I am new and I have newb questions

I am really enjoying the game so far. Community seems better than WoW's been in ages (though I could just be getting really lucky), I like how it teaches you the basics of your party role via Quests long before you get your first Dungeon.

Anyway, a couple questions.

1) How do I make Materia? Is it a quest that unlocks easily, or do I have to go out of my way for it? I'm level 24 on my Gladiator and can't do Materia yet, but I keep getting equipment with slots for Materia.

2) I want to play Paladin. Should I switch as soon as I hit 30 on Gladiator to get Conjurer to 15, or is it best to level one class to 50 before starting another? On that, can anyone give a deeper explanation of how the bonus XP works? The game only touched the base and then kept going.

3) Is crafting like WoW, where getting one to max level grants bonuses, or is it purely for crafting benefits? If its the latter, is it worth grinding out crafting right now?

Thanks in advance.

You get materia from convering gear (where reads convertible, some say non-convertible) when the spiritbind reaches 100%. You shouldnt worry about them til you reach level cap, since you will be replacing your gear quite frequently. Besides you would need to find crafter to meld for you, unless you dont go and level up them yourself.

I'd get CNJ to 15 as soon as possible, there are no benefits of getting one to 50, plus the skills you get from job quests at 30,35,40 etc requires you to have PLD unlocked. Makes everyones life easier when u get shield oath & other fancy stuff.
You get 50% more experience points to every class below your highest, so lets say u got GLA lv50, you get 50% more exp to every class.

No clue how it was in wow, higher level lets you equip higher level crafting gear & tools so you will have higher Craftsmanship & Control, meaning you can craft better stuff basically. Getting most crafters to lv15 helps, since you can get their crossclass skills.

Welcome to Eorzea! :D

1) There is a quest north of Black Brush in Central Thanalan that gives you the Convert ability. There are actually several quests but the others are related to melding materia and require crafting classes.

2) There is no point in getting one class to 50 before switching. Switching is generally encouraged because of the cross-class skills. And you will get flak if you are trying to run high level dungeons as a gladiator instead of a paladin. :/ The 50% bonus xp is for all classes below your highest - so it is better to keep one ahead of the others, but you only need 1 level ahead.

3) Crafting is widely debated. The only benefit in getting a crafting class to 50 is the same as for all other classes - cross-class skills, level 50 equipment, and access to more recipes. I would say there isn't much point in only grinding a single crafting class up to 50 unless you are using it yourself because the really high level recipes pretty much require cross-class skills. That said, crafting is a good way to get yourself gear while leveling. You can make high quality gear that is better than store bought and basically equivalent to dungeon drops. Those really high level recipes can also make level 70 gear for giving you a jump into the end dungeons, if you prefer crafting to running dungeons.
Of note: if you want to attach materia to equipment, you will need the services of a crafter. For your relic you need a level 50 crafter. You will most certainly be able to find one if needed but I like being able to do it for myself.

Converting equipment into materia is unlocked by the level 19 quest "Forging the Spirit" in the Bonfire area of Central Thanalan (north-east of Black Brush Station). At the same area, there's a level 19 quest specifically for crafting classes called "Waking the Spirit" that unlocks the ability to meld materia onto gear.

Thanks everyone.

Does it matter which Grand Company I choose, or is it cosmetic?

It doesn't really matter which Grand Company you choose, you can always switch later to another when you reached the highest rank in that company. Each of them have a different salutation, gear design/stat, place of reporting, etc however.