New player here! Looking for some help from a Veteran player!

'm relatively new to FFXIV: ARR. I was in the beta, but I didn't get all that far in the game (although I still thoroughly enjoyed my experience). So now that I'm officially playing the Full version, I suppose now is the best time to get my bearings and figure out what I'm doing. So I'll try to make these questions as short and precise as possible.

1. What server would you recommend?

2. Does race have a significant impact on the effectiveness of your class?

3. Does your Guardian have a significant impact on anything? Or any impact at all?

4. What are the limitations of the class system? Can I make a warrior, level it, and then level a summoner and use skills from both? Making me a summoning warrior bad ass?

5. As far as builds go, is there a wide array of what you can do or is everyone kind of limited to a certain route that is most suitable for endgame?

6. What are some vital tips & information you (as a veteran player) would say I need to know?

1) No opinion.

2) No. It has a very minor effect on stats (1~5 points; same stat difference at lv1 and lv50), but you won't notice the difference.

3) No. It has a very minor effect on elemental resistances (1~5 points; same stat difference at lv1 and lv50), but you won't notice the difference.

4) Leveling one class doesn't directly affect any other class. The only advantages you get from leveling multiple classes is the ability to use certain skills from one class on another class. The cross-class skills will not change the way your class/job performs, so no you can't be a summoner/warrior mashup.

5) There aren't really builds. The only customization you can do is allot your 30 stat points (per class), and select your cross-class skills. For most situations, there is really only one correct option to these selections, so it's faux-customization. That said, none of the customizations will drastically change the way you use your class/job.

6) /shrug

1. I prefer full-ish servers. Would rather spend a minute or two in a queue at peak hours than have nobody to play with right away.

2. No. The stat differences are less than a single piece of gear provides.

3. No.

4. Not quite. You can level a marauder, and while you're a marauder you could take certain skills from any of the other base classes (conjurer, arcanist, gladiator, etc.). When you transform into warrior, however, you lose the ability to take most other classes' skills. Warrior, for example, can only pick from Gladiator and Pugilist skills, but never Summoner or even Arcanist. In fact, none of the advanced job skills (from Warrior, Summoner, White Mage, etc.) can be used by other classes at all.

5. Your build is determined by your job. As a marauder/warrior, you will be a tank. As a conjurer/white mage, you will heal. (Exceptions can really only be made for very talented/dedicated players with a full party/raid group that allows them to break that heavily-enforced archetype.)

6. Have fun and try a lot of things. Best part of the game for me is being able to do literally every class on a single character, so I always have a variety of ways I can play.

I appreciate the feedback! Thanks guys.