3 jobs I can't get myself to try. Maybe sell them to me?

Ok obviously I don't feel entitled to someone "selling me" on the last three jobs I can't seem to cram into my character concept, but if some of my misgivings are based on my admitted ignorance as to how the jobs feel or play, I'm more than willing to be convinced if enthusiasts have points to make that I hadn't considered.

So yeah, I was an altoholic in WoW (roll many characters to play as many classes/specs as possible), and that's definitely bleeding over into my new home in FFXIV... but even though I built a character who conceptually can try most jobs at least enough to truly "experience" them, there are barriers staying my hand in trying three final outliers. I'm very interested in both Endwalker jobs so that won't be a problem, but... let's get into it.

1) Black Mage. I’d love to try this job, but everything I’ve seen about how XIV does fight mechanics makes a “big windup casting time” DPS job look unfun. The fun for me in this sort of concept is standing still and teeing off with big nukes. There doesn’t appear to be room for that in this game where every mechanic applies to pretty much everyone. It's such an inverse from WoW too where melee suffers from many mechanics that particularly target them while mages get more (not all) time to eat a sandwich during their rotation from half a mile away. Some of the feedback I've already received from friends has basically doubled down on my concerns. While I do enjoy Red mage (my go to "caster DPS job") my vision of Black mage is much more "turret style," and, well... see above. Another big barrier here is I hear that early Black Mage is fun and intuitive, but it gets stupid complex as it unfolds, and I can believe that, having taken most other jobs through their "and now there is a gauge (or two)" phase. Long wind-up casting times, movement heavy boss fights, and then a gauge after a considerable time investment to level? Hard sell to me, personally.

2) Machinist. The single handed, single long gun aesthetic is just ugly to me. The first thing I did to Balthier in FFXII was take that away from him! The propeller minion and the standard stock uncustomizable pet is just a big cosmetic imposition that doesn’t align with me or my character. I guess this job is more style clash than anything else. I know that doesn't leave you much to talk me into it, but I'm ok with that if it's just not for me.

3) Dancer. If it was less tap dancing and more tai chi I would be on board. If it was less “flashy entertainer” and more “Primrose from Octopath Traveler” I’d be on board. I’m admittedly very ignorant to the substance beneath the style here, so maybe I’m way off base in my assumptions. I was able to talk myself into Bard just because I really wanted a ranged non-magical DPS option and it was easier to say "sure, he plays an instrument," than "he... waltzes?"

So what am I missing that made you love these jobs? I'm not demanding that you make me love them but, particularly with dancer I'd rather know up front if it's all dancefloor whimsy or if there is a more combative thrust to the feel of the job.

If you take the time to read this and even to respond, I really appreciate it, thank you in advance!

EDIT:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omedon

I just wanted to quickly revisit this thread to thank everyone for their insight, as I've now worked these three jobs into my active leveling routine! I'm actually pretty blown away with how much I enjoy dancer, considering it's nearly macro-proof (usually a big downside to me), its rotation seems to be kept reasonable even without macros, and the flow is legitimately enjoyable! Once I found a gun and staff I liked (storm captain options) I started on Machinst and Black mage and while the bulk of those jobs' leveling will likely come in Endwalker, they're still fun in their own ways!

Blue mage I have a hard time taking seriously though since... it can't actually DO most of the game. But maybe I'll get around to it some day. I didn't include it in this thread because it's not a "real" job, but it seems more like its own minigame that I feel wholly free to ignore.

Anyway, thanks for all your informative and entertaining posts here! I'm now a fully fledged joboholic and I don't think I'll ever be able to put thIs game down now haha!

---

I don't like black mage but like the damage. Im not a fan of casters. But the dps and numbers feel good.

Machinist i agree with you on looks, but it is pretty fast paced I heard.

Dancer my wife plays, and I get jealous of how simple it is. It is very much a relaxing class, and the movement is crazy the two dashes I get jealous of.

Black Mage: I had fun, I enjoyed the damage and the idea, the story quests were decent and you need to be good with timing and movement, especially at current end game content. really not a lot different than standing and healing, its all timing.

Machinist: always rather disliked the job. I found it exceptionally dull so cant really "sell" you on that one. end game didnt make it any better, but opinions vary

Dancer: after healing, probably my go to job. I enjoy it, the movement the animations, all of it, seems really well rounded to me.

reality is, its not us that would have to sell them to you, you have to sell yourself on them ^^

I mean, the jobs in FFXIV are like picking characters in Super Smash Bros. If your having fun playing the game, but don’t want to rock the King Dedede, that’s fine isn’t it?

You already know what there is to know about the 3 jobs- if they don’t feel good to play, that’s fine.

I would say, maybe try an alt out? I’m not a big fan of BLM either, but it looks good on my Viera alt and slowly became her main.

Play mch if you want to give your party, like the samurai, your middle finger and say "Here is your utility". It's like the blackmage of physical ranged dds. No utility, all damage. xD

Alright, I'll bite.

DNC: Your dances are not only buffs to yourself and your dance partner, but eventually to your whole dang party. They're like bard but not as piano-y at the start but later on it's like a matching piano game that SLAPS the mobs that dared make fun of you for dancing. You carry motha effing CHAKRAMS like freakin' boomerangs and just show other jobs that you can do something super fancy, making them super jealous of your l33t throwing skills. Heck, you make fans DO ACTUAL DAMAGE WHEN YOU SLAP YOUR ENEMY WITH IT. Your LB3 causes you to fling flowers OF DESTRUCTION.

MCH: You are the one-man army in some cases, because not only do you carry turrets with you, but later on a FREAKIN' ROBOT QUEEN that gutpunches whatever you decide to throw it at. You tool around enough to where you can not only unleash your Flamethrower and Bioblasters, but also a freakin' DRILL that just punches through the boss that decided to laugh at the size of your toolbox. You're also smart enough to carry some sort of backup that builds up heat in your gun that MAKES IT FIRE HUGE BALLS. Your LB3 causes you to summon a GIGANTIC FREAKIN' DEATH LASER.

BLM: NUKE. EVERYTHING. You have a nuke for every situation, you are the tactical mobile turret, you are also the one that will probably find that pixel perfect safe spot in boss and raid fights. Should anything dare look your way, however, you can easily protect yourself with your very own shield...oh and you can skate like a pro between people and your Ley Lines, because they're your dodge poles. However beware of the healers that choose to think they're doing you a favor and using Rescue on you, as you may accidentally BEND FREAKIN' TIME AND DO A TIME WARP. Your LB3 causes you to compete with RDMs for the most blinding lb3 out there, because you, the BLM, SUMMON A GIGANTIC FREAKIN' METEOR.

All of those classes are viable to level and at endgame. Take what you will from someone who's leveled them all.

just try them out. either you like them or not.... but you wont know before you reach 80

If you want something easy and sorta.. braindead, play dancer. It doesn't take much thought so it's good if you just need to zone out after work and get a roulette done XD

Mch is actually pretty fun lots of buttons to push to keep yourself engaged.

Never played Blm so idk XD

With BLM it's very satisfying when you cast and everything just falls over dead in a giant boom.

MCH is fun because you're bouncing around doing flips pew pew pewing things. BRD does the same which is why they're both just fun to bop around with.

DNC I adore. I love support. I enjoy having the dance partner mechanic and maintaining my steps to either buff my partner or the whole party. So there's nice resource management there for me in keeping those and Devilment going and timing things so I'm ready to refresh my standard step right as the previous falls off. I also enjoy the procs. I am dancing through my normal combos but then those procs come up and you skillfully weave them in. I love the whole dancing aesthetic. You're tossing the chakrams at your enemies as the rest of your body moves in the dance, and doing fun things with them like tossing as you half turn or coming out of a pose leaning back or spinning and then flinging them. The ability effects are colorful and varied. It's a very active class, at least to me.

BLM: my main magical DPS class. I'm not good and have trouble to adjust rotation the fly (panic Umbra Heart/reset rotation prematurely). But once I get how the fight will go, it is satisfying to fit my rotation to the dance.


MCN: I don't like this class. Some animations are ugly (Spread Shot). Some skills feel gimmick and need improvement. Flamethrower feels should like it should act like your Rook/Queen but with AoE-focus. Bio Blaster feels like it should be a DoT and not share cooldown with Drill. The only thing I feel nice about it is that it looks nice on Lalafell aesthetically (smol girl, big robot), and it is not BRD.



DNC: my main ranged physical DPS class. Out of three ranged classes, BRD which I hate cuz its skills are flashy but boring, MCN cuz reasons above, DNC is flashy, and animation is fun to watch on a Lala. The only grip I have about it is DNC's AF outfit looks weird on Lala. I don't like seeing my Lala exposing too much skin and I often take screenshots, making it hard to share. Good thing is that the Endwalker gear is going to look much better.

Black mage: EXPLOSION, thats literally all my motivation and all in my head using this class, how to cast as many fire IV as many as possible, so satisfying, i roleplay myself as megumin (anime character that love to explode stuff) so much in my head

BLM has a ton of movement tools at its disposal. MCH is straight unga, and one of the easiest jobs to play at a decent level. DNC is similar to MCH, but with less dps.

BLM: This job is pure firepower. The most selfish of the DPS, it's mantra is "don't make me move." That said, nothing beats this job in terms of sheer "let's blow stuff up" so it's a great way to relieve stress.

MCH: There are some shorter barreled guns! I've definitely got a short n stubby Replica Allagan gun from someplace. Aesthetics aside, this is also a selfish DPS and it's all about shooting things in the face. The action is very fast paced, pretty much the opposite of black mage's slow deliberate casting. If you feel constrained by the 2.5 second GCD, this is the job to escape it. Later rotation includes a burst with some half second weaves that are lots of fun.

DNC: This class has one of the simplest and most intuitive rotations. It's so well designed. You think the movements are flowy? The entire combat system on dancer is flowy. It has the weakest DPS of all the classes but makes up for it by super buffing anyone else, and a friend who dance partnered on my NIN during Titania Ex farming ended up winning the DPS race because our feedback was so powerful. The stronger the dancer partner, the more DPS both do, so a high DPS partner means the DNC is gonna kick butt too. It's unique to the class and pretty neat if you happen to know friends who are very very very good DPS.

Wait wait wait, OP, please clarify something for me because your statements seem rather at odds with themselves.
In your original post your request is for us to help you make these last 3 jobs work with your character concept: a guy who'll try anything:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omedon

the last three jobs I can't seem to cram into my character concept [...] I built a character who conceptually can try most jobs at least enough to truly "experience" them, [...]

---

Yet, your hangup with these jobs have nothing to do with how they don't fit into that character concept. Your grievances are:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omedon

1) Black Mage. [...] fight mechanics [...]

2) Machinist. [...] aesthetic is just ugly to me. [...]

3) Dancer. If it was less tap dancing and more tai chi I would be on board. [...]

---

It sounds less like there is friction between these jobs and your character concept and more like you just... don't wanna play these jobs.

Is that correct?
Or am I misreading your intent here?

You don't have to like every job, or find every job appealing (especially when there are so many), but if you wanna level them for your characters concept... there isn't anything stopping you from giving them a shot (which is what your dude's about lol).

And if you're worried that

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omedon

some of my misgivings are based on my admitted ignorance as to how the jobs feel or play

---

The only way to address that is to, again, just try them.
After all you've clearly looked into / researched what each job is like. So asking the forums for more info about these jobs can only help you so much.

Either way, whatever you do I hope you have fun.

Two seem to be aesthetic problems so not sure how much I want to bite for those but on Black Mage I'd note that you get fast cast and triple cast and a few instant cast spells to weave in and there is actually slide casting so you can move quite a bit when you want. Though it's true when you have your ley line down the healers needs must adjust. . . :)

Black mage I feel makes a lot of sense at each phase but the problem is each phase (level period where a new mechanic is introduced) changes quite a bit. Playing Black Mage at 80 and then doing something at 50 I was like "what the.. chocobo's rear end am I doing?". Meanwhile most jobs are not like that, most evolve where as black mage almost appears to mutate. Hopefully not making it sound too extreme because I'm not trying to but the ideas shift more I feel. It was an easy job to level up but I found it too dynamic of an experience across levels to use to queue for unknown content. I'd prefer SMN or RDM as a mage to randomly queue to stuff with (plus raise).

To say another way though I don't think there is anything wrong with the job, I do think SE should try and make jobs vary a bit to purposefully create a playing space for each different type of player. I do not dislike black mage as I leveled it and experienced content (I had fun with it), just my comment on how it changes over time is a bit more dramatic than some other jobs.

If your concern is you cant move around then I think you should still give it a try, you can move around, with all your fast casts and slide stepping magic, you'll just find at least when ley line is out you don't want to move around lol ;).

Unless you really want to be a completionist or get the Amaro mount, you don't have to play a job if you don't like it.

1/ BoOoOoOoOoM
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O4tbOvKwZUw/maxresdefault.jpg

2/ Pew Pew Pew
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/58/1a...2bce82dd45.jpg

3/ Living the Xena fantasy
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...allisto_02.jpg

Sold?

Stop being a coward and play them, you may be surprised.

Also, you took away Balthier's guns in FFXII? You're an actual monster.

Hmm. Let's see...

I don't like Black Mage, but it can put out absurdly high numbers frequently. Fire IV is very aesthetically pleasing, as are Flare, Xenoglossy, Foul, and Thunder IV.

People say BLM is weird, because the focus of its rotation is how to most effectively put out the biggest spell the most times, the most frequently. As a result, you want to gear it differently than RDM or SMN. Spell Speed is its stat, and with a max Spell Speed build you can be pumping those Fire IVs out nearly as fast SMN does Ruin III or RDM does Jolt.

This results in the, "mutation" or "total change" as some folks put it, as it levels. At 50 plateau it works around the Firestarter proc, wherein you cast Fire I until you get a Fire III proc, and then you hit the Fire III proc. You set up Thunder III and hope for Thundercloud procs. When your MP gets low, you cast Blizzard III to regenerate your MP. There's some more minmax type stuff to make it perfect, but that's the gist of it at 50. Oh yeah, there's Aetherial Manipulation which lets you ride another party member's coattails to their current location.

Between 50 to 60 you receive Enochian(A supposed "Angelic" language invented by Occultists in the 1500s used in the practice of "Enochian Magic" a magic said to disintegrate the wielder's mind due to its lack of protection and focus on power), which is a magic damage boosting buff that is activated and then maintained by keeping up your Umbral Ice/Astral Fire. It's require to be up to cast Fire IV. Fire IV costs the same MP as Fire I, but does way more damage, but it does not rebuff the Astral Fire timer, meaning getting too greedy with Fire IVs will see it fall off, so you have to use Fire I or Fire III(with a Firestarter proc only) to keep Astral Fire/Enochian. This is also the range where you get Leylines, which boost YOUR spell speed when you stand inside of them.

60 to 70 you get Umbral Hearts and Polyglot and Foul. Basically, by maintaining Enochian you get a little timer that builds towards giving you Polyglot, and each Polyglot lets you cast Foul, which is basically non-elemental Flare that doesn't depend on Astral Fire for a damage buff. Things still work as before, but because of Umbral Hearts there's a new way to minmax how long you can spend in the Astral Fire stance, as well as the ability to cast Flare more often in AOE. You also get Between the Lines, to move back to your Leylines instantly after dodging something.

70 to 80 seeks to perfect the BLM's rotation conceptually. You get Xenoglossy, which is essentially instant cast single target Foul. You get Despair, which is essentially single target Flare. You get Aspect Mastery (or whatever it's called), which allows for the FREE casting of the opposite element, provided you have three stacks of your current Ice or Fire element. You also get Umbral Soul, so that you can have full MP and keep Enochian between pulls in dungeons, instead of having to start fresh as much. You also get a second Polyglot allowance.

The gist of BLM at max level is to start with Ice, put up Thunder, generate Umbral Hearts with Enochian + Blizzard IV -> Fire III, spam Fire IV until you need to cast Fire I, use Sharpcast + Fire I so you can get a Fire III proc guaranteed. Continue with Fire IV, use Convert for another Fire IV, and then when you're at I think it's 800~1200 MP? use Despair to completely deplete your MP, using the Fire III proc whenever you either need it or before you go back into Ice. Due to Aspect Mastery you can fully deplete your MP now, so you just cast Blizzard III, Blizzard IV, and Thunder III, then loop back into Fire. You use Xenoglossy to prevent wasted Polyglot build up, or as a movement device, since it is an instant cast. Any time there's a long fight transition, if you're able to act, then you go into Ice and spam Umbral Soul to keep your Polyglot build up going, as well as your Enochian.

Its entire difficulty comes from doing this amidst fight mechanics, so folks who are super serious about Black Mage have to learn fights to the letter if they want to really excel. Beyond that, though, it's just BIG BADABOOM.

Even though I don't like it, and am quite bad at it, I like to play it occasionally just to do the big booms for a little while. I also like the idea that it's so inherently destructive that the wielder might eventually destroy themselves.

I can just say after Dancer its really hard to play any other class again. Enavant is just to good. If they ever delete Enavant I will die a little inside and can never play Dancer again.

BM: Slow but requires you to perfect your rotation for maximum damage? One of the classes where I actually focus on the rotation and try to optimize it. Can be frustrating tho when you get interrupted. Also a safe-far-from-danger job when I’m nervous about tanking unknown / raid content.

MACH: don’t play

DAN: Too easy maybe, but a relaxing job. I enjoy boosting and shielding the group in higher level content. It’s fast and glamour is nice. :)

As far as Dancer goes, it's very simple but also very flashy. Part of your effectiveness is gauging the effectiveness of other players, so it's one of those jobs that justifies parsing :/ but a good rule of thumb is to just use Closed Position(Dance Partner) on another DPS until they die. For single target bosses you can go by who is generating more enmity among the DPS, as it directly correlates to damage, though sometimes just means that someone is rolling on a job whose damage comes more from up front hits rather than DoTs.

Its story is pretty cool. The Dancing style you're learning via the Job stone is the, "Kriegstanz" or "War Dance." Secretly your Dance troupe has a mission to hold back other deadly forms of dances like that seek to alter aether and harm the land and its people. I rather enjoyed it, even though I don't much care for Dancer. Overall, it's so easy to play that you can probably pick it up more readily than BLM or MCH. Technical Finish is a very big hit that DNC has, that dwarfs other big hits in the game while simultaneously buffing your whole party. It's only available once every two minutes though, and requires 4 dance steps(easy to do but takes a little time away from actually hitting the boss).

MCH is very cool. One of my favorite jobs. The storyline for it has really endearing NPCs. I am especially fond of Jane and Stephanivien. Some of the others are very cool as well, and the later quests involve Hilda from Heavensward!

You can find some smaller guns to glam, they exist. The coolest skill it gets is Air Anchor, in my opinion. Gameplay involves basically throwing out everything and the kitchen sink. There's a few spots for thought still, such as making sure to keep Gauss Round and Ricochet on cooldown, and alternate them whenever you use Heat Blast during your Hypercharged/Overheat phase, as well as having enough Skill Speed to get in as many Heat Blasts as possible during Wildfire. The robot and turret are mostly, charge battery to 100 and set and forget, and are mainly/only for bosses really, but you can trigger their big hit that causes them to leave at any time, and also put them out at as low as 50 battery as well. Being able to use the big hit on demand is kind of nice, as it lets you have some damage on demand in order to kill things RIGHT NOW, like if you're fighting a boss and the enrage is coming up or you know you're about to die, so you can get that big hit off and not waste it.

Drill is also pretty cool, and Reassemble lets you make it Direct Crit or any other Weaponskill as well, so you get to see big numbers frequently too. Far bigger than BRD, but not as big as DNC's Technical Finish. But MCH gets its slightly smaller number far more frequently (6~7 drills and 3~ or so Air Anchors for each one of Dancer's Technical Finishes). But it doesn't really buff anybody, other than mitigating incoming raid wide damage with Tactician, but BRD and DNC both accomplish this with their equivalents.

If you’re not having fun then don’t push yourself.
It’s not like you’re gonna magically love the jobs even if ppl throw tons of reasons to you.
We have many jobs for a reason, no one forces you to like all the jobs.
In the end, its all subjective. Just play whatever jobs you have fun with.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kahnom

If you’re not having fun then don’t push yourself.
It’s not like you’re gonna magically love the jobs even if ppl throw tons of reasons to you.
We have many jobs for a reason, no one forces you to like all the jobs.
In the end, its all subjective. Just play whatever jobs you have fun with.

---

I mean you're not wrong, but this a bit of a cookie-cutter answer.

I can't speak for the OP, but as someone who really wants the amaro mount and has no intention of buying job skips, I have to slog through 80 levels on jobs I absolutely don't like and struggle to even learn how to play (BLM among them by the way).

Who knows, maybe a fresh perspective can help.

DNC is my main because it's stylish, easy to play, buffing other player, not many skills and very fun. Love chakram weapons !

3 jobs I can't get myself to try
SAM. I leveled a SAM to 80 because I quite like visually and I wanted to love... But for me, there is a massive skills bloat. Way too much buttons.
SCH. I leveled my summoner along with my Scholar, so I tried this latter, but I don't feel good... I mean I think any healers are not a class for me in FF14.
SUM. It was my first job when I played FF14 for the first time, but I gave up quickly. Despite some fancy skills, I get bored pretty fast...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Herebedragons

I mean you're not wrong, but this a bit of a cookie-cutter answer.

I can't speak for the OP, but as someone who really wants the amaro mount and has no intention of buying job skips, I have to slog through 80 levels on jobs I absolutely don't like and struggle to even learn how to play (BLM among them by the way).

Who knows, maybe a fresh perspective can help.

---

For jobs you don’t like, you can run dungeons with TRUST instead of actual people.
Or the old-fasion way like spamming FATE.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kahnom

For jobs you don’t like, you can run dungeons with TRUST instead of actual people.
Or the old-fasion way like spamming FATE.

---

So basically not bothering to learn the jobs but not inflicting my suckiness on other people lol

Sorry, not trying to be sassy or anything. But you'll agree it's definitely not the most efficient method. If I really have to play a job I don't like, might as well do it right.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Herebedragons

So basically not bothering to learn the jobs but not inflicting my suckiness on other people lol

Sorry, not trying to be sassy or anything. But you'll agree it's definitely not the most efficient method. If I really have to play a job I don't like, might as well do it right.

---

For Black Mages, the normal rotation is very simple. The rotation just changes up every 10 or so levels because of new traits you get to access but the overall idea remains the same - do as much damage with Fire phase, then recover MP in ice phase before going back into fire phase. The player's optimization of being able to consistently throw out Fire IV attacks after figuring out where is the safe zones and not needing to move constantly and break casting time makes it feel so satisfying to play since you wouldn't be taking extra damage, be in range of your party member's buffs, and still casting your heavy hitting spells. This optimization, however, is dependent on you to figure out and implement properly.

You can look up a basic guide on the Black Mage's job's rotation and that'll work out for most players, but anything specialized and tailored to a particular fight requires you to put your experience and knowledge of the fight to optimize your rotation and get the maximum benefit, thus letting a Black Mage get a different rotation for each encounter. That's where the fun for Black Mages really happens.

If you ever used Leylines, you know exactly what I mean when you can continue to cast after plopping them down and staying there than when you have AoEs constantly entering your leylines.

In other words, A Black Mage's ability to hit the max potential damage output is proportional to how big their brain is. An actual INT-based class.

If it were me and the theme just didn't fit my wol, I'd make an alt and start with probably thaumaturge? I actually did that before and it was a lot of fun. I ended up liking my blm more than my original wol. Same can go for dancer and machinist although I will agree with you... mch is kinda gross. I can only barely handle it on female models, and even then I only leveled it for completion.

Could be blind but I didn't see mentioned another comment on black mage besides that it isn't as fixed, when you need it, as OP might think it is (though timing when you hold still is still fairly important), is that the producer / director of the game plays Black Mage.. Which means your job is probably in good hands lol. Sometimes games make an accident with a job and it doesn't end up how some of the players want, this seems to be less true when the people working on a job are the ones that love that job. Seems then black mage will always be at least okay as if it went sub-par someone would notice "Why is my job not feeling good? Guys, we can't have this".

Naturally ideally all jobs get that treatment, and I'm sure devs at large (not just SE) try to do that, but it seems potentially more likely to be on the rock sturdy ship when your job is a beloved of a dev who has high power in that field. Maybe made too many jobs more similar than different but at least in the last expansion it seems they ensured every job was entirely viable, and they might be able to carry that forward again (in which case none of the above really matters), but we have had in the past where a few jobs shined quite a bit more than others.

Not as bad as some other MMOs though lol, might reference WoW but even say FFXI had a lot of moments where either by accident or design your class (spec) / job was NOT welcome lol.

I'm not going to try to sell you on a job based on its mechanics. That's boring! Class fantasy is where it's at!

BLM: I'm the big, bad dark wizard. I cackle as a destroy everything in my path with eldritch magics. I enjoy long walks on the beach, dusty tomes, and huge explosions. My most prized possession is my 16 oz coffee cup made from the charred skull of a voidsent.

MCH: I'm the guy with the pew pew guns! I jump around like crazy while turning my enemies into swiss cheese. I like guns, more guns, ammo, and the smell of gunpowder. My most prized possession is my stack of Gun and Ammo magazines.

DNC: I'm the combat specialist with those weapons from Xena! I dance, twirl, and put on a fantastic light show. Afterwards, my enemies all fall down. I like dancing, music, and raves. My most prized possessions are my super comfy shoes and the jewelry I received from my admirers.

I've leveled these to some degree, but they're not classes that I main but here's my experience with them if it helps either way --

- Black Mage is the glass cannon. Big numbers, itty bitty health bar. Stand in your ley lines? Yes but actually no. Mechanics force you to move and it's like trying to force a cat into his carrier. I've tried so many times to get into Black Mage but I just can't do it. I wanna be where the action is.

- Machinist I have leveled to 80. It doesn't really get cool until you get your automaton queen. Then you summon a robot to help you make things to boom. It's kinda like summoner, with guns. Says its a support class but the only real support is Tactician? Even dancer and bard offer more utility. MCH is in a weird place. It's fun to go shooting things though. A cool techy aesthetic if you're into that.

- Dancer reminds me of that Simon game from the 80s where you had to hit the colored pads in a certain way to win the game. It's very pretty and showy. Lots of nice buffs that I wish machinist had too. I haven't gotten too into it but the weapons look cool - everything from fans to things that look like giant shurikens.

Black mage for life.
- Where other people walk, I zip around with my "instant moves"
- Look at Y'shtola. She looks great.

I'm curious, what would you say are your three favorite jobs, OP?
I would just like to know to compare and contrast what you like with what you don't want to touch.

Black Mage: Megumin

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Herebedragons

So basically not bothering to learn the jobs but not inflicting my suckiness on other people lol

Sorry, not trying to be sassy or anything. But you'll agree it's definitely not the most efficient method. If I really have to play a job I don't like, might as well do it right.

---

Actually NPC parties are my bread and butter, and yes I lean into my "good enough is good enough" Philosophy when with them. It's not "bad" if the bosses die.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scott

I can just say after Dancer its really hard to play any other class again. Enavant is just to good. If they ever delete Enavant I will die a little inside and can never play Dancer again.

---

En Avant has this weird activation delay that's gotten me killed a few times too many so I had to train myself out of relying too heavily on it. It's been relegated to an oh shit button or if I'm trying to move around major Cities or Gold Saucer.

You’re missing out on Dancer. It’s so easy to pick up and as a physical range, I dare say it’s arguably the best job to enter new content. This class allows you roam the stage freely with the instant action skills and simple rotation.

Not sure I can sell any of these jobs to anyone, but the best advice I can give is try them out in squadron dungeon runs to get an idea of how they'd play in group situations.

due to my pettiness i will never recommend mch to anyone, and dnc is a hard sell if u already dislike mch. BLM is odd due to it not peaking until essentially 80 unlike some jobs that peak early and have little to offer for 30 levels like MCH or RDM. I wouldnt say its niche but also wouldnt say its for everyone its that odd and sometims you gotta just fold and say "i dont like this job" and thats ok