Yeah, RDM is one of the easiest classes to play so if you’re having a hard time, uh, I’m not really sure what to suggest. DNC is the only one that might be even easier.
That said, if it’s more the balancing act giving you trouble than a rotation, something like DRG might be a good choice. It’s an extremely set rotation. You do one set of three buttons, then move to another set. Throw in some jumps and your big burst proc when it’s up. Rinse and repeat. It will punish you pretty hard if you mess up the rotation as far as your DPS is concerned, but it’s also extremely laid out as “Hey, this is what you press and the order to do so.”
Don’t try BRD. It’s a lot to keep track of, has a billion procs/DoTs/timers to be aware of all while moving for mechanics. It’s my second “main” job and it even gives me trouble when there’s a lot going on with a boss. If RDM mana balance is giving you issues, I can’t imagine how much you’ll dislike keeping up with song and DoT timers.
I said it before, but even though WoW has a faster GCD, FFXIV is significantly busier. If a class has two hotbars of buttons, you’ll probably be using all of them. I don’t know of any class that isn’t using at least 14 buttons in a fight. The “easy” ones like RDM and DNC just utilizes the tech that lets an ability automatically shift to its procced/upgraded version when needed more than the other classes do.
I might work on a beginner’s guide to RDM to help newcomers, but I doubt I’ll be able to finish it before my FanFest streams tomorrow. I do have a few fight-specific ones, though, if those would help.
e: BLM is a lot of fun. It also has a fairly tight rotation. A lot of the difficulty with BLM is just the fact that a) if you screw up that rotation, you’ll kill your DPS like DRG does and b) you have to figure out how to move as little as possible. High-end BLMs are absolutely nuts in how they are able to find the perfect pixel to stand in to dodge as many mechanics as possible before moving. That said, it’s kind of like RDM but with only one mana bar to keep track of, so maybe it might work for you if you’re digging it early on.
So far RDM is the only one I’ve managed to generally get a handle on. And that’s only leveling through MSQ and a peppering of duty roulette and I’m probably not even doing it correctly. One of my issues is… like, 14 buttons, right? I physically cannot do that, like I can’t even make my hands do it and my mouse doesn’t have programmable buttons so I’m just doing the best I can and avoiding macroing too much.
One of the problems I had early on, too, was an inability to find a good guide for a beginner. They’re more commonly written for people at endgame and it’s a colorful vomit-splatter of 938 buttons in complex flow charts and no explanation in text of what they do.
And the worst mistake I made was boosting a MNK to 70. I log in to a salad bar of colors and I don’t even know the basics of what they do, so I’m never doing that again. Leveling really is a valuable way to figure that stuff out even if I struggle at 60+.
Have you tried playing with a controller? FFXIV has one of the best controller layouts of any MMO, and a ton of high-end raiders use it. If that’s something you’re willing to try, it might smooth things out a ton.
Speaking from my own experience, I spread my buttons across three hot-bars. To give you an idea:
1 - Jolt
2 - Veraero
3 - Verathunder
Alt 1 - I actually can’t recall off the top of my head.
Alt 2 - Verstone
Alt 3 - Verfire
So, with that set-up, I cast Jolt -> Veraero. If Verstone pops, I hit Verstone and then Verthunder. Then when you’ve got White and Black Magic filled up to 80, I use my skills on the third Hotbar.
So the end of that turns Veraero into Verholy, and Verthunder into Verflare. If I’ve got Verstone or Verfire up, I’ll go for the opposite so I can balance out the mana pretty quickly.
Try Ninja. Out of all the Melee DPS I think it has the least amount of buttons and positional. It has a very–very-- busy burst and opener at max level but outside of that it’s very straightforward. Which I guess could be a downside because outside of those two windows you’re not doing a whole lot. But I enjoy it and it’s so far the only class I have at max. And there’s not a group alive that doesn’t value Trick Attack for the damage increase buff.
I started the game as Pugilist/Monk and then went Ninja. Never looked back.
You can’t make mention of Ninja and not make mention of Mudra and how incredibly finnicky they can be.
Having to memorize a half dozen combos of three ogcd buttons and press them in sequence every time without a half dozen finger slips else wasting the CD can be just as intimidating. Or, hell, if you have latency issues (speaking from experience) it can be a downright nightmare.
BUT can confirm, definitely significantly lesser on the core side. Plus, leveling from start makes the mudra muscle memory a whole lot easier.
No you’re right. And in the beginning I did have a issue with that. Especially with latency and me hitting the right combination but the client not registering and giving me rabbit hat.
That said, for me not only was getting that part down easier than the other classes, I feel like Ninja is not only more forgiving, but more rewarding per action.
Like I said, I -started- the game as Monk so going to Ninja in comparison was a Mcbreeze in comparison to the speed of combo actions and positionals to memorize all for the same outcome. The 5.1 rework helped up to the point I’ll probably only level monk just to cap 80 and to wear specific gear for RP.
Compared to Monk, everything is a breeze. I struggle to think of anything quite so big brained in any game I’ve played recently. I’m sure the reality is that it just doesn’t click with me… But also it’s gone through a lot and especially recently with the half realized simplification.
But, Mudra. Accidentally double tap your mudra? That’s a rabbit. Thought you hit Raiton but your input got eaten and you continued your rotation? That’s a rabbit. Accidentally move your camera during Ten Chi Jin? That’s a rabbit. Or, close enough.
Anyways everyone should try Ninja. You get to shadowstep, you throw gang signs, you’ve got that slick group dps buff that everyone craves. Plus you look baller. And even if you screw up, at least you get a unique ability and animation for it.
Ninja is my DPS of choice now. Was Sam but Sam sort of got boring for me. Ninja scratches the itch of being amusing every 60 seconds and applying Trick feels good.
It’s definitely not a class if you don’t like quick reaction times or have any form of latency, I’ve found.
But as others have said, healing is probably the easiest in terms of keeping any form of DPS up. In trials/raids, you basically have a dot and a single target spell with any other oGCDs/damaging spells in your kit if it has any. In dungeons, you’re mostly spamming your AoE damaging spells and then some abilities here and there, with your single target “rotation” returning back when you get to a boss.
However, the biggest hurdle in FF14 that a lot of WoW players experience when it comes to healing is that healing in FF14 is inherently a bad thing. You should never be spamming heals, you want to be healing as little as possible with most of your attention on the tank during a dungeon if there’s any healing at all.
What I mean by that is that, for all intents and purposes, you generally want to be a secondary DPS with healing attached to your kit. When it’s unavoidable damage, then it can’t be helped and in most cases a single oGCD or two will clear you through any dungeon’s AoE.
But when someone is standing in bad/doesn’t position right? And you’ve already used an oGCD because the tank got tank bustered? The rage begins to build… how dare that lowly DPS take damage during MY rotation? You’ve earned my ire, Black Mage who didn’t move because you placed your leylines down directly in front of a cone you saw coming a mile away.
Definitely give it a shot. Who knows, it may not be what you’re looking for, but it’s different enough to at least give you a feel for a new play style. I personally love playing on controller because it helps me feel like I’m getting into a flow and rhythm for my rotations on different classes. Especially once I get high enough in levels to pepper in off-GCD buttons. With classes like Monk and my personal favorite, Dragoon (I know, don’t judge me. It’s always been my Final Fantasy favorite and that isn’t changing) it feels almost like a dance. Plus I’m just more responsive with a control stick than with a keyboard and mouse for getting out of the fire.
There are various ways you can set it up, and the HUD editor is a big help in that regard too, and try and find some tutorials on controller set up on Youtube and the like. I’d link but apparently I don’t post enough here to be special like that.
Unfortunately, while as cool as that would be, it’d be hilariously broken since it’d do both “jobs” at the same time.
Which, knowing FF14, would make it basically a required healer for all content unless it’s inherently weak and making it a dead job instead. I think the current way healing works is fine, though I am VERY curious to see what they plan to do with this “Pure” healing vs “Shield” healing with WHM/AST and SGE/SCH.
As part of the leveling process I ended up fishing up a shark.
And found out I could put it in an aquarium.
So now he makes up one corner of the bottom floor of my small home.
Along with a couple others and a bunch of those fishing prints you can hang up. So I’ve since impromptu decided that if I have confirmed on no other trait, I have at least determined that Bird does fishing. For work or hobby, who can say.