Role change anxiety is maybe a thing?

[MoroMurasaki]

You've likely heard of tanxiety (tanking anxiety) but DPS anxiety? I’m (probably) not crazy, hear me out.

I’ve leveled a fair few dps to 70 now (SAM, SMN, BRD, RDM and nearly NIN) and recently I’ve started doing my weekly Sigma normal clears on RDM. I main WHM and more broadly I heal, despite having WAR at 70 I’ve never tanked anything but dungeons and normal mode trials, all I do is heal.

DPSing in content where low dps can actually kill you (Rab add phases and the like, not even talking Savage) is actually surprisingly intimidating to me. As a healer I certainly do my fair share of dps but I do understand on a fundamental level that it's all gravy and if I do have to drop it even during a burn phase to heal that's what I will do and my party should still be able to hit whatever damage threshold they need without me.

As a DPS I don't have that luxury and it's a bit scary. I find myself obsessing about gear and optimization more than I ever have as a healer and even though I know these things should be important across the board I feel the pressure more on RDM than I have ever before, to the point that I’m debating buying the RDM mendacity weapon first just so that I can remain competitive if I have my rotation down.

I understand RDM is “easy” compared to the more complicated DPS. The only other DPS I’ve played at 70 more than a smidge is BRD and RDM is certainly easier to follow but I still feel like I need to always be pushing that much harder. I don't need a lecture about how SMN is so much more difficult to optimize - I get that, I do, but right now this is my hurdle.

At this point it isn't cutting into my enjoyment of the game but I fear it could in the future if I don't reign it in. I was playing with some much more skilled friends last night just doing some Sigma normal and even though I know they're all super cool people and would never get judgy on me I felt kind of embarrassed and definitely made like 12 too many self-deprecating jokes trying (and failing) to cover up ky insecurity.

I play on PS4 so I can't parse myself but I do have some friends who parse and I’ve started comparing myself to some more successful RDMs out there. It's been helpful - I discovered I wasn't making use of Swiftcast the way that other RDMs do, I need to use it to fish for procs earlier and more frequently. I also learned Embolden buffs my melee combo because it counts as magical damage when it's enchanted. I’m hoping making use of tips and tricks like these that I can glean from fflogs will help me improve which will help me feel more confident.

I was kind of wondering if this was a more general feeling or if I’m the crazy one here. I wonder if it's something that anyone feels getting more involved in another role? I have friends who swap roles like it's no big deal. Maybe I'm just being a drama llama.

Lemme know what you think!

[Kule]

Sounds normal if you're just really used to playing a certain way. Back during 1.0 I only played dps and coming into 2.0 because the dungeon queues were so long I ended up playing on whm then eventually sch for raiding.

I basically ended up getting stuck playing healer for a very long time. I really enjoyed it but after awhile it started getting boring so I switched to my drg but in group content I never felt I performed as well as I could on a whm or sch.

I also think on healer you get so much control and power that going as a dps you feel far more vulnerable. I guess a lot of it comes down to personality types.

[BillyKaplan]

As a DPS I don't have that luxury and it's a bit scary.

The trade off is that you don't need to worry as much about the tank getting a buster to the face (healers and tanks managing their cooldowns) or raid-wide damage to heal through, all things other people would find stressful but you're probably used to it. Like Kule said, you're just exposed to a different kind of responsibility you didn't have to bother with before. Getting out of your comfort zone would make anyone feel uneasy.

[Chadness]

DPSing in content where low dps can actually kill you (Rab add phases and the like, not even talking Savage) is actually surprisingly intimidating to me.

I'm sort of the opposite of your situation. I've always only played DPS (mostly Bard and Red Mage, with a smattering of Ninja, although I haven't brought Ninja to 70 yet). My FC mates have been trying to get me to level a tank, so I tried that to about 40 (Paladin) and it just wasn't clicking with me and it was rather stressful. I switched to leveling a healer (White Mage), and have recently gotten it to 70 and started doing end-game content with it. It still does stress me out a bit, but also it's a relief not having to be on top of things as a DPS (I do still DPS when appropriate, let's not get into that).

There is definitely a bit of anxiety (or a lot, when it comes to me and tanking) in switching roles, but I'm sure it lessens as you get more used to the job.

[Squintina]

I think you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself to become better.

And it's perfecty normal, especially among people who eventually become good players.

You WILL get better and then you'll enjoy it At that point at least you'll get to be one of those players who tried and succeeded rather than the bad players who just don't care at all if they're bringing down the rest of the group.

The reason you didn't feel it on heals is because you already reached that point without noticing it.

I had a similar fear. I was fine with healing and doing some dps on my Scholar, but once I realized that the top scholars could do way more DPS while still pumping out respectable heals, I felt self-conscious, like I wasn't pulling my weight. I then ended up worrying about my role change (from a healer who did dps, to a dps who did heals :P. what, it's very different from a mind standpoint!)

Then I did SSS and I failed..miserably and realized I needed to study up.

I studied logs, I watched recordings done by scholars (not guides like what Mr.Happy has, they're nice but that's not the the kind of video I mean. Rather I mean actual full runs recorded by a scholar). Using youtube's time replay, I would watch on slow speeds so I could catch ALL the ogcd's. After that I hit SSS for the duty I was trying to beat and I succeeded \o/

I'm sure if you keep studying RDM logs and videos, you'll be fine.

[VanilleFang]

Maybe it's because I DPS so much as WHM that I don't feel this, but I do feel tanxiety at times. But that mostly stems from me not having up to date equipment (like not wanting to be dropped into The Vault with all Ironworks for example). But I can understand why some people could feel rhis way, but really in most situations 1 bad DPS won't kill a party.

[miraidensetsu]

I don't feel that pressure when playing as RDM. This is because I already feel pressured to pull as much DPS as I can while not letting the party fall. As RDM I must pull as much DPS as well and the numbers are bigger (twice as much as I can pull as WHM), but I feel somewhat powerful, while as WHM I feel weak, because my damage is too low, even equiped with full-aug-shire on both jobs and doing level 60 contents.

The only downside being RDM are the queue. It is hard to go from a somewhat-insta-q to a 30-minutes-q. But I do FATEs or beast tribes while I wait. I would love to have open-world dungeons to do while waiting.

[ChaoticCrimson]

I've only played DPS classes thus far myself, and I can definitely say it makes me nervous to try a different role out. Someday I'm sure I'll try it, but I do worry I won't be able to cut it as a tank or healer.

[loreleidiangelo]

Healer main but I love melee DPS - playing a caster to me is like playing a healer with no healing buttons basically, the "style" feels pretty much the same tbh. Melee though have positionals and boss cleaves and other stuff to worry about, on top of some (DRG notably) feeling really flashy and high octane. I like playing BRD too mostly because with 4.0 the song gameplay actually feels intuitive and fluid now - I'd still rather play DRG for stuff though, if mine were actually geared. Hella fun and jumps makes you feel like a badass.

[whiskeybravo]

For sure, it's normal. I'm a tank main but still get a bit nervous when I do Ex or Savage on MCH or SAM for the first time, even when I've already cleared as a tank. Eventually you get in the swing of things (for that particular fight at least) and it becomes much more comfortable. Just got keep playing, and scrutinizing yourself, if you want to get better at dps roles. Sounds like you are on the right track