Ninja or Samurai

[XeroXelence]

Which one is easier to play and learn? Just curious really

[Arkenne]

Based on my biased personal opinion... I think SAM is easer :/

Tho, I've yet to get past lvl 50 on mine so what would I know?

[armandojc3]

sam is way easier, not as retarded as red mage but certainly the easiest of melee clases. Pretty satisfying as well.

[poffo]

Sam. is very very easy to play...with extreamly high dps for its worth.

[Limani]

When you want to play in a dungeon then choice which you like more, but for things like Susano/Lakshmi ex and Omega i find bot are easy to play but Samurai is harder to master. I have both on 70 and yeah Samurai dealed massive DMG but you need some time to spend to that class to learn all mechanics, and it's not that easy what the most people think.

[SpeckledBurd]

SAM seems to be the easiest melee Job from what I've played of it, it hits extremely hard but there's nothing about the Job mechanics that cause it to be punished by fight mechanics like Greased Lightning, Blood of the Dragon, or Huton. All you do is rotate through three combos to build Sen and use that to either inflict a DoT or use a hard hitting attack. Kenki isn't even that complicated in my opinion.

It basically hits like Monk used to but there's nothing like Greased Lightning to work around.

[Daws]

SAM is the first high level melee dps class I've ever played and I found the job to be overwhelming at first. Seems like NIN would be easier because you're starting out at a lower level and can gradually learn your abilities. SAM you just get a bunch dumped on you at lvl 50 and need to make sense of it.

With all that said, even after muscle memory takes over I'm still finding SAM challenging and rewarding to play. I wouldn't say hard at this point but it's not mindless either. Factor in fight mechanics, where melee seem to have to dodge and run about a fair bit, and things can get dicey with two resources, several combos, two buffs, a debuff, and a dot to manage (not to mention the cds!). It's good fun! If you already meet the requirements for SAM I say just get it and practice on a target dummy and get a feel for it. If that isn't floating your boat then go try NIN (assuming you haven't already started).

[Leonus]

From playing Drg/Mnk/Nin, may be the lack of total experience but I find Sam more challenging in a few aspects, while more lax in others. Mnk/Drg/Nin buffs are all practically passive at this point. What I find challenging bout Sam is managing Kenki to a higher than most people would degree. Once you get the hang of it, it's less taxing, but the same could be said about any of the melee. Personal preference is what it boils down to.

[Chronons]

This depends on what level of play you desire. SAM is relatively simple in how its kit is set up, but what many of the posts above are either unaware of or ignoring is that playing SAM at a high level of play requires far more skill than other melee classes. Sure you can swing the katana around and pretend like your doing big damage bc you can Midare, but that doesnt mean your actually doing anything as SAM. NIN has a more complicated kit, but once you have it figured out the class is straight very forward.

Ninja: Maintain two buffs, Build Nenki, Mudra Properly, Positionals
Samurai: Maintain 3 buffs, Build Kenki, Build Sen, Positionals

The skill gateways for each class is different and they have different challenges. For NIN Mudra is what makes the difference between a good NIN and a great one, it is arguable the greatest skill hurdle for the class. For Sam it is Kenki use and flow of battle. Improper use of Kenki is a flat out dps loss, and SAM really suffers from downtime so an effective SAM has to be able to maximize both their Kenki and their time on target.

[Lastelli]

SAM is extremely easy until you learn Hagakure at lvl 68, but mastering lvl 70 SAM is not easy. They are both very strong, just pick the one you think is cooler.