I'm WHM and manage fine in solo pve play, but every time I go into a dungeon I end up stressing and forgetting half the skills I should be using. I've tried over and over and still fail.
So I am hoping someone can suggest a dps class that I might find easier to play going through dungeons?
Thanks
You are not even Lv50 on your Conjurer / White Mage, you are practically still learning. You don't become an optimized Healer over night. Keep going I say, for I don't know what DPS to recommend if you give up on healing already.
Additional things to remember: Healing is more than just pressing spells and abilities. Is your gear up to date? What about the tank's gear? Is your tank using defensive cooldowns to lower your burden? Are DPS players killing enemies in a reasonable time so you dont have to use all your tools in a single pack?
Over time you learn to gauge the competence of your party members, which will allow you to learn when to use damage spells and when to heal, how much you need to heal, whether you can stun enemies with Holy, etc.
But start small. Use Cure I + II depending how much heals the tank needs, use Medica to heal group damage, use Lucid Dreaming at 7000ish MP to regenerate early, use damage spells when things seem stable. Failures / deaths are ok while learning, it is part of the learning process.
Every DPS has jobs has its ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ parts, it’s ultimately personal perception on which is ‘easiest’. The best way to figure out which one is the best fit is to just try them all, even if it’s just looking at the abilities they get or whichever aesthetic you prefer.
In terms of healing I think it’s easy to feel like you’re not doing enough, especially at lower levels when you don’t have any options besides standard Cure and standard Stone / Aero. Even if you do find yourself in a situation where things are going wrong, I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself about it. Even if something happens that wipes the party, everyone makes mistakes ultimately. I’m sure that you aren’t in a situation where the party is consistently wiping from lack of healing. It feels terrible if you ever do get into that situation, but if it means anything it’s just that you might need a bit more practice, and every healer is like that when they’re starting out.
I’d recommend, try whichever things you like the look / sound of, and you’ll soon find the job that’s best for you. It might turn out White Mage is perfect for you, or maybe you’ll find that you enjoy one the DPS jobs much more. Whatever choice you make, I wouldn’t worry too much about having a ‘great’ performance if you haven’t had much practice. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of even if you do fail, it just means that you need to keep working on it.
Like the others have said, keep healing. If you choose to okay as scholar, you'll be leveling their dps counterpart, summoner, simultaneously and vice versa.
Ill repeat the advice to stick with healing. Stress can be lessened afterall. The more comfortable you are with a class, the more familiar you are with a dungeon, and the more friendly your teammates are the less stress you should feel. The class you play the most should be most comfortable, going through dungeons multiple times can help with familiarity, and bringing friends/FC members along is always a good thing. And as others have said, at your level you dont have most of the tools that healers eventually use to reduce stress in any given fight.
However, if you are determined to try a DPS then id say go with either bard or black mage. Both can play from range, so youll be able to view the battle strategically. Both have fairly simple rotations to learn. Bard is more mobile and will eventually learn abilities to buff the group a little. Black mage does more damage. If going through a dungeon as a bard(or mage) and learning the layout gives you the confidence to go in as a healer(or if you just decide that you like playing it more), then picking up a bow(or staff) is certainly worth it.
While I would agree that healer is a specific mindset, and I say that from having played the class in multiple MMOs, what others have said above is also true. There are many factors that can contribute to the success of dungeons, especially when perhaps the dungeon level doesn't allow you to use all the skills on your bar if you're significantly over level. Over enthusiastic tanks pulling too many mobs and not being able to maintain aggro. Tanks that position poorly and DPS that pull aggro off the tank. Poorly geared DPS that become highly squishy to AOEs can also end up burning a lot of your manna. The trick is to try and stay one step ahead of the damage while not wasting MP on unneccesary heals. Use MP potions and MP regen skills early in these cases so you may get the chance of another pop towards the end. If a group is particularly sticky don't sweat trying to do much DPS. An extra 5 minutes in a dungeon beats wiping and restarting any day of the week. Also, remember, it's just a game.
Bard is an easy dps at the start.
My pros for Bard are his mobility and no positionals like melee classes.
If you feel overwhelmed with new things + healing, playing a dps is not a bad idea.
Its much easier to learn healing, if you already know the fights.
At lvl 50 the easiest dps gets available: Redmage.
At lvl 60 there is another easy dps: Dancer.
You can play all jobs on 1 charakter, so just try different ones.
Keep healing. Every class has its difficult parts, and if you're thinking "Oh I want to play DPS because nobody will care if I'm bad" please don't be that person. Just tell people in duties that you're new, learning, and looking for advice. See if people on the novice network are willing to go through dungeons with you and help coach you. You can improve, and you'll find that healing is both very appreciated, and very easy.
As has already been said 1. dont give up!
BUT if you are really not enjoying it group content I can suggest SMN or SAM as options depending if you want a caster or a melee dps.
I main WHM but I do enjoy those 2 DPS classes in particular :)
I'd say play a bard, that job is pretty relaxing and easy, when I first came to this game I tried playing a tank and failed then I started bard and it was a good way to learn how to play the game and not be super stressed out while learning how this game functions, so if I were u I'd give bard a try.
I play BRD. I think ARC is the easiest start in the game. YMMV.
ACN is a pretty easy start too IMHO. Opens SMN and SCH at 30.
Did you do Hall of the Novice? Good healing lessons there.
Most of the failed healers I’ve encountered seem to run as dps SCH í ½í¸‚