[Vicious0093]

So I just started playing today after a long time off and I want to get into end game this time around. I've been trying to decide on a job to take to 75 that would be easy to get into an endgame LS with and landed on NIN and PLD, two jobs I like playing. I started leaning towards NIN and just about committed to it when I started hearing the ninja has become more like Lolnin and everyone's caught on to a /drk craze. What's going on with ninja's these days?

[Ashokan]

I've been trying to decide on a job to take to 75 that would be easy to get into an endgame LS with and landed on NIN and PLD, two jobs I like playing.

If your goal is to get into an endgame LS, level BRD.

I started leaning towards NIN and just about committed to it when I started hearing the ninja has become more like Lolnin and everyone's caught on to a /drk craze. What's going on with ninja's these days?

NIN/DRK isn't a craze, anything that prevents you from being a substantial contributor with melee, /DRK is usually optimal. Honestly, if you don't like NIN/DRK and would like to tank high level enemies (hnm, etc) then PLD is easier and will probably allow you quicker access to do that in a linkshell.

Unfortunately, you are correct that ninja has become lolNIN for some people/shells. High level enemies, like hnms, people prefer PLD over NIN, depending on the shell and situation even DRK and RDM can be preferred over NIN. Low defense enemies that can be meleed easily, people generally prefer normal DD without a tank. In short, NIN is hurt by the fact that any job can have most of what NIN has just by subbing it.

Ninja isn't completely useless though, it still has a niche in low-man events. A great ninja will still shine compared to other jobs in many situations, thus providing more opportunities to play ninja, but the aforementioned will still apply to some degree.

I think Japanese players tend to like NIN more than NA/EU players, but that's just an observation based on non-seeking party invites. Although, it seems to be backed up by JPbutton's JP/EN discussion which indicates Japanese players prefer a more defensive style of battle and English speaking players prefer high-offense style. Sometimes I wonder if that's the root of why ninja hasn't received the significant update that other jobs have received.