State of jobs question for new player....

[Malevolence]

Recently committed to FFXIV full time after nearly four years in DCUO. They had more frequent updates and expansions and the forums were filled with tears after each and every one. I see that's sort of the same thing here . Anyway, DCUO devolved to the point that out of about 12 powers, only a handful became viable for end game content. After reading some of the 'RIP' posts, I'm wondering which jobs here are are in need of updates to become viable, which are 'OP', and which are pretty solid as is. DCUO was a bit different for me though because each power had a DPS and Support Role stance but I don't know if that is the case here (it doesn't seem to be). Thanks in advance!

[CGMidlander]

Until the expansion comes out and we get a chance to actually play around with the changes, it's all FUD.

Edit: The current job situation is pretty balanced. Every job is useful.

[Melocke]

Every job is viable for end game, just some will do better than others at some things or are easier to play, but being a certain job isn't going to stop you from clearing content.

[kyuven]

XIV is remarkable in that, for PVE play, the jobs are mostly balanced. The only one sort of in need of help is SMN, and it's mostly an itemization issue (they get next to nothing from Spell Speed, and it's on almost everything)
All the "RIP" posts are in reference to recent announcements about new abilities for the jobs in 3.0, which isn't even out yet.
It's the kind of stuff you see joked about. And most of the threads ARE jokes (the BRD thread is mostly "What are you talking about? This sounds awesome!") with SMN getting the brunt of it because people want it to have more summons that are gigantic graphical messes from beyond the stars that poop laser beams (i'm exaggerating. I hope)

But as it stands right now, the difference between the jobs in terms of viability is mostly academic. There's absolutely no reason a SMN can't do Final Coil well, and everything is tested to be able to be done with any job set up (look up some of the infamous 7 SCH or 7 MRD runs to see the dire half-dragon version of that)

[Malevolence]

Every job is viable for end game, just some will do better than others at some things or are easier to play, but being a certain job isn't going to stop you from clearing content.

This is good to hear because I tend to want to play things that are fun/interesting for me. I didn't know if there were 'insta-kicks' or unrealistic expectations for certain jobs, or if some (say Paladin over Warrior for example) were required for certain instances. I always wanted to try out Dragoon but reading the comments during yesterday's live stream made me think it's a job that needs some attention (and Summoner I guess).

[WellFooled]

I find that, compared to other MMO I've played, the jobs in FFXIV are amazingly well balanced.

[HakuroDK]

snip

As an ex-DCUO player of 2+ years before FFXIV, I can tell you that the jobs are very reasonably balanced unlike DCUO (I still remember the whole "Ice Tanks too OP, Fire Tanks are useless!" debacle). The main issue comes from the content itself and what jobs are best suited to what content.

For the most part, content allows for pretty much any reasonable party makeup. There is some content that caters to specifics (T11 comes to mind due to one add having physical resist and another having magical resist, requiring you to have a strong and equal presence of both kinds of DPS in the party), but for the most part, largely because many non-DoT debuffs don't stack, a party with a variety of different jobs is often better suited for endgame content than, say... a party with four Black Mages, two Paladins, and two Scholars. The little known fact that having all-different jobs in a party can actually cause the Limit Break meter to rise faster is just icing on the cake.

But honestly, I think people are just being impulsive with their threads and while balancing will be necessary (as it was for Warriors and Dragoons being too weak and Ninjas being too strong), no one is REALLY going to know what to make of the new skills until the skills are put into practical use.

tl;dr: People are theorycrafting doomsday scenarios for their favorite jobs, but once HW actually comes out, a lot of that will go away.

[Seryl199]

As things stand, most all jobs are balanced. I can't say for the most recent cutting edge content, the Final Coil of Bahamut, but you can take on any job and perform effectively in any content. Melee DPS have the highest sustained DPS, BLM is the king of burst and AoE, SMN has good sustained DPS, mobility, and some utility. BRD is often highly desired in raid content for it's support abilities. In most content, a mix of either healers and either tanks is sufficient.

Of course, with expansion time coming soon, we'll have to wait and see if some of these things will change. Take the RIP threads with a grain of salt, as we're largely unsure of how exactly the new abilities will impact the new meta, and it is mostly speculation.

[Senliten]

This is good to hear because I tend to want to play things that are fun/interesting for me. I didn't know if there were 'insta-kicks' or unrealistic expectations for certain jobs, or if some (say Paladin over Warrior for example) were required for certain instances. I always wanted to try out Dragoon but reading the comments during yesterday's live stream made me think it's a job that needs some attention (and Summoner I guess).

Dragoon recently had some love given to it, summoners as well. Just people in the live stream and here are blowing stuff well way out of proportion with the rip threads.
Each class is viable as others have mentioned, so play what you wish to envision yourself doing. And the best part is, you are not situated to just one class. So if you find both tanking as a paladin or dpsing as a ninja both fun, then you can do both. Just the only real constraint will be getting newer gear sets due to the weekly caps.

Also Ice tanking villain fo lyfe <3

[AzraelX]

Im from Dcuo and FF14 is nothing like DCUO-- thank GOD. The overflow of RIP treads after the the live stream is 1st i have every seen in ff14. In honesty its all FUD- we don't know anything til we play them. Devs in ff14 are very good about keeping things balanced. There is no FOTM like DCUO. Any job is viable for anything in the game. Just pick what you like. Only thing is that please note that DPS queues are longer due to majority of people playing dps. Unlike dcuo, all jobs are unique and HW are going to make them MUCH MORE unique. I almost was in tears when i saw how much work they put into HW.