Maining a job you don't find the class fantasy particularly appealing?

[RobynDaBank]

I am fickle with my class likings. They bounce based on aesthetics, gameplay and class stories.

- I consider myself a WHM main but its fantasy does not quite grip me as much. I just ended up getting moderately okay at playing it and stuck with it. The fact that the few Stone and Wind spells get replaced with Light in Shadowbringers really takes a step back from the small amount of uniqueness it had compared to a commonplace "Light healer" trope in games.

- Dancer has a great fantasy/aesthetic to it and yet I can't ever see myself maining it. Same with Summoner.

- Black Mage is amazingly flashy, the THM and ARR BLM class stories were kind of interesting, but again, I don't see myself maining it.

- Astrologian had a great look to it but - don't know why - I got burnt out of playing it quickest. The job story is pretty cool, though.

- Scholar has somewhat underwhelming-looking spells, the ARR and HW SCH stories are... Odd? I get what was going on in ARR, but HW feels really non-impactful. Perhaps I just did not pay enough attention to it. It was a contrast to HW SMN story, which has its twists and works nice as a small story. Although, the idea on paper of being a strategic combat medic is awfully cool, so I don't mind switching to it.

- I would not find much of Machinist to speak home about had it not had a bit of a fleshed-out job story.

Overall, I suppose it's WHM for me. It's fun to play for me. I can slip in and out of it with no trouble. But as far as its spells and aesthetic go, I feel sort of plain. Not that I'm fussed!

[Hysorn]

Because, literally, they are mutually exclusive. Either a Ninja really is 'doing it for you' and you have had "the most fun [you've] had in this game", or it isn't.

Yeah, I've no idea where you took that gameplay and aesthetics are mutually exclusive, also using food analogy here: I think chicken soap looks disgusting, I still like the taste though, so I will eat it. I love the fast paced gameplay of Ninja, but I was never a fan of ninjas themselves, does it mean I will stop playing it? Maybe, maybe not. Opposite thing happened with DRK for me, I love the fantasy, but found the gameplay a snorefest, after weighting it I decided that I was not having fun enough and decided to try something new. So in short here, it's more about weighing which one is most important, which is why I came here to ask ways people circumvented this perceived issue.

You need to be honest with yourself and forget what your friends or siblings might say, forget what your favorite streamer might play, forget about the article or Reddit thread you read that said Ninjas are the best thing since sliced bread, and just actually do what you want to do.

Still trying to understand what this has to do with anything, but alright. Again, gameplay = fun, aesthetics = not appealing, it was me trying to find out a new job to play prior to Endwalker launch since the one I mained wasn't quite doing it for me, I do apologize however, I should have worded it better, because Gameplay-wise, ninja is the most fun I had in this game yet. would be more fitting.

Either you like Ninja enough to play it, or you don't. So, you either play it or not based on your internal feelings. To be honest, my whole post here is irrelevant relative to your direct questions. You shouldn't either play or not play a Ninja based on what other people would do or have done. You do you.

I'll be honest, I appreciate the analytical and rather skeptical viewpoint but you skipped right through quite an important point: human behavior. Why do depressed people ask advice to others when it's clear that the only one that can help you is yourself? Validation, belonging, relatability, social interactions and of course seeking genuine advice hoping to have the energy to put those in practice among many other reasons why we do what we do.

Did I have to create this post, do I need other people's opinions to decide whether I wanna keep playing NIN or not? Not really, but I am still curious and wanted to see if others had gone through similar situations and what they decided so I could judge relating their experience to mine, it's really isn't a difficult concept to grasp.

[Shironeko_Narunyan]

You need to decide if this is true:[/B]

He said the gameplay was awesome, the class identity/fantasy awful.
That's not at all mutually exclusive.

I enjoy the Machinist, but the class fantasy isn't my thing. I'd much rather the job used bow or xbow.
I'd like NIN if they went with the rogue/pirate fantasy. Ninja is just too "One Piece" for my taste.

And this is coming from a JP person.

[_Pigzig]

Who actually wants to be a bard? Someone will tell me they do, but who?

[Chawan]

I main WHM I like being a WHM for the most part but the story isn’t really that interesting to me.. I mean it is ok sometimes.. but for the most part it’s boring. It was what partly lead to my quitting the game back in 2.0 when I originally bought ffxiv cause both stories were boring to me.. My roommate kept insisting though that things get better main story wise and that i just ended up picking one of the worst classes for story content. So i just recently a couple months ago decided to give it another shot and just power through.. found that whm story still kinda lacks but msq did pick up a bit. I think I like the game a lot more this time round.. Still not really that connected to WHM story but i do find myself reading more of it these days. I do like the idea of what a whm is sort of jusr class story kinda dull.. fyi i am about 10 lvls ahead of my story process so i am actually only doing lvl 60 story quests..

[Tsiron]

DRK was what I was planning to (and did, for a bit) main bc I love the aesthetic and lore, but... much like the OP I found the gameplay lackluster... that, and after a point I no longer wanted to be responsible for tanking. I played DRG and NIN for a while after that but neither was what I was looking for.

Thankfully, SAM satisfies my fetish desire for 2H swords and I enjoy its gameplay, too! I do wish it was... less specifically "samurai" and more of a generic "swordsman" class, with a more varied arsenal, but eh...

My alt started as a Lancer and... in the end I was feeling neither the lore nor the gameplay, so she's kind of identity-less atm...

[kaynide]

Who actually wants to be a bard? Someone will tell me they do, but who?

My wife mains bars because she likes the high mobility and low responsibility. She used to main bard in FF11 and her main complaint is that it’s not a support job. Her ideal is more actual musical attacks or abilities, and especially buffing or debuffing. Closer to 2.0 bard actually.

[kaynide]

I main WHM I like being a WHM for the most part but the story isn’t really that interesting to me.. I mean it is ok sometimes.. but for the most part it’s boring. It was what partly lead to my quitting the game back in 2.0 when I originally bought ffxiv cause both stories were boring to me.. My roommate kept insisting though that things get better main story wise and that i just ended up picking one of the worst classes for story content. So i just recently a couple months ago decided to give it another shot and just power through.. found that whm story still kinda lacks but msq did pick up a bit. I think I like the game a lot more this time round.. Still not really that connected to WHM story but i do find myself reading more of it these days. I do like the idea of what a whm is sort of jusr class story kinda dull.. fyi i am about 10 lvls ahead of my story process so i am actually only doing lvl 60 story quests..

I’d say try out red mage, actually, once you get a moment. It’s similar to Whm in that it can do minor heals and raise, but it has a lot of other stuff going on that’s interesting. For story, most of the actual job quests will feel hit and miss..and some I might really like just won’t be your taste and vice versa. I’d say try em all out for 5-10 levels, see what feels good.

Especially in Palace of the Dead or Eureka where you can get a better gist of their mechanics before committing.

[_Pigzig]

My wife mains bars because she likes the high mobility and low responsibility. She used to main bard in FF11 and her main complaint is that it’s not a support job. Her ideal is more actual musical attacks or abilities, and especially buffing or debuffing. Closer to 2.0 bard actually.

If you liked them in another FF game I guess that makes sense. And nothing against people who tried it and liked it.
From a class fantasy point of view though? I just can’t imagine the appeal of bards. A bard sounds like someone who sings the tale of the hero instead of being one.

[Xaruko_Nexume]

I say the following with the caveat that I am new-ish to the game. White mage, sounds incredibly dull and boring. The early job quests are bad, the gear is blank and the spell effects are pitiful compared to the other healers. But I absolutely love the way the job plays. My favorite healer by far. Scholar just feels like no one knows what to do with it, mechanically or lore wise. Astrologian looks amazing and has great quests and spell effects, but I struggled to play it right and understand it. Oh and as a healer I love the instant queues. White mage for me!