Looking for easy to pick up and sturdy DPS class

[Shurrikhan]

Ive used manaward to take tankbusters(even surviving them on a few occasions), to stay alive for 10+ seconds with a multi-pack pull focusing on me while the healer gets the tank back up and he(hopefully) takes a crack at getting aggro back, to cover up for not doing mechanics(both intentionally and situationally), and to cover for inattentive or dead healers during alliance runs(if it comes to that point in a smaller group we're probly wiping and my staying up for 1-2 more hits wont matter). Ive also failed to pop it in time and died to all sorts of things(or had it on cooldown because i already used it for something else and subsequently died). That doesnt make it a heal any more then my sleep spell is a heal. They both prevent a certain amount of damage for a limited amount of time, while i hopefully figure out how to end the fight(or lose aggro) without dying.

If a heal prevents death, and a shield prevents death (but far better), and Manaward is provides at least twice the 'death-prevention' throughput, if you like, of its competitors... what exactly are you complaining about?

Or are SCH and Noct AST just absurdly bad healers now because part of their healing is capable of preventing one-shots while no other spells are?

On-topic:

They're all plenty sturdy as long as you're not pulling mobs well above your level. Overall, NIN seemed the easiest to manage, followed by DRG, SAM, and BLM if you're just looking for something sturdy with no kiting required. Otherwise, MCH, closely followed by DNC, BRD, and then RDM/SMN? Again, it really doesn't matter much.