Dragoon or Black Mage

[Victros]

I'm still trying to decide what job to play at endgame. I know that I want to stick with DPS for now. I'm most interested in Dragoon or Black Mage. Black Mage seems to have a somewhat complicated rotation from what I've read, with the mana management, movement skill, etc. Dragoon, I just don't know.

Do you guys have a suggestion as to which one is easier to play for a noob??

Thank you!

[WellFooled]

Do you guys have a suggestion as to which one is easier to play for a noob??

I've never played black mage so I can't really weigh in, but I would suggest not basing your choice on this. I'd recommend testing them both out and then go with the one you enjoy playing more, because no matter how tricky it is to learn you'll be an expert in no time. How 'easy something is for a noob to play' is a temporary concern, you won't be a noob for long.

[Kamifubuki-Yoakesetsuri]

Both have good burst dmg but DRGS have the best. It just depends on whether or not you want to be a melee or a ranged dps.

[ThinkPInk]

I'm still trying to decide what job to play at endgame. I know that I want to stick with DPS for now. I'm most interested in Dragoon or Black Mage. Black Mage seems to have a somewhat complicated rotation from what I've read, with the mana management, movement skill, etc. Dragoon, I just don't know.

Do you guys have a suggestion as to which one is easier to play for a noob??

Thank you!

I main Black Mage and I have a friend that plays DRG. His rotation looks more complex than mine. As the other poster said, choose the job you enjoy the most. Do you like a caster/range type class (BLM) or do you like a more physical in your face type of class? Have fun experimenting with them both and don't worry about which class is harder to master that will come in time.

[Sagittarian]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Mage-Rotations
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...otation-Reborn

Just for reference to get an idea of the differences in "optimal" rotations. And keep in mind that while BLM has mana to deal with DRG has TP, so they both have to watch energy consumption.
I think the "easiest" dps is actually archer though it does not turn out the highest numbers.

[Naria]

I actually find Bard more complicated than Black Mage. Bard has better mobility, but Black Mage spells have a long cast time so there is a bit of breathing room.

[Anova]

Black Mage has the simplest rotation in that you have specific patterns that do not vary much. They may use different patterns for single-target and aoe, but it's pretty straight-forward. The difficulty with blackmage is combining those rotations with movement mechanics in your boss fights.

Dragoon can be difficult, especially since the "optimized" rotation for them is very complex (22 individual button presses for the full rotation i think, although some abilities are used more than once). They also deal tremendous bursts of damage in a very short period of time, although monk and blackmage output more consistent dps over a fight.

If you are going black mage, try out bard. You will at least want archer to lv.32 for cross-class abilities like quelling strike if you go blackmage. You'll find archer has a very small rotation to keep dots up, but that it uses more twitch mechanics because of skill procs. Bard adds damage support and mp/tp recovery to the mix if support interests you at all. Just be aware that there are a lot of bards compared to other dps.

[Alx789]

During leveling there is no critical difference.
In heavy endgame fights, as i see now, BRDs dies first in party, DGNs second. Mages (any) has more chances to stay alive because they can quickly heal themselves.

[Victros]

Twenty-two buttons in a rotation?? That seems nuts! I'm used to WoW, where you have 5-6 buttons in a rotation, plus a few cooldowns. =/

[Anova]

22 buttons was only from one player's theorycraft in the dps forums and you can actually consider it an exaggeration. It includes several uses of the dragoon's 3-hit basic combo, the dragoon's 3-hit dot combo, jump, buffs, and the optimal positioning for them. The rotation does apparently repeat or end after 22 or so moves (i actually stopped counting), and this is compared to the blackmage's simple switch between fire and ice affinities. The point I was trying to make was that there is a lot more to keep track of for the dragoon damage mechanic than blackmages.