yui

Dark Knight (DRK) Role: Tank Weapon: Greatsword This job dates back a few hundred years, starting in the isolated city-state of Ishgard. The first Dark Knight was, relatively speaking, just a dude, a Temple Knight who managed to gain significant acclaim despite his lowborn status. After straight-up killing an Ishgardian priest in his own home after witnessing "unspeakable acts", he was stripped of his status and banned from the city. But this example would go on to prompt others to follow the path, leading up to the events of FFXIV and the Warrior of Light taking the job. Dark Knights choose greatswords for the pragmatic reason of there not being any real sort of structure or organization among their ranks; it's not uncommon for one Dark Knight to have to face several opponents alone, and the greatsword gives them a reach advantage to help tip the scales back in their favor. In more recent generations, Dark Knights have even begun wielding magic, simply dubbed the dark arts. These arts can do a few neat things like call upon a simulacrum of one's "inner darkness" (i'm not making this shit up), suck the aether out of others, and even cheat death itself in some exceptional cases. In-game, the Dark Knight is a tank job that trades a tank's usual defensive prowess for raw damage. Of note, Dark Knight's opener in high-end content is so incredibly powerful that if you have an ability that only buffs one ally's damage, like Dancer's Standard Finish or Dragoon's Dragon Sight, it's actually better to give those buffs to the Dark Knight than to any other party member (yes, even Black Mage). After this absurdly powerful burst at the start of a fight, Dark Knight boasts sufficient defensive cooldowns to not die in standard dungeons while still doing sufficient damage to not be Paladin. Being squishier than the other tanks in addition to having two targetable mitigations in the form of Oblation and The Blackest Night - the latter of which was the best mitigation in the game before Endwalker's release - makes Dark Knight the perfect off-tank, though in my personal opinion, Dark Knight needs more damage outside of its burst to make up for being weaker than the other tanks on the defensive side of things. Summoner (SMN) Role: Magic DPS Weapon: Grimoire Summoners as we know them in FFXIV date back to the Allagan Empire, making this the oldest job on the game's timeline by leaps and bounds. While Allag was chiefly known for its absurd magitek, which even the nigh-unstoppable Garlean Empire pales in comparison to, the second-most Allagan thing one might think of is binding primals to one's will. Allag chiefly used these entities as power sources, with the elder primal Bahamut being sealed in the artificial moon Dalamud to serve as fuel for Emperor Xande's pact with the Void, for one notorious example. On a smaller scale exists the Summoner, who binds the power and essence of primals to serve their own needs and desires, a technique initially developed as a means to expedite Allag's wars of conquest by turning the primals of other civilizations against them. However, power corrupts, and Summoners who sought to use the power of primals for their own selfish desires began to taint the reputation of the discipline as a whole, eventually ending with the imperial order to exterminate anyone who practiced the art. In-game, Summoners are an unusual caster job, built upon several reworks and 12-year-old spaghetti code. With the 6.0 patch and the release of Endwalker, Summoner received a full overhaul, transforming from a damage-over-time type caster who used two damage effects in conjunction with one of three egis (mini-primals) for various situations, to a more straightforward caster with a newfound focus on instant-cast spells, with the almost-complete freedom of movement granting them mobility Black Mage and Red Mage wish they had. In short, your rotation consists of a 60-second loop of entering a burst phase comprised entirely of instant-cast spells, followed by three "mini phases"; one each for Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda. Titan Phase is entirely instant-cast, Garuda is mostly instant-cast, and Ifrit is two spells that you'll need to hard-cast plus (a couple instant spells at level 90). The order you use them in doesn't matter, so pick the one that's best at that time; try not to use Ifrit if you're gonna have to do some running around, for example. Black Mage (BLM) Role: Magic DPS Weapon: Rod Black magic is the most powerful known school of magic on Hydaelyn, dating back to the Fifth Astral Era, making it also one of the oldest schools of magic. It was chiefly used by the people of Mhach, where its practitioners were given the title "Black Mage" out of both respect and fear of the power they commanded. In addition to devastating spells of fire and ice, the first Black Mages were also able to summon and command the twisted denizens of the Void. This power ultimately led to Mhach's ruin, however, as for unknown reasons, they sparked the War of the Magi with neighboring nations Nym and fellow superpower nation Amdapor. While Nym was easily wiped out by a plague Mhachi mages had unleashed by sneaking in a voidsent, the Black Mages of Mhach and their opposing number, Amdapor's White Mages, overused the aether of the land around them in the war, causing the Sixth Umbral Calamity and wiping out all three cities in a great flood. Following this, both black and white magic were deemed forbidden arts. This all was about 1500 years prior to the start of FFXIV. In-game, Black Mage boasts the highest personal DPS of any job in the game, with the tradeoff intended to be paying the price in movement. Casters need to cast, and unlike Summoner who mostly deals in instant-cast spells or Red Mage who goes halfsies by making every other spell instant, Black Mage is meant to hardcast everything, and stay still while doing so lest their cast be interrupted. I say meant to because despite this, there are valid rotations for the job that allow the player to constantly be on the move, which is a good way to sum up the sheer complexity Black Mage can potentially bring to a dedicated player. On a surface level the job's quite straightforward, but the room for optimization is absurd, and the rewards in damage equally so. Reaching the level cap is just the start for those who choose to take the black pill. Astrologian (AST) Role: Healer Weapon: Planisphere There are two major schools of astrology on Hydaelyn, one each coming from Sharlayan and Ishgard. While Sharlayan astrology is committed to reading the stars as a whole to predict and thus change the future itself, Ishgardian astrology - a shootoff of Sharlayan's own - is minmaxed very specifically on the Dragonstar, a singular star in the sky through which stargazers can roughly predict when, where, and how intensely the Dravanian hordes will strike next in Ishgard's 1000-year-long war with dragonkind. The Warrior of Light practices the former of the two, which originated in the Sixth Astral Era, perhaps owing in part to the fact that Ishgardian astrology doesn't implement astromancy, the Astrologian's signature art of drawing aether from the heavens themselves as opposed to their own bodies like Monks, or from the world around them like Black Mages. With the powers of the stars, planets, and fate itself at their fingertips, what was once considered to by a hoax of a profession is now a highly-respected school of magic in Sharlayan. So much so that many Sharlayans believe other nations shouldn't be allowed to obtain the art of astromancy at all! In-game, Astrologian is a healer that excels in enabling the damage of everyone around them. Like Scholar, Astrologian has a damage buff for the entire party they can use every two minutes (White Mage and Sage don't have this), but unlike Scholar, Astrologian can also give smaller damage buffs to individual players through the use of one of six tarot cards. The Balance, Spear, and Arrow buff melee jobs, while the Ewer, Spire, and Bole buff ranged players and casters. Astrologian also boasts a wealth of off-global heals, with its only competition in the field being Sage, making it easier to continually cast damage spells outside of very dire circumstances or to refresh your regen spell on the tank. That said, due to the cards mechanic, their seals, and some weird abilities like Synastry and Macrocosmos, Astrologian is also the most complex healer job. It's been stated the development team intends to rework Astrologian (along with Dragoon) in a future patch, but we've yet to hear any further word on this.

it's been some time, and in that time, endwalker has brought sage and reaper to FF14 and i've done every job's questline so i better understand what it actually means to take on a given job. so let's do this thing again.

https://cajunavenger.github.io/ favorite of each type by gen, and some other stuff as well here's mine

The remaining Drengr were being cleared out quite nicely. As she'd expected, the bear made short work of finishing off the one that she'd thrown her hammer at. Sabrina - for whom Dracona was also an acceptable name, apparently - had very nearly killed the one she'd been combating, but chose to let it go at the last second. Abby for one approved of the decision. After Sabrina/Dracona had apparently parleyed with the bear, and received a nod from Abby confirming that she could indeed make the hurt go away if it let her, Gene had voiced his own opinion on the Drengr-sparing. "O-Out of curiosity, why did you let that one go? You realize, they'll warn their kind right? We could end up being in serious trouble if anything happens... N-N-Not that I'm saying you or the others can't handle it...n-n-not saying that at all...j-just more like...um...i-it's a bold move, y-yeah that's it." "I think it's a good thing," Abby offered as a response. "Real heroic-like. Plus, just because we have magical powers and all doesn't mean we're allowed to become a bunch of sociopaths with no regard for life. Case in point." Getting back up to her feet, Abby brought her hand up to rub some of the sting out of the spot where her arm had been sliced. She could already feel her clothes regenerating. If only the textiles of her own world could be so convenient! It would save a lot of unfortunate cases of having to throw out a shirt you really liked but was old and full of holes. It would also save a lot of... other situations. The poorly-timed end of one ill-fated skirt she particularly liked from middle school came to mind. "This might take a bit, but I'm not gonna hurt you," Abby said, pointing her magic hand at the bear again. "Just relax and think about... whatever it is bears like? Fishing or something?" Although the bear had initially taken a cautious step back at first - not that Abby blamed it or anything - the bear didn't put up much resistance once the actual healing part started. "This is pretty awesome, right?" she smiled, looking back at the rest of the team. "Bears are great. Not that I've ever seen one up close like this before."

"Well, looks like we've ended up with a little group of weirdos." To that, Wendy could agree. Thankfully, she was a much-needed dose of normalcy in this collection of strange and unusual characters. "Myself included, of course! Helena's the name, and this cutie is Jackie. I don't see much of a problem with Mahli wandering off and doing his own thing, it'd just bring everyone down to force someone to go somewhere they didn't wanna go... But we may as well tag along to Levincia for the first stretch, ye?" "Wendy," the white-haired girl reiterated, for those that hadn't been there when she first introduced herself. "I agree; if only as far as Levincia, we should at least stick together at the start of our adventure." And so the plan was made; meet back up outside the gates of Mesagoza, and from there, once the gang was all there, get this show on the road! Outside Mesagoza, South Province Area Three - 4:30 PM Wendy had initially resolved to be outside the gates at four o'clock, on the nose. However, met with some free time before the hour of choice, she'd gone to Naranja's library, to do a bit of research. Or try to, anyway. What was supposed to be "research" ended up turning into "struggling to find any material that could be found anywhere else". She'd been looking for any sort of documentation on Paldea's climate, as per the job that had sent her here in the first place, but the only mentions of weather that seemed unique to the region were listings of pokemon unique to Paldea who interacted with weather - a phenomenon far from unique to this region - and one not-very-academic-looking footnote that mentioned Paldea's rains were generally so short that there was no point bothering with umbrellas or anything of the sort in the first place, which did absolutely nothing to help Wendy in her search. The only thing that was even remotely connected to her search was the knowledge that Pelipper was a pokemon that existed in this region, which was not only a fact that nobody had ever called into question, but also one that still provided no assistance. Pelipper was far from exclusive to Paldea, yet this was the only region that was... like this. So unless there was some sort of hyper-frequent mass migration of the creatures or some equally unlikely situation, "pokemon abilities" could be ruled out as to why the weather in Paldea could swerve so suddenly. And then Wendy realized she was late, and that hitting the books was clearly getting nowhere anyway. She wasted no time putting everything back where she found it, ensuring she had her two poke balls with her, then hurrying to the gates of Mesagoza. Generally one to travel very light, Wendy had simply gotten a regular backpack, filling it up with supplies she'd imagined others might want. Not to mention there was that one boy, whose bag surely compensated for the rest of the team if they were light travelers like herself or if they simply neglected to prepare for a journey all around the Paldea Region. Wendy approached the gates just in time to hear that Aruto boy call out to the rest of his team. It seemed he was just now catching up as well, but rather than from within the city, it seemed he'd already gotten a bit of a head start exploring beyond its safety. "HEY! Sorry, was exploring a bit...got me a new Pokémon too!" "No worries, no worriessss. What's a few minutes on a long adventure like this? I'm sure the extra prep time is more valuable than the little bit of time lost, and it certainly looks like he was having fun!" Helena's opinion was met with a nod of agreement from Wendy. Followed by an introduction of her two partners. The Pumpkaboo was named Jackie, and the Klefki was named Lockpick. That was a thing trainers tended to do, now that she thought about it. Nicknaming pokemon and all. Wendy, for one, never saw a reason to. Even Mahli's pokemon had been dubbed Aroma. Fishing a pair of poke balls out of her raincoat pocket, Wendy casually pushed the buttons on the pair, releasing her own duo of pokemon that they might enjoy the fresh air. "It's... impressively dry out here," Wendy commented. "In fact, I would even call it disturbingly dry, though that may be because I come from a moist and humid region. Hopefully everyone remembered to pack some water for the trip." Still, a localized section of the region being this arid? Perhaps our vacationing employee back home simply visited at a bad time and this whole weather phenomenon I'm meant to investigate was being over-exaggerated as a result of a biased experience.

yeah

i left the tea bag in my mug for way too long and now my leaf water has turned into leaf juice instead

the irony of this specific stephen he quote being put to a gif that has way too few frames on the first line and being taller than it is wide making it both unsuitable for forum use and surprisingly small on discord is not lost to me

As Abby tried her best to heal the bear, a few facts became readily apparent. Healing a singular cut like she'd gotten yesterday was very different from trying to restore a very wounded bear back to health, big animals were harder to heal than people, and with the rather rudimentary healing abilities she had combined with the other two pieces of information, it overall felt like she was wasting her time with this. Oh well, I tried. If she was going to heal this majestic creature back to peak condition, it would have to be after dealing with the drengr. Fortunately, that was something Abby already had some small amount of experience in, not that that sounded like something to be proud of. THe others were already doing a fine job keeping most of the enemies occupied, but Abby's eye caught one straggler that was still unaccounted for. Not on her watch. Giving the bear a pat on the closest non-wounded bit of bear she could find, Abby said "I'll come back to you in just a moment." Stepping out from the "cover" of the bear's general existence, Abby swung her hammer behind her back, then, putting the whole of her body into it, threw the hammer at the remaining drengr. With her spellcasting hand, meanwhile, Abby called forth an otherwise-harmless blast of wind from behind her, accelerating the hammer's pace toward its target. The drengr, for its part, was fully occupied with the bear, and so failed to notice the shiny magical weapon hurtling toward it. The impact was significant, breaking the drengr's arm, and if Abby had to guess, some ribs as well. However, so eager was Abby to deal with the drengr, she hadn't considered her proximity to the bear. The injured, thrashing bear. The bear, not knowing or simply not caring about the fact that Abby had tried to heal its wounds, and/or of the general concept of gratitude, and certainly not in a state to distinguish friend from foe, had been doing as injured bears are wont to do, and was thrashing about to try and clear up anything that would try to harm it. And Abby, unfortunately, was in swinging range of its big bear arms, catching a clawed slap near the shoulder that knocked her off her feet and threw her to the ground. With the drengr down an arm and Abby herself also injured, the bear was probably the best off out of all three parties. That was why she was fully confident in her decision to back off for a moment, putting that healing spell to use on her fancy new bear slashes while she let the bear and drengr settle their differences for a bit.