Wanderer’s Minuet, Gauss Barrel and Positive Gameplay Additions

[Avidria]

What really bothered me about WM is that it felt like it wasn't useful at all until 60. I didn't use it once until 56, and even then I didn't keep it up all the time. So I get a skill that isn't worth using at 52, gets a bit more appealing at 54 but still isn't great, isn't really useful until 56 (and do I love iron jaws on its own), and then a one-time debuff protection spell (with a castbar!) that seems to be very situationally useful at 58.

Then at 60 I get sidewinder, which is actually pretty nice and has a cool animation (and doesn't require WM, which is also great).

So I didn't really start "powering up" as it were until 56. The change from being totally mobile to having cast bars was pretty jarring as well. I just started playing the game a few months ago so I don't know how things were pre 3.0, and I don't mind WM so much now that I've gotten used to it, but it does seem like an odd class design post-50.

Meanwhile my WHM seemed to get a cool and (immediately) useful ability after every 52+ quest. :/

[Welsper59]

What really bothered me about WM is that it felt like it wasn't useful at all until 60. I didn't use it once until 56, and even then I didn't keep it up all the time. So I get a skill that isn't worth using at 52, gets a bit more appealing at 54 but still isn't great, isn't really useful until 56 (and do I love iron jaws on its own), and then a one-time debuff protection spell (with a castbar!) that seems to be very situationally useful at 58.

Then at 60 I get sidewinder, which is actually pretty nice and has a cool animation (and doesn't require WM, which is also great).

So I didn't really start "powering up" as it were until 56. The change from being totally mobile to having cast bars was pretty jarring as well. I just started playing the game a few months ago so I don't know how things were pre 3.0, and I don't mind WM so much now that I've gotten used to it, but it does seem like an odd class design post-50.

Meanwhile my WHM seemed to get a cool and (immediately) useful ability after every 52+ quest. :/

That's because it wasn't overall useful till then. WM requires the full arsenal to be decisively better than auto-attacks and free roam action during dodge mechanics... and there were quite a number of them leveling. IJ, EA, and SW are the only saving grace actions behind WM and, as you mentioned, one can be used without it lol. Let's also not forget that WM was weaker and had a noticeable cast time originally, which made it a stupidly huge burden to use while leveling if you wanted to turn it off and reapply. The ilvl of gear while you level, even if you kept up to date, made it extremely gimped as well by comparison. If the three abilities were given to us alongside WM, it would have stood out a lot more as you level, but with how it is, you'd just be making things worse for yourself until 60 (though technically just harder, not so much worse, from 56-59).

Not all jobs get stuff that is useful early on though. Like NIN doesn't get anything useful at 52, just the smoke bomb ability which... well... let's be honest here, isn't exactly useful in even a decent amount of situations even at 60.

[Alahra]

Not all jobs get stuff that is useful early on though. Like NIN doesn't get anything useful at 52, just the smoke bomb ability which... well... let's be honest here, isn't exactly useful in even a decent amount of situations even at 60.

Smokescreen doesn't penalize the NIN, though. It's the worst of NIN's new abilities, for sure, but it's nowhere near as problematic as WM and GB.

[Welsper59]

Smokescreen doesn't penalize the NIN, though. It's the worst of NIN's new abilities, for sure, but it's nowhere near as problematic as WM and GB.

That was just mentioned in relation to the person I quoted mentioning the WHM ability at 52. Just stating that BRD isn't the only job that gets something that isn't exactly useful for the level you get it... and in that case, not really useful period, unlike WM at 60, regardless of the playstyle change..