Incredibly low damage %, quite a lot of "dead" skills, what should be main attack skills are horrible downgrades to your previous one for many levels (e.g. Double Stab > Savage Blow until like Lv21) and doesn't seem like it has anything to compensate for these issues; no flash jump, no crit -- nothing. Basically you rely a lot on your Meso Explosion gimmick to cheese mobs in specific maps (as it isn't practical in any "real" scenario to use) until you reach 4th Job? Anybody else notice how awful Bandit is, or am I playing it poorly? Like, each job advancement is making me feel like I'm getting demoted, it never feels like I reached the next step in my character progression until like 15 levels in or something. So, like, Lv1 Assaulter is 210%, Savage Blow 30 is 80% for 6hits, which is godawful due to how damage is calculated until you "brute force it" with better range, but Assaulter is a massive downgrade to Savage, which shouldn't be. Assaulter only gains 10% per level, which means several levels would need to be dedicated to it just to start matching Savage. Why? Why are (Chief) Bandit skills so insanely bad? The 1v1 low damage hell just makes this class seem like it's just for people who will leech or exploit wonky mechanics (Meso Explosion) to reach 4th Job.
You're exaggerating or playing it wrong. Chief Bandits with Band of Thieves mobs better than warriors if you wanna exclude Meso Explosion training for whatever reason, not to mention that Assaulter gives you one of the best platform climbing maneuvers. Assaulter is never meant to be the main attacking skill but more of a kiting skill IMO. Also it's normal for 2nd job skills to be fairly weak early level. Most magicians would rely on Magic Claw instead of Thunderbolt/Fire Arrow until they outdamage it later on, same goes for Hunter/Crossbowmen with Arrow Bombs/Iron Arrow.
Assaulter is basically cheap copy of flash jump that does damage. Meso explosion and BoT are the main attacking skills of 3rd job. And lf>warrior 2nd job attacking skills lul
Nah man. For 1st job yeah they suck compared to the sin version and others, but I think Dits are OP as hell as a 2nd job. Savage blow is fast and you hit a lot, you can easily outamage most classes in the 50-70 levels. As an exemple, in CPQ2 as somewhat funded sin I hit 5-6k if crits are lucky but somewhat funded dits can easily ditch CONSTANT 6k damage(1k a line) and outdamage everyone. At 70 with ME you can start leveling like crazy at gobies, himes, HH, Big foot. CBs are the strongest 3rd class IMO. ME is that OP. And 4th yeah you lose attacking power but still with shadow shifter+meso guard+Smoke bomb you become an incredible defensive squad member that can be seduced and so be a viable option for horntail, even with crap damage but your damage can be less crappy with funds. I don't think all classes must be damage dealers. CB has a niche for his own that nobody has. Nobody can do a shitload of damage at 70. Nobody is as defensive as a shadower.