New Player, Good Solo Class? [DoW/DoM]

I wasn't sure whether to post this on Battle Mechanics or General. If it belongs in Battle Mechanics, can a moderator please move it?

I'm trying to find a good soloing class [DoW/DoM please, nothing obvious like DoL/DoH :p] but I'm having a hard time hitting the nail on the head.

The first job I leveled was THM to 16 and that was going great at first. I was able to pull between 3-5 mobs and AoE them down with Scourge+Banish or Scourge+Stone/Blizzard/Water or whatever their elemental weaknesses were. But the higher I leveled, the more difficult this became. By level 16, I couldn't grab more than 2 Dodos or I'd die. Levequests also became a hastle as some of them were just too difficult I'd have to turn the difficulty down, even when they were my level, missing out on EXP Chains. I imagine if I leveled CNJ, I'd run into the same issue.

Next I tried to pick up GLA. He's currently 11. It's so abysmally slow it's unbelievable and the downtime is worse. It takes me a little over a full minute to kill a mob my level. The MP pool is tiny and I can't slot Cure or Sac since that'll make the downtime worse. The only magic I have slotted is Shock Spikes. My only heal is Second Wind. With Red Lotus Blade, I'm using up MP as well. Once I get low on either HP or MP or both, I have to sit there for a minute and wait to regenerate.

:confused: Am I doing something wrong? I'm always fighting mobs +/- 1/2 levels. My THM can't AoE down mobs and with MP, the downtime is just terrible trying to single target. GLA just feels awful soloing. According to SE's statement, they wanted Jobs to be more party focused whereas Classes will be more solo focused. So I can expect there to not be a BST, DRG, BLM, BLU, PUP or other variations of soloable Jobs in XIV because of Classes, can I?

In any case, as my topic question is... What's a good solo class? If possible, can you rank them, in your opinion, from best to worst? Thank you for any feedback and help in this matter to make my XIV experience more enjoyable.

No matter which class you end up taking, I would highly recommend getting as many classes to r10 as you can, before trying to get any to r25 or 30. The skills you pick up really round out your earlier chars, it helps a lot.

All the classes are able to solo in some capacity. Like was suggested, try to get all your classes to at least 10 (and later, 20) for a good assortment of utility moves that will help out your character.

Also try to keep your gear up-to-date (and definitely try to avoid buying "dated" gear- new gear tends to have much better stats). If gear isn't available on the wards, look it up on a site like mooglebox.com and see what the ingredients are. You should be able to grab materials off the wards or off npcs in any town and try shouting for a crafter.

As a note, too, enemies from 1-15 are weaker than normal and gradually get to normal strength. Once they hit 16 you will need to be on top of your gear/abilities and learn to pace yourself so you can get chains.

A few useful skills to have for soloing:

second wind: (pug) TP based heal
cure : (cnj) heal, though mp cost can be excessive for a low lv dow
sacrifice: (thm) heal + regen, costs less than cure, but you need enough hp to pay the initial cost
defender: (mrd) lasts 30 minutes, does what it did in XI

pug also has the trait seasoned veteran, which enhances all healing effects cast on you, but you will need to get that class to lv 20 and have the guild marks to buy it.

I like DoM simply because you can level them both at the same while using the same gear when leveling & upgrading. You want to level both for the spells anyway.

I'd recommend putting on both Stoneskin and Shock spikes if you have the AP for it, since they slow down the damage done to you considerably. If the MP cost of Red Lotus is too much use a weaponskill from another class. I stick with Concussive Blow for lower level classes most of the time.

If you aren't, when recovering your hp/mp after a battle make sure to stand still in passive mode. Your auto-healing will kick in and while it starts slow, it snowballs and picks up considerably quickly and you'll be fully healed before you know it. Moving or performing actions resets your recovery rate, so it's best to pace yourself so that you use all your resources and heal all at once, since it's faster than recovering after every fight.

Your'e in Besaid! go uldah! :D