This is from the perspective of someone who has played a tank, and is currently trying to level a DPS class.

I've read up on tanking, I learnt how to tank properly, and I levelled mainly off dungeons. The only time I actively levelled via FATEs was 47 - 49, because I could never get a party for Aurum Vale via DF, and once I hit 49, I did not feel like doing Aurum Vale ever.

However, now I'm levelling a Black Mage as an option for DPS-ing, and because I have a full set of AK BLM gear and a Garuda BLM staff. And here's my problem - Duty Finder solo queue takes like 75 minutes for me to get a party for Haukke Manor (and we were still missing a tank at this point, I eventually decided to give up and go to bed).

In that 75 minutes, there isn't much to do. Crafting? Perhaps. FATE-ing? Can't do that unless you're in a party - Quarrymill/Dragonhead FATE's just go down too fast, I'd get in a few hits, and only end up in Silver anyway. In fact, I decided to craft while waiting, that after about 40 minutes in, I'd forgot that I even queued for Haukke Manor.

I fear (and know) I am probably going to hit Lv50 on my BLM, and not even know how to play my class properly outside of Blizzard II spams. But what choice do I have, when I don't have 75 minutes to spend waiting for a dungeon queue? While I can wait the full duration, but in between I always get requests from friends/FC/LS to help them tank WP/AK. Do I leave my queue, where I've been waiting for 60 minutes, to help them tank a dungeon we'd insta-pop, or to continue waiting for the tank/healer spot that never looks like it will ever be filled?

I am too used to 10 second queues, and playing DPS now reminded me why I didn't roll a DPS as my first class. Until DPS queues are significantly shorter (I don't mind waiting, say 5 to 10 minutes), I don't think I'll ever get to run a dungeon as a DPS, unless I have a lot of time to burn waiting for a DF queue to pop. Probably doesn't help that the people I know I can group with are already mostly Lv50, and farming for mytho tomestones.