Starting the game as Arcanist is largely unplayable now

[KoalaAssassin]

I have a friend that was intersted in playing SMN end game. He achieved Lv15 and was looking forward to topaz carbuncle as tank. but we discovered that all the pets are now just DPS.

So, you have a physically weak class, unable to put out the damage the other starters can but without any way to mitigate the mob aggro/damage.

He quit last night: "This is unfun, boring and tedious"
I cannot fault him on this, I delierately used a fate to sync from Lv70 to Lv15 and got destroyed.

It appears that the arcanist was changed so much it's only playable if you are with a party now and no solo capability.

[Rhais]

This is complete exaggeration, at most some of the class quests might be slightly more challenging. Topaz was never a necessary part of the class.

[WhimsicalPacifist]

You'll need gear to make use of the 20% HP shield (or as others will say, 'Git gud to get the gear for Titan to function'). A defensive mechanic able to CC and function to make up for gear gaps? Oddly lacking at those levels on Arcanist.

Play a certain caster up to level 20 which might have an AoE CC mechanic available at level 10, get the Chocobo. Summon it. Now you're a functional glass cannon with a tank pet, an AoE CC skill and plenty of damage. I've labeled my gearset for it as "Summoner".

[Samsta]

Yeah what a load of bs, topaz carbuncle/titan was never needed for soloing. Every other dps class can solo at any level, so can summoner/arcanist, how does it differ? Black mage does not have any way to heal nor tank either, somehow I don't hear it being like this. Titan was merely a tool that made it easier to solo, it was never mandatory.

[Gula]

Well if you dont like it, you can also start as anything else. (?)

Sounds like your quitter friend just didn't have an open mind.

[Arazehl]

Surprise this friend quit so soon. At level 15? If he's bored that soon he should quit.

[SacrificialToast]

Honestly, I don't think any class is gonna be fun at level 15 now. All the basic kits are so spread out, your class won't feel complete till like mid-60s at least. MNK has its' basic combos at level 50, and that's the best one that I know of. DRK spends 40 levels training you to play the class wrong by giving you no reason to care about MP management until level 70.

[kobe-sabi]

Surprise this friend quit so soon. At level 15? If he's bored that soon he should quit.

come on now. you know 2.0 is boring right now, hardly anyone likes doing 2.0 dungeons unless its for a roulette, the areas are empty for the exception of the cities. Go on the Mog Station jump potions are hot right now, people do quit when they try to play catch up the correct way. i use to love helping people level up and do low level dungeons, teaching people who are new to the game with mechanics, kit, and where to find the answers for damage output. but now i stay away from alot of things because jobs skills are being spaced out so thin or worse deleted, making low level content boring AF.

[Dracan_Fontom]

This js definitely an over exaggeration. I literally did low level fates the other day to do my Zenith ARR relic weapon and had absolutely no problem completing them alone. Was it boring? Yea, I'm level 15 spamming a whooping 5 skills, of course it'll get stale.

[Miminming]

Nah having physick actually put you abive any other class there is except healer in suvivability at lowe level, most people never use tank pet anyway... at least i never