mp back, try to have it be the person who isn't dealing as much damage as the others.

Debuffs; I usually go (Silence)>Paralyze>Slow>Blind>DoT's>Gravity, depending on who (if anyone) else is debuffing, and what they're using, and how fast the mob is dieing. Is there a better order?

That's the order I would use, but other rdms may have suggestions. The more melee you have in the pt, the more help DIA will do to a mob. If you have 4 melee yourself and another mage, I'd probably bump Dia II up.

What subjobs should I have? I have WHM done, BLM almost there (33). I've been told I'll need DRK and NIN for end game stuffs, and I haven't gotten SCH yet. Is there anything else?

As far as most responsibilities are concerned, you're covered with those.

I'm working on an hMP set. I have dark staff (10), seer's tunic (1), baron's slops (1), mobwha sash +1 (2) (saving for a qiqirn +1), beak necklace (2?), antivenom? earring (1). Which makes 17. I don't remember if the seer's +1 adds to hMP?

You'll also have Yigit available soon, which I believe RDM can wear.

Why is this 1:1 ratio so important? I understand getting extra mp for "free" cures for myself, but if the gear I'm going to be doing most of the casting in is going to be substantially less than the mp I'm getting from convert and it's all just going to be lost, I'm not sure I understand.

Right now I'm getting minimal mp from gear, it's mostly focused on +int/mnd.

The +int/mnd are used while casting debuffs. The 1:1 ratio is used for converting.

Typical situation would be:
Refresh > Change to convert Gear > Divine Seal > Convert > Cure IV > Next Haste in haste cycle


Hope that helps.

 

[Linhjah]

Another few points.

With enfeeble order, I generally do the following:
Dia > Paralyze > Slow > Gravity > other DoTs
I almost never cast blind in a party. Most NINs will do this and PLD will always Flash. Gravity also has an effect of -5% on the enemy's evasion, not just making it walk slow. Its really good on mobs with high evasion.

As far as haste order, for me, its:
Me > Tank > spell casting melee > non spell casting melee
Now I may be really busy in a party and not be able to keep haste on 5/6 party members. The above list is used to determine who I drop from my haste cycle, not necessarily the actual order in which I cast the spell. If you can keep haste up on everyone in your cycle, the who goes where within the cycle is kind of irrelevant.

Gear:
Lower level RDM gear sucks ass. Try to gear for +MP (even a Taru has more HP than MP natively on RDM) to get that 1:1 convert, MND, and INT. +Enfeebling skill and +Elemental skill are good, too. To maximize effectiveness, swap gear for each spell you cast. For example, wearing a Genius ring is great for sleep, but it doesn't do any good for paralyze. An elemental torque is awesome, but not if you're casting cure in it.

Subjobs:
The subjobs you listed are probably the most important.
/WHM is good for a ton of situations, and so is /BLM. Those should definately be priority #1, and should be 37 before your RDM is 74 IMO. /DRK for stun gun is something very important for a lot of engame situations. /NIN is good for soloing and tanking and kiting (yeah, RDM can tank). /SCH makes RDM a viable nuker. Still no BLM or SCH, but better than RDM/BLM. I have not found anything I'd want to do or feel I'd be more effective with /BRD. Not saying it doesn't exist, just I haven't been in a situation where I was like, man, I wish I could sub BRD.

 

[Guyfox]

Rdm is starting to be a royal headache for me. If anyone has PT with me before you know I am an awkward rdm at best. Since i am a galka I focus on MP over anything else and toss together a brief enfeebling equip macro to land my enfeebles. Convert for me is easy... I always have hp > mp so I don't have any issues there. But knowing how important MP can be I realized that creating a convert max MP set is EXTREMELY important. Curing yourself for free and then getting a couple other quick enhancing spells off before you go back to regular gear is a huge help. I'm dreading merits... I'm lvl 72 right now and not sure if i will be able to keep up. I hate SE and only having a five line equip change line in their macros. Having HMP macro, max MP macro, and figuring out max enfeeble macro that scales with current MP is almost impossible for me. But very important.