At What Levels and For Which Classes is Gameplay Too Shallow, Too Complex, or Perfect

[Ash_]

DRK is pretty boring until 70. It used to be really fun to play at 60 in HW, but they took away a lot from it I feel. It's even more mundane below 60. Being able to spam TBN, Quietwhatever, and Abyssal drain on mobs at 70 is quite satisfying on the flipside.

NIN is NIN, at whatever level. Probably the least affected class by the 4.0 changes, and it feels just as enjoyable at every level 50 onward.

SMN is probably the one class that sticks out for dramatically changing when you get DWT. It's utterly boring before then.

[Anine]

AST feels pretty bad before 30 (when you can start drawing cards, unlock a sect). Got low level dungeons a couple of times when I was leveling it and it always was such a drag, cos pre cards AST pretty much feels and plays exactly like WHM. And even then it doesn't really start being fun until at least 40, preferably 52(when you unlock your AOE).

[Magic-Mal]

I think ALL jobs should be given the basic abilities needed when in combat by Lv20

Tanks: AoE aggro, buff, aggro combo, range aggro. Tanks are done right so far so the devs did fine.

DPS: OGCD attack, an AoE, an attack buff, range attack

Healers: Regen, OGCD heal, AoE heal, Damage spells.

Everything else should be added later on. It's extremely painful playing DRG in anything before Stone Vigil because I don't even get an AoE until Lv40.. That's broken to me. Instead of getting Impulse Drive at Lv6, I should've gotten Piercing Talon instead and Doom Spike at lv15 with Impulse Dive moving to Lv35 and Elusive Jump to Lv40. Impulse Drive is a wasted space until Lv38.

New jobs like MCH, RDM, and SAM all come fit with AoEs and the tools they need to dps at an early level while MNK, DRG, NIN and SMN all have nothing. It should really be fixed imo..

[DRKoftheAzure]

DRK is pretty boring until 70. It used to be really fun to play at 60 in HW, but they took away a lot from it I feel. It's even more mundane below 60.

Basically what they said, but even at level 70 DRK IS THE WEAKEST of the 3 tanks mostly because of how much they lost and REALLY hates healers that DPS even though tank should be doing as much damage as DPS to make up for healers crappy DPS... Not sure if they want healers to heal more but they should at least encourage tanks and healer and DPS that do a lot of AoE damage to do more big pulls if you already know how the dungeon is going to play out...

[Vshunyi]

NIN pre-45 is just 1-2-3 like all the other jobs. Slightly annoying before Armor Crush (52?), but pretty fun to play all the way to 70. Just getting more skills as you go.

DRG at 50 still feels the same as DRG at 50 back in HW. However, DRG at 60 now feels like DRG at 50 still with GSK just being another cooldown to press and +1 extra button for the combo. BotD is kind of whatever now. Things start to feel better again at 64 when you get Lance Mastery. DRG doesn't feel perfect at 70, but I guess it's ok now with the whole 3 eyes thing.

[Texa]

Scholar is painful to play in under 30 dungeons because you're basically just a bad DPS with a healing turret before you get adlo. They're also the only healer that doesn't get a plain aoe heal at level 10, succor unlocks at 35. Eos can aoe heal but it's a party-wide regen and has a 60s cooldown. I've gotten tanks in Aurum Vale before who'd become frustrated with me for not using whispering dawn in the first pull room because "i want a regen" and I'm just "i want to live".

[Sylvina]

Almost all the classes have some level of button bloat, but I'd say Warrior and Black Mage have the least issue with it, although black mage has some other issues.

[KaivaC]

Personally, given how many RDMs and SAMs flood the endgame right now (those are my two DPS classes), I am working on DRG, but since it's in the early 40s, I feel like it's a very complex class. Just the amount of stuff I have to remember is a bit overwhelming compared to the aforementioned classes and even my MNK, which was my first DPS class. Doesn't help that every single video online is about 13 minutes long, which is a crazy long time just to learn optimal rotations. I hope this class let's me figure out optimal rotation, but i dunno...

[ovIm]

I can only speak for DRK/WAR since I play them most in roulette.

In general, I feel like DRK is good in between levels 17 and 30 for dungeons, as unleash and blood weapon gives a nice dynamic and allows you to use both MP and TP. But after that, it gradually becomes worse and worse until Level 70, when all comes together and the class feels "full" again.

WAR just feels sluggish before level 62/64, as they have no ogcds in that time to weave in between attacks. Before you get equilibrium, your TP will be a constant worry when bigpulling.

[Kaethra]

I am working on DRG, but since it's in the early 40s, I feel like it's a very complex class. Just the amount of stuff I have to remember is a bit overwhelming compared to the aforementioned classes and even my MNK, which was my first DPS class.

I'm leveling a dragoon currently myself, just hit 52. In my experience it plays somewhat like a RDM around 60. Here's my experience so far:

You have the main rotation, the first three hit combo you get. Then you've got a second one that debuffs and dots. Debuff and dot, and do the regular rotation until you need to refresh the dot and debuff. Then rotate jumps inbetween attacks like you would Fleche and Contre Sixt on a RDM.

Around level 60 is when it gets a bit more complex and more like RDM in the fact you get the class bar. Instead of keeping things balanced you want to keep the bar filled. When you use Blood of the Dragon (I think its called). It fills partially and when you use one of the combos an ability will become available and when used it adds 10s to the bar (33%). While the bar is filled your jumps do extra damage.

After 60 is when you get this eye or glare thing with charges and you build and spend those charges. I don't have much more to say because I've only been '60' in Palace so I have a ways to go before I unlock that. In addition you have buff management that help maximize DPS. Other than that.. the class isn't too bad.

Hope that helps. Sometimes people who know how to play the class take things for granted, so I figured I'd give my analysis as someone who's learning it like you are. Might give a closer insight.