Cross-class/job leveling

[Lambdafish]

Is there anywhere I can read about how this new cross-class system differs from what's currently live?

We don't have much concrete info yet, but a good starting point would be NA fanfests opening keynote, and surrounding interviews. We know that the cross class system is being replaced by a role system that will contain skills for multiple jobs (rampart and shadowskin are confirmed to be combined into a role skill, and provoke is one of the reasons for the new systems development), but with the removal of the cross class system, we have no idea if PLD will relate to WHM anymore.

[ADVSS]

regardless of how the changes will affect things, youre better off unlocking paladin as you have. As stated before we dont know all the details, and well youre playing gld might as well upgrade it. Getting stoneskin is optional, it might be beneficial to wait to see, in a couple months what they are doing. Well unless you find that healing is something you enjoy

[Niwashi]

I do have one more question, this time concerning Disciplines of the Hand/Land—is it recommended that these are done in tandem with leveling a Discipline of War, similar to WoW/ESO? Or is it better to wait until I've reached 50 with a class? I've never been a serious craft-a-holic, but I also don't want to miss out on an opportunity to level a job that'll net me some worthwhile benefits south of max level (and continue to pull its weight even after I've reached the endgame).

It can be beneficial to have your crafting classes keep up with your main combat class. Typically, the levels tend to match (or come relatively close at any rate). So, for instance, items dropped from level 30 mobs and gathered by level 30 DoL classes can be used by level 30 DoH to make level 30 gear. So leveling them in tandem (or with crafting just slightly ahead if you want good stats for getting HQ items) is helpful if you like the self-sufficiency of making your own gear.

But the downside to that is that it can take up a lot of time, especially if you're trying to keep all eight crafting classes up to that level. A lot of players don't want to slow down advancement through the storyline enough to do all that crafting, so it's pretty common for people's first combat job to end up pulling ahead of their ability to craft for it, though they may be able to craft gear by the time they get to leveling up additional jobs later.

It sort of comes down to how much you care about self-sufficiency and making your own items, versus how much of a hurry you're in to advance through the story. And to some degree to how much you enjoy crafting compared to combat.

As for crafting and gathering... So having a class at level 50 before you start crafting offers you a couple small advantages, but no big ones. The game gives you bonus exp for any class at a lower level then your highest one, so extra experience is obviously a plus(but not really a direct advantage, just less time spent leveling).

That bonus doesn't actually apply to crafting, though. It's only other combat classes that get additional XP, not DoH/DoL.

(level 15 is also where you get your first crafting cross skills, the rest are at 37 50 and 54)

It's perhaps worth mentioning that most of the really good ones are at 15 or 50. Culinarian has a really good level 37 skill, but the ones from the other classes at that level aren't nearly as useful. So the cross-class priorities are: everything to 15, then CUL to 37, then everything to 50, (then I'm not sure about the level 54 ones, as I'm only to 50 myself).

[Frizze]

Huh. I thought the bonus was for any exp. Well ill stop mentioning it when answering questions like these. The hall of the novice ring still works right?

As for the level 54 cross classes, 6 of them are kinda meh, the other 2 have uses. The 6 classes that get "Brand of ______" crosses(so all but GSM and CUL) at 37 get "Name of ______" keyed to the same element at level 54. These change the recipe for the next 5 steps so that it counts as if it had the proper elemental affinity, and give a bonus to the associated Brand skill. In practice these can be used to get a few steps of heavy progress toward completion, but after the 5 steps the craft becomes "Nameless" and you cant re-apply the buff, or use a different element if you had a 2nd set crossed for some reason(and the fact that theyd inherently be different on each class makes them less popular with the macro set). GSM gets Makers Mark, a skill usable only on the first step of the recipe. For 20 cp it gives you a stack based on the progress required to complete the recipe(if i remember right its 1 + 1 per 100 progress required). The stack lets you use Flawless Synthesis for free(as in no durability lost, no cp cost to activate) for free until it runs out. This is used in some rotations(especially those based on specialist skills like Whistle While You Work), but you can certainly get by without it. Meanwhile for CUL, level 54 brings Muscle Memory. First step only, 6 cp skill that is basically Piece by Piece(lvl 50 arm) with no miss chance. So 1/3 progress for 6 cp and 10 durability. Obviously useful, though limited since its first step only.