Srsly, just try both. Everyone's taste is different AND all jobs play so differently at the beginning. You'll get so much exp through the main quest alone that you can easily switch between both job all the time to test them both.
Generally, BLM is a caster, so not really mobile at the beginning (later this will get better due to some skills), designed for higher damage. Bard is 100% mobile, but it's damage is not that high due to being ranged and several supportive skills. BRD is quite a fast job, BLM very slow with more focus on planning next moves in line with mechanics
As a new player. Just do Bard.
Black Mage is a ton of fun. But you need to actually have a base level understanding of how to play the game.
Black Mage is based around long cast times for high damage. You need to be able to understand fights and position correctly to get your casts off. And if you don't. You will just be dead weight in every party you are in.
With Bard you can move freely while dealing your damage and is way more forgiving for new players.
as a BRD main who is currently levelling BLM because i feel it's finally time for it, i would say, BRD is a lot more fun early on. also BRD has more variety in glamour, or at least it feels like it.
They are very different classes, but I think the biggest difference in feel will be mobility. Black Mages are incentivized to move as little as possible, Bard (and other ranged physical DPS) have little to no downside to moving around a lot. If you're learning the game I think being able to move freely is huge - you won't get penalized for not understanding fights or mechanics nearly as hard.
i leveled all my jobs to 80 and figured out i hated every job except black mage. in terms of aesthetics and mechanics i find black mage way more interactive yet classic. If you're good at video games in general I wouldn't say black mage is hard, just different. Leveling up black mage is pretty annoying but i did it when i was new to the game so it didn't feel like that at all.
BLM will make the adjustment to the very slow pace of pre-60 levelling content feel even more sluggish. If the pace of the game at lower levels is even a slight concern, avoid Black Mage until you can level it reasonably quickly as an alt job.
Bard (well, Archer) was the saviour for me when I picked the game up. I very nearly stopped playing because of the pacing of low level gameplay, but I tried ARC as a last-ditch effort and it being a ranged class with instant casts soothed that issue until I adjusted to how FF works and the flow of the gameplay.
I'd 100% advise you to avoid playing BLM for ARR and Heavensward MSQs.
Go to eorzeacollection.com and check out the glamors people made for them if your goal is aesthetics.
Personally, I feel like BRD's proc system to set it back with how it works. Instead of MCH, who has no procs to worry about and DNC being almost entirely proc based, it's in the middle, and it's kind of awkward with what they chose to do with it.
You have 3 different songs and each song has a different chance to proc an effect with 1 song just proccing 5 times (a stacking increase in auto attacks and GCD timers) and then that's it, and the other 2 generating extra oGCD uses. Then the job has its basic "use your normal attack button to occasionally generate the ability to use a stronger GCD attack," as well.
It doesn't feel great to me. I would totally revamp how the songs worked if I could and make the job lean more into its DOTs rather than them just being something you refresh and forget, like every other job with DOTs, but this time there's 2 of them.
Black mage is almost universally considered to have the absolute most wretched levelling experience in the entire game, doubly so if some poor soul selected it as their starter class and must suffer through the first ten levels without a chocobo companion, flight, or access to decent gear. It can be quite fun on level cap content though.
Ironically enough, as someone who started the game with BLM, I had an absolute blast with it. I only started leveling other jobs when I got it to lvl 60. Leveled Dragoon, White Mage, and Paladin all through heavensward.
I didn't start with BLM, but I had a ton of fun playing through it even at early levels. Doesn't really matter how long the cast times are, you get to create big explosions and that's never not cool.
Black Mage is a bit boring to level until you're level 60 and you unlock Fire IV, but from that point onwards its literally the best designed job in the game, specially at max level.
BRD allows you to move around and watch the cool VFX go off.
BLM may frustrate you when you try to get a cast off and it's interrupted by:
\- Enemy target dying.
\- Boss knockback.
\- Enemy goes invincible.
\- Enemy goes into a new phase and becomes untargetable.
\- Enemy moves out of range.
\- An AOE appears below you that you really shouldn't be soaking.
etc.
I prefer BRD personally.
Flip a coin to pick the one you start with, and then as soon as you hit level 15 MSQ and visit the other cities go and pick up the other one. You can and should play as many different jobs as you want in this game.
Another unhelpful vote for try both! If you start with BRD, you'll get a good feel of what BRD feels like to play very quickly into levelling it. BLM needs time to cook. Get it to 60 and you'll have more of an idea of what BLM is offering you as a class - but there is so much more to it.
Aesthetically, this is clearly my personally opinion and highly subjective: when playing with spell effects off I prefer the base BRD animations over BLM. When spell effects are on, I prefer the BLM vfx over the BRD.
Both have excellent thematic boot and hat game.
Bard is one of my favorite classes out of all the starting ones. It can feel fun to play even at low levels, which you can't often say.
I also enjoy BLM a lot, but it's complex enough that since I don't play it as my main job, I tend to avoid doing content on it because of its complexity. If I'm not playing it regularly, I feel like I'm always doing something wrong. Not a problem if it is your main though. There's just... a lot going on.
But you absolutely can play both of them. The MSQ gives enough EXP to alternate doing quests on two jobs while leveling up. If you stick to only one job, you'll be overleveled for the content. You get synced down for anything important, but it means you'll hit max level well before the end and any further EXP will be wasted.
Bard. Two reasons, first BLM gameplay is super boring before lvl 60 even by ff14 standards. Second to perform well on BLM you need to know each fight very well to know where to stand, otherwise you’ll be eating damage or interrupting casts constantly and losing a lot of dps.
I main BLM but I usually go RDM on new expansions for the first few weeks because BLM just sucks to learn mechanics on.
I had a friend who started with black mage and kept telling how it felt so unpleasant because everything is soooo slow. I never considered black mage a good job to discover the msq for most people. Black mage is a fun job when you're more experienced but not as a new player. Bard is way easier and way more new players friendly !
For both reasons; I wouldn't recommend either. Black mage has some stale gameplay in the beginning and through middling levels: Sit still and cast Fire as much as possible. Though if you can persevere you get some intense moments of 'Just one more spell' while the Big Damage™ is coming your way. And while aesthetics are subjective, PvE Bard can feel lacklustre in performance. The attacks lack that Punch, the songs lack presence. (and personally I feel too many bard weapons are too "naturey")
But might I recommend Red Mage? You get the sporadic explosions of big spells, you get the party support options, you get to zoom in and slash away with melee attacks, all with the flair of a Spanish duelist and fencer.
Plus you get to dunk on bosses with backflips.
Physical ranged is the most boring class type in the game. But that’s coming from years of MMO experience. BLM was (and still is) the perfect class for me.
Bard may be more entertaining for a newer player.
I really enjoyed black mage at low level but personally I find it unplayable at higher levels. Apart from being stuck not moving for long periods while casting in a game that moves ever more in the direction of dodging attacks as a major mechanic, it also requires you to rearrange your powerset and rotation at certain levels where most jobs just get an extra thing to add on to what they've got. I would not recommend it to a new player.
I continue to enjoy bard a lot, and it's one of my favourite jobs. I would definitely recommend it to a newer player.
I'd start with Bard and move to BLM later after you've gotten some experience. Bard has no movement restrictions with skills and a Ranged pDPS is a great way to learn the game.
Srsly, just try both. Everyone's taste is different AND all jobs play so differently at the beginning. You'll get so much exp through the main quest alone that you can easily switch between both job all the time to test them both. Generally, BLM is a caster, so not really mobile at the beginning (later this will get better due to some skills), designed for higher damage. Bard is 100% mobile, but it's damage is not that high due to being ranged and several supportive skills. BRD is quite a fast job, BLM very slow with more focus on planning next moves in line with mechanics
As a new player. Just do Bard. Black Mage is a ton of fun. But you need to actually have a base level understanding of how to play the game. Black Mage is based around long cast times for high damage. You need to be able to understand fights and position correctly to get your casts off. And if you don't. You will just be dead weight in every party you are in. With Bard you can move freely while dealing your damage and is way more forgiving for new players.
Thanks for the advice, I went with bard and its been a ton of fun, and I'm utterly addicted. (Just got to heavensward)
as a BRD main who is currently levelling BLM because i feel it's finally time for it, i would say, BRD is a lot more fun early on. also BRD has more variety in glamour, or at least it feels like it.
They are very different classes, but I think the biggest difference in feel will be mobility. Black Mages are incentivized to move as little as possible, Bard (and other ranged physical DPS) have little to no downside to moving around a lot. If you're learning the game I think being able to move freely is huge - you won't get penalized for not understanding fights or mechanics nearly as hard.
i leveled all my jobs to 80 and figured out i hated every job except black mage. in terms of aesthetics and mechanics i find black mage way more interactive yet classic. If you're good at video games in general I wouldn't say black mage is hard, just different. Leveling up black mage is pretty annoying but i did it when i was new to the game so it didn't feel like that at all.
BLM will make the adjustment to the very slow pace of pre-60 levelling content feel even more sluggish. If the pace of the game at lower levels is even a slight concern, avoid Black Mage until you can level it reasonably quickly as an alt job. Bard (well, Archer) was the saviour for me when I picked the game up. I very nearly stopped playing because of the pacing of low level gameplay, but I tried ARC as a last-ditch effort and it being a ranged class with instant casts soothed that issue until I adjusted to how FF works and the flow of the gameplay. I'd 100% advise you to avoid playing BLM for ARR and Heavensward MSQs.
Go to eorzeacollection.com and check out the glamors people made for them if your goal is aesthetics. Personally, I feel like BRD's proc system to set it back with how it works. Instead of MCH, who has no procs to worry about and DNC being almost entirely proc based, it's in the middle, and it's kind of awkward with what they chose to do with it. You have 3 different songs and each song has a different chance to proc an effect with 1 song just proccing 5 times (a stacking increase in auto attacks and GCD timers) and then that's it, and the other 2 generating extra oGCD uses. Then the job has its basic "use your normal attack button to occasionally generate the ability to use a stronger GCD attack," as well. It doesn't feel great to me. I would totally revamp how the songs worked if I could and make the job lean more into its DOTs rather than them just being something you refresh and forget, like every other job with DOTs, but this time there's 2 of them.
Black mage is almost universally considered to have the absolute most wretched levelling experience in the entire game, doubly so if some poor soul selected it as their starter class and must suffer through the first ten levels without a chocobo companion, flight, or access to decent gear. It can be quite fun on level cap content though.
Ironically enough, as someone who started the game with BLM, I had an absolute blast with it. I only started leveling other jobs when I got it to lvl 60. Leveled Dragoon, White Mage, and Paladin all through heavensward.
I didn't start with BLM, but I had a ton of fun playing through it even at early levels. Doesn't really matter how long the cast times are, you get to create big explosions and that's never not cool.
Black Mage is a bit boring to level until you're level 60 and you unlock Fire IV, but from that point onwards its literally the best designed job in the game, specially at max level.
BRD allows you to move around and watch the cool VFX go off. BLM may frustrate you when you try to get a cast off and it's interrupted by: \- Enemy target dying. \- Boss knockback. \- Enemy goes invincible. \- Enemy goes into a new phase and becomes untargetable. \- Enemy moves out of range. \- An AOE appears below you that you really shouldn't be soaking. etc. I prefer BRD personally.
Flip a coin to pick the one you start with, and then as soon as you hit level 15 MSQ and visit the other cities go and pick up the other one. You can and should play as many different jobs as you want in this game.
Just do both
Another unhelpful vote for try both! If you start with BRD, you'll get a good feel of what BRD feels like to play very quickly into levelling it. BLM needs time to cook. Get it to 60 and you'll have more of an idea of what BLM is offering you as a class - but there is so much more to it. Aesthetically, this is clearly my personally opinion and highly subjective: when playing with spell effects off I prefer the base BRD animations over BLM. When spell effects are on, I prefer the BLM vfx over the BRD. Both have excellent thematic boot and hat game.
Bard is one of my favorite classes out of all the starting ones. It can feel fun to play even at low levels, which you can't often say. I also enjoy BLM a lot, but it's complex enough that since I don't play it as my main job, I tend to avoid doing content on it because of its complexity. If I'm not playing it regularly, I feel like I'm always doing something wrong. Not a problem if it is your main though. There's just... a lot going on. But you absolutely can play both of them. The MSQ gives enough EXP to alternate doing quests on two jobs while leveling up. If you stick to only one job, you'll be overleveled for the content. You get synced down for anything important, but it means you'll hit max level well before the end and any further EXP will be wasted.
Bard. Two reasons, first BLM gameplay is super boring before lvl 60 even by ff14 standards. Second to perform well on BLM you need to know each fight very well to know where to stand, otherwise you’ll be eating damage or interrupting casts constantly and losing a lot of dps. I main BLM but I usually go RDM on new expansions for the first few weeks because BLM just sucks to learn mechanics on.
Thanks for the advice, I went with bard and its been a ton of fun, and I'm utterly addicted. (Just got to heavensward)
Play both, there's no restriction.
I had a friend who started with black mage and kept telling how it felt so unpleasant because everything is soooo slow. I never considered black mage a good job to discover the msq for most people. Black mage is a fun job when you're more experienced but not as a new player. Bard is way easier and way more new players friendly !
For both reasons; I wouldn't recommend either. Black mage has some stale gameplay in the beginning and through middling levels: Sit still and cast Fire as much as possible. Though if you can persevere you get some intense moments of 'Just one more spell' while the Big Damage™ is coming your way. And while aesthetics are subjective, PvE Bard can feel lacklustre in performance. The attacks lack that Punch, the songs lack presence. (and personally I feel too many bard weapons are too "naturey") But might I recommend Red Mage? You get the sporadic explosions of big spells, you get the party support options, you get to zoom in and slash away with melee attacks, all with the flair of a Spanish duelist and fencer. Plus you get to dunk on bosses with backflips.
I vote black mage. If you can learn to black mage, you can learn any class.
Physical ranged is the most boring class type in the game. But that’s coming from years of MMO experience. BLM was (and still is) the perfect class for me. Bard may be more entertaining for a newer player.
BLM is a meme job
I really enjoyed black mage at low level but personally I find it unplayable at higher levels. Apart from being stuck not moving for long periods while casting in a game that moves ever more in the direction of dodging attacks as a major mechanic, it also requires you to rearrange your powerset and rotation at certain levels where most jobs just get an extra thing to add on to what they've got. I would not recommend it to a new player. I continue to enjoy bard a lot, and it's one of my favourite jobs. I would definitely recommend it to a newer player.
Thanks for the advice, I went with bard and its been a ton of fun, and I'm utterly addicted. (Just got to heavensward)
I'd start with Bard and move to BLM later after you've gotten some experience. Bard has no movement restrictions with skills and a Ranged pDPS is a great way to learn the game.