Since I’m relatively sure Alahra will be leaving Black Mage on the roadside once we have Red Mage, I’ve been thinking a lot about her level 60 caster glamour. With Red Mage becoming her main caster class, I really want to have something that feels fitting for a part-time melee caster, and I’m not convinced the Shire Philosopher’s Coat is the best thing for that. I’ve already got something for a level 50 Red Mage glamour that I’m pretty happy with, but I’m more or less obsessed with having white and Shire-themed glamours for all of Alahra’s primary jobs at level 60, of which I consider Red Mage one (tentatively, of course, since who knows if I’ll actually enjoy it). It’s mostly a nostalgia thing—for a good long while, the Final Fantasy XI incarnation of Alahra was supposed to be a Red Mage, even if I ultimately ended up a Ninja main instead.

I’ve been having a ton of trouble, though. While I’m using the Scion Adventurer’s Jacket for my starter Red Mage glam, I don’t want to use it for the level 60 glamour, since I’m already using it for healers (in the color I’d want to use it for, even). Naturally, though, casters don’t really have a lot of gear that’s particularly suited to melee. One of the main pieces I’d consider is the Plague Bringer’s Coat, which seems rather fitting for a Red Mage. With the coat not being dyeable, though, I would feel wrong using it when I’ve put so much effort into figuring out white glamours the past several months.

After a number of failed experiments, though, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not going to find what it is I’m after for a caster glamour prior to Stormblood, much as I recently did for tanks. With that in mind, I decided to finalize my caster glamour for the time being, sticking to the Shire aesthetic. I thought perhaps I could figure out something around the Shire Philosopher’s Hose, which I picked up recently, but they don’t dye quite like I had hoped they would. That left me resigned to using the coat after all, even if I don’t like it much for Red Mage.

Glamour Components
Head: Elegant Rimless Glasses (Dalamud Red) | Body: Augmented Shire Philosopher’s Coat  (Pure White) | Hands: Augmented Shire Philosopher’s Gloves (Jet Black) | Legs: Makai Priestess’s Skirt | Feet: Scion Healer’s Highboots

Once I started picking up Scripture gear for Casters again, following my detour to gear out Striking stuff, I got the gloves first, since they were the largest upgrade for me at 270. I hadn’t been playing Black Mage much at the time, so I left them unglamoured, which meant I was using the Shire body and gloves on all three of my primary DPS classes (Ninja and Monk being the other two). I’m a big fan of that sort of thematic similarity across my glamours, as is probably obvious by now.

So when I decided I was going to stick with the coat, I thought I should go the full mile and go for the caster version of my Ninja and Monk looks. Having the Shire gloves in particular made me mind the coat a lot less, to be honest, as they somehow manage to draw attention away from the grey on the sleeves. The glasses and boots are from my core Shire look, and since Black Mage has access to the Makai shorts like Monk, they’re the perfect choice here.

It’s funny, really: the result here isn’t much different from my last caster glamour, since the coat is such a prominent piece. Three of the five elements changed, though. I’m a bit unhappy with it because of that, and I’ll be keeping my eye out for new caster bodies in Stormblood while I level Ninja and Samurai (Red Mage will most likely be my third job to 70 after those two), because I really want to get away from the coat even if it’s nice. For now, though, I think this look, like all my other Shire ones, should last until the middle of June.