Newbie needs help learning to play

[Garlyle]

The good news is that your early dungeon experiences are actually very, very forgiving. Even if you do draw aggro, you'll probably survive the fight just fine. This will change in time, but you don't need to stress out.

Much of what you learned in WoW will likely still be true. Even though DPS is new to you, you're familiar with much of the basic procedure. The key rules to remember when playing as a DPS are this:

1. Study your skills and learn what your rotation is. Thaumaturge unfortunately is not quite super 1-2-3 simple, but the theory is easy to learn (see what's been posted above). Very, very few skills in this game are really 'useless', although some may be phased out as you level up and simply get more useful things (Transpose, for instance, is incredibly important now but comparatively less key down the road).

2. Don't get aggro. Someone covered aggro meters above. In XIV, the tank will be responsible for pulling groups of adds. You may wish to wait a second or two until they've used an AoE (Flash or Overpower) to hit all the mobs before you start throwing out your own. Especially early on, your AoE aggro generation can quickly outpace what a tank can actually generate in threat! This is as much your responsibility to watch as it is the tank's! Also, watch and target whatever mob the tank targetted and attacked first - that's usually the one they'll be focusing their main aggro generation on initially. If you do get aggro, your tank will likely notice and try to pick the add up, so stop attacking it and let the tank do their thing! If they don't seem to notice go drag the enemy back over to the tank manually.

3. Dodge the AoEs. As a THM you don't want to be moving excessively, but you do want to learn to get out of AoEs. If you are able to see the boss' cast bar, the AoE is locked the moment the cast bar ends, not when you see the animation playing. Get into the habit and learn to dodge early, not late. Early on, yeah, AoEs might do like a couple hundred damage. Later, these can be downright fatal to you.

4. Don't stand next to the tank. In fact, try to be behind whatever you're attacking. Not only are you less likely to be hit by localized AoEs or cleaves, but you also are more accurate when attacking from behind your target, or even to the side.

5. Adds during boss fights: The tank will pick them up. It's your duty as a DPS to get them dead. Generally speaking, while there are absolutely exceptions (The second boss of the level 17 dungeon, for instance, has an add you need to not kill; your party will tell you!), if it spawns during a boss fight it needs to die. Often as soon as possible. Keep your eyes out at all times for additional targets that might pop up during the fight.

6. Mechanics are generally on you. While there are absolutely mechanics the tanks and healers specifically will have to deal with, a lot of specialized boss mechanics will be expected to be dealt with by the DPS. The tank can't afford to drag a giant boss around the arena and the healer's likely busy. Be ready to take up additional duties during boss fights later on.