Classes you prefer to play at lower levels?

[Iscah]

Amidst the general opinion that rotations should be more complex and classes aren't complete until you get them to higher levels... is there anything you prefer playing in its simpler form?

I've been leveling black mage to 80 recently, and I don't enjoy it at high levels. Umbral hearts, Fire IV not resetting the counter, don't miss a step or you've dropped Enochian and need to start over... it doesn't make me feel like a powerful mage, it makes me feel like a fumbling one trying to juggle too many spells and doing a poor job of it.

I really like it at level 50 though. It's a simple cycle but I like the rhythm of it, and casting a constant rain of spells without needing so many different steps.

[Hugowulf]

Some jobs aren’t for everyone. Though I don’t make a solid opinion on any job till I get it to max level. As for your question, I’m loving mch right now, It feels very fun for me to play as at any level.

[Cyatheales]

Black mage is so boring at low levels, though. The single-target rotation is just spamming fire and hoping for firestarter/thundercloud procs. Hard to mess up, sure, seeing as it's built around just one spell, but not great at keeping you awake either.

To answer your question though, maybe red mage? (At least once the full melee combo is available)
As much as I miss Verraise at low levels, having so many high-potency spells available sub-50 means you top aggro after tanks and enemies just melt. RDM also doesn't change its rotation as much as it levels up compared to other DPS classes, so less is missing when synced.

[Canadane]

I've been leveling black mage to 80 recently, and I don't enjoy it at high levels. Umbral hearts, Fire IV not resetting the counter, don't miss a step or you've dropped Enochian and need to start over... it doesn't make me feel like a powerful mage, it makes me feel like a fumbling one trying to juggle too many spells and doing a poor job of it.

I would imagine if you get your rotation down pat and master AM and BtL movement, you'd feel like the most powerful of mages.

[Esmoire]

I love PLD pre-Requiescat. It is the game's one shield-bearing job and the animations are satisfying going from the start up to Heavensward. I find the magic rotation to be immensely unsatisfying and even now that we are able to move while casting somehow it feels like dookie. Though like, it's also this games closest thing to a caster tank, so I'm glad it's there for people who like it.

Likewise I prefer SAM up until about early 60s and the gameplay from 70 onward doesn't sit well with me. The ability to repeat the last iaijutsu has no appeal to me and I don't like all of the Shinten spam.

[KDSilver]

My case is really specific. But lvl 50 WHM and SCH in 8-man content (preferably min ilvl synced)
We gained so many oGCD over the expansions that basics precasting spell aren't a thing anymore. And because mana is not an issue anymore, you can DPS and ignore that part.
As for Scholar, since you don't have that powerful Indom and such, succor pre-mitigation and sacred soil usage are a lot more impactful.

I don't really know how to express the feeling of playing healers at lower level, but it somehow feels like you miss a lot of things in your toolkit but somehow, it feels refreshing to have to rely on your own knowledge of the battle and actually use more GCD spells to fullfil your jobs properly.

[BloodRubyXII]

Astrologian, Dragoon, Samurai and Warrior are the only jobs that felt even remotely playable to me under 50 to the point you could enjoy them. Astrologian under 50 is good/fun for the same reason it's considering the most interactive at 80. Dragoon you have some missing pieces, but can at least do some semblance of a core rotation with two combos. Samurai you can pretty much do everything at 50 and without having to track Kenki. It's simple, but because you can do everything in the core of the job, it's playable. Warrior for pretty much the same reason.

Ninja is also pretty good because again, you have enough to at least play the core of the class but I find the job boring before 80 as a personal opinion.

The ones I specifically don't enjoy synced lower content on:
Summoner - Because buffing your pet into enkindle and contagion are no longer a thing, you aren't much of a "Summoner" before DWT, which you don't have at 50. So the job feels empty and boring.
Monk - I main Monk, and honestly it's broken enough at 80, at 50 it's even worse. You don't have form shift, so GL can and will fall off repeatedly relying on leaning on the classic PB Snap spam to get it back. Worst of all, you don't have Tornado kick, so you can't even lose GL on your terms, and because you can't form shift, it can be very difficult to maintain GL between packs if you aren't already late in Coeurl, which obviously makes you feel super slow. It's literally just the GL mechanic that causes it to not be fun, because again, you have all your core rotational abilities that you'd use the most of at 80, but you can't maintain Greased Lightning.
Gunbreaker - Feels awful at 50 and even then barely better at 60, I don't even think I started to enjoy levelling mine before 70, and even then at 71 I still don't have my AoE bullet spender.
Dancer - Only playable at 50 because you at least get Standard Step, but obvious the job is weak because you buff another DPS instead, problem is you cannot partner before 60.


Also totally get where you're coming from with BLM. Starts of simple, and clean, then turns into a total mess after enochian, then by the time you have Umbral Soul it's super fluid again and one of the most well designed and cleanest jobs to play in this game

[RitsukoSonoda]

SCH at super low level duties. I can just AFK and let the fairy do all the healing... >.>

[Hasrat]

I kinda don't always entirely enjoy how long DRG combos are at higher levels. There's no great satisfying comfortable way of organizing them on hotbars the way the simple three-step combos are. And because they're longer than every other job, I'll routinely flub them up and forget a step or two at the end, which will often result in dropping stance and throwing me completely off as I try to recover from multiple mistakes.

[Brightamethyst]

Agreed on Black Mage. The level 50 rotation is dead simple but it has an amazingly good flow to it that gets lost at higher levels.

don't miss a step or you've dropped Enochian and need to start over...

That's one of the inherent issues with maintenance buffs. They're just not fun. I want an ability that makes me feel like a god when it's active (Summon Bahamut), rather than one that makes me feel like crap when it's not (Enochian.)