Comparing All Casters in FFXIV Endwalker - Job Picking Guide

[@Jolsn]

Updated for Dawntrail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4GuhHp9qq-rr5Y

[@ElZamo92]

I started my journey on this game (and MMOs in general) as a black mage. I painstakingly levelled the job by doing the MSQ and some duty roulettes. I didn’t even try other jobs until I was already level 90 on black mage. So yeah, I LOVE black mage.

[@Grimnoire]

hell yeah

[@ozzi9816]

I started as a thaumaturge as well but I was on the verge of uninstalling the game by level 20 and had to change classes, black mage mains really are built different I guess

[@excalibour00]

I started the game (my first mmo) a few days ago as a thaumaturge to then become black mage simply cause I liked the fantasy. Also ignoring all other jobs till I maxed this one first 🤞

[@Sniper0502]

@@ozzi9816 tbh while the class quest is cute and fun for thaum, the class itself is pretty boring, getting more fun around 50 and COMPLETELY changing around 60+ imo

[@blackheavymetalman]

I had a guildie who was a lvl 15 glad for warrior job then only maurader/warrior. Never played any other job on that character (dont know if he had others)

[@GarnetDust24]

Summoner is very pretty but there is something about black mage that is so much fun. Casting fire IVs and slide casting makes you feel so powerful.

[@RaidenKaiser]

Assuming you make it to a level the class gets fun before you die of boredom lol.

[@WhimsicalPacifist]

Playing Summoner for long periods is a form of torture outlawed by the Geneva Convention. Nothing changes rotationally for the player from level 30 to level 86 and even then it's still not rewarding.

[@budus2]

Help I'm stuck, level 55

[@tomekk.1889]

Is it really that bad?

[@boat02]

And that's why I've come here to this video

[@somerandom3969]

I actually love that about it cuz im trying out different jobs as i go and have to constantly adapt snd kinda suck when i start leveling one of my jobs up some more cuz im not used to it after awhile. But with summoner ill never forget what to do

[@Alexander_Nafait]

I started the game last year with BLM and I stuck with it as my main even as I went into my first savage tier (the current one). It's definitely a super punishing experience and I often end up beating myself up over my performance but finding people in pf who cheer me on for trying my hand for the first time at savage with BLM more than make up for it!

[@qlasalle]

I'm new to ff14 so when I see BLM... I don't see Black Mage rofl

[@cosmicbrownie2312]

I can say choking down my fear and finally playing black mage this raid tier has been the most fun I ever had, coming from playing nothing but healers. I am still gray parsing, but I am improving at a solid pace, and it is a dream come true to finally be playing my favorite job outside of hyper casual settings like leveling roulette or alliance raid. ^^ I very much recommend just going for it if you are interested too!

[@midnightjay]

I had no clue Black Mage was one of the most difficult classes. I see memes of people saying they hate the class but never knew why or they are only leveling it for the mount then stopping. Waaaaay back in ARR it was my starting class and I'm very comfortable with it tbh Doesn't mean I'm efficient though for end game content or anything, honestly doubt it. Still, it's a class I guess filled with nostalgia because I go back to it occasionally just because it was my first class. I really like ranged dps in general so hope to learn Red Mage one day and recently had a lot of fun with summoner leveling it up.

[@brycejohnson5621]

I just got into ff14 last week and these job comparisons have been super helpful! I’m working through the story to get to a dragoon so I’m excited to see the melee dps video if/when it comes out!

[@ryankelley9110]

Dude have fun with it I used to be a dragoon main until level 70 make sure you know your positionals and how to use elusive jump 😁

[@Majima_Nowhere]

I wouldn't say Black Mage _forces_ you to improvise... Rather that it _allows_ you to improvise. That's why it's my favorite job by far, and why I stuck with it from the day I started as a sprout. You don't get gameplay like it with any other job. As for movement, you get 3 instant casts of any spell every 60 seconds, 2 charges of xenoglossy every 60 seconds plus one every 120, an instant fire 3 once every rotation, an instant thunder 3 from Thundercloud proc, an instant Paradox once every umbral phase, and a swiftcast if you're still somehow without any of those options. It doesn't deserve the "immobile caster" reputation it gets. However, once you know a fight's mechanics and you're _able_ to slap down your lines and blast out a full power rotation without any interruption, it's the best thing ever.

[@drevildruid]

On my first trip through the MSQ I leveled a Summoner. I found it very fun but frustrating as the self heal is underwhelming. The fight against Venat in Elpis was very frustrating so I switched to Scholar (despite not knowing how to play the job) and was able to get through it quite easily. I leveled all the other healing classes to 90 and then all the ranged dps. I still have the tank classes to go. But I really wanted to learn Scholar and rather than subject strangers to my stupidity I started a new character and have just finished Shadowbringers on Scholar. Out of all the healing jobs I like Scholar the most. I have two Black Mages. One at 90 and an alt at 80. I found that leveling the BLM was easier once I unlocked Borzja and I gained access to a self heal via memories that are unlocked in the area. As has been mentioned before it's frustrating that the job mechanics/spells change every ten levels. It's my least played job. Between Summoner, Red Mage and Black Mage I prefer Red Mage with the self heals for leveling and the instant cast ressurrection (via dualcast) , the party buff and the movement mechanics. A good Red Mage can heal the tank if the healer dies, then rez the healer or half the raid if the healers disconnects. It's a great all around job that gives White Mage a run for it's money.

[@crowofcainhurst]

When people say BLM is hardest to play, they didn't mean the rotations. In fact BLM rotation is one of the easiest rotation of all jobs. BLM hard to play in highend content because their immobility while highend content such as savage or ultimate required quick movement to do the mechanic. But for the rotation itself? I swear I could do BLM rotation with my hotbar hidden although it is the job that I play the least.

[@Neytiri666]

Thx god, a friend who play black mage called me crazy when I said that...🙄

[@Oceanborn712]

I find Black Mage just terribly frustrating with how their rotation keeps changing every few levels. Joining the roulettes that can put you into lower level content is just so freaking annoying because you constantly have to change around your skill setup due to the game not just upgrading your skills as you level but giving you new versions that coexist next to the lower level ones. I wish there was a better way for their skill progression like with the other jobs where your skills get downgraded but the same button will generally do the same thing just with varying power.

[@Gorea1922]

While it is still very annoying to deal with, they're at least making an effort to streamline it a lot more than in prior expansions. The experience currently is by far the best one for leveling a Blackmage since ever imo. However it is still very annoying compared to almost every other job in the game, but getting through that phase and learning the endgame rotation is one of the most rewarding things I've done in a game to date, and I am by no means good/perfect at the job and it's already super rewarding. If you can get through the slog that is leveling it, you'll have a blast at 80+ content!

[@Raionhardt]

i must be the opposite cause i think black mage is prob the most fun leveling experience compared to any other job in the game. everything builds on itself. you just need to actually read the spells and talents you get.

[@lorenzolombardi3369]

I started as a black mage and I love it, but I have to agree. I bring black mage only on 70+ dungeon otherwise for roulette i use other classes.

[@sanddry738]

Just got my RDM to Lv. 90 while BLM is lv. 79 and I personally appreciated the changes with BLM because RDM *barely* changes it’s style and made leveling monotonous. However, I do get a serotonin boost with instant resurrection To be fair however, yeah the changes can trip you up when changing between levels in content I’d you don’t remember. It’s definitely personal preference

[@leftyzappa]

I agree. It is a shame the core feeling of the class is at its best at the highest level. Scaling down changes the *feel*. If they find a way to incorporate that element (snicker) in low level content, it could turn it into the most popular job. I don’t mind the struggle though. I play a lot of jobs. RDM sadly does get monotonous.

[@ricardonoelmorales]

I mainly play Red Mage and Reaper. Those two jobs are just so much fun to play, especially reaper. Once you get the hang of it you just can't stop watching those big numbers flashing on your screen. Great video as always man!

[@fishbread9208]

Black Mage and optimization go hand in hand now that you point it out. For instance, one dungeon had me and another black mage as the damage. Even though I had better gear, the other black mage had much more optimized single target rotation for the dungeon. HOWEVER, I had a much better AOE rotation, so it came to us both putting in equal work!

[@al_stand_3959]

I always play healers. I don’t really care about DPS and Tanks but I want to try somethkng else cause sometimes I don't want to have the pressure to not perform well enough with my healers . I think red mage would be perfect for a change and having his healing abilities at the same time. (Sorry for my english, I am french canadian)

[@lorenzolombardi3369]

Red mage is probably the best way to learn dps: really easy to understand but medium skill ceiling rewarding effort, and a very versitile class with almost everything except a dot I guess. The heal is pretty weak but can be a life saver, and you will throw resses like nothing so it's a great playmaker.

[@HayTatsuko]

Red Mage's Dualcast ability lets you double up Vercures, and, sometimes much more importantly, chain 4 Verraises in ~12 seconds or so from full mana. It's not easy but it is possible with nimble targeting and timing. Even being able to wake up just one healer and a tank can turn an impending wipe into an awesome experience. No other Job can do it; it's why we're called Rez Mages. We might not do the best damage, but we look super-flashy doing what we can, and we also have the most hilarious caster LB3 of the lot -- Vermillion Scourge, aka Verblind!

[@jeanfalin4077]

Je pense commencer le jeu et je pensais jouer érudit mais renseignements pris, il apparaît qu'il a perdu des performances et qu'il n'est pas aimé en raids Je pense opter pour un invocateur Quel soigneur es tu? Merci d'avance

[@HayTatsuko]

I first leveled Black Mage to max (80, at the time) and had great fun doing it. I leveled Summoner to max (also 80) on a different character, and liked that a bunch, too. But Red Mage is where my heart really resides. I love the swashbuckling, I love the nimbleness the Dualcasting system allows, and I especially love being able to pull my party out of the direst moments by chaining 3-4 rezzes in quick succession, depending on available mana and Lucid Dreaming. Out of all the Jobs I've played -- and I've played them all -- RDM is easily the most fun to me.

[@lyconxero457]

Like you, I also play all of the jobs in the game and I've gotta say that I used to REALLY not like playing Black Mage because it just sucked being so immobile despite having good damage output but in these last two expansions Black Mage has come a LONG WAY to address my big gripes with the job and I honestly had an absolute blast leveling it from 80--90 this expansion and then trying it out in max level content. Summoner is interesting because at first I thought the changes were really cool as someone who'd played Summoner since 2.x and felt less and less like a Summoner as the expansions went on and the pets did less and less things but I got kind of bored with the job. Red Mage, on the other hand, I've loved since it was introduced in Stormblood and I love it even more in Endwalker as it's always been the same job but with QoL that make it more fun to play.

[@retjia7747]

Great video, as always! I play the game very casually and the only caster I've played is RDM, which is a lot of fun! The mobility of it really speaks to me, plus I feel pretty cool being able to hop in close and slash with my sword :D (gonna giv SUM a go after seeing this, thanks!)

[@xkattastrophe]

thank you so much for this video it helped me make my decision to change into a black mage!

[@OliverXRed]

In my oppion with the healing capabilities of Summoner and Red Mage, i would actually say Red Mage is better at it for the sole reason, that they can initiate healing when they need to, instead of being locked into a 2 min rotation/cooldown. However i have not played Summoner as much as i have done Red Mage, but i can definitely see the big healing the Phoenix can do, I just wish their healing spell (Physick) they got back from Arcanist actually scaled with the level.

[@KattReen]

Yeah, there's no point of physick. They need to either remove it from the kit or tweak it.

[@zirilan3398]

Physik does scale with level, it just doesn't scale with INT but instead with Mind. As a dps-job it's not your job to heal and having Physik (even in it's curent state) is nice for lowlevel (Arr) and Solo-stuff like PotD

[@GRIFFDANSE]

Started as a black mage, beat arr with it and wanted to try a melee, picked up samurai, and never looked back.

[@dalgona4819]

Red Mage captured my heart ❤

[@GloriaDiesLive]

I started with blm (just started this game last April). When I got to Shadowbringers I finally understood the job. And a month later came the add-on with class overhaul... and I just said: well ok, let's play smn :D

[@LycanFayn]

Useful video! Red mage was my first caster (and my second level 90 after white mage), and I've picked up black mage and summoner in my recent 'level everything' window. They're both at level 50, and I vastly prefer summoner at this point - in fact, I find black mage to be at least half as good as summoner - though that was mostly at level 40 (before firestarter), when I was doing hunt logs and found summoner was happily killing everything whilst black mage had a 50/50 chance of dying. This was same level, same equipment. It's useful to be told 'black mage gets good' but annoying that you need to go so far into the job to get that. One thing: could you pick background music without lyrics? As much as this song slaps, it's definitely more than a little distracting.

[@meriwidget3474]

I main SUM and WHM for raiding/harder content... I like easy :P I always find it strange when people (usually pretty casual players at that) look down their nose so hard at SUM because "it's too easy". I prefer it because I'm also newer to the higher end of difficulty in the game, being able to focus on mechanics is super helpful getting through that barrier. I did force myself to learn how to BLM and leveled my trusts that way.. I actually learned it and even enjoy it, but I dislike how punishing it is to play.. aka if you aren't playing fully optimal every step of the way your damage suffers a LOT for it, not much room for error. RDM is just plain fun and not super difficult, but.. atm SUM just does more damage and is slightly less stressful to play.

[@Jolsn]

I also enjoyed playing Summoner this raid tier, it's relaxing fun and still feels satisfying. There's just enough potential to improve for it to not get boring too quickly, but I do feel like playing something else during the next raid tier!

[@tokiri5680]

while true and as mentioned in the video SMN is a great entry for that kind of content bcz of how easy it is. and also while not downplaying ppls enjoyment of a job for certain content, others will need some mixed spice. wiping a fight over and over and doing always the same stuff can get extremely dry and boring which is where jobs like blm come into play to keep the engagement of the player and discovering optimization through the progression. while the standard rotation of blm can also get boring as well through prog. it also offers smth called non-standard rotation which is an extremely high risk and reward playstyle. this is another part of blm that gives raiding replayability value for them.

[@Genashi1991]

The comparison videos have been interesting and useful in having a better idea of the classes. Is there or will there be videos coming for the other DPS too?

[@GreyEyedRaven]

Hope they add another caster in 7.0.

[@sanddry738]

BLM was my first secondary class I started leveling. Definitely don’t let everyone say how hard it is to perfect in endgame discourage. Casually it’s still a great class. SMN I don’t have any experience with yet but for RDM I definitely found it easier than BLM but more monotonous for sure. However, the satisfaction of quick rezing someone is always a great boost.

[@Koranthus]

You found bouncing between spell and melee phases more monotonous than shoot fire/ shoot ice?

[@aiellamori]

One thing that surprised me at level 90 compared to other jobs was how empty SMN's horbars are. Legit almost everyone they get after 60 are non slotable skills. I'm not trying to make a statement or anything by saying that, I just think it's interesting

[@fishbread9208]

With Summoner and its damage phase, Phoenix actually does more damage than Bahamut with its 6 GCD's dealing more combined damage than a death flare!

[@Elidan1012]

I would hope 6 GCD's deal more damage than 1 OGCD lol, but I get what you mean. Phoenix phase has a total potency output that is 100 more than Bahamut No idea if that is worth delaying searing light for tho. Probably depends on the fight.

[@Neytiri666]

@@Elidan1012 not worth at all, u have to line your buff with the raid at all cost

[@dragonhearthx8369]

I ran into a problem with the black mage. After I got the rhythm for red mage and summoner I tired for black mage. I FINALLY got the rhythm for black mage. But I lost the rhythm for all of my other jobs in the process.

[@vegassims7]

I have played most of the game classes but regardless of anything I have played, Black Mage is the most exciting and the most damaging. When you are in boss fights the fights end much quicker with a BLM in the group then without. Yes, you have to be interrupted from time to time and bosses love to pick on you with line AOEs, but you do a ton of damage and that is what makes it fun, and who doesn't love camera shaking explosions!!!

[@utau2746]

The number of times I’ve saved my static while learning the most recent raid tier by spamming verraise is amazing. It’s gotten us through tough spots that would’ve otherwise caused a wipe. Even if you main black mage I recommend learning red mage to help out the healers while everyone is still learning a fight

[@HeavenOnHigh]

I can answer it quite quickly and easily Story: What you like, play save, and for first timers, use npcs, they are forgiving and you have invinit Re trys. For savage: red for learning, sum for clearing, black for the moments you thing life is great and need a remember that, how suffering feels like - or you took around 6h theoretical learning klasse per boss and know wer to stand, knows how you teleport works, knows how to slide cast and still wants to suffer. Sooo, stay on summoner, deals the same damage, and you have only 3 spells every minute that you have to stand still for.

[@MimiMonday]

Love the video! I love just hearing (and possibly learning) more about the casters. I, honestly, don't think blm is that hard. Anything is difficult if you don't know how to it works. People just need to read and practice. That's any job. In my experience, blm got easier the more I leveled and got new skills to complement my rotation. But I am biased, I like something about every job. I love all the casters for different reasons. Only thing I hate about blu is not being able to level in dungeons normally. Edit: I admit if I take a break and come back, blm is a bit confusing. But again, I just read and practice till I get it again. I agree the other two are better for difficult content since they have a rez spell. BLM is still more fun for me, since smn is just brain dead now (Carby deserved more respect and spells).

[@DeadSpaceWing]

Back in the olden days I started as a SMN before switching to tanking as PLD. SMN was very DoT based and the summons functioned like pets in other MMOs. Now I mainly stick to RDM because it is less complicated for me to play, looks cool, and is my favorite old-school FF job. I am slowly going through BLM and may eventually return to SMN just to have a healer in SCH leveled.

[@IchiExorz]

I started the game as a SMN. Played both SMN & DRG in HW. Swapped to RDM in SB due to not being a fan of the changes made to SMN. now in EW SMN looks really cool but gameplay wise i don't find it very fun. BLM is a job i'd love to play more of but it just scares me.

[@ReyOfLight]

I played through MSQ as Black Mage and my only complaint about it really is the lack of movement in battle. I switched to main Reaper some weeks ago on my main toon to get more movement while still dealing damage. I soloed Endwalker dungeons as Black Mage during MSQ (as in running with NPC) and it sure as heck was challenging and I died many times in the process, but I did it. I now prefer Reaper though, not because it’s the currently highest damage dealer in the game but because it allows me to dodge AoE’s more easily while being more consistent with my damage output. I’m lvl 90 Black Mage and Reaper. Currently trying to decide what job to level next, I’ve tried Dark Knight a bit (lvl 48) and the other day I gave gunbreaker a shot in a couple of dungeons (only lvl 61) and the latter seems more fun for the time being but the tanxiety is real… I might have to give Summoner a try even though that means having to endure Limsa…

[@littywitty5867]

Can’t wait for the Ranged video, it’s my favorite role!

[@evilgibson]

The Summoner comes with the ability "Resurrection" to resurrect Black Mages who have failed to adjust

[@pal100000]

Lol

[@atwoodthehunter2620]

As a SMN main I couldn't choose which job I wanted for a back up, glad I'm picking red mage

[@ThirtyfourEC]

Short answer, Blue Mage.

[@LegendConsole]

RDM rot isn't to bad. All you really need to remember is if you want to keep your rot within your CDs, you need to use 2 melee combos or use an instant cast after a melee combo. This will fix your rotation so you can continue to use your CDs once they are available.

[@mikereyes2269]

Black Mage has gotten easier over time imo. Each expac it gets more mobility and some of its mechanics get reworked to be more user friendly (Enochian now being a trait). Endwalker Black Mage is the easier it has ever been and probably the most fun version of the job too. It has gotten this reputation of being a ‘very difficult’ job that I don’t feel its warranted anymore really, don’t get me wrong it’s not a braindead job but it’s also not overwhelmingly difficult either. It’s also a job with a very high ceiling and a lot of room for skill expression based on fight knowledge.

[@mismismism]

BLM is my main DPS so I'm biased but SMN and RDM are too simple for me to play so long although they both have great utility and being easy also means being consistent but the big D damage you can get on BLM and the fact it kinda changes the game in making prediction and staying 2 steps ahead of the boss while your rotation is on autopilot in a way, is really fun for me and feels rewarding. That said, BLM should get raise IMO, it's hard enough to warrant the damage cap without losing all support since it's way harder than SAM. But long story short, BLM is my pick for being the complex caster, the other 2 get boring after a while IMO.

[@yeoldpubman]

They shouldn't get Raise, they'd literally be better at it than Red Mage thanks to Triplecast. But I do think it'd be neat to be able to throw my Mana spells on other people.

[@mismismism]

@@yeoldpubman I strongly disagree, BLM would not have the ease of use RDM does in that regard, and giving up triplecast to raise is a bigger sacrifice than RDM just using a dualcast. RDM usually overshadowed BLM for the ease of use and raise, BLM is arguably the hardest job to play well enough to be a better option to bring. And giving it more damage is kinda problematic too sonce this raid tier the DPS difference seemed to be a big issue. Maybe give BLM a raid buff? I don't know, it just needs something IMO for how much harder it is to optimize.

[@PlazDreamweaver]

I fully agree. But I don't think we need a Raise. I think an Outside the Lines spell that teleports our LLs to us while adding an extra 5-10 seconds (on a cd) would not only help our movement, which is already falling behind AGAIN in 6.2, but it would actually reward proper predictions and placement, since we'd be rewarded by an extended LL buff if we place it where we can use it. Maybe something like: *_OUTSIDE THE LINES_* _"Teleports LLs to caster's location and extends LL buff by 10 seconds. If the caster stands in LL for at least 6 seconds after using Outside the Lines, CD is reduced to zero."_

[@mismismism]

@@PlazDreamweaver It's tricky because they can't really give BLM more DPS without causing issues. Like this raid tier, it was actually a big problem because for once it flipped and BLM and other high DPS jobs almost forced jobs like RDM out because of the DPS check. That's why the gap in DPS isn't actually that big because it will make some jobs make such a huge difference hitting that check. So BLM would need to get something that wouldn't actually buff DPS since that would make that issue bigger. It's tricky, I don't envy the balance team. But it definitely needs something, compared to RDM and SMN, BLM is so much harder, it should reward the player more for optimizing, it's just really hard to pick how that can be done without overshadowing the other 2.

[@Zedekiel]

Great video with very good descriptions, especially for a clueless person like me.

[@AlphasGamingStuff]

Brilliant video as always, thank you!

[@rexcyjones9416]

I wonder if we getting Ramuh as a summon in the future expansion, that would be so sick.

[@pommu-mu]

im one of those players that likes to dip into every job just to see how it feels and even with thaumaturge i was struggling with it. it makes perfect sense logically what i need to do but i could never get myself to physically do it correctly. but then again my favorite class is dancer which is laughably straightforward lol red mage is pretty high up there though its super fun

[@xxJing]

Playing Black Mage is on another level when you are at high levels of gameplay. It has so many odd little tricks you can do to negate certain mechanics. I would say though to only really play it at level 70 or above if you have a choice. Under 70 Black Mage is very clunky and the amount of DPS it can do is honestly inferior to other classes unless you optimize the hell out of it, and even then it’s only on par with other classes for like twice the effort. Also under 70 you don’t have any of the movement tools that make the class able to efficiently do mechanics.

[@timbrady1176]

I think taking the difference between the lowest and highest scores =/= hardest job, even though in the case for casters it works out. For instance, monk is universally considered one of the hardest melee dps, if not the hardest. Yet comparing the scores right now, Reaper and Monk are about equal at 27, when reaper is universally considered the easiest melee. I think also the "# of parses = easier job" is also not going to be accurate. There are other factors such as damage output. I think a better understanding of what # of parses will generally show is "bang for your buck". How hard is this job compared to the benefits? In summoners case, it does a lot of damage as a caster while be one of the easier jobs in the game, thus the high parse count. That may also not give us the full picture explanation. These numbers also won't always be steady as its always over a range of 2 weeks, so the numbers can vary as a raid tier pushes on. Less hardcore players are raiding the tier now when they did say a few months ago, so assumptions about the data may have different meanings depending on when you analyze them. For instance, if a job is super popular throughout the first minor patch of a tier, that probably means it was one of the higher dps output jobs, or the fights felt better on that job. Obviously i keep going on and on but there are many other reasons for these findings. Considering harder content...What about Extremes or Ultimates? Was the current extreme and ultimate not considered when looking at your damage difference numbers and parse counts? I think that would at least help your case more as well. To end on a high note, i absolutely agree that parse numbers =/= how fun or well-designed a class is either, however it can be one of the factors, just like the "bang for buck" reference above.

[@Jolsn]

First of all, I really appreciate this comment because I love thinking about new ways to get more data on the game than I currently have access to, and unfortunately I have not many tools beyond FFlogs to get any more useful data at the moment. For your first point, I would actually say that in the Monk - Reaper example given, it maybe another factor leading to the scores being similar. Job difficulty is very subjective, where some people find a certain playstyle harder than others. The system I've used to compare job difficulty isn't exactly sophisticated, but it is accurate for many of the jobs when comparing them directly. What may lead to Monk having a score similar to Reaper could be many things: Maybe the job isn't actually as difficult as its made out to be? When I leveled it, it seemed more unusual than mechanically difficult. Having the reputation of being an unusual job can lead to players not willing to put in the time not even trying to play the job in the first place, leading to better than average numbers on the low end. There's many factors and I wouldn't throw the score comparison out the window for one example where it doesn't work. Me saying that a low number of parses means that the job is easier was more an observation than anything. It's obvious that easy jobs currently have the highest number of parses, and personally I don't think that's a coincidence. Making the correlation between the to things in a comparison video like this is still fair in my opinion, but it is obviously just an educated guess and I think I did make that pretty clear in the video too. I tried to get my hands on some more long term data and throwing in too many duties would have been confusing for the video. The Ultimates are generally never a good place to look to find out about job performance because of the many downtime mechanics and players being extremely willing to adapt to whatever feels useful for the fight. Comparing the Extreme Trials actually gives me about the same results as the current Savage Tier both in terms of player numbers and difficulty.

[@timbrady1176]

@@Jolsn Also same to you btw. I just love numbers and data too, so things like that catch my eye that i like to discuss! With that being said, on to your reply :). So your counterpoint to your Monk - Reaper example is kinda the point I was trying to make about interpreting the data on "difficulty". The low to high end comparison can have many other factors other than just it being a difficulty factor. I also think you should re-look at Monk vs Reaper, because it is not subjective to say Monk is much more difficult than reaper XD. I might get your understanding if we were comparing Monk vs Black Mage as they are in 2 different roles in terms of "subjective difficulty", but reaper and monk fall into the same bucket role, so they are easily comparable. And honestly ask any melee dps main that does hard content. Also to this point about one example, I can find others (Machinist vs Dancer is another), so it is definitely not simply one example. To your part on parse numbers, I will never deny that difficulty of a class can potentially impact at least part of the reason why the parse counts are high, but i could think of countless other factors. For example, Reaper Dancer and Summoner are the 3 highest dps and highest of their perspective role. All three classes are also the newest of their role. Reaper came out in EW, Dancer in ShB, and the complete Summoner overhaul which made it a completely new class was in EW. This would turn to more players trying out these classes and playing them as they are much more fresh than their counterparts. But then they are also considered the easiest jobs in their role...so is it one, the other, both, or neither the reason the parse counts are high XD. My point being, difficulty does not tell nearly the full story, and thus my "bang for buck" reference as another example. And examples can be found to contradict the direct causation of difficulty -> parse numbers. If you felt it was confusing to incorporate the EX and Ultimate data into the vid I completely understand that. I completely disagree with discarding ultimates for your reasoning though...and kinda my point to why you should look at them XD. Are you going to discard Criterion Savage when it comes out too because its different? I don't think that will give you a good perspective on job performance and why players pick certain classes in high end content if we just tunnel vision. and lastly to the point on long term data, yeah that is 100% not really anything you can do about XD. Because even rankings will be split across 2 patches and there will be overlap of players and it just wouldn't work. My comment on that was mainiy just intel on how 2 week numbers can be vastly different throughout the lifecycle of the raid tier, but that doesn't necessarily debunk your findings on the current 2 week data! :D

[@KokoKrunchs]

I have both BLM and RDM at max level and I’m thinking to quit BLM due to how frustrating its rotation with 15 sec timer. RDM is really giving me a breather in every boss mechanic.

[@unbindingfloyd]

Every job I try was too easy until black mage. Its the only one that gave me a challenge. Other jobs were fun but if you want a personal challenge on top of everything, nothing compares. You reach skill cap with other jobs so fast and they dont feel rewarding. Its a "selfish" job but at the end of the day, DPS is DPS. Play with a good healer and you can do some serious damage.

[@sheepwrecked9883]

I love summoner. It's just 2 buttons and a stickshift ith some ogcds every other trance

[@eastbow6053]

i started with black mage i will probably die with black mage, even though i leveled up all jobs to 90 ....its my baby

[@woodchuck94og]

They are all a lot of fun to play

[@frightgeist1404]

My Ff14 experience went from WHM->BLM->SMN. I was a fan of the difficulty of managing Black mage during my trial play through, but I was changed when I saw a lvl 90 SMN summon a dragon that made a God damn space Lazer outside of Gridania. And while on the leveling path of SMN, someone summoned fully grown Titan. Garuda, and Ifrit. I was sold cause the class was so flashy and played the rest of the expansions with SMN. Now I'm back to lvling BLM cause I missed the difficulty in a casting job. Seriously, SMN seems braindead to play.

[@R3byChan]

Summoner primals are actually on a 30sec timer , after this timer expires you're left only with their "special ability" . Every time you summon a primal you receive "X" amount of "shards" which represent the number of normal ability cast available for each primal , and their special ability. The so called "normal" cast is actually on a timer , 30 sec , after that the shards left expire , leaving you only with the special ability if it hasen't been caster yet.

[@ZomgawdNinnes]

I started with black mage and i love it

[@Eizenicus]

I always thought black mage seemed cool, but whenever i try to go caster I always end up back on Summoner. Ever since ARR, when it was big on DoTs and had a targetable pet..it was awful yet i cant escape that job lol.

[@GreenMarine360]

What's your summoner glam?

[@wisecatstudioz]

I personally don't find Black Mage that hard but that being said it is the job I have played by far the most so I might just be used to the play style by now and I don't really remember how it is starting out

[@dabbingtoast7743]

Me: “So, when does Black Mage get fun?” Random Black Mage main: “Uh…”

[@DeadEye935]

I actually find melees harder to play than black mage. Burst windows get messy, so much to keep track of. Black mage, I put my leylines down and do what I've been doing. Ideally throwing up a triplecast and a couple xenoglossies. The way I see it, black mage doesn't get its "fun buttons" only during burst windows, its always fun. Though having not much variance in its rotation means some people can find it boring, and having to change your rotation to suit each fight and having to use damage like xenoglossy and triplecast for movement can make it frustrating for some. I do sometimes switch to summoner when I want something more stress free, but I really enjoy the learning curve of black mage. Getting good at it isn't just pressing buttons in the right order, at least it doesn't feel that way. Despite its difficulty, I feel like you also have a lot of control over your rotation, where if you're in panic mode, you can use umbral soul to "pause" your rotation. Obviously, you lose damage, but its there if you fuck up or if you have to move and simply don't have anything. Then you can just start your rotation again. Feels less punishing to me than some melees where it feels like if you accidentally hit something in the wrong order then your rotation is just fucked for the rest of the fight. Also, I wouldn't even say optimizations are particularly necessary even in current savage. Standard rotation can absolutely get you a clear, probably even half decent parses, its just if you want to get to the tippy top, you'll have to learn all sorts of weird shit.

[@ernestisom5878]

I've recently got blm to max level and been playing it for a bit. I have to agree I find it simpler than most other jobs. The rotation makes more sense to me and I don't have to look at my hotbar as often. It's way more squishy where you'll need to pay attention to mechanics though but, I also feel like you got more time to pay attention. Compared to Sam where I'm more focused on my hotbar than anything around me.

[@l.g.4455]

@@ernestisom5878 I felt the same way until i stumble across some logs and saw my BLM performance. Since then i am trying to max out the dmg which is quite a challange at least for me. And since then i only play it on max level. I dont like blm anymore on lower levels.

[@ernestisom5878]

@@l.g.4455 Yeah low level content on blm totally isn't fun. I get always wanting to improve but at a certain point it doesn't matter. Clearing content in a reasonable time good as it gets. I'm a ps4 player so anyone that knows my stats I consider a cheater plus if their using that they're probably using other tools not that I care. Plus maximizing gear, rotations, and following guides I don't see as accomplishments because it's not something I figured out my self it's just copying what everyone else is doing. Not that it's bad but I'm old school gamer and ff11 was my main mmo for awhile. So, I like the old trial and error the adventure of doing things blind. Plus the risk of doing absurd stuff and making it work lol. Sorry for ranting for no reason but yeah I'm working on the same stuff. Blm is first job I've enjoyed so far where it clicks for me and I want to continually improve at it. The main obstacle seems to be just memorizing mechanics just to time certain skills.

[@l.g.4455]

@@ernestisom5878 I am completely against addons but to know how much dmg i dealt would sometimes be really handy. I like to at least know if its my fault that we hit the enrage in a savage fight. Too bad that i dont get that information from the game. I dont care about the other players and standing still while beating up a statue doesnt help too much when in the real battle you constantly have to move... Besides that i enjoy trying to get that extra Fire IV off. I still have a lot of room to improve tho.

[@ernestisom5878]

@@l.g.4455 I understand that but if your geared towards the item level and don't die to mechanics than it's probably not your fault. Plus you can tell without the numbers with gaps in casting what you need to work on. Especially on new fights I can tell when I'm not contributing with down time from dodging or badly timed skills like putting down Leylines and triple cast when boss moves in to invulnerable states, that one makes me mad so much lol. Blm seems to be more focused on knowing the fight than your rotation. From my experience hitting enrage seems to be more of the whole groups fault not one person. I'm glad I can't see my numbers to worry about because I be focused on hitting the tippy top instead of enjoying the fights. I have lots to work on myself and always for improvement but I find parsing negatively affects the community atleast in my experience.

[@balderswag]

rdm is the most useful caster for hard content during prog. u can save a run with the instant rez.

[@theultimateevil3430]

Not really. Most mechanics require all 8 people alive, there is often no time to res, so it's a wipe. Dead person has their rotation messed up, any optimization stops even after the res. Dps checks also require no deaths. The only thing that res is usable for, it makes healers job more comfortable, they can spend a swiftcast for uptime thanks to you. So, the dualcast res should never be taken into account when comparing casters, it's mostly useless in the hardcore content. But it's great in casual content and extremes.

[@balderswag]

@@theultimateevil3430 did u read what i said or just saying things? I said during prog, and also rdm can rez before a mechanic happens, so the whole party would be up for the mechanic. Yes rdm dps is not that good but that only matters in week 1, after that most parties will get some gear. Also rdm is super useful in ucob which is an ultimate, it can basically save a run just because of the instant rez

[@Naruzakun]

On mid level duty as a BLM i alt tab twitter at each cast

[@Mr_Morningsloth]

I started playing ff14 when it first cam out as a glad and dropped it got back into it the other day and about to do taking the black tonight been loving thaumaturge so far it's not been as hard as it was made out yet.

[@yuzuki2385]

From my experience, everyone should start with summoner, just cause it’s the easiest, but you do you.

[@anthonyayovino]

I recently got my black mage to 60 and have not and will not go back to my white mage.

[@GeneiJin12]

The only hard thing about blackmage is the positioning which can be figured out after a few runs. The rotation has always been brain dead however. The diff is if you know it it’s good if you don’t you will deal negative damage. Honestly one of the more boring jobs to play and it gets easier every expac with way more mobility.

[@sailor_anna9924]

I just started leveling blm and OOF it is painful to level this from 1. I mean all jobs are pain after getting used to high level content then starting a new class again from 1. But damn ... idky it's just so rough for me to level this class. It's not that it's difficult it's just pain 😂

[@PlazDreamweaver]

I began as a BLM and will always be a BLM. I've tried other casters, but after years of BLM, they feel too simple and unengaging, despite having cool-looking spells. If I want to turn my brain off and chill, or guide newer players through difficult content, I sometimes play the other 2 casters (mostly because the REZs save me a headache). But 99.9% of the time, I'm playing BLM. No other class feels as fun and engaging (and frustrating) as BLM.

[@rini3159]

^^THIS. Playing BLM makes me feel the same way, especially when you're out nuking everyone and still doing mechanics. People often forget how difficult it is to play BLM and maintain uptime, by the time they realize this they go back to playing something simpler.

[@gamer23xd91]

Will there also be a melee and range dps Video like this?

[@Jolsn]

I plan on making one eventually, but I need to catch up on some of the melee jobs first (Monk is the bane of my existence, I hate playing it more than anything)

[@nicolefrench2968]

I would say red mage has the second least mobility in the game. It’s ok for needing to move in short bursts, but pretty terrible for prolonged movement. Healers are pretty immobile too.

[@BoredAndBrowsing]

I started the game a few days ago, made a arcanist and got scholar and summoner. But it was so underwhelming leveling arcanist, especially as dps in dungeon duty runs, I'm not sure I want to play summoner, if it's just arcanist 2.0. Does its damage get stronger? Like substantially? I felt like I was hitting like a wet noodle as arcanist.

[@Jolsn]

Summoner feels a bit weird while leveling. Most of the damage is done during the Bahamut/Phoenix phases that happen every minute (those are the abilities Aethercharge turns into). Summoner is very different from what Arcanist starts off as, but the job gets its identity fairly late in the leveling process. I would recommend perhaps giving it some more levels, and if you don't like it maybe give Red Mage a try which starts at a higher level.

[@Ikari1212]

If you wanna hate everyone and get hated by everyone in PF but deal huge DMG with a fairly simple rotation but unforgiving? Play BLM. If you just want the 5% but you actually wanna play a physR? Play SMN. If you want to move around every 2nd GCD but deal potato dmg? But be stylish and easy? But still a little harder than SMN? Play RDM.

[@Jormungrandrserpent]

As a former seasoned WoW player, Black mage isn't even that hard, more like middle of the road compared to some of the stuff I had to do in WoW, Summoner in Endwalker is a baby spec, it can be built to be literally a 1 button spec with the correct macros; which is a damn shame because it used to be very interesting in Shadowbringers, so much so it has felt like a bait and switch.

[@simoncoweII]

“Summoner - mixed reception” That’s just not true. Aside from a microcosm of a few thousand players (a paltry amount compared to active subs), the majority like it or are neutral enough to not complain. The forums and certain subreddits are fringe echo chambers that don’t reflect the average player whatsoever.

[@FinnMertens7]

Was there never a “Comparing All Melee DPS” video?

[@Jolsn]

Melee was my least played role for a while and I struggled to really get into Monk and Dragoon. So I ended up not feeling like I knew enough despite having them both leveled to 90, which led to me never feeling like I should make that video.

[@corbenikgaming7688]

Maybe it’s just me and my sister but we think Black Mage is easy I started as a Black Mage and leveled it to 64 so far but it’s not my main anymore I switched to Reaper and Sage I also have Summoner, and Dragoon all four are level 80 or Higher as for my Sister she mains Black Mage and leveled it to 90 we both don’t understand why people think the play style and rotation is hard anyway I do plan on going back to my Black Mage some point soon to get it up to the others lol

[@tokiri5680]

the hard part of blm isn't the rotation, it is in fact as many pointed out one of the easiest. for casual content playing blm is fine and dandy. the real trouble starts in high end raiding (savage/ultimate) where managing cooldown + keeping dot uptime matters alot and keeping them capped without making use of it ends in a detremental dps loss. (for example not using triplecast for the dps gain bcz casting skill will always force casting tax which = 0.1 sec per f4 and over a 10-12 to even a 20 min. fight is alot) not to mention needing to preplan around mechanics to keep uptime without losing gcd and keeping the abc flowing. all these elementals makes blm a quite punishing job to play but extremely rewarding to master.

[@alzris5240]

Black mage is a challenging class, but i dropped it because of its bad glamours sadly

[@Schlierfy1]

Wish lay lines buffed other casters that stand in it on top of bkm

[@UltrEgoVegeta]

Rdm is a lot of fun

[@hasseo195]

I feel at the best with the black mage. It was my first class with my current chara and is the class, where it feels the most naturaly for me. But, i think there are in the story some fights, that are very hard to impossible for a Black mage. At last, did i needed sometimes to change to a other class. And, there was times, where i used the summoner more. Red mage is a nice combi for meele and distance. But, it isnt as fluid to me, as with the Blm. I must allways think, that this are two fighting stils. And i had for some times the problem, that i was unable to use any caster (around lvl 75). There was to many buttoms and i watched more on my skills, than on the fight. That changed, after i had a break and reorganised my skills. The Black mage even embody at the best the fantasy of a wizard for me. And, his Rotation became so simple for me, that i has with him the most capacity to use my skills and looking one the field. Meele are a little hastly for me (and i came into a battle rage with the reaper, when i fußed with the avatar). And i wasnt able to connect with the summoner after his rework (and titan is blocking my vision to many times).

[@basetmax]

💯

[@ryankelley9110]

BLM rotation is the easiest one I have seen it’s just the mobility is the problem I love BLM but moving is quite hard

[@john_7000]

I want hug bun boiis so much they are too cute 😍😍😍😍 I know this is not what the video is about but everytime I see a bun boii I go crazy they are just way too hot ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@BurntToastMan]

what weapon does that red mage have at time 0:38? it looks really cool and i want it

[@Bravadorado]

Suzaku's Flame-kissed Rapier

[@meganvincent5381]

Summoner is obviously the best because you can summon big boyes at level 90

[@Rannulfus]

Ah, yes, the three casters. Black Mage, and Red Mage.

[@SirRainis]

I don't think there is a difficult job in FF14, its either a fun class or boring. Unfortunately game devs are able to make just simple but fun class and not a job that gives you choice and makes you think fun. Sure there will be people that pick up BLM or MNK and will say its fun, yeah that's why they are so often played... Busy ability kit doesn't make job fun, hell even a mini game within your abilities would be better, but all the game BLM or MNK offers is playing accordion with the job buffs and dots, using charges and don't forget the big deeps, but is it enough, well accordingly to stats people go for utility and fun.

[@Koranthus]

The black mage is the hardest class because they have to move sometimes, got it. Also i appreciate that in the healer video you dismissed some of these concerns for astrologian because if you learn the fights you know when to use the mechanics best when that applies to BLM too. If you know the fights you know where to put leylines and when you actually need to move, no guesswork involved. At least stay consistent.

[@danryder3865]

Smn is best caster period. Highly mobile can rez gives a massive shield can instantly cast the vast majority of skills and just overall consistent with its damage output. BLM is second cause it nukes everything in sight but wack mobility. Red mage is for party wipes if your party cant stay alive red is key here they can rez pretty quickly and effectively if they have super ethers.

[@janrautenstrauch4729]

While BM does a ton of damage... it's playstyle feels just soooo boring to me. Like a turret. You can't move much (every move comes with a dps-drop) and you gotta manage your mana by constantly switching between fire and ice. I really prefer RM and even SMN (especially since they both get some support abilities like basic heals and resurrect). ALso levelling BM sometimes feels like every few levels your optimal rotation changes... which kinda confuses me. Blue Mage i want to like but its whole progression is... just not to my liking, even though the idea of copying monster-skills is such a cool concept. But mastering this class is something i feel like i'm not hardcore enough. But in the end, many classes in FF14 feel kinda alike and i wished for something with a complete new playtyle. Like a polymorph-mage or shapeshifter.. or a mage-tank that uses barriers. For distance-dps a whip-user. Open up new specialisation for machinist to give him a shotgun (for close combat) or an Alchemist-like class that mixes and throws grenades.

[@collamus6901]

moving isnt a dps loss if you are familiar with the kit, blm is more about planning when you have to move and you plan to do so rather than sacrificing dps everytime you do have to move, but that usually can only be accomplished with familiarity of both the class and fight

[@janrautenstrauch4729]

@@collamus6901 If you have to play boss-arena so often you know instinctively where to stand to play BLM optimal... then i don't know if that isn't the stockholm-syndrome setting in. And it doesn't change the fact that BLM feels like a turret (i.e.: stand still and shoot out magic). In my honest opinion: BLM could use an overhaul like the SMN got... but i know i'm in the minority with that opinion. So in the end i'll keep levelling him once till lvl-max and then keep playing other classes.

[@PlazDreamweaver]

To be fair, you're not supposed to be constantly switching between AF and UI. Instead, you want to be in AF as long as possible and in UI as little as necessary. They've made UI a little better with Paradox in 6.0, but it's still supposed to be a stage where you prepare yourself to go back into AF as quickly as possible.

[@janrautenstrauch4729]

@@PlazDreamweaver Sure but AF dries up mana like crazy, so you gotta switch to reload. And in the end i still stand around firing off spells. I would prefer if for example ice-spells would be castable on the move or maybe a risk-and-reward-system (like: the longer time you use to cast, the more damage the spell does). Combine movement with damage (like you move to a designated point, letting a lightining strike the place where you've been before). There are so many possibilities to make this classs feel more dynamic and less stativ.

[@tokiri5680]

@@janrautenstrauch4729 well as you said with risk and reward, that is exactly what blm is. your suggestion with adding instant movement in the ice phase is what KILLS the risk part. you are literally casting long casting spells (probably longest if we remove the verthunder and stuff part of rdm, but these aren't supposed to be hard casted) fire 4 cast takes like 2.8 second to cast (not including spell speed) and despair 3.1 seconds. on the surface level blm is pretty boring and cookie cutter. and its obv. not everybodies cup of tea. but where blm fun truly shine is the optimization in end game content. and imo the most fun part of blm is the non-standard rotation that is extremely punishing to play but really rewarding to master.

[@yarredpel9779]

the one you like the most.

[@sarah_drake]

A shame the only class in FF I find fun playing is a limited class. :(

[@Raionhardt]

i still dont think BLM is the hardest job in the game. if the only reason people think its hard because of prog learning & optimization, then its still easier than every melee since you're not dealing with having to keep melee uptime or learn how to perfect mechanic snapshots for better uptime. between your triplecasts, thunder procs, and xenoglossy BLM doesnt even struggle with standing still as much before

[@MenrvaS]

It is harder to keep uptime than a melee as a BLM because their bread and butter spells have longer cast time than the GCD itself. Meaning, they cannot cancle it when cast without losing any uptime and they need to perfect slide casting for positioning on top of perfect mechanic snapshot for Xenoglossy-Aetherial Manipulation for uptime on top of knowing mechanics blindspots for Leylines. Slide casting as a BLM also has a very tight window since you can only move for .3 or .5 before casting again. BLM has more movement options now, but the job is still the worst during heavy movement mechanics especially SS build which has significantly lower GCD. These are why most people in PF are afraid of BLM players as they are feast or famine type job. Even my static has a lot of bias against BLM.

[@vdinh143]

@@MenrvaS BLM doesn't even need to slidecast anymore... During proc you optimize movement by saving Thundercloud and Amplifier (and a million other instant casts) and for optimization you just map everything out. Compared to Heavensward BLM raiding in Gordias, EW BLM play is just perpetually casual.

[@PlazDreamweaver]

@@vdinh143 No, that's just false.

[@tokiri5680]

then we have p7s. the fight where blm probably has the worst time out of all dps huh?. mapping out and preplanning can be either done in a more or less linear fassion that just cripples the true potential dps of a blm or in a way that also respects the raid buff of your group and save the resources within this time window. so to some extend, yes you have instant casts for the job, but you also should use them accordingly and not only for movement but also for the proper raid enviornment.

[@arkboi2145]

RDM > SMN > BLM.

[@zydeox1221]

Summoner has a raising ability? *Hyperventilating* LIAAAAARRRRR

[@alexandrathompson5521]

🤔 p̾r̾o̾m̾o̾s̾m̾