Trying to pick a DPS

Ello all,

So...I'm mainly a tank player, but every now and then I get the urge to DPS and I'm trying to pick who to focus on.

Problem is...I have no clue which one to focus on.

I do have a few options I'll go over though.

Summoner

I like ACN, I love SCH, problem is...I don't want to skimp my SCH's healing ability for SMN damage. Besides, with the way things work I have more than enough time/resources to DPS on SCH so despite my love for the aesthetics of the class, there are too many opposing points.

Machinist

I was pretty hyped for it, I do really enjoy it (despite the fact that I haven't got to play it too much) but from what I've seen when I get into parties with them, their damage isn't stellar. I didn't expect it to be immense, but I was a little bit disappointed on that front. Aside from that I do enjoy their look and the idea behind the job.

Monk

This one...Idunno, I tried PGL back in 1.0 and never really gave it much of a chance in ARR. How is their damage these days? Difficulty with position/rotation isn't really an issue for me if it all pays off.

Black Mage

These guys, I've seen their damage, their aoe, their flashy spells. How -are- they though? Any opinions from any BLMS? I've heard the hubub about Enochian but I don't quite get the issues from just looking at the ability itself.

Ninja

I'll bite, I know next to nothing about Ninja, I'm interested in them mainly because they look nice, so I'd love to hear opinions on them and their damage/usefulness.

So yeah...sorry for being vague and mostly unhelpful with this post, I'm just fishing for opinions before I decide which one to try first. As a general question though, which one of these can deal "optimal damage" as often as possible? Even if they can, is it any good?

Thanks a ton for taking the time to reply, the help is much appreciated.

Monk is up there in damage right behind dragoon, which you didn't mention for some reason. Drg is op right now, and for that reason there are 75 million of them.

My blm isn't quite there yet, but I can tell you that everyone complains about wanderers minuet like they complain about enochian, and WM is great, so I don't think forum complainers should be a good measure of how blm plays out.

I'm confused about how you said that smn gimps your scholar. I dont have it leveled so i dont really know, but can't you just cleric stance?

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Originally Posted by Geardagas

Monk is up there in damage right behind dragoon, which you didn't mention for some reason. Drg is op right now, and for that reason there are 75 million of them.

My blm isn't quite there yet, but I can tell you that everyone complains about wanderers minuet like they complain about enochian, and WM is great, so I don't think forum complainers should be a good measure of how blm plays out.

I'm confused about how you said that smn gimps your scholar. I dont have it leveled so i dont really know, but can't you just cleric stance?

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Drg doesn't really interest me all that much, I've seen them (a lot) and nothing really stuck out when I was playing my Lancer.

As for Smn and Sch, I used my attribute points for mind for my Sch. So, blah blah, better heals, stronger DoTs as Sch etc thanks to the Mind swap from ceric stance.

It comes down to, I care about my Sch more than Smn, so I know my Smn would just be a tad more watered down because of that in the end.

The reason for enochian complaints is because you need a tight watch on AF3/enochian timers. If you can't get blizzard 4 off in time due to mechanics, enochian falls off along with a big chunk of your damage. If you fail to keep AF3 up, you loose access to Fire 4 which means a hard cast of fire 3 eating away more of enochian time.

Do you plan to raid on the dps?
If so I'd pick up Ninja right now. DRG+NIN are currently the most sought after melee combo.
Only possible downside to Ninja is Mudra lag, if you can live with the knowledge that you won't do the same thing as the 10ms people or just have very little lag yourself then NIN is a solid pick.
It comes with a pretty standard 2dot and a 1, 2/6, 3/4/5 combo that shouldn't be foreign for a warrior player.
Comes with some cute gimmicks like Shukuchi(jump to spot), DoL stealth for the lols and aggro up/down skills for targets, self stoneskin on long cd, reduced fall damage and increased movement speed.
It also flips when weapons are unsheathed and you jump.
It comes with some solid party utility in the form of Goad for strong 1 target tp regen, and Trick attack for high damage and party wide dps increase and slashing debuff for when you have no warrior or for your pld/drk in split boss fights like A1S.
And ofcourse the signature move the Mudra's which allow you to adapt to a lot of situations by doing a combination of signs, basically the thing that separates NIN from being just a warrior that is using daggers.

So basically if you like WAR as a dps pick NIN.
If you don't want a dps that is kinda like WAR pick something else.

@ the summoner part, the hymn things from the grand companies that cost like 250 seals reset all your stats

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Originally Posted by Snowaeth

Ninja Info

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Thanks! I'll definitely look more into Ninja now. As for raiding, that I do not know. I'm currently capping 2 tanks/2 healers/1 dps, I'll focus raiding on whatever static/group I can find needs me as, so its all up in the air for now.

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Originally Posted by WingsOfAzrael

@ the summoner part, the hymn things from the grand companies that cost like 250 seals reset all your stats

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Oh, I could have sworn they cost much...much more, but I haven't checked on those since 2.0 so...Thank you for that bit of info! Gives me more to think about.

As for the Blm things, makes sense, sounds like a challenge too.

LNC is probably the least interesting base class early on, so please don't base your opinion of LNC/DRG on that. Once you hit the 40s with DRG, your enjoyment will improve immensely. Also, as a tank player, you'll probably appreciate DRG's huge HP pool and high defense (compared to the other dps).

Machinist is a solid class and they look good. I'm playing Ninja right now but with how little time I get to play now its hard to level it up because it takes forever to get dungeons as any type of DPS kind of the reason I'm starting to lean on going back to finish leveling off my DRK. I'm trying my best to stay on my DPS class though.

If you are bad with remember mechanic and not very good with see whats going on. but good with finger muslce memory.
Mnk:
Will take a bit long to get use to do it with position flank and Rear for max dps and keep up GL from mechanic. though once you get use to it you will love you dps.

Nin:
Less position requirement and a bit easy to keep dps during a bit less button.
A bit easy to keep huton then GL from mnk.
mudra lag is no joke though.

If you are really good with remember mechanic and pen n note what mistake group made.

Blm:
Has to read 2-3 step ahead of fight and how much time you has before movement mechanic incoming. unlike smn with limit AoE cause Aether stack. Blm has No limit AoE and mp. Also a bit easy to be control tower to see whats going on.

mch:
Pretty crazy dps with opening.
if you dont like position requirement and lot easy be control tower and supporter.

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Originally Posted by Inosaska

Machinist is a solid class and they look good. I'm playing Ninja right now but with how little time I get to play now its hard to level it up because it takes forever to get dungeons as any type of DPS kind of the reason I'm starting to lean on going back to finish leveling off my DRK. I'm trying my best to stay on my DPS class though.

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I hear ya' I'd gladly level every one of these to 60, but the queue times are a pain...Tanking has spoiled me lol

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Originally Posted by Sawamura

stuff

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Thanks! I'll take these into account.

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Originally Posted by fm_fenrir

LNC is probably the least interesting base class early on, so please don't base your opinion of LNC/DRG on that. Once you hit the 40s with DRG, your enjoyment will improve immensely. Also, as a tank player, you'll probably appreciate DRG's huge HP pool and high defense (compared to the other dps).

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Well then, looks like I'll need to crack my (should be) Drg back open too.

Oye, so many interests x-x; it probably -would- be better if I just tried them all firsthand.

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Originally Posted by Justsomeguy

Ello all,
Black Mage

These guys, I've seen their damage, their aoe, their flashy spells. How -are- they though? Any opinions from any BLMS? I've heard the hubub about Enochian but I don't quite get the issues from just looking at the ability itself.
o the help is much appreciated.

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Blm: struggles with a clunky system,at the mercy of global click mp regen, punished heavily If not the worst by their own built in mechanics vs raid mechanics

Keeps track of 2 timers that can screw your dps either way, reducing timer on enochian shortens rotations, increases risk of dropping af/ui enochian.

Long cast times and are not top dps unless baby sat or raid mechanics screw melee hard enough and ignore you.

Bln does great damage with enough knowledge and a bit of luck, burst is uncontested, aoe is weak compared to summoners.

On Black Mage I can say I have truly enjoyed the class through and through. It has a simple rotation and the class is easy to pick up but takes a while to master as I have learned. XD I am not 60 yet though as I just came back after a long break. Even the lvl 60 rotations I have seen don't seem over complicated though. the Enochian issue some have interests me. I can't say how I feel about that yet as I am not 60 yet, but it sounds like it could be frustrating but I don't know if it will ruin the class for me necessarily.

The movement thing is what can kill the class for some. It is a lot harder to maintain DPS while dodging attacks as BLM so if you don't like that you might consider SMN instead if you are going for casters.

I haven't touched many of the other classes yet, but I think I personally want to level a ninja pretty soon, though I am hearing mixed opinions on that one. XD

If your going with SMN/SCH put all your attribute points in INT. It helps your SMN more than MND would help SCH

Dragoon is OP for sure and now is the class that does most ST damage, 2nd spot is very debatable between Ninja and Monk, problem being there are better Monks then there is Ninjas.
And no i am not about to start a conversation should any people quote me and post they are right i am wrong...
Do you like movement and up and close fighting? Since you have tanked perhaps any of the 3 mellee will suit you.
Blm enochian... not something that is broken just players find it hard because of the timing, once you have it down it is not an issue.
Summoner is also at the spot were as in most cases it now does more aoe dmg then that of blm and overall is a really good class now. If you do not like pets however, skip the class, lol

We have way too many people running around with spears on their backs, just look and you will see.

I think choosing a healer would be a better idea... like scholar or whm, instant ques, easy job for the most part.

If you insist on being dps, choose mnk or nin, plz don't pick drg.

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Originally Posted by Justsomeguy

Black Mage

These guys, I've seen their damage, their aoe, their flashy spells. How -are- they though? Any opinions from any BLMS? I've heard the hubub about Enochian but I don't quite get the issues from just looking at the ability itself.

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Enochian itself isn't that bad -- it is the 10 second AF timer with no AF refresh from F4 that makes it hard. Decent uptime with enough practice is manageable, but most fights are designed to break your 3.0 rotation. Don't cry over spilled Enochian and be ready to switch to a 2.0 rotation without pause when needed.

As scholar & warrior main (lvl 35 atm, sniff) i would go with summoner. The utility is real.
You can insta ress the tank if things go south as a DPS class(!).
You can summon your own tank (Titan).
You have a heal (physick).
In movement heavy fights you're really well off since 2 out of 3 damage sources you have don't require you to stand still all the time (pet attacks & DoTs).

You can always buy that attribute reset tablet with only 250 gc seals each.

Bonus for summoner, you can level as a scholar for fast queues and then switch at 60.

Omg yea Lancer is like the most boring pre class ever, but then you have Dragoon which is a big step up yes you will be pressing a million buttons and changing position for max DPS but its sooooo worth it but be warned DRG can make or break you cause if your rotations are bad your DPS will be realllllly bad but if you take the time and learn the rotations you will be golden and most of the time the highest DPS close to a BLM or SMN. GL choosing.

Thanks everyone!

I think I'll go with BLM since...

I'm capping Sch regardless, which will in turn cap my Smn, and it came down to Blm or Smn so...I guess it'll kind of be both?

It isn't that dire regardless, I'm a tank/healer in the end.

for what its worth, i hated blm at 60. very stressful compared to the much easier smn

I don't blame you for writing off Lnc/Drg initially. Starting out the class is pretty dull, it definitely gets better at higher levels but I don't blame those that don't have the patience for leveling it up that high.

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Originally Posted by Justsomeguy

Thanks everyone!

I think I'll go with BLM since...

I'm capping Sch regardless, which will in turn cap my Smn, and it came down to Blm or Smn so...I guess it'll kind of be both?

It isn't that dire regardless, I'm a tank/healer in the end.

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It is generally easy to do both since all non-AF gear is shared. Many players switch between SMN and BLM depending on the fight.

I think i played them all and my two favorites are ninja and monk. With monk i like the fact that they can heal themselves with second wind and mantra which comes very useful at times, but they can also debuff enemies with haymaker and buff themselves with internal release and with their job skills like fist of fury. MCH from what i heard (i've only got the MCH last night) their is a certain way you have to play them cause you have to get their abilities to proc so you may or not may like them