Some things I do not like.

[SailorCeti]

If you feel like SMN has a lot of spells to use I really dont know what to tell you, they made SMN an absolute dumbed down class to a point all you have to do is push 5 buttons, if even that

You misunderstood. I play SMN because it DOES suit my style. I only mentioned that, even then, I see ways to simplify things. I just feel a little pigeon-holed into playing it due to my limitations. I wish I had more jobs to choose from that suit me.

[littlehobbit13]

Question...

While I do not tank or heal due to the immense pressure it puts on me, I do like the rotation you described. Unlike yourself, for me, the fewer buttons the better, making it more enjoyable. So, is it possible to play SCH as DPS, off-healing when needed? How viable is the actual DPS?

DPS are DPS and Healers are Healers. If you go into a run on Healer, you're going to be expected to know how to heal when everything is going wrong, and good reaction time can literally be the difference between life and death. There is no such thing as "off-healing". My SCH kit takes up 3 full hotbars and you WILL use all of it when things go south. Yes, WHEN, not "if". You should NOT play Healer just for the non-existent DPS rotation. You will be considered to be griefing your party. Again, take a look at DNC. It's ranged and pretty minimal in regards to a rotation, and it's very mobile so you have a lot of space for a slower reaction time.

Do NOT play Healer, you will not enjoy it and people will hate you if you play it the way you're thinking of playing it.

[ty_taurus]

I think I'm the odd one out on this one, but I really don't like having completely divorced AoE buttons in a game that doesn't really have engaging AoE situations. Like, I don't really see why we need to dedicate 2 different buttons to things like Xenoglossy and Foul, Shoha and Shoha II, Bloodletter and Rain of Death, or even combo buttons. Take MNK for example, I feel like you could have Bootshine upgrade to Shadow of the Destroyer, Twin Snakes upgrade to Four-Point Fury, and Snap Punch upgrade to Rockbreaker, (maintaing higher single target damage with falloff instead of flat damage to all targets), and you'd have 6 buttons instead of 9, not change your Single Target Rotation, and just have your AoE rotation be one specific combo within that Single Target Rotation, not to mention you could have Forbidden Chakra upgrade to Enlightenment as well.

I don't feel like having AoE buttons separate is really doing anything for us. There are a rare handful of fights where making the choice between single target and AoE is somewhat an opportunity to squeeze out a little more DPS. Like in Tower at Paradigm's Breach, Hansel and Gretel are an interesting boss where they're regularly moving both away and close together, and making those decisions to try and hit them both (assuming your AoE buttons are a gain on two targets) is a little more varied, but beyond those few fights... with the Forbidden Chakra example... When are you ever going to actively decide between one or the other? Either there are multiple enemies, or their aren't.

So I agree a little with SailorCeti that SMN, ironically, has a lot of unnecessary buttons for how it currently plays, though I wish rather than just having such a departmentalized approach to single target and AoE, that you had a 1-2 combo with your AoE buttons like with how Shadowbringers Phoenix phase worked--how you'd alternate between Fountain of Fire and Brand of Purgatory, and just do that with your Ruin III and Tri-Disaster, as well as your Gemshine and Precious Brilliance. Though I don't see why both Energy Drain and Energy Siphon need to exist, nor Fester and Painflare. So even though SMN is still a very bare-bones job and definitely needs to expand on its current gameplay, even it has unnecessary buttons despite that.

But I don't think most players agree with me on the single-target vs AoE stance.

[SassyAssassin]

Actually, read the poster I replied to before you, and my reply. I think it might help in what I'm looking for overall.

But, in short, I don't heal or tank. Too stressful. However, what they said about SCH seemed interesting, if it can be played as a DPS, off-healing when needed.

I mean…technically you can let your fairy and seraph do some or most of the healing but if you don’t like healing what will you do when your fairy and seraph resources are spent and people still run in red aoes and the other healer is dead on the ground?
Or if a tank with level 16 gray armor pulls wall to wall in a level 50 dungeon? It happens more often than you might expect and you will have to heal as much as possible and you wont have all the instant resources available to you at such a low level.

You need to know your class really well and be prepared to make fast decisions at times, more often than not you will be the difference between a smooth run and a wipe, so I wouldn’t use sch as a damage dealer, its a healer with some damage buttons.

[ty_taurus]

Actually, read the poster I replied to before you, and my reply. I think it might help in what I'm looking for overall.

But, in short, I don't heal or tank. Too stressful. However, what they said about SCH seemed interesting, if it can be played as a DPS, off-healing when needed.

As a dedicated support/healer player in every other RPG that offers that role, and someone who loves playing as healers more than any other role, my advice is to not play healer in FFXIV. FFXIV healers are not fun to play. Don't punish yourself.

[Jin-]

Try dancer and summoner. Nothing needed to succeed

[Ransu]

If you don't care about having good DPS, you could always make macros for your combos. Would reduce the amount of buttons greatly.

Summoner can ironically do its entire rotation in a single button macro and still parse close to an optimal rotation.

[Striker44]

I disagree. Simplification doesn't necessarily equate to "dumbing it down." That terms is also a little demeaning. I'm not dumb. I just have certain physical limitations. Another caveat here is that not everyone plays for a challenge. While some do find challenge fun, others don't.

I think this is exactly the point the poster you were responding to was trying to make. Different people have different interests and different abilities. As long as there are likewise different classes with different complexities that can appeal to the variety of players, you have a solid setup. It doesn't mean every single class should somehow manage to work for every single player. Take your own particular style of play, abilities, and shortcomings - look at the classes, test them out as you like - and see which particular classes suit you best.

You lost me after using shift and ctrl. That's already too much.

I'm genuinely curious about this comment, because a few posts later you mention playing WoW and setting up your abilities on 1-5 and F1-F5. It's the same exact idea, just instead of F1-F5, the second set of abilities is bound to Shift+1 to Shift+5.

Also, I'm a little hesitant to mix casting with melee. My reaction time, as you might image, is pretty bad. I like long range, so I can see more of the field and react a little better. Still die a lot, but that can't be helped.

There's very little melee w/ RDM. It's one specific combo you can use every so often after building up resources. The rest of the time you're a ranged caster. I think it's confusion with the person you were responding to...when she mentioned "melee", she was talking about actual pure-melee classes and suggesting to avoid those.

[Absimiliard]

I'm genuinely curious about this comment, because a few posts later you mention playing WoW and setting up your abilities on 1-5 and F1-F5. It's the same exact idea, just instead of F1-F5, the second set of abilities is bound to Shift+1 to Shift+5.

Range of movement. Using your F1-F5 keys requires less extension than using your full range of numbers alongside shift and control keys. It's not necessarily a skill or thought issue, it's a physical limitation issue. People with arthritis sometimes have their dexterity limited in rather unexpected ways. One such example would be the propensity for most people to press shift with a pinky finger and extend to press whatever other keys they need -- or if it's too far, they'll use the other hand. An individual with arthritis may not be able to use their pinky like that at all, and using the other hand isn't always an option depending on what's going on in the game.

[littlehobbit13]

FFXIV healers are not fun to play. Don't punish yourself.

FFXIV Healers are plenty fun to play when there's healing to do. The only issue with FFXIV is that the need for healing is not consistent, fluxes with the party quality. It doesn't mean Healer isn't fun to play in FFXIV. Unfair (and a bit rude) to equate playing it to punishment. :/