What your Ranged DPS Main says about You, FFXIV Jobs 

Machinists aren't the only new job crystals that need to be trained! There's also blue mage... why are you laughing? IT'S A REAL JOB!

I like the idea that my WoL as a machinist is a pioneer, opponents never know how to respond to my toys because they have never dealt with them before. The soul crystal of the machinist is empty, it is my defeats and victories that will fill it for future generations.

I mained DNC throughout all of SB and SHB; it's a lot of fun! My story is that my WOL begun as a BLM due to him discovering he has immense magical potential following the Calamity. However, he learned after besting Nidhogg again and saving Estinien that the way of the Black Mage is too chaotic and destructive for him to handle and needed to rein himself in. So he chose to become a Dancer; using the movements of his body to refine his control of aether while helping those around him during the liberation of Doma and Ala Mhigo; and needed to continue refining it as he absorbed more and more Light in the First. After bringing down Elidibus and returning home, Ryuji believes his control over aether has been perfected, and now wants to use his magical prowess as a Summoner to stop the incoming Final Days from coming to fruition. (just beat Paglth'an)

I main a Femroe Bard and it's always funny seeing her longbow be bigger than most NPC. She's basically firing javelins

I love how at some point the WoL just starts inventing machinist techniques on their own with no instruction. Hey, I modified the auto-crossbow to fire spinning sawblades... because why not! I invented a flamethrower cartrige for my gun because... why not!? I TURNED MY AUTOTURRET INTO A MECHA. I love to imagine the typical Garlean soldier's reaction to a Machinist is just *abject panic*, because firstly they're not expecting you to even have tech like this in the first place and secondly THE WOL HAS A SHOTGUN, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.

Machinist is my main Ranged class. I'm not a very musical person IRL, and that seems to reflect in-game. (I loved playing Archer up to the point where I had to play music. Bard is still a fun class, but not my... what's the word? Vibe? Scene? Aesthetic?) As someone that's more engineer than artist, I love Machinist! It feels great being able to solve practical problems with more gadgets than a super spy and all the subtlety of an artillery strike! Got a problem? Odds are I have a gizmo that will solve it and make a loud noise at the same time!

I main a bard! My WoL's story is that he began as an archer from childhood since he's a (nearly) native Gridanian but was denied admision to the Archer Guild due to being too young and not having discipline. He was a good archer but needed shaping up. He returned home after years as a mercenary and tried to fit in the Archers Guild again, but was obviously struggling with shell shock from the Calamity. He encountered Jehantel by chance in the Black Shroud and found that singing helped him ease his tension and that he could weave aether through the songs -- just like the ancient master bards, so he became Jehantel's apprentice. He found his footing in the job, using his voice to externalise everything that he would otherwise bottle up and turn his troubled emotions into a force he could use to defend what mattered and fight his personal demons in the process. He's still a crack shot and almost impossible to pin down in a fight-- and if someone thinks closing the distance will help, he's still got a sword bigger than he is tall to deal with them.

I'm one of those people who wish Ranger was it's own thing but with how Bard plays in-game it's pretty much exactly what I would want from a Ranger job, nice support options to help the team survive with decent damage. I like the support focused aspect of it. And honestly the song rotations feel more like battle stances anyway, if that makes sense. I do head canon that my WoL hums their songs in a stupid way like Gilgamesh does in battle on the big bridge. Sadly no way to turn things into toads though.

This was a fun one for me - I have Mchinist represented in my RL family with sniper instructors, and we all have Bards represented with archery and bow hunting, but it's the Dancer that is my go-to ranged dps main...gotta be the black sheep of the family and look good while I'm doing it 😁🥰

I main BRD. I like the (psychologically) faster GCD. The addition of the Radiant Finale and the changes they made to the job was very brilliant! Seeing the buffs is so satisfying. Also, I play music, albeit terribly. If you spot someone playing a half arsed rendition of Moongazing in a conspicuous corner, it’s probably me stuffing myself on copium for a few months.

Hmm idk if we could take that a certain let's say Very ancient light user used chakrams with dance like techniques as a relation with the job itself but I could be used to show how certain jobs might have found their way even with such different sources like how Spears and axes show up everywhere in the real past.

Spoilers for EW One thing I've not heard anyone pick up on is the huge lore implications of the DNC job quests... Dancers were formed in Thavnair to deal with the Totemtanz, a manifestation of negative emotional energy overwhelming and transforming people... which is the exact same thing as the Final Days, and Thavnair is the thinnest point of Celestial aether. It shows definitively that even if the Ascians had succeeded, Zodiark was only ever a temporary solution, as Meteion's power was slowly but steadily pushing its way through the barrier.

I'd love it if the new expansion had the WOL as Machinist. I main Machinist, after switching from Bard. There's nothing like being able to switch out weapons for damage. And come on...we have an Automaton Queen. Though...I have no idea where we got the ability to signal the thing with our linkpearl.

Great video as always, Scribe. While my Not-WoL isn't officially making use of a Bard's abilities-due to actually not being one himself-I've instead written it in my canon that his bow is what allows him feats beyond what might be possible with your run-of-the-mill archer, hunter or ranger. For one, the bow he's using-which I've decided is officially called 'Shattered Song'-is constructed as a longbow. To be specific, an Ishgardian war-bow that was made as something of an experiment for a potentially new breed of warfare against the Dravanians. Particularly, one that could replicate the stopping power of a Dragoon without needing to have trained as one, or even fight the way that they do. As we know, the Order of the Knights-Dragoon is an elite fighting force, and Ishgard feels it whenever even one Dragoon dies in battle. So being able to replicate that acumen for hurting dragons without the logistics of training a knight for years-only to lose them during a failed committed jump-might be appealing. After the peace, you can imagine how a weapon like that would be in poor taste to have, let alone produce more of. Regarding its construction, I've written that its frame was made with ironwood, reinforced with fittings along the length of the limbs-both decorative and reinforcing-made of Ishgardian steel. The 'end-caps' on either side could be used as a weapon of last resort, while the fittings give more rigidity and resistance to the already stiff ironwood bow-limbs. Plainly said, the poundage of the bow would be theoretically so heavy that no archer could draw it without at least training in the ability to use aether during the pull. It's not unlike how martial jobs use aether internally to enhance themselves in the moment, on top of the potential wielder training their body in preparation to do all of that in the first place. But perhaps the one feature that sets it apart from the rest is the fact that the bow-string is made from a dragon's heartstring. Given how unique dragons are with regard to how they interact with aether given physiology and whatnot, I imagine the same properties may apply to the bow-string itself. Pouring aether into it would-in theory-allow the wielder to enchant their arrow during the nock if not the draw, on top of the limbs' natural poundage alone allowing the arrow to travel at terminal velocity. In essence, Shattered Song is a weapon in poor taste at best, and a war crime against Dravanians at worst. Especially considering the fact that pouring aether into the bow-string actually lets it resonate with a broken dragonsong which its living kin can hear-if they happen to be in the immediate vicinity. It goes without saying my Not-WoL would be a fool to use that feature in Dravanian territory. So, in summary: my Not-WoL's main weapon allows him to make use of Bard-adjacent abilties involving the bow and arrow-even if he's not technically the one doing the singing

XD That bit about killing deities with a spoon got me. I low key headcanon that Azem beat the tar out of a bunch of rampaging critters with a botanist's axe because they were harvesting plants on an errand for someone in Elpis when the rowdy creatures got out of hand and that was what they had on their back at the time. As for me, I actually main a Bard, though my WoL has dabbled in pretty much everything at this point because they are just way too curious not to. And boy is he fearsome with that bow, capable of not only taking down some creatures with a single, lightning swift arrow from a great distance, but dancing toe to toe with powerful melee foes while raining down a barrage of piercing death on them. One thing I think you missed when it came to Machinist is that part of the reason the style was created was to allow more people to fight vs just those who mastered a sword, and while to truly be good at it one needed raw skill and loads of training, at it's most basic, yet still functional level, it was easier to learn than a sword. The whole point was ease of accessibility to more people so more of them could help in the fight against the Dravanians without needing to spend years honing sword skills. They did not need to become knights or dragoons to fight.

A lot of people on the topic of Machinists just tend to forget that Magitek is a thing. Garleans use that because it is literally either that or making a pact with voidsent that allows them to keep up with the rest of Eorzea. Allagan influence and Solus's groundwork were what pushed these limited tools to their conquering position. When applied, having powerful tools for the right situations is what makes them so efficient. Machinist's tools work similarly to magitek, just instead of the machines doing all of the heavy lifting with the Aether, I believe the machinist is also expected to manipulate some of the Aether themselves. Putting it like that, yeah, Machinist mainly has the strength of not having as much maintenance to perform. And a less cumbersome carry-weight.

This is a personal opinion so don't take it too personally. To me, those who insist that guns from our world would be superior in a high magic fantasy realm, suffer a serious lack of imagination.

I hope we get a Cannoneer class where we haul around a literal artillery cannon on two wheels.

I'm the mad cat that misses Stormblood's heat system for machinist. I also like the idea that WE invented some of the weapons in machinist gear ourselves. Do wish the game let us have more rp options to show off the WoL is technically skilled. Not say Cid levels but enough to shut up Nero would be nice.

these are great! when are we getting the magical dps video? i want to get some representation.

Would love to see these for other roles as well this was a good video

Is that.... is that actual kind words for Bards.😢 *holds kind words gently* 🥺😭 As a Bard main, thank you. The thought of them being something more like arcane archers makes Bards sound even cooler!🥹

DNC main here. It is very flowy and fun to play. While I cannot deal as much damage per hit compared to other DPS classes, if you set up the hot bar right, you can basically attack nonstop before taking a quick break to buff your allies. And setting up your materia correctly cannot be understated.

I could see them branching Ranger off of the Archer line the way Summoner and Scholar both branch off Arcanist - it might actually not be a bad idea in the future for them to go back to older starter jobs and add branching paths like that rather than making all new jobs and weapon sets with every expansion. Like Gladiator could branch off into Paladin and, say, Rune Knight? People have been clamoring for Necromancer, have that be a branch added to the Thaumaterge line. Maybe Geomancer added as an alternative to White Mage. There would be less focus on grind since they level up together, and more on gear optimization, which they seem to be leaning more into anyway now that level cap has reached the 90s.

One thing I really like about machinist is that since you are basically the first one it is the only job that is truly yours. Every other job is already established but your wol sets the standard for machinists.

The traditional D&D Ranger has a bonus to archery, but I'd say the #1 public image of the job is probably Aragorn from the LotR films. Armed with a single sword, some offhand attacks and nature magic, like a high fantasy aesthetic cross between Samurai and Ninja. I'd like that.

My Wife Armorsmith H'naanza Level 50 Quest Kinda Debunks Guns OP!

I can't wait for the Blitzballer job. :)

I see synodic scribe post a video, i automatically hit the like button and comment for the algorithm.

Ansleif hemmed and hawed quite a bit regarding rangers dps, as archer didn’t quite feel right, and he was concerned by how destructive machinistry was at its core and questioned whether to help advance the techniques. So when he encountered that troupe in Limsa, saw the smiles it brought, he realized he wanted to do that too. It being a rangers class was just a plus, he really only wanted to make people smile and laugh at “the dancing kitty”. He’s been dedicated to refining his technique in dancing ever since.

Bard has been my favorite job in the game. In fact, I was unconvinced on playing in 2.0 Before a friend said "Oh yeah, you can be a bard." "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" I always got irritated when people would complain about Bard DPS in 2.0. I was sitting there, managing songs, chugging aethers, and evaluating what my party needed, all while doing damage. And it was my favorite experience of 2.0. However, as the "MOAR DPS" crowd grew (Because many bards back then didn't even know what a song was, much less what they did.) and it broke my heart. I'm adjusting to it again, but I was very, VERY disappointed in Storm Blood, when the Bard's mechanics were turned almost completely on their heads. Another thing that bothers me, is that Square is moving around a few abilities classes get att what levels. DRK's AOE combo wasn't completed until 72, now that ability is gained at lvl 45. There are a few other examples of this, and Bard still doesn't get it's complete song kit until around 56? Doing lvl 50 content (MSQ rou in particular) without a full song rotation feels... wrong.

Just a note about the weapons. Knives used to be used by gladiators/paladins before 2.4, IF I'm recalling correctly. It's been quite a while since then.

So for frame of reference, how tactical would you say Machinist is? Similar to Scholar? The only thing I don’t get is the fancy flips when firing the gun. As a dodge, sure. As a way to fire the gun, it eludes me. I’m actually a Machinist main, but I admit it has shortcomings. Also are they capable of going Rambo in theory?

My character is a true and true Archer/sniper, ideally with some wind magic. I do think she just hated the singing aspect of it at first due to being used to stealth hunting, but grew to accept it mainly due to the job crystal teaching her how to use a hidden talent she had. Plus the praise she got for her voice, which is something she always wanted growing up. Mch also perfectly fits with her due to her being a sniper and knowing where to hit. Granted there really is no sniper rifle in game but definitely would be her weapon of choice with the bow. Actually now that I think about it all Physical Range Jobs match my WoL fits with the lore she has out of ffxiv and with the job crystal’s acting as a fast/instant teacher

I'm a proud BRD main since the original "bow mage" days, which puts me at odds with the other ranged classes. Personally, I just have never gravitated toward either MCH or DNC, though I do have a few other classes leveled for different roles.

One day my DNC will make that brooding DRK have a smile on their face. That or Pop shield samba.

You plan on making a video concerning Magic jobs sometime soon? I think it's the only one you haven't done yet.

So since the Job Crystal is learning from the WoL straight away in Machinist... Does that mean that they're just being extra and jumping around and doing the flips as they shoot for the fun of it?

Wonderful work!

I’m thinking of taking up a ranged dps job. It’s a tossup between Mch and Dnc. Anyone want to try to persuade me either way?

I think you could do ranger as “Hunter” using a crossbow

Machinist: say screw it to tradition.

Crossbows (one hand or two), you’re welcome 😉

I like all Range Dps they play all very good .

Crossbow, sling, not to mention actual rifle since machinist uses more of a pistol, there are many options. Not gonna lie, a class using greek style sling using different stones that either penetrate target, poison it, paralyze it, explode on impact etc. would be nice, basically an offensive status ranged dps would be nice but since we have 4 tanks, 4 healers, 5 melee dps and 3+3 non-melee dps with 3 ranged dps and 3 casters if next expansion woud provide new jobs it would more likely introduce a melee dps for equal amount to non-melees, maybe a tank+healer combo but a new ranged dps seems to be kinda copium.

now only blu remains

Machinist basically shoots pure aether. You know, magic. I could see Rangers using Crossbows. Maybe not a traditional weapon of a ranger maybe, but it works. Just want to point out, there are statues of Mi'qote in Thavnaer at an supposedly ancient dancer holy site... Even though we never hear about native Mi'qote. Bards and Dancers either use dynamis or aether just this side of it. Emotional manipulation is kind of their bag.

i main machinist because i love guns

So when you doing caster? 😁

- Honestly still would be nice to have Hunter job/gatherer class, just for the sake of dealing with the ass rng of monster materials... And no Ninja's Mug skill does not help; long cool down, and still not a guarantee on drops - "Why use magic when you have gun?" Cuz magic don't care about laws of physics :v

So that’s why bard was a caster in Heavensward

We went to Thavnair and got barely any dancer lore.

Wonder what a crossbow based ranged class would be like

As a dancer, I like to think that my moves are so lit that I serve my enemies to death.

My ranger dps is warrior, grug not know class description, grug throw axe

Ranger resolution- crossbows

Ever since 1.0, the WoL has remained de-ranged

/thavdance

As a Bard main I thank you for stressing how powerful they actually are.

I tried dancer for the first time on my non-wol(my main) and i immediately fell in love w it. So i made it that dancing is a hobby that my non-wol loves to partake in. my actual wol(secondary) though is a weird mix of a machinist and paladin. i couldve gone for gunbreaker but i like this idea more hehe. instead of a sword and shield, she wields a sword and gun. She was a paladin at first but picks up machinist in HW! now shes both.

Nobody's using crossbows yet, right? Mind you, I'd dub that an Arbalester before ranger... and make it's thing long load times for it's bolts before _BIG_ fuckin' single-action damage, and I don't know if people would enjoy winding the damn thing up for 5 seconds before actually making their attack.

I mean, rangers could still go for crossbows.

Archers are not the same as rangers. The ranger is a mobile, dexterity based warriror with a theme around nature and hunting. They are not archers, and thus, they wouldn't be necessarily weaker than FFXIV's bards. Rangers don't always use bown either. But let's say people want a ranger class, and they want it to use a bow. Paladins, Black Mages, and White Mages can all use the same low level shields. This is a "weapon" that is shared among different jobs. That means the code for weapons being shared across classes/jobs is still there and can be used any time they want. The developers not wanting to utilize that concept, as it makes jobs feeling unique more difficult for them, is a different matter.

I main Bard, but Dancer is lots of fun to play. Honestly, Machinist is my least favorite of the trio BUT, it's fine when I just want to go ham and not think about buffs and dots and such.

Broke - Ranger Job. Woke - Arbalest Job using Crossbows. tbh I just want crossbows.

Im a bard main since stormblood and was really dissapointed when in the next expansion they not just took things like requiem or the defense buff from bard but made a whole new class in dancer for support like that was my job. With what bard is now its ok but ill never have that feeling of a rush again of how much you had to be on top of your countdowns. between the songs the dots the requiem to the random procs it was very fun, a bit hectic but i lived for it. Ive lost hope that they gonna return to that or give bard any substantial thing like this again but in my heart it will always be the class which had the most amazing and fun buff/debuff fighting style while looking absolutely amazing

Wait a second, it stands to reason that any widely prevalent metal or materials that exists that could defend against our real world firearms, would be prevalent enough to be USED by the people who make firearms in Eorza. All materials are of equal worth here. If a sword made of the same material as bullets in the game can cut through enemy armor miraculously, then a bullet should be able to pierce through just fine. A fantasy gun sensibly can handle fantasy problems. That's just sense.

my biggest disappointment on ffxiv as a new player getting my archer to level 30 was seeing it turn into a bard hahaha that being said I never played ff11

Bard should have been a healer, and ranger should have been the job for Archer

First?!

I wouldn't say that machinist is the weakest job because it's new. Guns are newer than bows, that doesn't mean bows are stronger. Sure the other jobs have a lot of stuff figured out about them that we inherit through our stones, but at the same rate the WoL is figuring out stuff about machinist and adding it to their stone. So while we have others to thank for a lot of stuff we learn about older jobs, someone will have us to thank for all the stuff the stone is learning from us about machinist.

I both like and dislike how dancer is played honestly. as for Mch I just wish they would settle on an identity for them. Bard is perfect though. aside from the fact you can't play proper with other bards in fights.

Man, I hate those "hurr hurr gun better than magic" meme people. Its shows such little imagination. If technology could develop to the point of firearms, then why wouldnt magic develop as well? Especially in a franchise like Final Fantasy where magi-tek is a recurring concept. In Guild Wars 2, guns aren't the be all and end all because, guess what, they invented reflecting magic. Any decent armed faction in Guild Wars 2 will employ both warmachines and mages. Guns have become just another fighting style and there are reasons to prefer a bow over guns. And seeing a group of warriors charging with swords, hammers, staves, bows AND guns is so much cooler than seeing everyone run in with an AK-47.

R I P Ranger and Thief jobs