Most Sought-after DPS class?

[Remus]

SAM... I can hope.

[Connor]

Echoing what others have said:

For melee, DRG/NIN
For ranged, Bard
For casters, Summoner, but casters overall are less popular than ranged from what I hear.

Basically as long as you’re DRG/NIN/BRD you’re nearly guaranteed a spot in most parties

In terms of most popular job I’d definitely say Bard, it’s the easiest to do well on, has absolutely no limitations to its dps (like positionals or cast times), has a ton of party utility that doesn’t affect its dps, doesn’t require being close to the boss, no combos, class mechanics are entirely rng based and thus don’t require management (you can’t use abilities that affect your mechanics outside of Empyreal Arrow).

If you want the easiest time, use Bard, as most already do

[zuzu-bq]

BLM can do simmilar or more RDPS contribuition as a SMN on a fully single target encounter. So in the end if you're running a caster either is fine really. RDM is a good really pick for pick up groups.

If you want a DPS that is always good that'd literally be DRG or NIN. No matter what, they'll be strong.

[Hugowulf]

I would rather have a skilled dps player rather than what some “meta” says. Though I gotta say I am getting sick of doing dungeons with bards playing zero songs or redmages hard casting(yes at lvl70).

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I'm confused here.

How is
Swiftcast -> Ressurection
any different from
Swiftcast -> Verraise

It isn't. Summoner, however, does substantially higher damage and brings superior raid utility.

[Sunspawn]

tl;dr The most rare kind of DPS, ones who are competent.

[Kaimishi]

The most sought dps class is ninja by far. Along with that you'll want a drg. However, it's very easy to find a drg because a lot of people play it, contrary to the ninja. So ninja is clearly the most sought. It's actually really really hard to recruit a ninja for a static. All rotation are made to align with raid buff, but mostly to align with Trick Attack.

[Makeda]

So if we were to rank the DPS in terms of how sought they are...

Starting with most to least?

Are we looking at something like:

Bard
Ninja
Summoner
Dragoon
Machinist
Black Mage
Monk
Red Mage
Samurai

Or do I have this order all wrong?
I don't play DPS really - I play tanks and healers. But I've got 2 alts I've been working on "on the side"... and this thread is basically telling me my Job picks are going to lock them out of raiding (Monk and Red Mage - they were Ninja and Bard but I switched recently for the animations of monk and because I found myself doing 1/3rd the DPS of even other Bards with Bard and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, while om red mage I can beat other red mages by 10-100% - all of this in leveling content though).

But I am curious if that's correct, and what the general take is.

[Kaimishi]

So if we were to rank the DPS in terms of how sought they are...

So i'll try help with understanding what's going, you've to understand that the "most sought classes" is defined by the META, embodied by less than 1% of the players. I'll try to map it for you based on my experience and my knowledge of the game. I must add that any class is good enough to clear and what actually matters the most is, the skill of each player.

The most historical and set composition is : PLD - WAR - SCH - AST - NIN - DRG - BRD - MCH.
Since the last buff of the monk, it seems that a triple melee could have a chance I can't confirm it right now : PLD - WAR - SCH - AST - NIN - DRG - MNK - BRD.

Therefore, you've up there the most sought classes as they're META in terms of optimization and speedkills. Speedkills means that if someone dies, they'll wipe and restart so there's no need of raising for example. Take in mind that depending on the fights, META is not set. It seems that SMN could be META in o7s for example.

Now, to "prog" and to prog really quickly, you want the ability to raise to see the upcoming mechanics. If you look at the world first race, they always use a RDM that can raise like crazy. They'll also use a WHM thanks to his insane capacity to heal and top up players really quickly. Note that I'm refering again to highly efficient players who clear day 1, in less than 24h. They basically see a mechanic once, then perfectly execute it on the next try. They also deal an unhumain amount of DPS which let them actually use classes that DPS less than others - with higher learning curve because optimization in dps is not really the thing at this point.

The typical META prog : PLD - WAR - WHM - SCH - NIN - DRG - BRD - RDM.

So you can already see the pattern here : the most wanted DPS classes are Ninja, dragoon and bard.

Ninja being the less played class by the mass, can be considered as the most sought in that sense even though they're all three super wanted - also being called "The Holy Trinity".

Now for the ultimate prog (UCOB), many group would often replace the RDM by the SMN because of its insane DPS, some utility and the capacity to raise (not like the RDM tho). Also the turn was harder, more punishing, more wipe hence more time to practice which would allow classes with lower learning curves. You could see different compositions but the only class that would remain was the ninja.

A general ranking would be more like :

- Ninja - Solely because on my experience it is hard to find a ninja.
- Dragoon
- Bard

- Red Mage - Summoner - Depending on the difficulty of the turn and the DPS of the group. If your group prog really fast and has enough dps, rdm is a good choice. If your party do not aim to rush the content (in a day, or in a week) or struggle with DPS, SMN would be a better choice. Heavily populated jobs.
- Machnist. Heavily sought for speedkills and good substitue for the bard, very low populated class.
- Monk - It's a really nice class because it has mantra and brotherhood which makes it totaly fine but nowhere close to the NIN. Will usually be considered if getting a ninja is too hard. Moderatly populated class.

- Black Mage.
- Samourai.

I hope this can be helpful.

[Makeda]

So i'll try help with understanding what's going, you've to understand that the "most sought classes" is defined by the META, embodied by less than 1% of the players. I'll try to map it for you based on my experience and my knowledge of the game. I must add that any class is good enough to clear and what actually matters the most is, the skill of each player.

I hope this can be helpful.

Thanks, that does help.

I've got an Elezen that is at 55-RDM 54-BRD and a Hyur at 60-MNK 34-Ninja...
- two alts I just started to refocus on.

I could switch what I'm doing with the Elezen and go back to Bard. The Hyur looks like a long slog in Palace of the Dead if I want to do Ninja.

Spent the morning with the Bard guide open on one window and playing the Bard in "Palace of the Dead" where I got lucky to group with other bards 3 times - thus far notice I can never match to even half their DPS. If I switch to Red Mage, I can usually flip that and be double of any other red mage, and reliably #1 for the run. That of course is Palace of the Dead where people just spam random stuff... but their random stuff outdoes my 'solid attempt to master a guide based rotation, by double...

I also notice Bards in general in there are usually the bottom end of the DPS. I get that they bring buffs but do they sacrifice a LOT of DPS as a result? It seems like you might be boosting group DPS by 3%, but bringing 30% less DPS than the next class up. And that's for even the other bards that are putting me to such shame.