Least involved class/job for struggleing player

[Pinesal]

Hello, my wife and I both started playing this game. I am taking to it well and my wife really loves the game herself but the thing is, she isn't that good at it. She gets confused by a lot of the complex battle mechanics. Her method of battle is target an enemy and spam attacks. She doesn't even know what the attacks do. I saw her trying to attack an enemy with her heal spell.

So anyway, I have determined that archanist is too complicated for her and we need a class that is very easy to do and one where other party members might not notice that she is doing a bad job.

Any suggestions?

God I hope she doesn't read this...

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

If your wife is having trouble with class mechanics, a simpler class to learn on might be Archer (ARC) as with that you just have to simply target the enemy and shoot arrows - the only real complex aspect of it is when you are on your own you will have to keep backing away from the enemy to avoid attacks, as ARC doesn't have much defense, meaning they can't take much damage.

Don't feel down about how your wife is doing though - you've both just started and you'll both pick up these things with time as you go along (I've been playing since version 1.0 and I'm still learning!). The early dungeons especially are meant to be pretty easy to help guide the player into the mechanics of party play, so you do have some leeway in making mistakes. The important thing is though, have fun!

[Mhaeric]

I would go with Archer, since for the most part it can be played half-way decently just with spamming attacks at lower levels. It does gain some complication at higher levels, as with all classes, but even then it still remains one of the simplest.

Another possible choice is Thaumaturge, as long as she is able to understand the Astral Fire and Umbral Ice cycle. If that can be achieved, then the class is just a simple rotation even at end game.

[Sagittarian]

Archer is probably the easiest overall. Since she has already started Arcanist, Summoner might also be a possibility. I can't speak to how complicated that is at end game though.

Another approach you can try is to make some macros to make the skills easier to manage. They can reduce several buttons into one or even just trigger an entire combo.

[Vies]

Definitely not summoner. It's the most micro-management oriented dps job at end game. I'd go with archer or thaumaturge(the THM is a bit more involved than ARC, though. At least I think it is)

[Alistaire]

Summoner is much much easier than archer...or any other class really. Reading your post I was going to suggest smn before reading you think that's too complicated for her. Every other class is more complicated. So idk...

Stick with SMN and help her out? Also the crossclass abilities you'd want are much less stringent than any other class. You can get away with THM26 and ARC4 without any great loss, where ARC you really want LNC 34 and ideally PUG 42...for SMN only thing you're missing from having ARC only lvl 4 is quelling strikes, which is not a necessity for SMN. Other classes vary but really none of them you get away with archer lvl 4 like SMN does.

And then you also have the option of taking WHM to 15 and have SCH available.

[Pinesal]

A major problem with Archanist is that you have to stand still while casting, she tends to move without realizing it and cancels the spell.

[johnbeck1000]

then THM isn't going to be her thing either....Archer can attack while moving

[chococo]

Like the above, archer (bard) is probably the best choice overall. However, when you get access to the Bard job and start partying, a bard will need to monitor the party's MP and sing Mage's Ballad accordingly, or occasionally have to judge if DPS is low on TP and do Army's Paeon. There will be a little monitoring involved.

Also, bard will be put on silence duty in late-game scenarios, for instance in the Chimera fight during the quest to obtain you relic, as well as in Binding Coil of Bahamut Turn 2. So in these cases, more attention is needed in addition to the AOE dodging.

[Cairn]

I think your wife just needs some time to get used to it that's all, not everyone is a fast learner.
And make sure she read the skill's descriptions, and test it on a single mob for each skill.