Dancer was one of the jobs that intrigued me enough to come back to FFXI (along with other things). Awhile back I unlocked Dancer with the help of my static mate Ardra, and just recently I decided to level it a bit as Naal (Adra’s alt) decided to level Scholar during non-static days.

All dance move are job abilities, you get your first [non two hour] at level 5, and the next at level 15 (and so on).   It’s a bit like Warrior, Monk, or Thief — when you start out there’s not a lot to do.  I’m still undecided about the notion of receiving all my spells as a Job Ability.  Dancer is essentially a mage.  However, unlike other jobs with magical components like Ninja, Paladin, White Mage, Red Mage, Black Mage, Summoner, Scholar, Bard, and Corsair, Dancer just gets all their spells handed to them as they progress.  No dice, no scrolls, no tools — nothing.

I’ve seen Dancer at the later levels, partying with them when I’m Paladin, Warrior, or Ninja.  At later levels Dancer looks like it can be highly entertaining playing the role of back-up tank or initial SATA partner.  With Sambas, Waltzes, and Flourishes the utility of the job starts making an appearance.

The issue with Dancer appears to be hate control.  The various curing waltzes I’ve experience have drawn in hate and caused Dancer to dominate the enmity list.  The job of Dancer is reasonably robust early on, and they can tank as well as any other melee.  As the Dancer progresses in levels, their ability to tank long term seems to diminish — at least against the VT++ -to- IT+ monsters we old-skoolers are used to.   The downward spiral seems to be a Dancer using a curing move and drawing hate, only to have to continually use another Curing move to keep themselves alive.  Not a problem if you’re facing a single monster in your level range — not so good if you have a unsleepable link or your puller over-hunted a bit.  This hints at some tactical play later on that I can look forward to.

My first impressions is that Dancer is something of a bore in the very earliest levels — but as you progress the diversity in roles the Dancer can play widens.  I’m not sure how I feel about Dances getting provided to you simply for gaining levels — it feels a bit too much like playing on easy mode.  If nothing else, Dancer appears to be a very viable subjob solo’ing/farming/whatever.