ADHD player asking for advices for 1st non-mage, melee DPS job

[aereniil]

Hi,

I'd like to have advices and opinions if Viper would be a hard first melee DPS job to learn, considering I only played magical ranged DPS until now. That's because I find the job style "cool" from afar.

I've played this game for around 1 year, but still never played content from Extreme level and above, as I don't want to drag people down anymore in a game.

Main BLM/RDM/PCT, I'm now quite at ease with all the mages jobs, but I have some serious issues of multitasking, reflexes/action per minute, clumsiness, and learning slower/through long "repeat duties 100 times until you get used". That's why I still don't feel confident enough about playing Tanks and Healers.

For multitasking, I am especially concerned about already struggling to manage rotations+positioning to clear mechanics, so adding things like staying in range position or "special rotations" (e.g. involving multiple branches of choices following the situation or random procs) may overwhelm my sluggish brain x)

I only play mouse+keyboard (tried gamepad, but didn't get used after days of trying).

Any tip or advice (or alternative jobs I could try) is welcome.

Thanks in advance,

[BlisteringFrost]

Pick whoever has the coolest swords I guess.

[Underscore]

As someone who probably also has ADHD; Viper's rotation is quite simple and very forgiving compared to something like Ninja - both in terms of making mistakes and uptime, thanks to being able to store up to three GCD's worth of high-damage ranged attacks. I admittedly haven't tried Monk, or played much of Dawntrail's gutted version of Dragoon, but I'm pretty sure Viper is the easiest melee DPS.

[Asari5]

i think viper would be a good start to try out melee. it looks fast but thats mostly animations so its quite easy actually.

it can be a bit confusing to learn at first / to set up your bar because you have skills turning into like four different skills during your rotation. so that might appear as complicated but it only really is til you start using your skills.
you may wanna find a practice puppet or watch a video to set up your skillbars

positionals, well.... practice i guess? you get a skill which you can use to ignore positionals for like 10 seconds during mechanic heavy moments.
also its not the end of the world not doing every positional perfectly. make mechanics your first priority. with time there comes a feeling when you can do a positional right in time or if you rather move away and use your 'true north' skill to ignore the positional requirement.
i dont think there is anyone who bites your head off for not doing positionals perfectly.... even in extremes

[mallleable]

I agree with Asari, try VPR. Yes, it's fast, but its control scheme is very simple, and what it asks of you is very straight forward. It also has some strong ranged attacks which will help with learning fights as a melee.

As someone who is on the ADHD spectrum, my favorite melee DPS is MNK. I find that my mind wanders playing the simpler/slower/more static jobs, and leads me to make more mistakes. MNK has enough going on that my brain can stay preset. You can also try MNK if you are feeling adventurous.

[Elephantality]

I agree with Asari, try VPR. Yes, it's fast, but its control scheme is very simple, and what it asks of you is very straight forward. It also has some strong ranged attacks which will help with learning fights as a melee.

As someone who is on the ADHD spectrum, my favorite melee DPS is MNK. I find that my mind wanders playing the simpler/slower/more static jobs, and leads me to make more mistakes. MNK has enough going on that my brain can stay preset. You can also try MNK if you are feeling adventurous.

I agree, I enjoy Monk as well.

[Jeeqbit]

A lot of people who play have ADHD and additionally plenty of them enjoy high-end content, sometimes obsessively so.

I'd like to have advices and opinions if Viper would be a hard first melee DPS job to learn

No, because newer jobs are typically "easier" than the old fashioned jobs they developed back in ARR and Heavensward. Since at least Stormblood, new jobs have started off ridiculously easy, then slowly had more buttons added. Viper, in particular, has combos that are just 1 button, preserving hotbar space. You literally just press what glows yellow. But if it's an "Ability", you should press it between the GCD - often you will need to press two of these between the global cooldown, or you lose them. There are positionals, which is where you need to land the third combo attack at the rear or side, depending on which combo glows. This is normal for all melee DPS. You probably won't end up doing your main combos very often though, because Reawaken or Vicewinder keeps you busy a lot unless the enemy is attackable for a long time.

A layout I could suggest is like this:

• Hotbar 1: Reaving Fangs (rear combo), Steel Fangs (sides combo), Slither (gap closer), Writhing Snap (ranged attack), Uncoiled Fury, Vicewinder (press when available then use all glowing attacks), Swiftskin's Coil, Hunter's Coil
• Hotbar 2: Serpent's Tail above Reaving Fangs, put Twinblood above Swiftskin's Coil and Twinfang above Hunter's Coil. These are all abilities which will proc after using certain attacks. The coils you need to press both between the GCD or they get erased.
• Now, somewhere, you will want an "AoE" (multi-enemy) version of Hotbar 1, which is the same layout but AoE: Reaving Maw, Steel Maw, Slither, Writhing Snap, Uncoiled Fury, Vicepit, Swiftskin's Den, Hunter's Den

Notice the first name of your AoE attacks are the same as the single target version. Placing them in the same way makes it easy to switch between Single Target and AoE.

Serpent's Ire is your 2 minute burst so throw that somewhere, and Reawaken is your guage spend that will make all your combos glow in succession.

I've played this game for around 1 year, but still never played content from Extreme level and above, as I don't want to drag people down anymore in a game.

My suggestion is to google "The Balance ffxiv". They have a discord and a website and their goal is to provide advice on how to optimize your gameplay, to take it from not knowing what you are pressing to actually pressing it in a way that maximizes damage. This includes what buttons to press or avoid, gear sets to aim for, materia to meld, and a rather standard thing is to use food (Mate Cookie HQ) and Grade 3 Gendraught of Dexterity HQ (Viper's main stat is Dexterity but it's different for other jobs).

I suggest watching YouTube videos of the Extremes. Not just guides, but rather: "Ageless Necropolis (Extreme) Viper PoV"

Point of View (PoV) videos show someone clearing it, in real time, using that job. You get to see exactly what they press, when and in what order, and how they navigate mechanics while doing this. It helps a lot, because you can pick up tricks from them, and maybe discover if you are pressing buttons wrong.

I have some serious issues of multitasking, reflexes/action per minute, clumsiness, and learning slower/through long "repeat duties 100 times until you get used".

I don't recommend melee DPS if you want easier jobs. Melee DPS are the harder jobs to play. Ranged are what you play if you want easy DPS. MCH most of all in my opinion. At the moment, the most distracting is probably BRD due to its old fashioned design that includes procs and DoT and song tracking.

That's why I still don't feel confident enough about playing Tanks and Healers.

Gotta understand that:

• Healers mostly spam 1 button for attacks, which makes it extremely easy to focus on the fight. If the fight requires a lot of healing in a short period of time, it can be rough, but a lot of the time this game is not healing intense - so there have actually been many Savage raids that are incredibly easy for a healer. It depends a lot on the fight, and Extreme trials are going to be less punishing.
• Tanks you can literally get hit by most mechanics and survive. Additionally, their rotations are not quite as distracting as melee DPS due to lack of positionals and focus on tank mechanics. This means it's easier to focus on the fight, and if you ignore the fight, you will probably survive getting hit by mechanics. A lot of people are afraid of tanks, but ironically, they are the best option if you aren't good at mechanics and want an easier rotation than melee DPS.

[aereniil]

Thank you very much for all your advices and tips. I feel much better informed to pick my next class as DPS (and someday Healer & Tank).
Indeed, I want to improve, enjoy this great game deeper, and not be stuck with my current weaknesses, so I decided to gradually step out of my comfort zone, starting with non-ranged DPS. I think I’ll spend a long time to experiment with melee (starting with Viper), and only then I’ll see for alternatives (like physical ranged) in case melee really doesn’t work for me.

[aereniil]

A lot of people who play have ADHD and additionally plenty of them enjoy high-end content, sometimes obsessively so.

No, because newer jobs are typically "easier" ...

Interesting, thanks ! Though I quickly heard about it at the start of ARR, I never grasped the idea of positionals to strike bosses on specific sides. Now I get deeper respect for melee managing it x)

For higher-lever content, yeah, since I'm a slow learner and need a huge lot of practice to understand, I'll eventually prepare to deal with Extreme (and Party Finder) someday.

[Asari5]

for positionals keep in mind that you dont have to walk the entire 90 degree from the middle of the back to the middle of th side and then back again.

when you target enemies the circle you see on the ground around them helps you. there where its open is the back area. you can just stand where the circle starts and only do a few steps to reach the necessary position.

if enemies dont have that open area in the circle you dont have to care about positionals at all.