"Play what you want!"

[Krotoan]

Well 2 much people cant understan that NOT all classes/jobs are as good.
Like in 4.0 you need to move mich more one bosses so blm is bad for now.play as him in savage is just stupid. But people do it and some defend it by saying this play what you want bs.

Some people don't care as much about endgame savage raids. another reason why "what should I play" needs to be clarified, if your goal IS endgame raids then yes, start talking about DPS and mobility and skill ceilings. However if you want to look cool and maybe clear story? doesn't really matter too much.

[SaitoHikari]

-snip-

Pretty much this.

I will admit that I am a raider that openly parses (though I won't mention this in-game unless asked), and even I will tell you to play what you want. The game is still finely balanced, outside of the outliers like SMN and MCH which have FAR more to do with overall design problems holding them back, rather than their potencies just being too low. The meta only really matters if you're a bleeding edge world first raider, and even then that's debatable. The damage gap between DPS isn't so wide that actual personal player skill cannot more than make up for it, because that has ALWAYS been the true determining factor as to how effective you are at playing a certain class.

Anyone trying to enforce the meta on lower difficulty content (and even on new players) is quite frankly a dumbass. I'd rather have new Machinists that know how to play their class than a new horde of Samurai that cannot AoE properly or balls to the wall strength-stacking Warriors stance dancing into Deliverance during a 5+ mob pull while most enemies are still alive.

There ARE games that exist where telling players to avoid specific classes and gravitate towards the meta is done as a measure to spare them from the pain of late game class discrimination locking them out of party content.

FFXIV is not one of them. DEAR LORD, FFXIV is NOT one of them. Especially not compared to the previous game I played...

[Galgarion]

Speaking only for myself, I find it incredibly irritating when people ask me what they should play as. I don't want to be someone's fantasy gaming Life coach. "Find what you like." "Do what you want." "Do as you please." All viable alternatives to "play what you want." Just be decisive and commit to something.

[Umbeliel]

Snippity snip snip

What a champ

[OwlBlackX]

I remember. Person said

"Why so many rotations/skills? We're not monkey!"

Like mean random click many rotations

[SpiritMuse]

Speaking only for myself, I find it incredibly irritating when people ask me what they should play as. I don't want to be someone's fantasy gaming Life coach. "Find what you like." "Do what you want." "Do as you please." All viable alternatives to "play what you want." Just be decisive and commit to something.

It's not so simple to make a decision though if you don't have information. I feel that's usually what people are asking for when they ask that. Which class is good/bad/challenging/simple. Which job is most sought after. What style of play do they require. What does it mean to be a tank. A healer. Etc.

[Darkobra]

It's Final Fantasy 14. Get some good gear, stop standing in AoE and play whatever you want. Nothing is hard. Hell, I saw another thread just last week of someone complaining that the raids were too easy too. There are no twitch mechanics, instant reflexes, there's a big damn yellow circle on the ground or a yellow bar slowly going over a boss' head saying "Look what I'm going to do!" It's why MMOs aren't in competitive tournaments. "Oh, he never stepped out the AoE that was on the ground for 6 seconds! That'll cost them! Oh they have a healer. They're fine."

In fact, this game actually ENCOURAGES you to have other classes by increasing exp bonuses and allowing your one character to change to whatever the hell you want without having to go through the story again. You will be able to get through the story with no effort. The raids? Know the mechanics. They're usually "Stop standing in AoE."

If me playing Black Mage bothers you, get a static or some friends.

[RaizeGraymalkin]

This is a pretty dumb topic.

[Shurrikhan]

Playing what you want has rarely carried nearly such a potential for less-than-ideal play as playing how you want. One should play optimally; the rest makes only a fractional difference likely to fall within the standard deviation simply between any two given runs, assuming the composition can at least mostly take advantage of it. A player enjoying their job well enough to get quite good at it, and spend the time gearing and melding it, will typically mean more than playing a class that fits marginally better within a dictated meta.

[LalaRu]

The only people concerned about the job you play, are the minmax players. If you want be accepted by that community, follow their guidance, or else use your brain.