FFXIV Player Looking For Class Advice

Community General Discussion
1

Hello everyone, I am a person who has played FFXIV from the beginning of ARR to recently and a friend of mind wanted to play WoW so I came to try it out. So, with the new expac coming out I have absolutely no idea what class I want to play and wanted some advice. My main in XIV since HW was Machinist, which is a pretty complicated ranged DPS who was known for filters a lot of people with it’s tight rotation and having to mash a lot of stuff very quickly in a small frame, so much so that it got reworked but still has some complicated/mashing aspects to it that scared a lot of people away.

This is the type of gameplay I ended up enjoying more than most other DPS I tried out and when it comes to that kind of equivalent in WoW I have no idea at all, especially when it comes to class changes in Shadowlands.

Any advice or suggestions or anything would be greatly appreciated.

2 Likes
2

Hunter is the only class remotely close to a Machinist. I’d suggest rolling a Hunter if you enjoyed Machinist.

7 Likes
3

Feral druid has a lot of buttons… but it is melee range.

Hunter is the opposite though, Although it’s ranged and has a lot of utility, it’s also considered one of the easiest classes. Which is why the term ‘huntard’ is commonly used.

[edit] Though not a class suggestion, if you go ranged, I would suggest you pick engineer as profession so you can make yourself a Loot-a-rang. One of the complaints I hear of FFXIV players who come to WoW is the looting. Also be sure to put it on Auto-looting in settings. You still have to loot the actual corpse, but with Auto-looting it will automatically put them in your bag. The loot-a-rang lets you loot from a distance.

If you go hunter, you can teach your pet to fetch instead, which is a lvl 40 spell sold in Northrend.

4

If you want to be physical ranged then yes, Hunter is the only option here but they aren’t very complex. Maybe if you played around with Survival but they are melee.

If you just want ranged in general and like casters I hear shadow priest can be a little tricky depending on talent choices, affliction lock too.

The fussiest class is feral I’d say but thats a melee spec.

1 Like
5

I’d say Marksmanship Hunter would be down your ally. Feral is definetly a big-brain class down your ally.

Skill rotations aren’t too bad in WoW (as someone who plays FFXIV too) and you’ll find the classes themselves a bit more simple in comparison compared. Raids/High Mythic I’ve felt are more complicated.

6

18680 achievement points and you need suggestions on a class?

9 Likes
7

I dont think any class in the game has a large button rotation, but classes that build off haste press buttons the fastest. Fire Mage and Rogue come to mind. Everything else I’ve played is slow in comparison or clunky unless its single target.

2 Likes
8

None of them are from anytime recent so they are probably returning to the game after a long time (3 years). Given how much classes change I don’t think that’s totally out of the park to ask for advice. :stuck_out_tongue:

5 Likes
10

Frankly, you will not enjoy WoW class design. It’s fairly basic across the board and is honestly one of the weaker points the game has in comparison to other modern MMORPGs.

FFXIV beats it hands down no contest in this department. Across the board.

I always say I prefer WoW’s combat pacing, but prefer FFXIV’s class design.

Anyway, as a couple others have said, Feral Druid is a decent choice in terms of pure complexity (still not that complex, but can be in comparison to many other specs/classes), but it’s nothing like a Mechanist. It’s fully melee. And you’ll be shapeshifted and never see your actual character. And it’s often an underperforming spec outside of PvP despite the complexity.

So then in terms of theme/role, Hunter would be the best choice, but, again, as has been said, it’s one of the simplest classes, even with WoW having simplistic class design across the board. You could run a petless MM Hunter with guns instead of bows/crossbows, but if you’re looking for a super complex, tight rotation that scares people away because it’s hard to get right, this is literally one of the last specs I’d recommend.

So, for now, I guess I’d just recommend taking the time to create some Class Trials? They start you off at level 110, but the base mechanics of a class do not change between there and 120. You have to go through the little intro/training scenario before it lets you change your spec or go anywhere, but it only takes a few minutes.

Keep in mind the scenario only shows you the basics. You’ll finish it with like 4 or 5 buttons on your bar total. You can explore the rest afterward. Head to a city and hit the training dummies or whatever.

Also keep in mind that the class trials are given essentially leveling gear. They are not strong. Haste makes a fairly noticeable impact on combat pacing in WoW, as do procs, which are often affected by Crit. So think of these as a baseline that will get stronger and faster/smoother as you gear.

2 Likes
11

None of them are from anytime recent so they are probably returning to the game after a long time (3 years). Given how much classes change I don’t think that’s totally out of the park to ask for advice. :stuck_out_tongue:

This. I have not played for years now and my tastes pretty much have changed after playing another MMO and WoW just feels so different.

4 Likes
12

Except they got the 120 achievement before even you, so they probably know more than you… Probably is the word there.

13

^This. Why i suggested Hunter. FF14s Rotations are a different beast,

14

I played when the expac came out and quit like a week in, but I don’t see how any of this matters.

3 Likes
15

I’m trying to say you obviously have extensive knowledge of the game, you should already know the answer.

2 Likes
16

People like to be trolls and derail stuff, best to ignore them.

Welcome back, btw!
If you can, do the class trials on the PTR. It’ll only be a week or two max for the classes to change over again, would be rather meaningless to get used to a class how they play now vs 9.0.

4 Likes
17

Classes change a lot in WoW all the time, like I can give old knowledge and such like I used to like Legion Spriest but it’s different now and especially in Shadowlands. I liked old Destro Lock in WoD but it’s completely different now. Even then I was pretty indecisive and didn’t know what I liked.

3 Likes
18

Well then the trial character on the PTR idea would be your best bet.

1 Like
19

FFXIV beats wow in terms of:

  1. Graphics
  2. Story
  3. Raid mechanics
  4. Controller support
  5. Crafting
  6. Relic weapons (wow has legendaries, but relic weapons were cooler in FFXIV because they progressed visually over several levels of power, though they don’t change gameplay. Wow legendaries secondary effects aren’t too great however, because they either are underwhelming or are a borrowed powered replacement for some ability that should have been baseline anyway.

Wow beats FFXIV in terms of

  1. PvP
  2. M+

Oddly, Blizzard is choosing to favor raiding over m+ and PvP (it’s two strengths) in terms of item progression and player satisfaction.

If FFXIV had an m+ analog I wouldn’t even bother with wow.

Tbh I much prefer the 8 man groups over the 20 man groups in wow.

3 Likes
20

I do too but I do not have friends who play XIV whereas I have friends who are going to start playing Shadowlands, so I want to get back into the game.

1 Like
21

Warlock, Mage, and Hunter are all going to be good in shadowlands, and they are all range classes.

The real answer here is that wow is not ff14, so what you like might be different. Try anything that looks interesting because if you’re not interested you won’t stick with it.