Need Help Staying With A Job

Upon returning to the game after a 2 year break, I keep going back and forth with different jobs. I initially was a ranger because I always liked them and saw that they were so good at the time I quit. Now they aren't so good and I actually don't really like them much anymore.

I was in a job identity crisis and started to research and I saw a post where a guy said that link shells will fight over you if u are a white mage and have this one staff (I forget) on top of possibly being the easiest class to gear. So I was like, might as well try out while mage even though I remember not really liking it back in the super old days of dunes parties when I tried it out.

So I started researching stuff and was like, I better level up black mage at least a little since it's a good sub for white mage. As I began leveling black mage I was like, holy ***the class does so much damage, it's so sick. SI I decided to become a black mage.

Then, as I was doing af gear, I changed to my 99 ranger (my only 99 class, and put on the af1 full gear and was like, do I become a ranger again? My marksmanship and archery is at middle to upper 200s and I already have full af1 gear. The one black mage af 1 gear where you have to go to castle bailey's is just garbage (where u have to get wine cellar key) and my blk is only level 60. I did really enjoy living up black mage and bought so many spell scrolls, but the recommended leveling place by white gate I really don't like.

Anyways I'm kinda stuck again. I really like blk and ranger but everyone says ranger isn't that good. All I see is people talk about how end game is pretty much only white, Geo, blue it seems. Idk f black mage is even best dd class either lol. Anyways I'm a huge noob and would just Ike some advice lol

It's your $13.95, play it however you want to play it.

I personally like BLU, but I'm starting to really like PLD.

It does not matter what job you pick. What matters is that you get a job to 99 that is geared. That will allow you to start doing events in joining groups and getting other gear. Then you can start leveling other jobs extremely fast. When I return to the game I had most 99 jobs but none really geared for current end game. So I picked one and in doing so was able to get gear for many other jobs. Pick one job and Gear it. Then move onto the next one if you want. Don't start leveling and then stop and then start a different job and stop.

That is all pretty sound advice, however jobs like whm blu geo blm will help you get gear for other jobs the most. In the end its going to be what is best for your play style.

I took DRK and stuck with it through the good and the bad

To be honest it does not matter which job you pick, as long as have at least 1 job that you fully master in terms of playstyle, gear sets, and job points. Being a jack of all trades but a master of none, may be fun for casual play, but will make it difficult for your end game activities.

Anyone who says RNG isn't good probably doesn't have a RNG worth a damn to begin with.

rng can be a really useful job you just gotta fully gear it up, if you wanna go with main rng try to get a few good sets together before the CP event, I think it's next week. also be sure to get Trueflight as in CP parties making a 3 step SC ending with Trueflight will be a serious plus to the cp/hour, and for endgame purposes where light damage is preferred you can do Fusion > Trueflight > light for a lot of dmg.

A few things you need to ask yourself or consider:

• What are your goals? Like, making friends could be narrowed down to specifically "a small group I can do most things with" or "a big LS". Getting items could be "being good enough to fight" or "get HQ everything" or even just "make that one weapon I always wanted". You don't have to post an answer to this. This won't necessarily narrow down jobs but it's important to know what you actually want.

• Most people are not strategists and don't really understand the fights. Furthermore, not many people are aware of what each job is capable of. The result is that there are a lot of misconceptions about what jobs are "good and bad". It's really more about what strategies cater to which jobs.

• All DD and tank jobs will have to deal with issues like accuracy (including ranged and magic accuracy) and survivability (yes, even DDs). There's no way around this unless you want to be dead weight. Getting the high-end gear that makes you a powerhouse of a DD or tank will take time, but progress is part of the fun of the game anyway.

• Even support jobs like BRD, COR, GEO, and WHM can contribute to any fight with minimal gearing, hence why some people suggest them as starting jobs, but you're going to get sick of it, especially if you never really clicked with any of them in the first place.

• I recommend looking at jobs based on their roles, and try experimenting with those roles. Having different options is better than simply leveling 1 popular job and hoping it stays popular.

• SE is making changes to jobs all the time, whether it's in the form of modifications, new gear, or whatever. Further, just because a job is popular doesn't mean you (or anyone else) is going to be good at it without serious effort. The jobs you're most passionate about are the ones you'll play best.

• There are 22 jobs, and you won't really know what any of them are truly like until you're 99 and trying things out.

A lot of these "identity issues", I fear, are a result of the vast majority of players don't get to experience the party-play style of their job until they are getting job points because everyone solos to 99. As a result, less is learned thru the experience of leveling in terms of job knowledge, AND you really don't experience what that job is capable of until you 99 it...because until then, leveling all jobs is pretty much the same- call kupofried,a WHM or RDM trust, couple buffers and a tank.

I can relate to extent, I have my mains War, Run, Blu, but then i have "side jobs" admitted everything is 99, but I too find myself considering Drg, or even putting Drk back together, getting my Rng back to par. Bottom line though, play what you like, hell level them all to get a feel if you want, its your money. I have found, you wont truly play a class to its potential, unless you really love the job. So find experiment and find your niche.

If all you have is one job you're good at but are mediocre at, or worse have no other options at all, don't expect to get into many endgame groups.

Having options, having the job selection among your members, is crucial in today's endgame.

I used to only have DNC lvld when I picked up the game again after SoA ended. It was nearly impossible to get anything done with one job and it really frustrated me for quite some time (you could say angry with people cause they didnt want my DNC) my gear improved to slow compared to the amount of content being released during those days adding to that frustration.

Then I picked up PLD, which made alot of things easier, put in a small amount of time to make Aegis and Ochain (I do think concidering what they can do they're worth the time investment even if you dont mean to be serious about PLD) My ingame life got a tad better...

Then I lvld WHM, I thought I was really going to hate it tbh. I always saw people shouting for a WHM so it seemed a easy pt ticket but I have to admit despite my doubts about the job I am really loving WHM atm.

Just saying sometimes you need to dip in your toes a bit further and you'll learn to appreciate things more.

A healthy mix of jobs just opens up so much more potential :)

Don't kid yourself, that's been an issue for more than a decade. Most jobs played rather differently when leveling vs at endgame even at 75 cap, along with differences in party format and strategy.

That's not true!

Trusts are our companions! How else do you get the party chat spam of Shanttoto laughing every time she farts casts a spell?

Oh no, I agree. I just feel that when your spell list/available abilities grows as your knowledge grows thru the natural progression of exp'ing,most players have a better grip on it. Versus using impriaurs and trusts to blast up, then find yourself with a plethora of tools but little training. Even if the role you play changes in endgame versus leveling/meriting/cp'ing you're more familiar with the job itself.

This game's use of "job" rather than class makes for some funny titles.

Put your nose to the grindstone!

1.) Why are you dissing on AF? You seem to to be talking about Base AF. It is garbage, but as you upgrade it, some pieces have some use. BLM AF body is garbage. +1 is garbage but "reforged" 109 and 119 versions convert % of your damage done to MP. This changes the game on MP retention while free-nuking.

It'll be a bit before you get into it, but Omen just came out and even if you farm cards solo on trash, some of the Further "Reforged" AF (look at the leftmost column for what's attainable for you right now) for some jobs is quite good.

2.) Depending on where you want to go in game, first job does matter. I don't know why people are saying it doesn't. Certain jobs--mostly mages--don't need fancy RMEA weapons to be useful (WHM, BLM, SCH, GEO and COR for example) while most melee, paladin, and especially bard do because much of your competition will hae it and you will lag far behind. You gear one of the simple jobs and get good at it and use that to feed gear to your other jobs.

If you do choose to start with a melee, I'd recommend a "leather" job like DNC, THF because these jobs have an accuracy advantage over plate jobs. DNC even gets Accuracy Bonus as a trait.

I would suggest BLU but there's lots of spell-chasing in your future which doesn't let you get into action nd again, noone will really want a freshly gearing melee.

You can be a melee RDM (just an example) if you want to but there's a ceiling on where that will take you. There's kinda a ceiling on where RDM in general, at the moment, will take you because you lack a static. People don't pug RDMs, they pug GEOs CORs hq Bards.

You like Ranger? Corsair could be a fantastic option for you. It'll have some gear overlap with ranger and your contribution is increasing the damage of others. As your gear improves, you can participate in skillchains and such but in the beginning, it's mostly about what you do for others (same with GEO though GEO is more desirable to pugs).

As a lover of tanks, I would not suggest starting with PLD at all (if you have any interest), the base gearcheck is pretty high (Aegis is a requirement if you want to regularly PLD). Without gear, you may find enmity exceptionally difficult to hold off people doing 1500+ DPS.

I joke about melee RDM but if you missed out on the past ambuscade gear, get this month's stuff and you can run around on RDM and at least be able to kill things, certain NMs.

For skilling up, buy level 1 arrows/bolts, go right outside Adoulin to ceizak and south and find a URagnite and take pot shots at it. Use a weaker tank (one of the lower paladins), Use Koru Moru or KingOfHearts if you have them for Haste II or Flurry II (ranged attacks version of Haste).

With an eminent bow/gun and cheap food (sole sushi) you should have no problem capping hit rate so that you can hit to skillup.

You can also do reives buttttt they might be rough if your gear is mostly old stuff.

Sorry if it all sounds doom and gloom it's not. In this one way, XI is similar to what in 75 era. Sometimes you need to gear a job just to gear other jobs. I knew BSTs that played Bard only because it got them into events.

Edit: I kinda implied RMEA are required for melee, they aren't required but are desirable. There are plenty good weapons you can get, with help.

I'm having a similar problem with picking a job to max out. I've played a maxed out PLD, BRD, BLM in an endgame LS in the 2002-2003 era, BST mostly solo from 2007-2012, and this time back I can't settle on anything. I have THF geared for farming, BST geared for solo mission progression, but I miss being part of a big event LS. I want to be useful to any group, and GEO is supposed to fill that role, but I find the job unexciting.

I suggest COR to every person who ever asks me what job they should try.

Corsair can fit into literally every single setup in the game. Ranged DD, melee DD, pet party, mage party, Death-oriented fights, you name it. Your rolls provide an exceptional benefit to the party, and your damage contribution allows you to effectively fill two slots at the price of one. I do endgame regularly, and having a COR with exceptional gear capable of filling every role is absolutely irreplaceable.

Of course, being able to fill all of these roles requires a lot of gearing and know-how, but the end result is absolutely worth the investment.

Try Runefencer, save yourself a lot of gil and have a lot more fun.

:(

Can confirm. Am both PLD and RUN. I haven't played PLD once since I started taking RUN seriously and got ergon. RUN is unbelievably fun as hell to play.

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My RNG is very well geared (recently afterglowed Armageddon, all of the relevant armor save new Omen gear and HQ abjurations). Lately it's the job I find most fun to play and I love getting a chance to use it. It's VERY useful in certain setups, and does seem to be getting an upswing in popularity very recently.

However, I don't know that I'd suggest it as a first job for someone looking to get up to speed for current endgame content. RNG is somewhat limited to certain kinds of strategies, and isn't really terribly well implemented by lots of group leaders. You also might find yourself lacking decent buffs if you're not going with a multiple ranged attacker setup, as the buffers will be prioritizing stuff for the mages or melees that may not benefit you as much.

If you're looking for more flexibility I'd recommend COR first, as others have mentioned. COR is also much easier to get a start and still contribute through rolls in ANY kind of setup (full nuke focus, pet parties, melee parties, ranged setups) while you work on building up high end gear. You may not be operating at full potential, but you're not going to be a total leech.

Once you get up to par with ranged gear and COR ranged WS gear (Leaden/Wildfire, Last Stand), it's not too hard to add RNG to your repertoire since that gear is largely the same between the two jobs.

FWIW, if you're more mage oriented, SCH is another nice one to use and is again easier to make a real contribution to the group as you're still gearing up. Get 550 JP as a priority (for faster strategems), then work toward 1200 JP ASAP. You can do SCs for a nuke setup (which is still extremely popular on most content), buff your fellow mages with Storm spells, and add some healing/support as needed. Even if your nuking power is subpar while you work on gear, you're still able to make a substantial contribution. Like COR sharing gear with RNG, SCH shares a ton of gear with BLM so you might be able to start with SCH then fairly easily add BLM as another job option once you've built up SCH a bit. There are so many strong BLM out there, you're gonna have a harder time starting with BLM as your only option and being far behind the curve - that's why I'd pick SCH first.

SCH COR BLM are all also really in demand for CP parties, so that's a bonus in that it may be easier for you to jump into pickup groups and get fast CP.

Honestly I think you're going about it the right way. Sure it's nice to find your niche and your focus/what you like but the only way to do that is by trying out the options and sticking with the one you like the most. There's only so much someone can convey through a forum response, and of course most responses are going to be subjective.

I've actually been doing this since I returned and gearing jobs in itself is pretty fun. Taking them to group events gives you a great idea of the expected roles/playstyle for that job.

Also once you start gearing different jobs you start noticing overlap, which is great and really speeds up the gearing process for other jobs you want to try. For example, I wanted to try cor so I geared it for melee and ranged. The melee sets I can use on almost all of my light armor dd(except for pup :| ) and a lot of the gear I've accumulated for ranged attacks, I can use on rng.

Finally, part of the reason I love ffxi is that you can play all of the jobs on one character, unlike many other mmos. The beauty in that is that if my tastes change, I don't have to restart from scratch and I probably have a good baseline of gear from other jobs I played in the past. Having a few jobs geared can also make you more versatile for events, since many events/battlefields are more catered to certain jobs than others.

Edit: Also, focus on what you like. Any job, geared properly can perform well. Every job has it's own situations where they shine and there is no one job that shines in every single situation, except for the essentials(Tank/Healer/Support)

COR, RUN, WHM, and SCH are all solid, fun choices that have relatively gentle gear entry points. Most of RUN's best tanking gear is JSE, and augmented Aettir is an excellent and relatively inexpensive tank weapon, particularly for today's enfeeble- and magic-happy NMs. If you want to be up in the frontlines brawling, I'd suggest RUN first over a melee DD. And if you get REALLY good at it, you can DD in endgame too.

COR can be played just for the rolls in the beginning (the gear for which is jse/easy to get), and all SCH "needs" at first is Immanence for basic stuff where you have someone stronger doing most of the damage with MB, allowing you to contribute while building up.

WHM's main gate is not wanting to play WHM. I personally love playing whm, but to each their own.

Hope it helps.

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did you set a calendar event specifically for this punchline to pay off?

That's called dedication. Which is a good quality to have if you're looking to stay with a job.

This is why the DFT prospers.

we like to take our job seriously.
you dont see any Dodo's around, do you?
your safety, at work.
wanna buy some T-shirts to support the cause?

What I did on all my chars is make a DD,Mage,Support,Tank job. That way I pretty much have a way into almost everything.