Help starting out please

So I haven't played an MMO since I quit WoW about 8 years ago and just picked up FF14:ARR two days ago. With life, work, and college I don't have a ton of playing time so I will do a lot of shorter solo gaming sessions (until I finally finish school that is).

Since I will be leveling rather slowly due to time constraints I hate to start over repeatedly. What classes are decent at solo'ing but still desirable in groups and/or FC? From reading the forums and stuff it looks like pure DPS classes are less desirable (more common) in groups and FC's than healers and tanks. Am I right or wrong and could anyone suggested a class? I've played as most types of classes in the past and enjoy them all.

Thanks!

Every class can solo fine. But if you want an easy time of it, and still be wanted/have flexibility for groups I would recommend arcanist. They have a pet that can tank, and they have 2 jobs that they can become later on. Scholar, which is a healer post 30, and Summoner which continues the DPS role of the arcanist post 30. They both use the same base level of the arcanist, so you basically get 2 roles for the price of leveling one.

Arcanist/Summoner is basically an affliction warlock, to put it in WoW terms. Scholar, probably closest to a Disc priest.

You are going to have to level up Conjurer to 15 to unlock scholar on that character and thamaturge to 15 to unlock Summoner. I would also recommend taking tamaturge to 26 to unlock the swiftcast skill, its probably the best cross class skill in the game.

Every other class only has 1 role at the moment, but they will be releasing other jobs for the classes down the line, so some might get improved flexibility.

But yes, DPS have the longer queues, like in most games. If you do go the arcanist route, you will need to deal with 30 levels of DPS queues, before you can become a scholar and queue as healer.

you'll need duty finder to progress in the story - tanks and healers have the shortest wait times to find groups

Tanks are the rarest role, followed by healers, then DPS. That will vary some from FC to FC, but in the overall game population, that's how it stands. Early on, healers are a little rarer; CNJ is the only class allowed to queue as healer before SCH becomes available at level 30, so the ratio is a little skewed.

Something to be aware of (if you aren't already) is that you will have to group for dungeons/primals at various points as part of the main story quest. The first set comes around level 16, 17, 18, with the first three dungeons, then the story mode Ifrit fight at 20. You can use the Duty Finder to get the groups, or you can shout and/or ask for help from your FC, but you can't solo them. Assuming no big problems, most dungeons take 30-45 minutes once you get in. If you're not a tank, you can tack on anywhere from 10 minutes (low level healer) to more than an hour (mid level DPS) for finding a group if you're using the Duty Finder. Healers start out with lower waiting times, but between the population of healers increasing at level 30, and the lack of people running lower level content, those queue times rise pretty sharply in the mid levels.

Thanks for all of the tips and information everyone! @Bixby I will be able to find the time for those groups / dungeons / primals when needed I just meant I unfortunately won't usually have 10+ hrs a week to play.

As for a Tank... do you think a Marauder or Gladiator is the better choice?

Gladiator is a little easier to play, and a little easier to heal. Marauder is a little more involved and a bit more panic-mode for healers, but IMO, more fun. Currently, Warrior (Marauder) is a bit underpowered at the very top end of end game, and that's done some damage to the reputation, so Paladins (Gladiators) are a bit more desired. That's only at the very high end, though, and patch 2.1 (sometime before the end of the year) is supposed to buff Warriors to balance them.

Whichever one you pick, you'll end up leveling the other one at some point anyway. GLA to 15 is required for Warrior, and MRD has some cross-class skills that GLA/PLD tend to use.

From a healing perspective I prefer a Paladin over a Warrior, just because damage is more consistent. With an average warrior I feel I need to be on top of my game more than I do when healing an average paladin. That being said a well played warrior is still very much an asset. Its just the difference between a Mitigation tank in the paladin and the high hp meat shield/self healing in the warrior.

As far as playing one, ive only every played the paladin in a tanking situation and its not that difficult.

Thanks again everyone for the input! I will try my hand at a Marauder and see how it goes. I plan to get some time in tonight at the sake of real life responsibilities.

The time saver.....is picking up all quests possible before you leave town. You'll be level 3 almost 4, and that way you won't be wasting time running back to town. Make sure to accept the class position before you leave as well so the hunting log will be open. After that do the guild leves to level up. Running around around looking for fates is a time waster. If you happen to run across one while traveling join in.

I believe the Hunting Log on your first class doesn't open until after you finish the level 5 class quest, which is impossible to do without leaving town. You can't even finish the level 1 class quest for any class without leaving town since they all require you to kill low level mobs right outside the gates.

It's only subsequent classes for which the Hunting Log is activated immediately.

Likewise, GuildLeves won't open until you unlock them on a story quest that can be done at level 5. That quest also requires you to leave town.

The hunting log unlocks after the level 1 Class quest.

Make absolutely sure you do your class quests. The first one is at level 1, next at level 5, and every 5 levels after that. They are incredibly important as you unlock important abilities and the option to change classes by doing the class quests.

Keep on top of your main storyline quests. They are the quests with the fiery quest symbol. Up until the 20's they will unlock very important game features like retainers to hold your items and your mount. Use this very useful quest database to keep track of your next quest if you don't get much time to play, as you might forget where you are supposed to go for your next quest. Just look in your journal and see what your last quest was, and this database will tell you what your next quest is and who starts it.

You can buy level 5 pants at a vendor in the same settlement where a NPC gives you a quest to wear level 5+ gear. This seems to stump a ton of people, but no low level quests will give you pants. This is probably to teach you that NPCs might have important items you need.