Do you think any DPS jobs are in a good spot right now?

[Ramiee]

Phys range seems to have the Devs try to balance the uptime with them being drift machines in the 2 minute meta.
MCH if you don't press your tools on CD almost always make your burst delayed if you want a full charge robot, BRD it's song timers and all it's constant oGCDs and while DNC is a lot less bad compared to the other ones, not hitting standard step on CD now with how double last dance is strong in burst is noticeable.
I don't know if this is intentional by the job design team but if it is they have to try a different management system for Phys range for this meta because it's unbelievably annoying to worry about drifting especially on bard.

[Mecia]

I feel like all the jobs that got a 'Continuation' are mostly ''''''''fine''''''''' 2m woes aside. Same old ShB boredom. And the jobs that got any real changes are arguably worse off.

[Carighan]

I enjoy Reaper, Dancer and Red Mage, tbh.

Whether they're in a good spot or not, don't truly care? They're fun to play, that's all I need. Picto is also really really great, superbly well-designed job. OTOH, I feel Viper, Black Mage, Machinist and Dragoon just don't gel with me. Good be bad design, could just be me, no clue. Viper in particular is really sad to see next to how amazing Picto is. No identity, no design, no unique elements, no nothing.

[CKNovel]

Melee uptime requires effort in this tier (besides M1S), in a similar way to Criterion in EW.

While a lot of it can be mitigated with skill and knowledge, you will find plenty of players using several ranged attacks per fight to avoid griefing their party, whether they play on PF or not.

By "effort" let's say it's not a given anymore. We're still under the 10 ranged GCDs.
The EW tiers felt like playing a ranged DPS, which made absolutely no reason putting a range tax at all.
There's also jobs like RPR, NIN, VPR that can trade a melee GCD for a ranged GCD with no DPS loss.

It's cool we finally have to seek melee uptime, but the ranged tax still makes no sense.
If players don't make full use of their kits to mitigate the uptime loss, well it's on them. The same way it's on them to drift or clip.

I've been playing as NIN and VPR on an alt, if I could gear more jobs I'd try to raid as RPR and DRG as well.
I believe NIN is fantastic, not too hard but not easy either. VPR is very comfy but I wish there was more than just doing damage.

[Alice9]

In terms of raw "fun" and enjoyability, I personally feel that almost every job in the game feels worse than they did before.

- Where jobs had some sense of malleability, strictness was emplaced (Blm, Ast, Drg's burst, etc.)
- Where unique traits and flows existed, gameplay was reduced to "press one button to buff other button" or entire buttons were merged/removed (Nin, Mnk, Drk etc.)
- Where jobs stagnated in design, that stagnation was doubled down upon (Rdm, Smn, Bard, Mch, etc.)

The vast majority of jobs received hollow, single-button and empty feeling follow-ups on their 2 min abilities- buttons that will already only be pressed a handful of times, and will be pressed even less as gear/ilvl creep sets in.

Viper existed for about a month before they lobotomized it- ignoring basically all feedback.

It's just my opinion but, the only job that feels fun to me right now is Pictomancer. Everything else ranges from dreadful to passable.

[jonimated]

I can only speak to melee dps since that's what I play (and a little tank), but I think melee is in the worst spot it has ever been. Not necessarily balance wise, but engagement wise. There's currently nothing really notable or engaging about any of the melee jobs at all. This was already a minor issue in EW and DT just made it way worse.

Fights are just a list of buttons you need to press in a rigid specific order, with no variance. I've mentioned this before in another thread but if FFXIV allowed for proper castsequence macros every melee job could be assigned to a single button. For some reason this isn't seen as a problem by the developer (the 7.05 change to Viper solidifies that), or even some players, but I think it's a massive issue.

The only thing you need to think about in fights is avoiding mechanics and boss uptime. The jobs in regards to the actual buttons being pressed are 100% auto-pilot. There's no meta-mechanics, management, or random engagement at all. There's nothing to think about or consider. It's so dull and a huge problem imo.

[ThorinG]

All melees seem pretty good right now, maybe with some slight annoyances here and there, but you can't really go wrong with any of them. Ranged as a whole, both magical, and physical are a mess right now. It genuinely feels like this is the last expansion where they can sustain their ranged design philosophies. The roles are falling apart. They really need to rethink where resurrections fit with casters --if at all, and make walking casts a thing for phys ranged so they can overcome the uptime tax. Also PCT just outclassing every DPS still.

On a specific note, I pretty much share your feeling s with BRD. The QOL changes it got at launch were great, but it still has fatal issues. It needs buffs to its personal damage, it needs charges on Empyreal Arrow, and cool down adjustments to its songs to relive it of janky timing issues. It still has death recovery issues where you are barely playing a job after getting rezzed. It's not the rock star I was hoping for before the launch of Dawntrail.

I agree with your point on phys range walking cast, i think similar to PVP will be good

[LilimoLimomo]

You asked if any DPS jobs were in a good spot right now, so I'll answer that question. "Good" is subjective, so my answer will be as well.

I think BLM is in a good spot. I've loved BLM since ARR, and I still love it right now. When I log in nowadays, a big part of that is that I want to play Dawntrail's BLM.

Is it as good as it was in Endwalker? That's a question with layers. In my opinion, it's worse in some ways, but better in others.

• Thunder: severe downgrade, I cry
• Flare Star: ambivalent; good in some ways, bad in others
• Umbral Ice MP rework: love it
• Manafont: love it
• Sharpcast: good riddance
• Umbral Soul: be still my heart, this is the best QoL change BLM has received since Enochian became a passive

So if I'm honest about the current state of BLM as it is, personally I feel that it's definitely "good". And it might even be "the best BLM has ever been".

That doesn't mean I'm not frustrated by some aspects of BLM; that doesn't mean there aren't things I would change to make it "better". But there have always been things I would change about BLM if I could. I think the main difference in Dawntrail is that at present we aren't just theorycrafting ideas of how we'd like to change BLM; instead, we have actually experienced those changes and felt how good they were, before they were removed. There's not just a sense of "oh, I think the class would be better if X", but rather a sense of loss. And that feels different.

So yeah, I do feel that sense of loss. But at the same time, when I sit down to play BLM, I'm pretty sure I'm having the best time I've ever had with the class.

And to those who feel differently: you're valid.

[Eraden]

You asked if any DPS jobs were in a good spot right now, so I'll answer that question. "Good" is subjective, so my answer will be as well.

I think BLM is in a good spot. I've loved BLM since ARR, and I still love it right now. When I log in nowadays, a big part of that is that I want to play Dawntrail's BLM.

Is it as good as it was in Endwalker? That's a question with layers. In my opinion, it's worse in some ways, but better in others.

• Thunder: severe downgrade, I cry
• Flare Star: ambivalent; good in some ways, bad in others
• Umbral Ice MP rework: love it
• Manafont: love it
• Sharpcast: good riddance
• Umbral Soul: be still my heart, this is the best QoL change BLM has received since Enochian became a passive

So if I'm honest about the current state of BLM as it is, personally I feel that it's definitely "good". And it might even be "the best BLM has ever been".

That doesn't mean I'm not frustrated by some aspects of BLM; that doesn't mean there aren't things I would change to make it "better". But there have always been things I would change about BLM if I could. I think the main difference in Dawntrail is that at present we aren't just theorycrafting ideas of how we'd like to change BLM; instead, we have actually experienced those changes and felt how good they were, before they were removed. There's not just a sense of "oh, I think the class would be better if X", but rather a sense of loss. And that feels different.

So yeah, I do feel that sense of loss. But at the same time, when I sit down to play BLM, I'm pretty sure I'm having the best time I've ever had with the class.

And to those who feel differently: you're valid.

Lilimo forgots to mention wreckings Fire and Ice AoEs by reducings potencies on thems. Mao sad....

[Valence]

By "effort" let's say it's not a given anymore. We're still under the 10 ranged GCDs.

I think it's been the same since forever tbh, in ShB and possibly before even. Fights in savage have always been designed with melee uptime in mind, but I could be wrong.

I can only speak to melee dps since that's what I play (and a little tank), but I think melee is in the worst spot it has ever been. Not necessarily balance wise, but engagement wise. There's currently nothing really notable or engaging about any of the melee jobs at all. This was already a minor issue in EW and DT just made it way worse.

Fights are just a list of buttons you need to press in a rigid specific order, with no variance. I've mentioned this before in another thread but if FFXIV allowed for proper castsequence macros every melee job could be assigned to a single button. For some reason this isn't seen as a problem by the developer (the 7.05 change to Viper solidifies that), or even some players, but I think it's a massive issue.

The only thing you need to think about in fights is avoiding mechanics and boss uptime. The jobs in regards to the actual buttons being pressed are 100% auto-pilot. There's no meta-mechanics, management, or random engagement at all. There's nothing to think about or consider. It's so dull and a huge problem imo.

Haven't melee DPS always had fully deterministic rotations though?

Not that I disagree with you though. And people have already made single button encapsulated macros, I've seen it on SMN and DRG back in asphodelos, and they played perfectly fine with it. Battle system mechanics have been removed to make place to full encounter memorization and uptime considerations.