Final Fantasy 14 has recently become more popular thanks to its expanded free trial that includes both A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. With more new players than ever before, it might be exciting to jump into the world of Eorzea, but there are a few things newcomers should note about Final Fantasy 14's unique class system.
Since Final Fantasy 14 has so many classes, it might be daunting for players to choose which one to play. Thankfully, the game is balanced well and players are encouraged to pick the playstyle they enjoy most rather than worrying about a particular meta. However, for newcomers to Final Fantasy 14 or MMOs in general, there are a few classes that are a little easier to start with and can help players familiarize themselves with the basics.
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In terms of tanks, Warriors are generally considered the most forgiving since their rotations are fairly straightforward to execute and have solid self-sustain. Importantly, the rotations being simpler than other tank classes means that newcomers to Final Fantasy 14 can learn to focus on positioning and balancing mitigations properly. Learning fight mechanics is usually easiest on tanks, and Warrior is a great way to introduce the game to newcomers.
For healers, White Mage is usually considered the most straightforward, and is a nice foundation to learn healing mechanics in Final Fantasy 14. It can be a little boring during earlier levels since it starts out weaker than other healing classes, but it scales up nicely as players progress through the game. Since White Mages have the strongest direct healing capabilities, they're usually in charge of reactive healing and can worry less about shields or mitigation.
Technically speaking, Dancer is the easiest physical ranged DPS class to learn, but it isn't unlockable until level 60. While it can act as a nice transition for players who have played tank or healer up until that point, it's not really feasible for anyone who wants to start out as DPS. On the other hand, while Bard can get a little more complex toward the endgame, it's still a solid starter class to teach the fundamentals of ranged classes in Final Fantasy 14. Bard is fairly straightforward during earlier levels as it relies on damage-over-time, has good mobility, and the range advantage is useful.
Of the magical ranged DPS classes, Red Mage has the easiest rotation and mechanics to learn from scratch. They are quite flexible, have solid mobility, and output consistent damage. Unfortunately, Red Mage is locked until level 50, which might means it isn't a good class for complete beginners. The other two choices are Black Mage and Summoner, with both choices being a little more complex than Red Mage. Black Mage depends heavily on positioning while Summoner is more mobile but reliant on timings. However, their complexities aren't overwhelming, and so they remain good choices for Final Fantasy 14 newcomers who might not want to wait until level 50.
Dragoons are a good way for newcomers to learn the basics of melee DPS classes and their unique positionals. During leveling, Dragoons have a fairly simple rotation, although their lack of area-of-effect attacks in earlier dungeons can be annoying. Adjusting to the animation locks on their jumping abilities might take longer, but aside from that Dragoons remain quite strong all the way through to the endgame. Another good alterative for melee DPS would be Samurai, but players need to until level 50, and it's a little more punishing for missing positionals.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.