3 jobs I can't get myself to try. Maybe sell them to me?

[Ravor]

Black mage: EXPLOSION, thats literally all my motivation and all in my head using this class, how to cast as many fire IV as many as possible, so satisfying, i roleplay myself as megumin (anime character that love to explode stuff) so much in my head

[Caurcas]

BLM has a ton of movement tools at its disposal. MCH is straight unga, and one of the easiest jobs to play at a decent level. DNC is similar to MCH, but with less dps.

[Catwho]

BLM: This job is pure firepower. The most selfish of the DPS, it's mantra is "don't make me move." That said, nothing beats this job in terms of sheer "let's blow stuff up" so it's a great way to relieve stress.

MCH: There are some shorter barreled guns! I've definitely got a short n stubby Replica Allagan gun from someplace. Aesthetics aside, this is also a selfish DPS and it's all about shooting things in the face. The action is very fast paced, pretty much the opposite of black mage's slow deliberate casting. If you feel constrained by the 2.5 second GCD, this is the job to escape it. Later rotation includes a burst with some half second weaves that are lots of fun.

DNC: This class has one of the simplest and most intuitive rotations. It's so well designed. You think the movements are flowy? The entire combat system on dancer is flowy. It has the weakest DPS of all the classes but makes up for it by super buffing anyone else, and a friend who dance partnered on my NIN during Titania Ex farming ended up winning the DPS race because our feedback was so powerful. The stronger the dancer partner, the more DPS both do, so a high DPS partner means the DNC is gonna kick butt too. It's unique to the class and pretty neat if you happen to know friends who are very very very good DPS.

[ItMe]

Wait wait wait, OP, please clarify something for me because your statements seem rather at odds with themselves.
In your original post your request is for us to help you make these last 3 jobs work with your character concept: a guy who'll try anything:

the last three jobs I can't seem to cram into my character concept [...] I built a character who conceptually can try most jobs at least enough to truly "experience" them, [...]

Yet, your hangup with these jobs have nothing to do with how they don't fit into that character concept. Your grievances are:

1) Black Mage. [...] fight mechanics [...]

2) Machinist. [...] aesthetic is just ugly to me. [...]

3) Dancer. If it was less tap dancing and more tai chi I would be on board. [...]

It sounds less like there is friction between these jobs and your character concept and more like you just... don't wanna play these jobs.

Is that correct?
Or am I misreading your intent here?

You don't have to like every job, or find every job appealing (especially when there are so many), but if you wanna level them for your characters concept... there isn't anything stopping you from giving them a shot (which is what your dude's about lol).

And if you're worried that

some of my misgivings are based on my admitted ignorance as to how the jobs feel or play

The only way to address that is to, again, just try them.
After all you've clearly looked into / researched what each job is like. So asking the forums for more info about these jobs can only help you so much.

Either way, whatever you do I hope you have fun.

[Shougun]

Two seem to be aesthetic problems so not sure how much I want to bite for those but on Black Mage I'd note that you get fast cast and triple cast and a few instant cast spells to weave in and there is actually slide casting so you can move quite a bit when you want. Though it's true when you have your ley line down the healers needs must adjust. . .

Black mage I feel makes a lot of sense at each phase but the problem is each phase (level period where a new mechanic is introduced) changes quite a bit. Playing Black Mage at 80 and then doing something at 50 I was like "what the.. chocobo's rear end am I doing?". Meanwhile most jobs are not like that, most evolve where as black mage almost appears to mutate. Hopefully not making it sound too extreme because I'm not trying to but the ideas shift more I feel. It was an easy job to level up but I found it too dynamic of an experience across levels to use to queue for unknown content. I'd prefer SMN or RDM as a mage to randomly queue to stuff with (plus raise).

To say another way though I don't think there is anything wrong with the job, I do think SE should try and make jobs vary a bit to purposefully create a playing space for each different type of player. I do not dislike black mage as I leveled it and experienced content (I had fun with it), just my comment on how it changes over time is a bit more dramatic than some other jobs.

If your concern is you cant move around then I think you should still give it a try, you can move around, with all your fast casts and slide stepping magic, you'll just find at least when ley line is out you don't want to move around lol .

[MoofiaBossVal]

Unless you really want to be a completionist or get the Amaro mount, you don't have to play a job if you don't like it.

[Hysterior]

1/ BoOoOoOoOoM


2/ Pew Pew Pew


3/ Living the Xena fantasy


Sold?

[SilverObi]

Stop being a coward and play them, you may be surprised.

Also, you took away Balthier's guns in FFXII? You're an actual monster.

[Vyrerus]

Hmm. Let's see...

I don't like Black Mage, but it can put out absurdly high numbers frequently. Fire IV is very aesthetically pleasing, as are Flare, Xenoglossy, Foul, and Thunder IV.

People say BLM is weird, because the focus of its rotation is how to most effectively put out the biggest spell the most times, the most frequently. As a result, you want to gear it differently than RDM or SMN. Spell Speed is its stat, and with a max Spell Speed build you can be pumping those Fire IVs out nearly as fast SMN does Ruin III or RDM does Jolt.

This results in the, "mutation" or "total change" as some folks put it, as it levels. At 50 plateau it works around the Firestarter proc, wherein you cast Fire I until you get a Fire III proc, and then you hit the Fire III proc. You set up Thunder III and hope for Thundercloud procs. When your MP gets low, you cast Blizzard III to regenerate your MP. There's some more minmax type stuff to make it perfect, but that's the gist of it at 50. Oh yeah, there's Aetherial Manipulation which lets you ride another party member's coattails to their current location.

Between 50 to 60 you receive Enochian(A supposed "Angelic" language invented by Occultists in the 1500s used in the practice of "Enochian Magic" a magic said to disintegrate the wielder's mind due to its lack of protection and focus on power), which is a magic damage boosting buff that is activated and then maintained by keeping up your Umbral Ice/Astral Fire. It's require to be up to cast Fire IV. Fire IV costs the same MP as Fire I, but does way more damage, but it does not rebuff the Astral Fire timer, meaning getting too greedy with Fire IVs will see it fall off, so you have to use Fire I or Fire III(with a Firestarter proc only) to keep Astral Fire/Enochian. This is also the range where you get Leylines, which boost YOUR spell speed when you stand inside of them.

60 to 70 you get Umbral Hearts and Polyglot and Foul. Basically, by maintaining Enochian you get a little timer that builds towards giving you Polyglot, and each Polyglot lets you cast Foul, which is basically non-elemental Flare that doesn't depend on Astral Fire for a damage buff. Things still work as before, but because of Umbral Hearts there's a new way to minmax how long you can spend in the Astral Fire stance, as well as the ability to cast Flare more often in AOE. You also get Between the Lines, to move back to your Leylines instantly after dodging something.

70 to 80 seeks to perfect the BLM's rotation conceptually. You get Xenoglossy, which is essentially instant cast single target Foul. You get Despair, which is essentially single target Flare. You get Aspect Mastery (or whatever it's called), which allows for the FREE casting of the opposite element, provided you have three stacks of your current Ice or Fire element. You also get Umbral Soul, so that you can have full MP and keep Enochian between pulls in dungeons, instead of having to start fresh as much. You also get a second Polyglot allowance.

The gist of BLM at max level is to start with Ice, put up Thunder, generate Umbral Hearts with Enochian + Blizzard IV -> Fire III, spam Fire IV until you need to cast Fire I, use Sharpcast + Fire I so you can get a Fire III proc guaranteed. Continue with Fire IV, use Convert for another Fire IV, and then when you're at I think it's 800~1200 MP? use Despair to completely deplete your MP, using the Fire III proc whenever you either need it or before you go back into Ice. Due to Aspect Mastery you can fully deplete your MP now, so you just cast Blizzard III, Blizzard IV, and Thunder III, then loop back into Fire. You use Xenoglossy to prevent wasted Polyglot build up, or as a movement device, since it is an instant cast. Any time there's a long fight transition, if you're able to act, then you go into Ice and spam Umbral Soul to keep your Polyglot build up going, as well as your Enochian.

Its entire difficulty comes from doing this amidst fight mechanics, so folks who are super serious about Black Mage have to learn fights to the letter if they want to really excel. Beyond that, though, it's just BIG BADABOOM.

Even though I don't like it, and am quite bad at it, I like to play it occasionally just to do the big booms for a little while. I also like the idea that it's so inherently destructive that the wielder might eventually destroy themselves.

[Scott]

I can just say after Dancer its really hard to play any other class again. Enavant is just to good. If they ever delete Enavant I will die a little inside and can never play Dancer again.