Black Mage, Bard, or Ninja?

[Cythil]

So I'm trying to decide between these three jobs. I am aware that I can play all of them, so this is more of a "which should I play first" kind of thing. They all have a lot about them that interests me greatly but also each have something that make me a bit wary about playing them. Also, all the information I have comes from the job guide so I could totally be misunderstanding how certain things work.

For Black Mage, I love the powerful mage archetype. The fact that they (afaik) deal the most DPS (not counting giving others buffs and stuff) is also appealing. The spell animations also look really good. However, I am not the biggest fan of cast times. They aren't something I vehemently hate, out of the three classes I played in WoW (Balance Druid then Resto Shaman then Havoc Demon Hunter) two of them had cast times. They were however shorter cast times than in this game (though that's simply due to the shorter GCD I assume). I understand that planning around not having to move is a big part of the class, but I always get that itch to bounce around while I fight which you can't do on casters while on melee you can move a bit as long as you are still behind/to the side of the enemy and on physical ranged you have a lot more freedom of movement.

Bard fixes up that whole movement thing. Physical ranged seem to be the most mobile of the classes because they don't need to cast nor be next to the enemy doing positional. While bards animations aren't as cool as Black Mages, I still like the archer look. I've heard they have one of the higher apms of the classes which I like while Black Mage has one of the lowest. I'm just a bit worried about the gameplay itself. The 3 song rotation looks really interesting. However, on one hand the whole RNG aspect behind both Straight Shot ready and Repertoires appeals to me as it adds a bit of variance which I like. But not getting procs probably feels really bad. Also I may just be misunderstanding this, but their potency until like level 70 seems like really low. Their basic ability has a potency of 180 while their 20% proc has one of 200. This doesn't change until 70 with Refulgent arrow and 76 with burst shot. Meanwhile Black Mages basic ability Fire has a potency of 180 that is immediately buffed up above that via Astral Fire and the first part of Ninjas combo has a potency of 200 which bard has a 20% chance to be able to have. There is probably a reason behind this that I just don't understand but on paper it seems bad.

Ninja I would say appeals to me simply because the Ninjitsu Mudra thing looks really cool. I haven't really seen anything like it before and it just caught my eye. I also really like the way a lot of their armor looks. Gameplay wise they look fun and the shorter GCD from Huton does appeal to me because while I don't mind the longer GCD in this game compared to WoW, I do like having to wait less time between button presses. This game apparently has a lot more oGCD stuff though which seems like it would level out the longer GCD thing. However, I've heard they are a bit of a mess. On paper slightly simpler melee combos with Ninjitsu mixed in seems really fun. I've heard a lot of negative things about the class from something about gcd clipping (not entirely sure what that means), to low damage even for the utility they bring, and apparently they are getting a large rework in 5.1 which will focus on the Mudra system. This leaves me worried that if I play and enjoy Ninja, that when the rework roles around i won't enjoy the changes to the Mudra system.

So yeah, I'm not really sure which to go with first. I'm gonna get around to all of them eventually but I do want to pick one and level it up to max first. Any help deciding would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[SturmChurro]

You should level black mage to Heavensward, switch to machinist instead of bard, and level ninja last.

[moxzie]

I doubt you'd like black mage, since you don't like the long cast times. I don't, for the same reason. Unless you know where to stand, you're going to get interrupted a ton and your damage won't be much higher than other dps classes. You do get instant cast procs that pop up, so the long cast times might not hurt as much as you'd think, but it does play slow.

Bard is incredibly proc heavy, but you'll see a lot of them, which is why the potency looks so low. The gameplay comes down to rotating songs, throwing dots ( they're single target so its a pain) on everything, and weaving in your ogcd proc skills. If you like playing a reactive style and don't mind dotting up enemies constantly, you might enjoy it.

Ninja isn't very newbie friendly. Once you get used to it, it's speedy and fun but you work harder to do less damage than just about everyone else. Your endgame role is to put a 10% vulnerability debuff on the enemy, once a minute, and hope that everyone does such a huge burst during the 10 seconds it's up that it makes up for your low personal damage.

[Nix]

I'll always throw my vote in for bard - throwing DoTs in the early levels is a pain in the ass, but once you get iron jaws it becomes easier.
Like Moxzie said - it's proc heavy, but you get lots of them! It's a lot of fun if you want to play a job that doesn't adhere to a strict DPS rotation.

[grinkdaboy]

well first you should understand what each job does

black mage is pretty much like a turret where you sit and cast your spells and keep up enochian inside of your leylines. if the cast times are a problem i'd suggest investing in spell speed since MP management on blm is different compared to the other caster classes where you will basically never run out of it, and if you do, you'll rapidly regenerate it

personally i've never played a lot of bard

ninja on the other hand is currently in a bad spot since it basically serves no purpose other than to be a trick attack bot. it has very little DPS and is a lot of effort for little to no pay-off.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viejY6UZ5Bk this video should explain it. the ninja is like the juice loosener.

[TaiyouSeishin]

Ninja is nullifying its own utility, while TA will increase everyones numbers superficially (tho logs now calculate rpds these days) its actually not increasing raid wide dps like it should (if people synergize with you)

Ninja is fun, and the mudra cominations are staying, just might be different (some assume like dancer)

Bard is mobile and a lot of fun, they lost their support flair, but if you like being a ranger/hunter its up your alley... just no pet

Blm.... NUUUUUUUUUUKE

[legione]

if you dont like cast bar youre not worthy to be a blm.

play bard and jump around to your hearts content.

bb

[Cythil]

well first you should understand what each job does

black mage is pretty much like a turret where you sit and cast your spells and keep up enochian inside of your leylines. if the cast times are a problem i'd suggest investing in spell speed since MP management on blm is different compared to the other caster classes where you will basically never run out of it, and if you do, you'll rapidly regenerate it

personally i've never played a lot of bard

ninja on the other hand is currently in a bad spot since it basically serves no purpose other than to be a trick attack bot. it has very little DPS and is a lot of effort for little to no pay-off.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viejY6UZ5Bk this video should explain it. the ninja is like the juice loosener.

If Ninja isn't in a great spot currently, and since it has a rework coming, I think I'll try it out last, once it's been reworked and is possibly in a better position.