Newbie question about Lancer/Dragoon and Archer/Bard

Hey folks,

have started ff a few days ago as lancer. Now gimping around at lvl 17 but have a lot of fun. To get a little bit of an imagination how it's play in the end i have read a few guides and watch a few vids. And oh boy it looks pretty complicated to me. I have also read, that a lot of ppl say it's pretty clunky and unforgiving. So my question is: Is it really that hard to play? I only will play normal group content in the endgame. No plans to raid or something like that. Is it a kind of rocket sience?
I also tryed Archer and like it. Not as much i like the Lancer but it's fun too. Should i stick with this class if i want a less stressfull and forgiving class if i messed up buffs/rota whatever?
Thx for your advices!

Not really , In my opinion it's fairly easy with practice and you understand how the positional actions work. You can always practice and level up in Palace of the Dead to get an idea. Just make sure to get Dragoon job at 30, that is when it really gets fun. Rotations will come to you later on with practice as a DRG it's more of learning your rotations, timing, and learn to attack while moving in some situations.

Bard on the other hand is a nice range job if you know and find your sweet spot. The only problem, and reason I don't really play it, is more of the range in between some attacks that leave you vulnerable. Example wide aoe (area of effect ) were you need to hurry and stack on boss to avoid. It is a nice job as well and support skills are fun later on, just not my cup of tea.

Overall Palace of the dead is a great way to experiment and once your lights are around 60/60 try to challenge it solo and see how you do. or wait for 99/99. Just remember one thing, HAVE FUN ^^

My main is DRG and I love it, over all you may want to have at a minimum one of each role. Later on it will help you a lot.

I would stick with the class you enjoy more for now. In general, people usually seem to perform better when theyre more engaged. And while the end-game dragoon looks complicated from level 17, a lot of that complexity will build naturally as you level up(and really, EVERY class looks much more complex in the end then it does at the beginning). In the end there are a few positionals to hit(something all melee DPS deal with at least a little), some oGCD abilities to weave in, a couple buffs to keep going, one(or am i forgetting something other then litany?) party boost to know when to use, and one or two debuffs to keep going. The "normal group" stuff doesnt require a ton out of you to succeed either. If you still feel like this is all way too much once you get higher in level and actually have most of these abilities(or when you find that what you do have is starting to not be fun) to use thats when id seriously start to consider a class change.

It isn't that bad. Sure, if you want to press every last ounce of performance from your character, then Dragoon can be a bit tricky, but if you are satisfied with merely being good (which is plenty enough for normal dungeons) it's not very hard.

Dragoon is complicated at level 70. It has a lot of buttons and I had to learn 8 new keybinds using shift to play it. However, you are given the skills in such a way that by the time you have all the abilities, you are trained in how to use them so it's not overwhelming. Monk also works this way.

There is a cadence to Dragoon. Push button one of the combo, add a jump. Push the second button of the combo, add the next ability. You basically weave one of your abilities between each weapon skill and eventually, some people even start to weave in two.( Not me!)

Bard is less complicated but you have to watch a lot of things at once. You have to keep many plates spinning yet also keep on eye on the monsters and I find that hard to do. Dots, procs, cooldowns, timers, and boss all at once.

Play the job you think you will enjoy most. At its core, DPS jobs have the same idea. Take advantage of damage buffs, use your most damaging attacks with your buffs up, and keep trying to press buttons. You will do decent damage if you do those things.

You can worry about being super optimal later if you ever decide to do harder stuff.

Most of the clunkyness you heard about Dragoon has been fixed. Also, changes happen to classes all the time, as others say play what you like. Dragoon will get better in the late 20s, it's a bit boring.

Dragoon has a rigid combo rotation at the end game that is actually very, very simple. It's a matter of just pressing a string of 5 buttons. The complexity comes from managing oGCDs, which is something that you can pick up easily once you learn a proper opener as everything lines up through the fight easily with a good opener. Drg is definitely not clunky but it is very punishing. Not only because death resets your ability to go into your Nastrond phase but also because your damage is reliant on keeping up a piercing debuff. This makes drg not very good at swapping targets quickly like monk, samurai, and ninja can. That being said, if you plan accordingly you shouldn't have any issues always having your piercing debuff up for target swaps.

Drg definitely looks a lot more complex than it is. It has a very distinct flow to it that is a ton of fun.

I must say that I have never played as a Lancer, but my main, and currently my favorite character, is Bard.
I have notice that Bard is not the most popular DPS, at least not in my server (Faerie), it appears as the lowest DPS in almost every list, other classes are preferred in lower dungeons, and some of the Glamour is bizarre, BUT! It's amazing, the buffs in higher levels are highly appreciated by all parties, they are a magnific class for PVP, the animations are beautiful, the rotation dynamic (not simple, but in video game difficulty it may be called "medium"), the Glamour its f**king incredible sometimes, you may dress almost as anything you like, and the most important thing of all; They are fun!; if you get to use the emotes correctly in a dungeon or trial, people will laugh at and with you!

We are not a lot, but we are great! Good luck! :D

DRG is wanted in endgame groups, we bring a piercing debuff that helps BRD/MCH and Battle Litany. DRG sounds hard when explained to a new player it has a relatively long opener and the positionals, although not as harsh anymore, they are still important to your DPS, and they add to the flow of the combat in a way as well. Once you get the basics down it's not really that hard. The rotation is pretty rigid and you will not alter it that much. Most of the time after your initial burst your off gcds will come of cooldown, and line up to where you just use them when they come up. Of course, there are exceptions to that, mainly in raids and for optimal CD/Buff alignment, boss phase transitions and so on. DRG scales in terms of difficulty well, its slow for the first 50 levels imo, as are all the classes to me. But, by end game it is fun to play. It's not slow, unlike it will feel early on. By 70 you have plenty of off gcd moves to weave in keeping the combat fluid.

On the Bard part of your question, I personally do not have a 70 BRD (like 65 atm lol) From what I know of the class, BRD is fun to play, and needed for any endgame group(or a Machinist). It is very mobile now, with no cast times, has really good party utility, and good DPS. This game does not have traditional support roles (sadly imo) so Bard is a RDPS with some extra party buffs basically. IMO and others may disagree I am sure, BRD can be difficult to perform at the top end of its potential, more so then DRG to me. Granted I have mained melee DPS for years in many games, so that may be why.

Brd got a bit overload in buttonsmashing, actually you need fast reflexes to perform on top niveau - cause Brds arent simply connected to support just one cls-role but nearly everyone and their moms ^^... mp, tp, esuna and song boni on support side and a shitload of procs and ogcd on your own dps side. I started as Brd in ARR and played it until half of HW, with SB it was my 2nd cls which I raised to 70 and was positively surprised what they made them like after the bow-mage disaster with hw... but yeah although its a busy job its really enjoyable if you like challenges. Best part is like Nerva said you won't have probs finding farm grps for any kind of end-content at all... at least for now ;3

Oh and the music comp feature is really funny - at least for that feature its worth getting a Brd on your personal job-list :P

Am I the only one to find n'a-t-on a bit underwhelming? That's a lot of rap up for 3x320
Not that it's weak, but it doesn't feel as stellar as demi bahamut for instance
2x680 and a shit ton of wyrmwave