Feeling "weak"

[Rhaggnos]

Hey there o/

I've been fiddling with FF on and off for a good 5 years and decided to bite the bullet and get to endgame before the next expac.

Overall i think the game is amazing. Mechanics are interesting, classes look flashy, story's pretty decent, if a bit standard. Love the music and mounts etc.

What I've had trouble coming to grips with is gameplay. More specifically, solo play and defensive aspects. Let me explain:


Having played a bajillion mmo's I've become accustomed to the fact that, if I'm taking damage at all or significantly, I'm doing something wrong.
"Skilled gameplay", in this sense, usually has mechanics in place where one can dominate and control mobs and elites to the point of barely getting scratched.

In my recent experience -

In BDO: The attacks and animation cancels allow for constant spam of large AoE crowd control and predictive dodges, and the overall damage and lifesteal potions make it so hp is completely topped off assuming you know what you're doing.

In WoW:
As a Warlock: One is able to fully DoT multiple mobs while keeping them off with fear/terror, pet aggro and tanking CD's. Lifedrain makes it so facetanking barely budges the hp bar while doing quests etc. Also for overworld mobs a geared lock can pretty much double-DoT and walk away knowing it is, in fact, dead.

As a Rogue: Double stun into blind into execute skills allow mobs to be bursted down before they can even land a hit if one plays correctly. Multiple mobs can be kited, DoT'ed and kept under control. Damage is such that usually a fight will last 5 to 10s, tops. Even in AoE, dodge CD's and AoE nuke/DoTs make it so groups are mowed down relatively easily.

As a mage/destro: deep freeze into burst combos means mobs die before they even get in melee range, if you're geared enough.

TL;DR: In most mmo's, if you play right you take barely any damage.

In FF, however, having grinded out Allagans to make sure I'm slightly overgeared (above the current quest rewards ilvl) doesn't seem to do much.

As a SMN I just have to run circles doing less dps (no hard casts) or simply facetank mobs. Pets dont taunt, I have zero CC, no way to peel for myself and one pet skill with a shield. If I want to round up FATE mobs to AoE alone, i get really low even when doing the entire double trance rotation.

If I go GNB I take way less and the heal keeps me topped, but things take ages to die.

My question is: am i playing this wrong, or is this by design? I feel like apart from high dps my personal skill doesn't account for much when soloing, or I feel a bit lacking despite the relative gear advantage. Not one spell hits hard, like 50%+ on mob hp. Death Flare is a joke XD

I know the tempo is slower outside of OGCD weaving, but I can't shake the feeling I'm missing something.

Anyways, any insight is welcome. This wont stop me enjoying the game, I just want to make sure.

[Stepjam]

When soloing, you'll take damage. That's all there is to it. You can get your chocobo leveled to heal you or attempt to tank for you (it kinda sucks at tanking) for overworld content, but you are gonna take damage. You are better off just standing there and taking it rather than trying to kite to avoid. And you aren't going to instantly burn down enemies that are roughly equivalent in level to you.

Edit: Don't take avoidable damage, you should still move out of that. I mean for like autoattacks.

[Rhaggnos]

When soloing, you'll take damage. That's all there is to it. You can get your chocobo leveled to heal you or attempt to tank for you (it kinda sucks at tanking) for overworld content, but you are gonna take damage. You are better off just standing there and taking it rather than trying to kite to avoid. And you aren't going to instantly burn down enemies that are roughly equivalent in level to you.

Edit: Don't take avoidable damage, you should still move out of that. I mean for like autoattacks.

Right, it's what I kinda felt. I do move out of any AoE, but I guess I'll just stand and cast now.
Thanks.

[Chyro]

It's the solo-tradeoff you get per role.

DPS? You kill stuff faster, but can't tank much. Better kill the enemy before it kills you. Don't be too ambitious with aoe'ing stuff when you're on your own. (even 2 enemies can be risky depending on level / gear / enemy level)

Tank? Can tank enemies without much trouble, though HP isn't endless (gets some self healing in later levels depending on class). Less damage, so takes longer to take down stuff - but can afford to aoe a few mobs at a time (may still run out of HP though if its too many).

Healer? Won't ever run out of HP (..unless out of Mana first). Also less damage - actually not sure if heal or tank deal less. Can afford to aoe a bunch of mobs (once aoe skill is unlocked around lv45+), but gotta be careful cause not very tanky. So the heals need to be able to keep up with the incoming damage while able to cast their aoe in-between still.

So each role has its advantages and disadvantages in solo play. I'd say DPS has the biggest risk factor out of the three, you easily end up dead if you're careless - but on the other hand get to kill stuff the fastest out of the three.

[ItMe]

FF14's gameplay isn't about finding ways to avoid damage to outplay the enemy.
It's about waging a better was or attritioning to outplay the enemy.
It sounds like trying to solo Deep Dungeons might be up your alley.

Also, OP, welcome to the forums~

[SpiralMask]

honestly a stack of decent healing potions on my bar goes a long way when levelling classes, lame as it sounds. also helpful in deep dungeon/HoH when you dont get matched with a healer or are soloing

[Rhaggnos]

It's the solo-tradeoff you get per role.

DPS? You kill stuff faster, but can't tank much. Better kill the enemy before it kills you. Don't be too ambitious with aoe'ing stuff when you're on your own. (even 2 enemies can be risky depending on level / gear / enemy level)

Tank? Can tank enemies without much trouble, though HP isn't endless (gets some self healing in later levels depending on class). Less damage, so takes longer to take down stuff - but can afford to aoe a few mobs at a time (may still run out of HP though if its too many).

Healer? Won't ever run out of HP (..unless out of Mana first). Also less damage - actually not sure if heal or tank deal less. Can afford to aoe a bunch of mobs (once aoe skill is unlocked around lv45+), but gotta be careful cause not very tanky. So the heals need to be able to keep up with the incoming damage while able to cast their aoe in-between still.

So each role has its advantages and disadvantages in solo play. I'd say DPS has the biggest risk factor out of the three, you easily end up dead if you're careless - but on the other hand get to kill stuff the fastest out of the three.

That's the vibe I get. Apparently WAR used to be able to burst stuff as a tank, but not anymore from what I hear, heh

FF14's gameplay isn't about finding ways to avoid damage to outplay the enemy.
It's about waging a better was or attritioning to outplay the enemy.
It sounds like trying to solo Deep Dungeons might be up your alley.

Also, OP, welcome to the forums~.

I've done that, actually. For the glowy weps skin from PotD XD

Yeah, it just feels weird to me that there are no skills to keep a mob controlled until it dies, I guess. Gotta adjust ^^

And thanks!

honestly a stack of decent healing potions on my bar goes a long way when levelling classes, lame as it sounds. also helpful in deep dungeon/HoH when you dont get matched with a healer or are soloing

I hadn't considered getting some off the market tbh. I was more looking for a way to prevent the need, but I guess besides my Chocobo that's probably my best bet. Thx