I don't like using flourish on dancer

[Dogempire]

Well, Rongway is referring to how on a lot of bosses (most commonly in savage or extreme content), the ideal is to have everyone stacked on the boss's tail except for the MT, so that various mechanics can be more easily dodged because they're clumped instead of spread out. This first started with things like Titan HM where being stacked like this made it much easier to dodge Weights of the Land because that made them all be clumped up in one place. That way you didn't accidentally run into someone else's trying to get out of yours. If there's a WHM in the party, this clumping up also allows use of Cure III instead of Medica, which is more potent and more MP efficient for aoe healing, but has a massively smaller range (more akin to our current PBAoE WS ranges that you're complaining about, possibly smaller).

Fair point, but not every boss needs you to be clumped up on their rear and I don't see any point to it unless mechanics require it, otherwise it doesn't really feel like you're playing a range class, just a low potency melee support

[HyoMinPark]

Fair point, but not every boss needs you to be clumped up on their rear and I don't see any point to it unless mechanics require it, otherwise it doesn't really feel like you're playing a range class, just a low potency melee support

Conversely, there isn't much reason to stand at max range either. I tend to stay relatively close to the bosses (even on ranged) and only disengage if need be. It makes it much easier on healers that way, too; because they should also be centered near the party for their AOE heals to hit.

Honestly part of my issue is that RDM's melee combo is super satisfying to get off and end with a backflip, dancer's "melee combo" just kinda feels disruptive for little payoff.

I'm hoping they'll address this in the future since as a person who's played RDM a lot I actually enjoy moving into melee range for finishers, but there's a 25% chance that you'll move into melee range and get 0 procs off the 2 aoe skills and only gain about 100 potency, which, whoop dee doo so exciting

Flourish will be up around the same time you're dancing for your big boi Standard Finish or super big boi Technical Finish in most instances. Even with the drifting caused by Standard/Technical being on the GCD. It's the same idea you've presented here with the RDM melee combo. You should already be moving in to range for your Finishes - the Flourished AOE procs are just icing on that cake.

[Dogempire]

Conversely, there isn't much reason to stand at max range either. I tend to stay relatively close to the bosses (even on ranged) and only disengage if need be. It makes it much easier on healers that way, too; because they should also be centered near the party for their AOE heals to hit.

I actually never stand at max range, I started the game healing so I usually stood mid range for max aoe coverage and still do. (Between the casters/ranged in the back and the melee/tanks in the front.)

I just wish the aoes skills had a higher range so that it wasn't necessary to move into near melee range to land them. I know a lot of people enjoy that aspect of dancer but it's a bit annoying to me because it doesn't feel satisfying or really enhance the feel of the job.

It's obviously my opinion and I shouldn't be playing dancer if I want better range but I've just been trying out all the ranged classes to see what I enjoy and I like dancer minus that one aspect of it.