New Player Job Guidience

Hi; Although I have over 15 years of MMO experience, I bought FFXIV yesterday for the first time in my life. Although I have heard his story is impressive, I have no idea what it is. Therefore, the pleasure that many people live and consume stands before me. Please don't be jealous :)

Like any newcomer, I have some questions on my mind. Although I have been reading articles and watching videos for a week, I need some additional information. Especially with numeric values.

In other MMOs I usually took on Ranged DPS and healer jobs. It doesn't matter if it's physical or magic, but I don't like classes that have to stay in place to do damage (I think Black Mage was eliminated here). I came up to the Bard vs Summoner class with a simple elimination. Although I like the group utility, I also like doing Group Content as solo (if such a thing is possible in this game).

According to what I read, Bard is below the other classes as DPS, and Summoner is in a strange situation that is difficult to describe with the last update. I heared something about 2 minutes opener ?? (Articles were dated 2019)

My questions;

1. When Bard is played solo by the average player, how far behind Black Mage or Summoner in terms of DPS? (Percentage or numerical)
2. Does Summoner rotation still in bad condition by the end of 2020?


Thanks for your help...

First, all classes are viable.
You can place the lowest DPS classes in one group and still beat the hardest ultimate content, as long you have no double class and one of each DPS type.

Also, Physical ranged have in general less DPS because of the great advantage of moving freely.
And yes, SMN still has the longest rotation and is often called the hardest class to play.

As I understand it, while SMN may have one of the more complex rotations, they're also among the most devastating when that rotation goes well. A good SMN is probably a sight to behold.

Don't worry too much about exact numbers - those will change with time anyway as classes get tweaked.

I don't know exactly how far a Bard is behind some of the other ranged classes in pure DPS, but once you take into consideration that Bards won't need to interrupt any of their inductions when moving out of AOE attacks, they won't be that far behind in damage output.
If you want to do ranged DPS without having to stand still, then Archer/Bard is easily the best choice.

Running group content solo is not really viable in FFXIV, unless you outlevel the content significantly.

https://thebalanceffxiv.com/

This is your one stop shop for any guides and class questions for any job in the game.

You can't really do anything solo in this game unless it is specific solo content, or unsync which requires you to be vastly overleveled in order to do effectively.

Bard is at the bottom in terms of dps output compared to other dps jobs... however all jobs in this game are viable, if you ever get locked out a party on bard, the party leader is bad, because bard isnt that far behind the others.

SMN has a "2 min rotation" but its by no means in a bad state, a lot of it is rather intuitive and you can do good damage just hitting your abilities on cooldown

Everything is viable. Just play whatever seems most fun for you.

Despite what numbers and theorycrafting says, the best DPS will always be the class you personally are best at playing. You have to remember that when people talk about DPS like that it's almost always in regards to theoretical perfection on endgame boss fights. Actual DPS varies wildly depending on a number of factors including fight mechanics, gear levels, and how good the player is at their chosen job/role.

Until the most recent patch, Summoner was the number 1 DPS in the game in terms of damage, it was (rightfully) nerfed some, but it's still one of the strongest classes in the game.
(As to why it deserved nerfing, it was beating both Black Mage and Samurai in terms of DPS while also having utility and healing (I mean the phoenix aura, physic isn't worth talking about) while BLM and SAM don't really offer anything besides raw damage.)

It kinda feels wonky at early levels, but all classes do honestly.

Concerning bard, or really any job balance atm, player skill plays a HUGE role in how much damage a job does. Sure, in a vacuum under optimal conditions a job may have a higher maximum, but that assumes people perfectly execute their rotations while flawlessly performing mechanics without losing any uptime... and that's just not going to happen. If you practice your job so you don't need to think about your actions and know what to do when you mess up, you'll do more damage than someone who hasn't done that regardless of job.

I regularly see the "support DPS" like BRD or RDM outdamaging other jobs, or even being the highest damage dealer in content. It's all a matter of respecting your team enough to practice, and not acting like your choice of job means you don't have to work as hard.

Bard is the most difficult ranged job in the game (its not really hard its just, its competition is easier by alot that im sure children can main it) Knowing what each song does for you and knowing when to utilize them is key aswell as utlitizng ur support skills like battle voice, minne and paean. Far more crucial than numbers so long as ur Ilvl is up to date you should be solid never worry about worst and best those have the potential to change anytime anywhere play what you like.

Well, thanks. I think I'm starting to understand why FFXIV community is mentioned a lot :)

One extra detail i didnt see anyone mention. Your character can master every class in the game if you want to take the time. So if you decide after awhile that bard isnt a great fit for you, you can pick up any other class to play as.