Do you find playing melee more difficult?

[Aurebel]

I think a lot of it comes down to which mindset and playstyle you're used to. If you're used to the caster playstyle and mindset - standing and casting, slide casting, anticipating movement and pre-positioning, you might find a melee playstyle and mindset hard to adapt to at first. I think the opposite could also occur: melee mains and 4.0 BRD/MCH mains (I said 4.0 because 3.0 BRD/MCH were effectively casters) could find casters hard to play at first as well.

[Gumbercules]

I find it more "engaged", what i mean is that melee isn't harder to execute, but its harder to notice things sometimes compared to when i am on a ranged. That said my go to job for , i don't wanna a try too hard is a mage job lol (SMN) But do like to go SAM too to make sure there is a melee LB in my 4 man stuff :P

[Sapphire_Dianta]

I personally do find melee to be harder, though I kinda like it like that. I found SMN to be relatively a snooze (same with BLM so far), while RDM livens thing up by diving into the fray for a couple seconds. Pure melee, on the other hand... well, you're walking the razor's edge between cleaves, AOEs, and instadeath mechanics. It's exciting!

[XykeVayaris]

Melee main and definitely prefer melee over ranges/magic classes. In fact I’ll never level a ranged/magic class if I can help it. RDM was an exception for their dynamic gameplay and melee elements, and BRD because I love playing music (which I’ve only levelled unwillingly to 30 just for the performance actions). This game is the first game that opened up my liking for tanking.

Also it has been a running gag between the range/magic dps and melee dps in my static to poke fun at one another.

[gumas]

melee require you to have good sense of your surroundings (at least in endgame raid/boss), its also feel more active in a sense you actually went into the fray and going "sparta" with them.

harder? not really, because some people actually want that kind of excitement, the "rush" feeling going toe to toe with enemy unleashing your full rotation while at the same time trying to dodge and remembering enemy pattern and timing prediction is one hell of roller coaster ride.

range having it a little easier being range they can just pew pew all the way and when the red circle of doom appear on them they just "oh i need move" instead of "oh $@&*$ run! run!! my rotation darn it!!!" despite no different after effect on both class because the range class feel more "safe" in that way.

on the downside i see a lot of people who play range tend to have either tunnel vision or the "cast time almost done but red circle is on me but i dont care!!!" which is why most death is usually come from range class.

except DRG, the tradition must be uphold.

[TelosNox]

on the downside i see a lot of people who play range tend to have either tunnel vision or the "cast time almost done but red circle is on me but i dont care!!!" which is why most death is usually come from range class.

That's what I mean with "decide if to cancel the cast or be greedy and try to get the cast finished and move afterwards". It's the same thing when melee decide if they run instantly or finish the next hit/combo ;-)

[wereotter]

Bard yes, but they make up for that a bit by having a crap ton of buttons to press.

Machinist, however, is not easy mode by any stretch of the imagination. They also don't have full mobility like a Bard, because a key part of their rotation is a short range near-melee ability they have to sustain for 2 ticks. And if they mess up their cooldown rotation it has a huge impact on their dps, unlike with Bard whose cooldowns have buffer time built into them and line up well so that they're always available slightly before you actually need them even if you screw up a bit.

Oh definitely rotation aside. I wasn't implying MCH was an easy job to play, it's definitely tricky and complicated. I meant more when it comes to dealing with mechanics and keeping up DPS during phases you have to move. To that end, BRD/MCH have it easier than casters and melee DPS.

[Tex_Mex]

After being a melee main for most of my time in 2.X and 3.X, I have a hard time playing ranged classes because I tend to get a bit bored. The skill ceilings are pretty high for melee jobs, and I don't think that any of the ranged classes (except maybe BLM due to needing to intimately know encounters) can compete in that regard.

[gumas]

you can see people who play range but formerly a full time melee class quite easily

they tend to stand right next to mob/boss despite having a skill that up to 20-30 yard away =P

as healer i always itching to use "rescue" skill on them

[Sunako]

Even if you can dps from 30 yard away, you still need stay melee range on specific mechanics. Good range always stack once they need aoe heal and spread for specific mechanics while melee constantly stay on the boss. You can easily see players that only play dps or players that play every role so they are taking into account the needs of others. Like cure 3 is only 6 y range. If you miss that heal, it is your fault if you die.