Anywho, I did it. It's been a massive grind since I returned to Eorzea back at the beginning of March. Back then, most of those jobs were around 65-67 with crafters and gatherers in the low 70s. This was on top of trying to get caught back up with the story content (the latest patch was over in a couple of hours.) This involved a LOT of dungeon runs and a LOT of FATE grinding. For the most part, all the runs went well, but there were a few headaches, including a shitty healer who tried to show off their Best In Slot Gunbreaker gear to somehow excuse them being shitty at healing.
With all the leveling done, all I have left to do is finish each job's final story quest and maybe kit them out a bit to get them around Item Level 490 in order to access the new content that'll be coming with Endwalker. I've already done a few quests, but the thing that really bothers me with these Shadowbringer questlines is how basic they've been. Each job only has specific quests at 70 and 80 and then everything in between were shared among similar job types. Even the 80 job quests don't involve any kind of special instance to make it really stand out. This was just a very lazy thing to do from a developer's standpoint.
Anyway, I thought I'd quickly talk about how I feel with each job now that have all their abilities. I won't make it as long as the last blog I did about this.
Tank
Paladin - PLD got a lot more fun to play, although it's still my least favorite tank. It got a few more damage dealing moves, one such called Sword Oath that lets you attack with Atonement up to three times to restore more MP, and an AoE called Confiteor.
Warrior - Still my favorite of the tank classes, WAR unfortunately got a little stale at the end. Instead of new moves outside of a couple buffs, some of its existing moves were just upgraded with more powerful versions.
Dark Knight - DRK I feel is still my second favorite. Like WAR, and well all tanks really, it didn't really evolve much up to 80, just with more buffs and stronger versions of existing movies, BUT, it did learn a really cool move at 80 called Living Shadow which summons a simulacrum to fight by your side. I just wished it lasted longer.
Gunbreaker - I've always enjoyed Gunbreaker, and I still do. I got a move that granted me two more rounds of ammunition and a new AoE attack, which meant I used my gunblade a lot more, which was nice. The level 80 move Blasting Zone was just an upgraded version of Danger Zone, but it caused a cool little shaking effect on the screen.
Healer
White Mage - Still my favorite healer of the three just by the fact that it's so damn easy to heal with, WHM got a few new AoEs and healing buffs. At 80, they learned Temperance, which gives you these cool little flash wings that make you look like a fairy.
Scholar - Nothing new, as I already gotthis one at 80.
Astrologist - I still haven't really mastered this one. Although it doesn't have the raw healing potency of WHM, it does have a lot more moves in its skillset, and sometimes I forgot about them at the most critical of times. Its 80 ability Neutral Sect is a god send, though, as it grants AoE healing spells with both shields and regen effects.
Ranged Physical DPS
Bard - Bard was one of the least improved jobs on the road to 80 in my opinion. Two moves were just upgraded versions, and the 80 move Apex Arrow requires a newly unlocked gauge to fill up, but the caveat is that in order to really do damage, you need to fill it up as much as possible before executing the move, which takes time. It doesn't feel as effective as it should be for the final move learned.
Machinist - Now this one was a fun one. It's just as busy as BRD, but a bit more so, and the special effects were a lot flashier. It learned an AoE DoT, which BRD does not have at all, and a cool move called Air Anchor that throws chains all over the enemy. But best of all, at level 80, the rook drone that's been with you the past 40 levels is upgraded to Automaton Queen, a robot that rockets into the fray and punches enemies. I love it!
Dancer - Dancer was a fun one to level to 80 as well. A new gauge was unlocked that filled up with esprit and used to execute an AoE attack, and at level 80, you learned Improvisation, a 15 second long dance that filled up your Esprit gauge and increased healing potency. The only thing is, the move would be canceled if you moved or did another action. Moves like these are usually only executed when you're waiting for a boss phase to finish. Also, I still wish SE would increase the success rates for DNC's procs so my fan combos can happen more frequently. It was always a bit frustrating to see myself continuously outpaced by other DPSes because they had more reliable combos.
Ranged Magic DPS
Summoner - Nothing has changed, as I already had this at 80.
Black Mage - Although I've gotten better with it, I still consider this my weakest job. It's still really hard for me to keep up a good rotation when I get interrupted. BLM only got two new single target attacks, but it got an ability that I would have loved to have a long time ago, and that's Umbral Soul. Umbral Soul refreshes the countdown timer on your Umbral Ice meter allowing you to keep your meter going without having to hit Transpose all the time. One of the frustrating things about BLM was having to constantly swap it back and forth in between pulls and having to build its effectiveness back up.
Red Mage - Sadly, I don't think feel like RDM evolved very much on its way to 80. Engagement was a a melee attack that shared the same cooldown timer as the much-needed Displacement that made you leap back out of the way of an AoE, so I rarely used it. Then there was Reprise, which was a melee attack that used both Black and White mana, but I couldn't convince myself that it was beneficial to use when my more powerful rotation required a full gauge. RDM's final move was also a more powerful version of a basic spell, but you could only use it after casting Verholy or Verflare, which took a while to build up.
Blue Mage - It was already capped at 70, and that's not changed. I will add that I haven't bothered spending any time doing the BLU quests past 60. I got stuck on the one I'm currently on and just haven't been bothered to work on it.
Melee DPS
Dragoon - DRG got a little more fun to play when it learned its third AoE move you could string into a combo, so you were able to do a lot more AoE damage to groups of mobs. A normal move was upgraded as a more powerful combo opener, and a new AoE move Stardiver let you do more damage while under the effect of Life of the Dragon. A new trait was learned that extened the length of Blood of the Dragon, which is what DRGs need to be in in order to do some of their most powerful attacks. This was very handy to have in between pulls, but like BLM losing their Astral Fire or Umbral Ice, it was very annoying to have to start everything back up again.
Monk - MNK is still my least favorite DPS. They learned a new AoE, a single target attack and a move called Anatman which I never bothered using as it shared a recast timer with all the other moves. I'm sure highly skilled MNKs find a way to use it, but I just couldn't be bothered.
Ninja - Always the busiest of the melee jobs, NIN only got busier thanks to Meisui, which let you get in another powerful attack if you put up a specific ninjitsu. A couple of ninja spells got upgraded, but only under the effect of Kassatsu, which is disappointing, because it would have been nice to use them on their own. I get why, though, because the ninja's hot bars are already quite packed with skills. Its level 80 move Bunshin is pretty cool, because it grants you five shadows that will attack when you do, but it's hard to see them in the thick of things.
Samurai - I still very much enjoy SAM just because of all the cool sound effects their moves make. Unfortunately, I felt the evolution of the job to 80 was a bit lazy basically just letting you cast the same iajutsu over again with the addiction of a couple new single-target attacks.
So yeah, all jobs are now level 80 (with the exception of Blue Mage being a limited job, which is 70). I have a few months free now to enjoy other games. It's going to be interesting to see what changes to these jobs Endwalker brings, and I'm only hoping they focus on job questlines again. Anyway, thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment