FF11 is just the best game period.

Oh Avesta, those RDM videos were so fucking impressive.

Moooore ffxi vids pls. Don't let the dream die.

My wife and I used to play this together. I found my favorite jobs to be PLD and DRK and hers was RDM. Our accounts got hacked and while dealing with SE they went through the first server merge and Remora was merged with Leviathan. We gave up at that point. Most of our friends had already quit or moved servers and I had figured we lost everything when merged since the accounts were on lock down. Nostalgia is making me want to go back to Vana'Diel though.

Bard was my first 75 and man you weren't kidding about the invites. There was a time back in the day when just logging into the mog house you'd immediately start recieving /tells inviting you to party. Nothing was more fun for my party life than pulling multiple mobs to the party, sleeping them, and having them just waiting there for the party to kill at their leisure.

This game got me through some hard times when it came out. I stopped for years but would always do the return home campaign so they didnt delete my character. Recently, a friend started streaming it and got me back into it. Feels good man.

BLM main for 15 years ;) I like the way you think!

The Red Mage he mentions is Avesta (JP) of Asura -> Remora. He was the first to solo many high level NMs, 75-era circa '05-07 on PS2, and his videos were legendary. No Windower plugins either, which make the game significantly easier for solo players, whether those people want to admit that or not. Hakutaku Lord of Onzozo Charbydis Big Bomb Cactrot Rapido Zipacna Ungur Operation Desert Swarm (BLM) ZNM16 Automaton Assault Seiryu Suzaku Genbu Byakko (2010 @ Lv. 80) Many of these and a few others are on KZfaq in full. Sadly, some of his later stuff isn't available. Also, don't believe the nonsense when other people say what he solo'd was "easy". Most of those people are talking out of their ass and don't take the context of the eras he performed many of these solos in. His Cactrot Rapido solo is also hilariously underrated.

Man after years, YEARS of hovering around lv 40-50 as a young boy playing this game, BLM ended up being my first lv 75. And I did it because the option to solo was discovered. Soloing BLM to 75 was so fulfilling. I have had many triumphs since, some that I consider much greater, but boy I just wont ever forget solo levelling BLM.

RUN is my all time favorite job now. I was a tank main in the golden lv.75 era, especially when PLD75/NIN37 reigned, but coming back, RUN is just everything I ever wanted.

Started playing 14 years ago. Soloed Red Mage to 75, never partied, took years. Then started Summoner and Carby was so bad, I left it at level 3 where the job still sits today. Winkkin-Sylph:119, RDM. BLM, WHM, WAR, MNK, NIN, THF, PLD, DRK Others are making progress. Still play everyday.

I don't know whether I should be surprised or not that Corsair isn't on the list. I guess undervalued but ultimately superior jobs still have that stigma and rarity around them. Aside from the extremely rare mobs that could be quick draw kited, I guess it's inability to solo hurt it too much. That being said....being able to dps slightly below a rng, while performing the same role as brd (or even in tandem with brd), Corsair was fucking amazing on levels that were never truly appreciated because of how few of us there were.

i miss playing this game so much, played it from like... 05-10 HARD. Im shocked its still going, I miss it so.

currently going for a RUN/RDM playthru, loving the whole idea of parrying everything with a one handed or two handed sword, no shield, and throwing solid magic around. reminds me of Kratos Aurion in ToS.

Great video. The RDM name that soloed stuff was "Avesta" in case you get bored and want to look it up.

Monk was always my favourite but I can at least recognize it didn't even have a chance of sniffing a list like this. Honestly I expected Blue Mage to be on it.

Fantastic video. I'll paraphrase the SquareEnix's take on Bard, "nailed it."

Red Mage is nr 1 in my book. I remember back in the day in high level parties, I would main heal, constantly rotating refresh on all party members who had mp, as many as 4 sometimes, while making sure to cast 2-3 enfeebles on every mob at the beginning of each fight, erasing stuff, sometimes magic bursting. I remember relying on regen a lot. Regen is very mp efficient, but mainly it frees up time. RDM doesn't really ever have problems with mp. They're mp tanks who can go on for hours non-stop. In exp parties, rdm was the best healer. I know a fair number of them weren't comfortable or willing to fill in that role, but atleast for me, I could do it very easily. For more casual stuff, like quests, they were even more amazing. When shit hit the fan, they were great at dealing with the situation. They had great crowd control and could even tank additional mobs, as they generally subbed nin. And they were the best soloing job in the game, although a bit slow. But the end result is what matters. They could also sneak and invis your entire party and replenish everyones mp on the go. The only major negative was that it was a very skill-based job, and a lot of rdm's weren't willing to put in that extra effort, or didn't rise to the occasion when under pressure, but that's not the fault of the job. Also, they weren't really amazing at the high end of things, when you had full alliances, but because of their great abilities in exp parties, and casual stuff, as long as you accepted that it was the most advanced job in the game, and was willing to put in an extra effort to take it close to its full potential, you were so well respected by others that they couldn't really reject you. Bard is amazing. Situationally they were better than Red Mage, but they couldn't fill in as an extra healer, and they couldn't really hold their own, the way a rdm could. Blm is probably the best damage dealer, but any dmg dealer is more or less replacable. Situationally, a blm is a must, or atleast a huge asset, but it's kind of like with bard. If you can find one, you always get them, but you can do just fine without them in most situations. Although I remember in the early days, blm almost being a requirement for mid range exp parties, but in the upper levels, you could get on fine with just a melee party. Blm also always had major issues dealing with hate, both in terms of avoiding and surviving it. The melee dmg dealers all had pretty decent defense by comparison, and a really nice health bar on top of that.

Good channel man. Youre a real gamers gamer!

i retired FFXI. long ago. I play 14 now. But I miss my RDM tarutaru. I miss my chainspell lol will never miss the 70-75 RDM Maat level cap fight lol shantotto was my favorite NPC in this game. sadly stop playing when my mom got sick. we used play FFXI since COP came out, with each other. sadly she passed away 3 years ago. it been hard for me go back and she not there anymore.. But FFXI was my very first MMO game and always my favorite. even though I move on to FFXIV. FFXI will always be my #1

Great Video.

Brd/whm is the goat. I had no issue getting parties when I logged in on that class.

Every time I watch your videos I activate my game again, thanks for the nostalgia. Lol

Nice video man thanks.

Dragoon was always one of my personal favorites, ability to solo AND great damage and super jump to drop agro when you need.

I think I'd personally switch RDM and BLM on this list, mostly because of the era where everything was beatable in one chain spell stun from a RDM/DRK. I think for all of BRD's buffs, the often overlooked piece of the puzzle was actually Elegy. I knew tanks that flat out refused to tank anything unless there was a bard for Elegy, especially ninjas. Great list though; brings back good memories.

I use to play since it's arrival on PS2 up to the time they stopped it on the PS2. (Sad Day) I say: Blue Mage. After some months of playtime, I was able to chain and burst for myself and my party. Along with setting up my moc, I help defeated all the world bosses with a burst set-up.

When I decided to level BLM for Warp, I was already a PLD main with 3 points in +enmity! I couldn't even cast level one spells without ripping agro from tanks! I only could cast one spell per fight in xp parties LMAO

What's your graphics setup (card and settings)? Seems like everything is ultra clean and smooth in your videos.

I'm not sure if I'm biased, but I feel like iLevel, Master, Full Apoc DRK is one of the strongest overall in terms of survivability and damage output. With +2 Ambuscade gear, the damage reduction helps. But what puts it in my top 5 is the ability to self SC (or follow a shit-ton of other jobs for a darkness SC), and then MB Drain III, which lasts about 4 minutes if I remember correctly. This can immediately give DRK the most HP in any party or alliance (I've drained 9999 before). This is perfect for using Souleater, Berserk, Warcry, and Last Resort with wild abandon, ESPECIALLY when using an Apoc. The drain effect of Catastrophe, Dread Spikes, plus rapid TP gain has enabled me to effectively tank should the ACTUAL tank need a break. I haven't even touched on the Absorb spells or 1-hours.

Another great vid. I myself have a few favs , smn and pup are both top of my listt.. I like pet jobs. And no bst isn't a real pet job. Always nice to have a brd or rdm in the pt. Still as old as this is all mmorpgs if played to date are kinda held to this standard, which sux cause haven't found one yet that can replicate the feeling . And so I continue to play on nas with a lol 74smn and a broken pup. Why because it's as close to the original as possible and pup is just to fun even if broke. Keep the vids coming.

Ahh, the nostalgia is real! I’m getting a laptop soon and I’m going to reactivate my account. What server are you on?

COR was always my favorite support their buffs were always OP. Especially if you have that party member in the party with you and with double up you can always get rid of a bad roll but more importantly. You can actually pour on some damage with a proper setup.

Bard was definitely one of my faves. I remember when I was leveling it. It was a blast. Taru Taru Bard FTW

Dark Knight was my main. I havent played in probably 10 years but it left a lasting impression on me. I remember being so we'll geared and just smashing it in merit parties when people thought a DRK Couldnt do damage.

Remember when I first got a scorpion harness haha

I leveled very slowly, and I hit 60BLM riiiight around that Aht Urgahn range. it was my first 75, and I remembered HAAAATING playing Black Mage, which is why I took up SMN.

PLD, SAM, BLM, BRD, RDM in the 75 Days.

Would love to go back to FFXI but I haven't played for 10 years and think I'd be completely lost if I went back now.

I'm about to cry you didn't mention blue mage

i loved warrior i wish i had leveled it more it ended up getting stuck at like 66 , but great axe was so amazing. my favorite 3 jobs would be sam , blu , and brd , black mage was always fun thought too.

I remember when Manaburn was a thing and bards were always invited to those... I'm a bit basis in that regard because I got perma stuck as Bard in Dynamis since I had the Dynamis Horn.

I duoed Charbydis for my Joyeuse on my RDM with a BLM friend. What a fun fight and that job pair is an amazing duo. (This was back in the 75 cap era.) I also duoed Bune numerous times to get an Enhancing Sword with my RDM and a friend on PLD. Guess I agree with at least 3 jobs on your list. lol

Suprised you didn't pick BST as most useful job. They were the masters of cleaning up a zone after some party trained a whole zone worth of crawlers into the zoning area :)

When I came back to play and finish the last expansion, it was BLU that made it possible for me. It's a job that I had Fell Cleaved up just for completeness back in the Abyssea days when chocobo blinkers made gil flow like water. It wasn't until my last time back that I got the experience of really going on spell hunts, and it was a highlight of my FFXI experience. I doubt I would have finished the last expansion without the power of BLU in a Trust party on mission content. Not to mention the solo potential in Zi'Tah.

My top 5 favorite jobs: BST :P Kidding. It was more like BST, THF, RNG, RDM, NIN, in that order. That's just me though. Milestones in those jobs brought me joy. Dang I miss this game.

I feel like WHM could have been #1, but at the same time being disqualified from contention as well

I remember during 75 lvlcap, hasting a samurai is like "good luck keeping hate, tank" xD

Ahhh I was basically RDM and only RDM throughout my time playing. Loved every second of it.

My mastered WAR (Asukalangley, Siren) does SO much DPS with a one-handed sword that it's like I'm holding a Kraken club at all times. It's so far the only job I can bring to Apex crabs and not either run out of MP fighting or get painted into a corner ability or HP-wise.

Huge fan of the underdog. After the release of ToAU, all the "lolpup" inspired me to become the premiere PUP on Fairy (in my opinion) and won my Linkshell's PvP "Fight Club" league with it.

I played this for the first time tonight and after a few hours I feel like I'm gonna enjoy this. Playing with my brother who is a white mage while I play a warrior and it's been fun. The brown puzzle chests, discovering that different weapons have entirely separate skill lines and just chilling out on an mmo that's so different to the modern tab target or action mmo is just nice. I have a pretty bad attention span admittedly but I'm gonna work hard not to drop this one.

One time in 75-cap I ended up in a low-level party with the leader of a big HNM shell. We had outside healing from a 75 WHM and they kept swapping a 75 BRD in and out of the party for songs.

Man that part about NIN took me back. When I started tanking it was barely popular as a tank and I had to convince everyone around me that I could tank. We used to get so much shit and holding hate was a pain (until you got some proper eminity pieces around lv 64?) but holy shit was it rewarding!

I remember unlocking smn as I liked the idea of using those avatars like leviathan and Shiva got my 1st party ready to go at lvl20....main healer because smn has so much mp people back then tried to use it as just whm because you couldn't find healers for party's I remember getting so frustrated because the party leader got mad at me because I couldn't pull of healer role my cure 1 healed less hp then the mobs where hitting for.

A good Ninja tank was always miles better than any other, and I'm talking about those NIN's that didn't require a THF in party.

I think ill try this game. I may be late to the party and probably will be alone but this seems so fun! mmm I think im gonna try a redmage :)

Last time I played which was back in 2004 I played Ranger with E-bow and man the damage I did was one shotted exp mobs I would get a lot of invites to parties because I built a reputation of being a good DD. Those were the days...

I agree with your list 100%.

I used to solo Operation Desert Swarm on BLM all the time! I was Elvaan, too. :P

My top 5 FFXI jobs - RDM (basically necessary at all stages of the game from solo to groups to end game) BST (best soloer in the game, under used in parties, really fun to play) NIN (reasons you stated, one of the greatest mmo jobs ever) DNC (Changed the game when it was released, made more options for sub jobs and made sustainable soloing on other jobs possible) THF (Amazing, TH makes it an auto choice. Funny that no one actually knew how it worked for like 5+ years, do you let THF last hit?! Do you take more than one THF?! hilarious. Its hate control was a really awesome concept and the dmg it put out was great)

I played DRG almost exclusively. Even had a DRG link shell and made DRG only parties which were insane. (Instant full hp for 7 mana? Ok!) and the TP gain on jumps was insane. Can Skillchain with self from jump TP. I never felt weak or vulnerable as DRG and was basically unkillable with RDM or BLU sub. 11 was the best game ever

One of the best parties I was in, in FF 11, was paladin, black mage, dark knight and 3 red mages. The spells were everywhere. Lol

Beastmaster must be number 1!

RDM/NIN in early days were the BOMB :)

My Personal Top 5 - 75 Era Jobs #1 BST/DNC - my first job to 75 (also my first job to 99). I admit, the road of BST was not an easy one, but it was the most enjoyable! Finding new xp camps and mastering the timing of gear swaps and re-charms when your pet goes rogue in the middle of a VT fight still makes my palms sweat. But it was exhilarating with a great sense of accomplishment. Succeeding and soloing in a very difficult multipler game was(and still is) the best feeling in the world. I honestly think if there was no BST in FFXI, i might not have stuck around for 15+ years! #2 THF/NIN - Probably the 2nd best puller in the game (BRD wins hands down), SATA skillchains are amazing, 1 less person for whm to heal thanks to hate mitigation and shadows, plus crossbows, i mean come on, swing daggers, shoot crossbow, swing daggers, shoot cross bow, TP gain was super fast! Don't forget Squid Sushi +1!! I wore all DEX/AGI gear all the way to 75, most of it was lvl30-40 gear, but i didn't need the added Def/MDef from the higher level gear, THF/NIN was all about the SATA and never getting hit!! #3 BLM/NIN - If i had a dollar for everytime someone in my party asked me why i have /NIN, i'd have a lot of dollars lol. Anyways I always enjoyed Stat boosting my characters, higher stats, more dmg and BLM is "the" Damage Dealer of FFXI. /NIN gave me the ability to Dual Wield +1 Wands(or +2 if i could afford it), more INT = more dmg. I know i took a loss to MP pool by not using traditional /WHM, /RDM, /SMN, but he was a Tarutaru and with the right food and a RDM in the party, MP was never an issue. Hard hitting and perfectly timed Magic Bursts is the best feeling in the world! #4 RDM/DNC or RDM/WHM or RDM/BLM - Pretty much the same reasons as stated in the video above, survivabilty, endless MP with Refresh/Convert, Best Enfeebles in the game, and all around the Jack of All Trades when it comes to party roles #5 SMN/RDM - Pretty much self explanatory, Summons for MBs or Buffs (Fenrir i'm talking to you!) paired with RDM enfeebling = a fun time! also great off healer as well

I liked this a lot. By all means, do worst jobs as a follow up.

I had 3 lvl 75 jobs on my elv. character. BRD, BLM and SMN...with my BLM and BRD completely merited out. While the BLM Tarus would get me on the margins in dmg, on hnms I actually lasted most fights without dying while my little Taru friends were being cleaned up on aisle 5. Classic example was Dynamis Lord and seeing the alliance getting laid out. I saved my re raise, 2hr and when I got up...I hit with a Thunder IV and dropped it. Giving our LS its first win in that fight. Eventually things like Niddhog and Genbu alter ego became burn fests, and King Behemoth but a early morning run around the track.

Where would White Mage rank? As the best healer in the game, it's pretty useful and I cannot remember a time when it was not needed. Btw, what server are you on?

SAM, BLU, AND DRK during the 99 era were just crazy OP. When those new weapon skills came out... wow. A DRK with Ragnarok was just frightening. When I finally got my Amano on my SAM and was literally spamming Tachi: Kaitens for 8k to 10k a pop... I lost it lol. In Abyssea it was easily double that. Besides that, SAM is just so much fun self skill chaining. Makes me miss this game haha, I need to resist the urge to come back. I'll never get anything done!

I was hoping to see Dancer but I get why it isn't here and respect all of your decisions sir.

I've soloed genbu as a rdm back in the day was a blast did take forever tho but great

Nothing makes my night like a good stretch of exp PT with a Bard in it.

Can you do a class overview of the rdm class in ffxi. I can't find one anywhere on KZfaq.

While Black Mage was my main towards the end, I finally ended up retiring from the game due to lack of interest and lack of getting into events to get better gear after Seekers of Adoulin hit. My main endgame group had pretty much disbanded after the main leader left due to health concerns from her Doctor and... My friends honestly were the main reason I kept playing the game. Oddly enough I didn't really enjoy playing the game nearly as much at that point from just playing it for so long and being fairly burnt out. I think I had difficulties logging on, which was the final nail though. I just quit at that point. If I had one more chance though I would have given all my expensive gear ( Novio earring, stuff like that ) away to friends who stilled played.

My list of favorites DRG - Why? because I am badass with it. Always good for a light or darkness skill chain and can provide an occasional emergency heal. RUN - Very powerful survivable job. Solo's WoG with it. DNC- My friend is as badass with DNC as I am with DRG

Hmm...I'd go with either white mage or thief. Can't go wrong with the ultimate healer for parties or end game...though soloing got interesting (DD whm, yes please lmao). Still remember having to sneak into The Shrine of Ru'Avitau to raise a party member surrounded by weapons...fun times :D And thief because...treasure hunter lol...not to mention thieves could pull some sick damage out of their rear ends without drawing hate...and their insane evasion allowed them to survive some seriously nutty situations...the amount of times I heard "How are you still alive?" was ridiculous lol

I loved my BLU, but I was always salty that people wanted my BRD instead. Still made doing story missions a breeze :D

Funny you rag on smn and yet I found it rather useful. Being lone healer from high 20s to mid 30s in bibiki bay with Sam's tanking. Smn party with bard and cor bluffs/mp refresh. To end game with an alliance with two party of smns and a tank party. With dmg smns did and near zero hate was easy for tank to hold hate and allow ease for healers to focus on tanks. Smn could be very useful they just became more dangerous when you got more of them together.

if I ever try this game, I'm probably going to try RDM and RUN any tips?

DRK is a niche DPS'er Need relic damage proc or emp aftermath to hit those 40k Torc's. Pairs well with a RUN tank, for magic heavy targets since DRKs MDEF is decent.

avesta. he solod seiryu on rdm as well. a whole bunch of crazy stuff.

How did you get a Top Job list out with out even mentioning BLU!? BLU in all eras ever since ToAU was a solid Job that could be whatever you wanted, and could do that role well. It had great DPS, could be a solid off tank (or even main tank if you geared it right), and was very much a serviceable healer. It had survivability that could rival some of the tankier Jobs, and it's solo ability was through the roof (I remember getting to 40 solo in less time than a party could, fighting off mobs that would wreck a party, in the ToAU era where soloing IT mobs if you weren't a BST was a death scentence)! As for being in parties, it was a powerhouse to be reckoned with. It could open or close just about any skillchain, and even magic burst off of it as well, and for later levels, it could self-skill chain all day every day! In missions and objectives, it's capable of hitting just about every trigger, covering just about every scenario, and pretty much be the master key to open any lock. BLU had everything you needed to get the job done, and get it done well, and all it asked is you go out and farm your spells and earn all the power it had to offer! Once that is done, it's on player skill and knowledge of what you're going after to know what spells to set! Also, yes, I know this vid is 2 years old, but that doesn't change how BLU should have been on the list haha!

Was a two-handed WAR since NA launch. Ragnarok server. Miss the game, but can't afford the time sink into the game anymore. I haven't played since level cap increase from 75.

So I had a mental list and I'm really surprised BLU and SAM didn't make the cut (I know its a jokey list but I'm playing along). I feel like SAM can do everything WAR can do but do it better. There was a period of time during ToAU, where SAM was clearly SE's golden child and the best DD in the game. The abilities they added to SAM were INSANE. BLU on the other hand was just such a powerhouse of versatility during the 75 era and was bar none the best job in the game at 119.

War still reigns supreme for cleaving, only thing that comes close at times is a correctly geared BLU. Sad Ninja has fallen so far from how it used to be. Just a sub job now, and Dnc was better for support. RDM isn't a master of none and in XI can be a jack of all trades but the fact they don't get staff kinda ruins it. But they're amazing, I main it and always have. RDM/NIN was THE best solo configuration in the 75 days if not that, it was /dnc. In this day and age thanks to things like Temper they can easily smack shit around. Depending on the situation you still want one even now, be it for flurry or as you mention Distract and Frazzle 3. Bard is soo broken if only for its buffs and the fact that Lullaby will actually consistantly sleep vs. repose. I cannot say it's better then having a rdm, it's on par with a geo in role useage. They are NOT always invited unfortunately not now at least, if you're not a 4 song...you'll likely get turned away now. There was that awesome update to weaponskills where Bard's could out dps a thf and that was fun.

What server are you on?

PLD for life, yo.

That redmage that solo'd genbu also solo'd Seiryu and or szaku and he was the blm that solo's operation desert swarm The mighty Avesta ;)

WAR was somewhat 'required' in abyssea years for the utility of having access to so many red procs, especially in lower man groups, RDM (and PLD) also fell VERY out of favor in abyssea and RDM didnt completely recover compared to its pre-abyssea status.. even now most if not all content can be done without a rdm with a geo in the party

The argument you use against war works for nin too. Any tanking a nin would do you could likely do /nin partly because the best tanking as a nin was /drk or /rdm so might as well just main those. What brought down nin wasn't 119 it was enmity testing. Similarly melee soling rdm, dnc, blu were often better with /nin Genbu is also not a great example of soloing. Like back when avesta was doing his thing there was a video of a nin using ninjitsu to solo genbu lol. God that took forever. Rdm lost it's luster back in the great enfeebling nerf. It's actually regained some lost turf due to gifts but it's been in a bad place for endgame pretty much from mid toau till recently brd has been king for awhile but now if it's a choice between brd and geo it's usually 2 geo lol. Or prebuff with mule brdOther mentions whm... no one has come close to healing like whm ever. Anytime you needed a better healer than rdm you needed a whm. It's still the case. Nowadays smn smn smn. Literally 2-5 times more dps than any other job zerging with less support.

What class should I pick to basically be Auron?

I still play BRD, although I honestly started pretty late. The music and outfits are just too fun to pass up. And people always bully SMN, but that's my other favorite, honestly. Would love to see a Worst 5 Jobs though, to understand what it was that gave Dragoons their jokes.

Ugg..Ninja, I never loved tanking as that. I loved Paladin though...seriously, rediculously good and fun tank.

When you said BLM I was slightly hesitant, mostly because after 60 I don't remember BLMs being in any party I was in. However, for story content they were awesome. My fav jobs, as well as the ones I got to 75 (not saying these are the best) were: MNK, WHM, BLU, and COR. You mentioned Operation Dessert Swarm and how a BLM could solo it, but I believe MNK could solo it as well.

I guessed all the job but Warrior. My personal list would be based of my time playing the game. 5. SAM 4. BLM 3. RDM 2. BRD 1. NIN I was main RDM and then I tried BRD and switched back. I was like a celebrity back then. I had to be /anon for almost of the time because the nonstop resquest for parties

seems biased towards jobs that came out with NA release, but i dont mind cause i honestly love all the original jobs and whatever came with Rise of Zilart (ninja). anytime i go to level new job in XI it's a from the earlier jobs :P

in the 1-75 days RNG had much more uses then many of the other jobs on this list. RNG did require decent gear to be good but as longs as they had the ACCuracy to hit the were some of the best DDs in the game great for Meriting and levelling, as well as almoste all Story line Progression. back in the day before the Range optiomitzation nurf RNGs could stand front line getting TP as fast as most dual wielding jobs and spamming sidewinder point blank. they were in thoes days the #1 DPS in merit partys. and even after the nurf they still could out DD most warriors.

1. (perfect 100) RDM, 2. (90) BLU, 3. (88) PLD, 4. (85) SAM, 5. (84) BRD WAR required way too much high end gear to actually perform higher than sam throughout pretty much the entirety of the 75 cap, and DRK performed straight up better in 99% of content if you considered access to stuff like relics and K. club. Both WAR and DRK were outclassed by half the other DD classes during Aby, and has only barely come into the #1 DD position in 119 content. SAM 100% gets the place because it was way more accessible, had way more use throughout 75 cap (solo SCs, sam/rng, mythic sam, soboro not /rng, off-tank w/ seigan, better solo abilities due to seigan, some of the best 75 era ultimates), extreme viability and near requirement for aby content, Tachi: Shoha was UTTERLY BROKEN AS [redacted] when it first released (Day of shoha's release, I went into WoE on my non-relic, non-max geared SAM, and straight up outdpsed a maxed out relic sam because Shoha was doing 3x the damage of Kaiten.), and is now easily top 3 DDs yet again with Jinpu, and it's also historically been the single best subjob option. DRK has always required way too high end of gear to be super viable, and at 75 cap was a legit resource drain due to MP management being as bad as it was. RDM is self-explanatory. If anyone disagrees with RDM being the #1 job in FFXI, you never played FFXI at any point, and definitely never played RDM. Avesta, enough said. BLU has been a top job in all content since it's release. If RDM wasn't a launch job, and still overall performed better, it might be a closer argument between RDM and BLU. But BLU is pretty tied with PLD, instead. PLD is the single best tank in the game, always has been, and doesn't suffer the same issues NIN has. It works universally against anything. PLD is a GOD TIER solo job, albeit slow. And this has only gotten better and better with each expansion, rather than ever getting worse. PLD/DNC during WotG was probably the height of the job's solo ability, but it's still absolutely god tier. PLD can, surprisingly, do a [redacted] stupid amount of damage if you actually gear it for it... just no one really ever does. Access to multiple relics, a god-tier mythic, one of the best current empyreans and one of the best at-release-of-them empyreans, PLD has always had access to stupidly good damage output abilities, it's just that almost no one really ever does anything with it DD-wise, not that it can't. This was especially true back at 75 cap, when Burtgang pld literally 100% of the time outdamaged almost any job's WSes due to how Atonement actually works. BRD. BRD is a job no one played correctly for years. It's by far the most slept on 75 cap job. BRD/NIN, Mandau or Mythic mainhand, Joyeuse offhand, Byakko's to easily cap haste during an era where 25% gear haste was hard for any job not on byakko's, K.O. for one of the single best WS pieces in the game, Eventually a freaking haste% harp to cap haste even more, Gjallarhorn removed any need to swap instruments so you could melee, access to one of the most easily stacked WS mods in the entire game in the form of their mythic WS due to the stupid amount of chr on brd AF/Relic. The best party buffs period until Geo came out, and still arguably comparable in many regards for melee parties. One of very few jobs where you could bring multiple of them to stack even more unique benefits. Rarely actually needs to even be in the party so can literally exist as an extra stat buff without even taking up a party slot, making 90% of non-instanced encounters even easier. The job that allowed a level 36 party to compete with a level 75 party for exp/hour gains. (No, I'm not kidding, optimal E.Ron (S) parties compared with bhaflau thickets colibri merit parties back in the day. I'd know. I was the one that MADE E.ron S parties a thing, and got about 50% of the asura population's sub jobs up to level 44 with my 12 hour long brd + cor e ron s parties.) The worst job is easily BST, as it only has certain specific strats to it's name. RDM solos better. PUP cheeses content better. SMN was always more useful vs things that spammed death or similar. BLU, THF, DNC, WAR, DRK were always pretty similar for AoE strats, if not straight up better during most updates. (aby blu, anyone?) RDM is the best job in the game, period. Strongest solo, highest utility, one of the best subjobs. PLD is the best tank, and thus the best group job. Even today RUN doesn't even come close to comparing as far as actual tanking is concerned. BLU is BLU. It's RDM 2.0. Different strengths, but easily just as broken. SAM is, was, and always will be the general best overall damage dealing job in the game. No other job has the consistency SAM has always had. BRD is BRD. It has a WAY higher cap than anyone ever utilized, but it's party utility is simply busted, and always has been. A few other jobs come close, but I'd honestly say there's at least a 5 point gap between BRD and the next best job, if you consider the entire game's history. GEO would definitely be up there if only considering post-SoA, probably straight up replacing BRD and surpassing SAM and possibly even PLD. But... most of the game's lifespan didn't have GEO. so... it gets a point reduction for that. The only other job I'd place over an 80 would maybe be NIN if considering /nin as somehow being part of what makes the job good. Otherwise, it drops down to like a 76. I say this as someone who used to main NIN, and who now duos almost everything with a relic nin friend. NIN is nowhere near as good of a job as people think it is. It was simply the fact most healers were falling asleep and sucked at their job that made people think NIN was good. NIN's only real spotlight was Abyssea. Where yeah, it was busted. There's a reason that despite having REMAs, maxed out gear, maxed out merits, BiS optimal gear sets, etc. etc. for so many top jobs during Aby, that I went as NIN to about 85% of LS events. But... that had honestly nothing to do with NIN being good, and everything to do with Abyssea being stupid. Abyssea removed the downsides of NIN, added a hard requirement for NIN spells and Katana/Great Katana WSes, and somehow had 80% of endgame boss type fights completely and utterly incapable of hitting through or removing shadows. That's not NIN being good. That's Abyssea being dumb. Of course a -DT capped job with hundred fists attack rate, infinite shadows and 4k+ HP is going to be busted. SO WAS MONK. MONK.