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Houdart Grimfang · **11-24-2016, 10:22 PM**

Hello, it's been a while! Ever since the friendly welcome and backstory help when I introduced myself, I've had a great appreciation for this community; even if I may or may not be a part of it at the moment. Smile

I'm currently struggling with yet another problem, but it might have a simpler answer than I thought. Ever since I got into MMORPGs at around 2003, I've struggled with Altitis and class pride. I basically hopped around between multiple classes and roles while having no idea if it actually "fit" me.

I've considered myself a career tank for years, but I'm starting to wonder if that's best for me or if I should add another role that I never knew that I was great at along with it. Heck, maybe all three (if support is still considered DPS) together would be the best route to take!

All in all, my question is: How do you know if a job or role in FF XIV is THE ONE? I mean, when you look at the skills, the gear, your gameplay performance, and think to yourself (or out loud), "Yep, that's me! I don't plan on ditching this anytime soon!"

Lastly, have any of you felt that "click" with not just one role, but two roles or more? What are your reasons or history behind it? Thank you for reading, and I appreciate your responses as well!

Caspar · **11-24-2016, 10:32 PM**

More than anything FFXIV is a game that encourages flexibility. You can be any role without alts, so generally I find most players do at least one job of every role. But it's probably about mechanical flow. The type of timing and workload inherent in the job can differ significantly. It's rather hard to describe why one might appeal to some over others. That's why basically I think you should try everything at least a little. It may surprise you, maybe not. In my case it was obvious from the start. It is extremely rare I don't like Monk style melee dps roles.

Charity322 · **11-25-2016, 12:35 AM**

I don't pick for myself. My chars pick. I really am not fond of tanking, but one of my chars refused to do anything but Gladiator, so Gladiator we did. They always know what class/job suits them.

Some chars have shown interest in more than one class. I have a White Mage/Archer and an Arcanist/Rogue. But if I try and stick them in something that I want to do rather than they want to do, then it will not end up well. I tried to force a char to do Thaumaturge once. I ended up having to remake her with a better class, because she would not accept it.

Valence · **11-25-2016, 04:51 AM**

I started with a healing class on FFXIV. It was the first time I tried my hand at healing, but granted I also have little to no experience of standard trinity themeparks, since I'm an eve online vet (but hated healing in there anyway). So I mained WhM up until very recently, and had great fun with it. I am also good at it so it makes things more enjoyable as a whole.Â

I also leveled my jobs to 60 by now (with the exception of PLD and WAR, DRG being on its way). I take great interest in discovering all the specific mechanics and the feel of every class. I love most of them up until lvl40-50 most of the time. Past that it start to get more difficult and demanding, and a lot of jobs fall out of favor with me for that reason, while a few ones will stick out and I will like them even more that way.

So, I love White Mage, which is also why I really like AST since they are very similar all in all. I just feel WhM could get some love in high end stuff, but maybe it was meant to be more novice friendly before people move on to more competitive healing classes like AST or SCH (even if I really dislike that idea). But whatever.

I leveled up MCH just after WhM, and really liked it until... I hated the guts of it past 50. In part due to all the glitches and shit we had to deal with before they got fixed (procs showing up too late, underwhelming class, etc). I also dislike the use of turrets (and pets most of the time), that I feel are like a hassle to handle with serious play in mind. But most of all, it's a very messy job that is perhaps the worst you could choose when you play on NA servers from the EU, since so many skills to weave in between skills in the rotation. You get into a frenzy of whack a mole to trigger all those OGCD and procs that lit up every once in a while, and I dislike that. I loved the mobility though, but gauss barrel made it even less fun to play for me.Â

I had more luck with monk, which is a job that I still really like. I like its technical difficulty, while still being one of the most straighforward job ever. It's a lot of muscle memory, and flows really well, so I liked and still like. It's just a very exhausting job when you want to play it well. Especially at 60.Â

Then I tried other jobs. I hated Ninja, since low level rog is super generic and even more boring than other DPS classes (except dragoon), and past 50 it starts to get rather complex and super messy in my opinion. Also tried SMN, which make me like the caster style even more after WhM. Way more calm. Less reactivity, more planning. But SMN is stupid easy so I moved on.

Leveled up some jobs for the crossclasses mostly, but then went up to lvl60, like bard. GLD and MRD for crossclasses as well, and DRK to try tanking too, but it made me clear on that I dislike tanking overall. I liked DRK mechanics quite well but nope. I'm sure WAR is fun too, but the tanking part of it still makes me cringe.Â

I still have to level SCH, but that job really doesn't attract me at all.

So yeah, the class that clicked immediately for me was BLM. To the point I made it my main. I like the slow, hard hitting nukes, and its surprising amount of math and planning you have to understand if you want to go in depth with the job. Mechanics are rather straightforward and finely designed (which is something I seem to like) while still offering challenge and planning. And doing crits at 15k or double flares to make tanks life miserable it fun anyway.Â Tongue

Sounsyy · **11-25-2016, 09:01 AM**

Personally, I can't recommend enough the importance of trying out all of the classes. The one you like the best might surprise you! And if nothing else, it's an excellent way to learn the different parts that make up the whole party and definitely will help you be a better team player.

My main class has been Warrior for several years now. For me, I like having utility and versatility in my classes. WAR fits that build for me since it's a beefy tank, a substantial dps, and controls its own HP pool with self heals. After playing the class so long, most other classes feel boring or just don't offer the same control over a fight. For that reason I also play Scholar as my secondary. Even though it's a great healer class, I find that I can be useful doing dps or utility while my faerie handles most content.

It's all about finding the classes that jive with you. Personally I like to have at least one class per role at a proficient level, but that's not for everyone. You say you like tanking, you'll have WAR and PLD to start. Paladins are the more traditional tank- high physical defense, powerful defensive buffs, low damage. WARs are a little more high octane damage/heal tanks but take a little bit more effort to learn. Later you'll get DRK which is a nice balance between WARs damage and PLD's defensiveness.

All of the healing classes are fun. White Mage is your high hitting healer with HoTs, Scholar has more in the way of shields and smaller heals assisted by a faerie. Then AST plays more with buffs and jumping between shields or HoTs depending on the situation. So there's lots of choices!

Heidrek · **11-25-2016, 09:13 AM**

(11-24-2016, 10:22 PM)Houdart Grimfang Wrote: All in all, my question is: How do you know if a job or role in FF XIV is THE ONE?

The one true path will make itself apparent to you.

Gegenji · **11-25-2016, 09:23 AM**

(11-25-2016, 09:01 AM)Sounsyy Wrote: My main class has been Warrior for several years now. For me, I like having utility and versatility in my classes. WAR fits that build for me since it's a beefy tank, a substantial dps, and controls its own HP pool with self heals. After playing the class so long, most other classes feel boring or just don't offer the same control over a fight. For that reason I also play Scholar as my secondary. Even though it's a great healer class, I find that I can be useful doing dps or utility while my faerie handles most content.

It's kind of amusing that I was the reverse. I like playing support-style roles most of the time, but I also like helping with DPS and such where I can. Shadow and Smite-Healing Discipline Priest in WoW are a good example of this and I enjoyed mine before I left that game. So, SCH filled that niche here really well for me - I heal, but I also am providing DPS mostly in DoTs that I just have to refresh every now and then. And leveling SCH got me SMN as well, which is all the DoTs without the healing and the added bonus of LASERS.

Meanwhile, I started with PLD as my first tank - and Chachan remains one mostly due to his character - but out of the three, I really do like WAR most (and it's why it's my tank of choice on Gogon). And basically for the same reasons you described, Sounsyy. Solid tank, solid DPS, and a bit of self-sufficiency for when the healer can't keep up for whatever reason.

Houdart Grimfang · **11-25-2016, 10:05 AM**

Thanks for the insight, everyone! Big Grin

This has been a great help!

I nearly gave up on searching for other jobs or roles to main after getting both PLD and DRK to level 60 and raising their Anima weapons to ILvl 210. I got very lazy at the time.

From what I've read in this thread, I've decided to take the leap and actually TRY other jobs, rather than reading about them only. At what level would a job's gameplay and party responsibilities be defined? I may have to get over my laziness, but level 1-50 seems like a long road; even 50-60! I have WAR at 56 and MNK at 57, so I suppose I'll get over it if there's no earlier levels to find out.

I noticed a point mentioned here that caught my attention. I hope I'm not wrong to assume that the majority of us immerse ourselves in Eorzea and its lore, as well as observe our own character(s) grow, develop, and interact. Another factor that could help me settle on a choice would be considering my character and how he feels about each job; possibly after reviewing his backstory, and maybe going by his physical, mental, and spiritual capabilities.

Gegenji · **11-25-2016, 10:21 AM**

Unfortunately, you can't really pin the gameplay to a set level range. Mostly because it varies heavily depending on what you're playing. You can get a general idea of how some of the jobs (and I specify jobs because the base classes really only teach you the basic 1-2-3 rotation - though I think that helps a lot with PUG's many moves) as you level them, such as weaving your spells as a BLM or using WAR's tank abilities, but a lot of the key mechanics don't get given to you until that final stretch like SMN's Trance or DRG's Blood of the Dragon.

However, if I absolutely had to pick a level, I would think you'd have your best "general idea" of how the job is going to play around... level 45, I guess? You'll have most of your toolkit by that point (though there's exceptions like SCH, where you don't get a key healing move - Lustrate - UNTIL 50) and you would've played the class long enough to get a feel for whether you'll enjoy it or not. Minus the ones that get entirely new mechanics in HW - such as the aforementioned SMN and DRG.

Valence · **11-25-2016, 10:45 AM**

Your role in a party is defined as soon as you get into a dungeon really. Except maybe for tanks that have to wait for their defensive stance, but that's more linked to getting your job proper on top of your class. The job tends to define a lot more what a job is gameplay is about (especially ninja for instance).Â

I would say at level 35-40 you should have a good idea of the type of gameplay you will be dealing with. With the caveat that it might change a lot at 60 (BRD/MCH, BLM, for example). Or that you will just get more tools to handle around the core (like SMN or MNK for example).

ExAtomos · **11-25-2016, 02:05 PM**

In general, I would say you don't really have an idea fully about each class til 50, but some, like WAR especially, BRD, and BLM, REALLY change in the 50-60 levels. I'm a big altoholic not just in number of classes on each character but in number of characters. I am a strong proponent of at least leveling one class of each role (tank, heals, dps) so that you know how each work and work together in dungeons.

tl;dr: level all teh things! Moogle

IC, of course, my characters can't do everything that is listed on their search info. That's OOC knowledge. (For example, Valia has all crafts and gathering classes and most battle classes at 60, but IC she's just a mage and alchemist.) I just do it cause it's fun to level everything.

Arcian · **11-25-2016, 05:38 PM**

Re: knowing what's right - Just try stuff and see what clicks. I'd never tanked anything before XIV, so I assumed that I'd hate PLD, but I ended up really enjoying the ability to get punched in the face repeatedly and not die (and also to control the pulling pace). So that's my secondary.

MNK just fits with my usual playstyle - I've always preferred fast melee dps (Combat rogue in WoW, Marauder in SWTOR), so playing roughly the same role in XIV felt like a natural progression.

Re: when you get a feel for your class - IMO that process starts early on, but as other people have said, you should probably have a good feel for it by 40-45ish in most cases (BRD changes significantly post-level 52, and there are others that play pretty differently after 50).

Tl;dr - Try what you're interested in and above all, have fun with it.

[Discussion] Help an MMORPG Novice Overcome Class/Job Role Indecision

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes