The levelling system

So I have recently unlocked both the SCH and the SMN, and I gotta say if the way they want us to gain levels is by the base class, then it's going to get all messed up in the future. I don't think it's right that as I level up my SCH I also level up my SMN. The two jobs are meant for different things, albeit some of the actions are the same, they are played differently. I may be wrong, but at the moment ACN is the only one that branches into 2 jobs, and I think they should try to make it a bit different. This is just my opinion though. My idea would be to have the jobs start at 30, like they do now, but instead of all jobs associated with the base class earn the same exp, just have the 1 job gain it, and the base class exp based off of your highest level job. So as an example, my SCH being at 34, would have ACN at 34 and SMN at 30, but if I were to stop SCH and bring SMN to 40, my ACN would now be 40 and SCH remain 34.

From what I understand about how the jobs are designed, as well as how the lore for them is handled, is thus... Jobs are long forgotten arts that are being re-discovered, thus they are incomplete. The rediscovering of these jobs is done through the study of several disciplines (primary and secondary class) and fusing the knowledge from both in order to take advantage of the lost arts. However, jobs are not true classes, they are more like specializations of the primary class. Someplace I read that the balancing of the job abilities is geared towards group play, where as the balancing of the classes is geared towards solo play. This balance is struck by the fact that the max cross skills you can have is 10 with a class, but only 5 with a job, because the job already comes with a special purpose in mind, and usually that is to be more capable in a party/raid setting.

Personally I understand people wanting the jobs to just be more classes instead, but to be special and require unlocking (like at level 30 as you've suggested). However, due the the lack of true core differences in the base class vs job at the moment, and how the lore is constructed, I don't think this would honestly yield any more "fun" for the game. You would just get more work to do.

I think it's great that leveling Archer also levels Bard, and vice versa. Archer is great solo, and Bard is great in parties. If I spend a weekend gaining a few levels through dungeons as a Bard, it would be rather disappointing switching to Archer and being behind.

That's my two cents, of course further discussion is welcome.

p.s. character limit is really fail for lengthy and thoughtful posts

that would make it more complicated then what it already is, right now you lvl classes not job what you are saying is pretty much lvl both jobs and classes, also in your example there is a flaw when you lvl you sch to 34 by your reconing the acn should have lvl to 34 as well and when you switch over to smn it would still be lvl 34 sch/acn and lvl 30 smn but when you take the smn to 40 it would also start lvling acn from 34 and up. that increases the load game dynamics and stuff so its gonna get messy, right now we have a big mess with all the login errors and stuff dont try to change game dynamics. lets get whats broken fixed first before we start making changes to rest of game.

I definitely understand that, and I agree when the class has only one branch job. When you get 2(or more) branch jobs though, they are a specialization, usually into a different field from the other(as in the case with SMN and SCH) which is why I think they should have separate experience. Although its more work to level up another job, it's work that makes better players, who are able to take that job and use it to the potential. The base class would not be affected as it would stay levelled with your highest job in the branch, exactly how it is now. The only difference would be for the other branch job. That's just me though, I'm sure lots of people also enjoy it :)

You wouldn't have to start ACN from 34 when you started levelling SMN again, you would still keep the abilities, but your stats would be that of a 34 SMN, not a 40 ACN

Well thankfully the devs and most of the community dont agree with you guys.

I like the idea that SCH/SMN are basically specs like WoW and you can switch to another to suit your guilds needs, hopefully all classes will get this

Why would you want them to be separate.. so masochistic...:p

But you basically have to choose between the jobs two anyway since your bonus attribute points aren't separated. As well as gear at higher levels becoming more specialized.