I know you guys hate this question but... I gotta try and ask anyway. :(

Hello everyone, I apologize for making this topic and I realize before even asking that the majority of answers will be "play what you want," but I can't help but feel I need to ask as I still have doubts as I read more posts on various sites.

Ok, so while I really love Red Mage and enjoy playing it, I keep seeing left and right about it being the worst dps or that no one wants it in groups and even in Party Finder I see groups that prefer other dps over Red Mage so I feel like I have to swap jobs if I just even want to do basic content now. At first I was gonna swap to Smn since I finished getting it to 70, but it feels so daunting with all the stuff to keep track of that I doubt I could be able to play it effectively while also dodging boss mechanics, so I conisdered SAM next, but I'm not sure if melee are more wanted than casters or if SAM itself is even wanted.

So, I guess what I am asking is, are melee jobs still desired and is SAM a good melee job to play as over Smn and especially Red Mage?

Just play what you want............

Just kidding. I main Summoner and the three things I will tell you are:

1. lf you don't like the idea of micromanaging a pet then Summoner is probably not for you:

This means always having your pet on the correct mode to prevent things like aggroing mobs before the tank as people prep for duty in a dungeon. The knockback on trash mobs that annoys the heck out of tanks because the pet was on, what I refer to as "lazy summoner mode". Essentially it is like having to watch an additional person and keep them alive as well as making sure all of their buffs and attacks are always used appropriately to maximize dps too.

While SE re added Sustain to heal our pets, there is still the need to make sure your pet is in range to do things like Devotion. Learning how far to run with pet in tow to keep the pet out of AOEs and how to not waste Bahamut's never long enough up time.


2. While I just stated above that being lazy is not a good trait for Summoners to have, I will also say that having a pet in itself can spoil you and make non pet jobs seem tedious or even boring:

I will always main Summoner until SE decides to add BST or PUP or some other pet job because having a pet has spoiled me and made playing other jobs feel as if my hands are tied behind my back.


3. Being caster vs melee is a huge contrast in play style as it is, but being caster WITH a pet makes that difference stand out even more:

After being way the heck away from the mob and at a safe distance to cast, it can be tedious learning to avoid AOEs and learn mechanics all over again while in melee range. This shock was immediately obvious to me while playing SAM, NIN, DRG and MNK after maining a caster for so long.

Also there is the concept of "positionals", meaning standing on the correct side of the mob to do the most damage. Its a huge difference taking damage from just being so close to the mob.

As for rdm, I have not played it since FFXI so I cannot advise you on it unfortunately. I wish you the best of luck!

Red Mages are being denied in pf now? I actually did not see that one coming. But when rez dispenser isn't needed it really shows the weaknesses.

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Originally Posted by Dualgunner

Red Mages are being denied in pf now? I actually did not see that one coming. But when rez dispenser isn't needed it really shows the weaknesses.

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Well, more indirectly than directly. Mostly PF I see tend to want SAM/NIN/SMN/Brd/Mch and usually make it so Red Mages and Black Mages can't join the party by excluding them as a dps option. While I wouldn't mind going Mch since I did dabble a bit with it in HW, I can't seem to grasp the timing of Wildfire with Overheating so I didn't want to try and level it only for it to get even harder on me to understand. Smn, I played during ARR and a bit of HW so I know the basics, but trying to do it all on a controller feels a bit difficult and I don't know when or if I'd ever get SB for PC since currently I'm playing it on PS4.

Probably not seeing a demand for RDM because the supply is so high.

Hell, last PF I joined for some unsynced farming, literally 6/8 of the people that joined (actually one or two more that later dropped out), were all RDM. Started getting funny after the third.

Samurai is in an good place right now. It provides high personal damage, but the only utility it provides is a slashing debuff. Samurai is a solid job, only thing missing is that it needs an agro dump.

That said, your melee jobs all play pretty differently from each other and provide different benefits, but if you're looking for a more solid spot in pre formed party content, Dragoon and Ninja seem to be always sought after. Also, just form the perspective of normal queues and what roles fill up faster in party finder, there are fewer players in melee jobs in general than ranged. Which does open up options for you that playing a caster/ranged job doesn't have.

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Originally Posted by wereotter

That said, your melee jobs all play pretty differently from each other and provide different benefits, but if you're looking for a more solid spot in pre formed party content, Dragoon and Ninja seem to be always sought after. Also, just form the perspective of normal queues and what roles fill up faster in party finder, there are fewer players in melee jobs in general than ranged. Which does open up options for you that playing a caster/ranged job doesn't have.

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Are either Dragoon or Ninja Controller friendly? I do have Drg at 50 as I played it a short while in ARR but ended up going back to caster since my FC (which is now dead as a doorknob) was filled with melee. I have Nin in the 40s but looking at the skills earlier today, I feel like it wouldn't be very controller friendly, but not sure.

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Originally Posted by Renryuu

Well, more indirectly than directly. Mostly PF I see tend to want SAM/NIN/SMN/Brd/Mch and usually make it so Red Mages and Black Mages can't join the party by excluding them as a dps option. While I wouldn't mind going Mch since I did dabble a bit with it in HW, I can't seem to grasp the timing of Wildfire with Overheating so I didn't want to try and level it only for it to get even harder on me to understand. Smn, I played during ARR and a bit of HW so I know the basics, but trying to do it all on a controller feels a bit difficult and I don't know when or if I'd ever get SB for PC since currently I'm playing it on PS4.

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I use controller for most of my sumn abilities and the only thing that bothers me is that I need more space but otherwise its very possible.

I was expecting a post about stat weights. So anything besides that is totally fine and not redundant. With that said, RDM is totally fine right now. The issue it has is it generally competes with two other jobs for one slot. Where melee (generally) competes for two slots, and the utility + damage of bard and machinist make them welcome in almost any party. For damage, it isn't so far behind that it's not worth taking. Any good red mage player is going to do more damage than an average player on any other job (with comparable gear) still. And red mage offers great utility with the near instant battle rez as well as the physical damage buff it provides with embolden.

So I wouldn't worry about changing from red mage if you like it. It's mostly just that there are SO MANY people playing dps jobs that that's what fills up first in party finder. And as a caster you are generally fighting for one spot in that party. So you have even smaller odds of getting in. Outside of that, if people are directly excluding you from a party finder group JUST because you are on red mage, they are doing something wrong.

Also, if you are looking to play a melee that is desired in groups it would go NIN > DRG >> MNK >> SAM. BUT, in regular party finder groups and nearly every group in general, just having good players is all that matters. You can run about any composition and clear all content that isn't super savage raiding.

If you are looking to play a dps that is most "welcome" in groups, I'd say bard and machinist followed by ninja though.