Any ideas on the best "solo" class? Follow

I have yet to play ARR, so I'm not sure on any of the classes/jobs. So, I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the best "solo"/"team" class? Also, is there like, "guilds" in the game? If so, I will want to join anyone's, that will help me understand the game and actually help each other. Oh and on PS3, will mics be able to be used? A friend of mine said they were going to incorporate them into game after it comes out but, he's not sure yet. Any ideas?

Oh okay. My specialty, when it comes to classes in MMOs are ranged dps/melee dps. Do you which class those might be? I look at the website but I couldn't figure it out. I think Dragoon is melee dps..?

Melee DPS: Marauder, Lancer, Pugilist.
Ranged DPS: Archer.

Edit: I believe that the Duty Finder also considers Thaumaturge to be a "Ranged DPS" class. But it's a mage class, and I figured that you meant non-mage when asking about ranged DPS.

Edited, Jul 22nd 2013 4:22pm by svlyons

You're right about ARC being easy early on, but I think that once you get into areas with more aggressive monsters, you'll have all kinds of problems kiting.

I personally found MRD to be the easiest class to solo with. I didn't care for GLA's kill speed, and the other classes just don't have the same level of survivability as the two tanks. None of the classes compare to the solo ability of BST, NIN, or anything /NIN in FFXI, though. The monsters around your level just tend to be a whole lot easier.

frozen i bet i could out live your mar or glad on my pug... its all about the abilities you pull from other classes... and i pretty much built my pug to A.) own in dungeons (had a hard time finding a tank that could keep hate from me and adds were a joke!!! B.) outside of dungeons or party play i had made my pug darn near unkillable... held a lvl 43 fate boss for quiet some time over a mar standing right next to me... so i think darn near anything is possible when it comes to shifting around abilities...

Regardless of what class you are doing, Second Wind from PUG is quite handy.

Considering that I plan on leveling ARC, I'm sure you'll outlive my MRD and GLA no problem. Until I reach level 50 on ARC/BRD, the highest I'll take MRD and GLA is level 8 and 10 respectively. I don't intend on playing the game in order to compete and say that I'm better than someone else. I just answered the question based on my own personal experiences during Beta 3. When it comes down to it, every class has their own advantages and disadvantages for soloing. It just depends on what the player feels comfortable with.

After playing so many MMOs, especially F2P ones, I've found that any class that can heal themself while also dealing decent damage tends to do the best while soloing. You might not kill monsters as quickly as a pure damage class, but the time/money you save from not having to rest/use potions as much outweighs it. For instance, in the game Fiesta the Cleric was by far the best solo class (and pretty much best class in the game period) because it was the only one that could heal and had great buffs.

That being said, in FFXIV all of the jobs can heal if you get CNJ up to level two before hand. While the cure may be nerfed quite a bit as a DD, it's still great to spam it between fights to get your HP up since you won't be using your MP otherwise. CNJ itself is a great solo class, especially once you do your level 15 class quest and get Aqua Aura. You can start at max range with Stone, Start casting Thunder from THM, then cast Aero as Thunder finishes casting to get both DoTs on the mob at the same time, spam stone/stone II until they get close, then use Aqua Aura to blast them back and root them and finally finish them off with stone spells.

I figured that PUG would be a solid solo choice, but after playing it alongside GLA and CNJ it is pretty weak by itself, at least up to 16 (how long I soloed with it). GLA was the easiest for me to solo with, especially once I obtained some plate armor with high defense. I was always able to do +4 levequests after 15 or so as long as I made sure to only fight one monster at a time. I'm sure MAR would be the same, if not better at this due to it's self healing ability.

I didn't play Archer very long, but it was pretty hilarious how easy it was to solo with. You don't have to actually face the target of your skills so you can simply run around in circles popping off skills and never get touched by melee attacks. Unless they change this I have a feeling Archer would probably be the easiest to solo with so long as you pick your targets carefully.

All in all, every class is built to be good at soloing. Ranged attackers are going to have a notable advantage though, since the majority of monsters use melee attacks exclusively. Tanks will be next on the list with the ability to soak up a lot of damage for constant, sustained fighting. Melee dps will be last on this list, especially PUG, since they don't have as high of defense to absorb hits. Plus from what I've seen most of their moves require positioning for maximum damage that you just won't get very often while solo. They also have a lot of DoTs that won't be very effective against weak targets.

Edited, Jul 22nd 2013 6:27pm by DamienSScott

My favorite was ARC. I went into Beta 3 thinking MRD was going to be my main, but ARC really surprised me. The amount of range you have to attack is awesome, and it's abilities are designed to keep you from using one set combo. Seeing as your interested in both ARC and LNC, you're in luck. BRD can cross-class LNC, and DRG can cross-class ARC. Grabbing their early skills will give you an excellent opportunity to decide which class you want to continue with.

My favorite so far hands down is GLA. As of right now the other roles are pretty bland in terms of their abilities and rotations. I enjoy healing, but right now all you really need to do is spam Cure. DD rotations are bland and movement is currently pointless. Hopefully these things will get fixed in the battle formula overhauls so these roles become more engaging. I start falling asleep when I play PUG and CNJ wears on me after a while.

I've had none of these issues while tanking. Every GLA ability has it's place in every fight and you are constantly doing stuff. This is much different from other roles where you either spam one spell or stick to your simple rotation while ignoring the rest of your almost useless ******** You have to avoid or stun TP moves that monsters throw at you, watch the damage you're taking and pop CDs accordingly, keep threat on every monster in spite of trigger happy DDs, and watch out for adds that want to nom on your healer's face.

The tanking in FFXIV is probably the best in any MMO I've played. FFXI was fun, but it all boiled down to Flash and Provoke spam, with the occasional Skillchain. WoW's tanking was a joke as well, considering you either spammed your AoE and your 4 target attack or your single target threat generators.

I really hope they don't buff threat generators to counteract all of the claims of people being unable to hold aggro. The only one that might need a bit more would be Provoke. It would be nice to have a huge threat move on a longish cooldown for those party members that refuse to be team players.

Edit: Man, I keep writing freaking essays every time I post.. I really need to get back to playing again. XD

Edited, Jul 23rd 2013 4:56am by DamienSScott

Soloing needs some context. For general grinding, every class will probably do okay. Some may be slower starts due to lacking abilities, but fodder mobs are definitely meant to be that. Fighting multiple mobs also needs to be weighed against how much time it takes to gather them on top of killing. Sometimes a single-target approach will win out because of that. Meanwhile, those hoping for stuff like the old uber-RDM solos of XI will probably be disappointed, or at least not get the same incentive out of it with harder open-world mobs likely residing in FATEs. Some could also try to solo party quests/missions, too. On that front, I'd say wait until launch, because I'm remembering right, skills are going to be revised some for phase 4, so what some people advocate now might not apply.

I played most classes in beta and the class I had the least trouble on is Cnj (with no crossclass abilitys). I one shot most story lines and had zero issues finding groups. Also was able to grind my hunt log . This is the reason im starting as cnj.

just my 2cents :)

Good Read. I plan on getting this after my 3 year break from ffxi(ps2). i've been wondering about early leveling myself in anticipation of this game.