Leveling up. Casters vs Melee

Hi all,

I started playing a couple of weeks ago. got most of the classes up to the mid 20's and really enjoy melee. I love the Marauder and would love to go warrior but don't feel confident leading in dungeons as the tank.

I also really enjoy the Monk and Ninja. I am aware that these classes don't really come into their own untill after 30 but I find them significantly weaker while leveling up, doing fates, etc. Even when confronted by multiple mobs I have to pop all my cooldowns just to hope to survive.

While as an Arcanist and even a Thaumaturge with the cure spell, I am able to breeze past multiple mobs and solo fate bosses pretty easily. I really enjoy the active playstyle of the melee classes but they seem so much weaker to me.

Am I missing something or is it just the way it is that casters are significantly better than melee while leveling up. Or does it even out as I lvl up higher and get their jobs?

Thank you.

Cant be sure. What is the gear on your melee classes like and are you using any defensive cds? If you already have Marauder levelled you an always cross skill bloodlust.

To be honest, there really isn't many situations where you want to take on more than one enemy at a time as very few classes have decent AoE till much later in the game.

Oh also a chocobo companion with healer skills can help as well.

As a tank you have the bonus of being able to take the group at your own pace. Don't feel pressured to go quickly if you don't want to. If you want to just get used to the dungeons then a dps is probably best. However from my personal experience the game felt much more enjoyable once I began tanking.

As for the ranged vs melee debate. Do whats fun, not whats best. Find what feels good to you and go with it. Survival can just come down to learning ways to avoid taking damage and using a chocobo.

While mages with cure DO have a lot more survivability, I wouldn't really call them stronger than melee classes. If you do your best to avoid getting swamped by multiple monsters and just do boss FATEs when others are fighting it as well, you should do well on that front.

Also, I'd implore you to give marauder in dungeons a try. Tanking can be a lot of fun, and many players are quite understanding if you tell them you are new, and are open to suggestions. There's not many tanks in the game, so a lot of players are eager to coach and encourage new ones.

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Originally Posted by Urthdigger

Also, I'd implore you to give marauder in dungeons a try. Tanking can be a lot of fun, and many players are quite understanding if you tell them you are new, and are open to suggestions. There's not many tanks in the game, so a lot of players are eager to coach and encourage new ones.

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I thought about what you said and think you are right about sticking with Marauder. I actually enjoyed the three early dungeons I did tank. It's alot more involved but alot of fun and feels really rewarding when you successfully complete a dungeons. I've just been kinda nervous not knowing where I'm going and having to lead the party as well as knowing boss mechanics but I think if I take your advice and let the party know I'm new it will work out okay. I will also research the dungeon on the web and learn about it before tanking.

As far as soloing, Marauder is perfect for me as it seems to be able to tackle difficult content pretty well.

Thank you

Glad you enjoyed the dungeons! As far as knowing the fights beforehand, you'll find most fights are fairly straightforward for the tank. A lot of mechanics are actually designed to never target the tank (Mostly ones that would make the tank drag the boss all over the map or incapacitate them). So, for bosses tanking is actually the easiest role.

I'm glad to hear you're going forward with Marauder! Warrior job best job! Once you hit 30, you can do the quest to get your chocobo to fight along side you. If you set their skill tree as healer, you'll be set for anything the game. The further you get, the more you'll get self heals to take advantage of, too.

Remember to use all your attribute points on strength! You'll be tempted to use them on VIT for tankiness but strength gives you what you need, your gear has the VIT.