Cross-class/job leveling

Hello fellow Eorzeans!

I started playing a few weeks ago on the free trial, and this week decided to buy the game after enjoying what I've played through so far. My current and only character is a level 27 gladiator. I haven't leveled any other jobs yet.

My question is simple: What's the recommended way to level other jobs besides the one you started out with? I really want to reach level 50 quickly so I can glamour items—I'm a huge stickler when it comes to weapon/armor appearance—but I also know that there are classes you can "upgrade" into if you've leveled other jobs (i.e. paladin at gladiator level 30 + conjuror level 15).

So, being almost level 30 as a gladiator, should I then stop and level a conjuror to 15 so I can unlock paladin? How should I go about leveling other jobs if I've already advanced my MSQ to the early 20s? Should I just find appropriate level levequests and spam them?

Thanks for your time! Any advice at all is greatly appreciated.

yes its not too bad to get cnj to 15 just do a few fates and your hunting log and that shoukd do it in like 30 min.

Paladin will give you a big stat boost as you progress, so you'll want to get it before level 35 at least. For CNJ, lots of people say go straight for stoneskin, but I've also seen a lot of PLDs be like "well that was a huge waste of time, :/ " once they got it. XD So I think you're safe just getting it to 15 for now.

As for other class leveling... I honestly recommend sticking with one class and working on story at first. Lots of people can get burned out if they spend that many weeks playing around in the lower classes. The game gets so much funner once you hit 50+.

But if you really want to: 1-15 just work on hunt log and job quests, maybe a couple fates if you need the boost. Once you hit 15 you can get into Sastasha, which can take you right to 20 in 2 runs of it. Lots of people like to use Palace of the Dead instead, but I find it boring lol. And then you just go down the dungeon list as they become available (this is why I recommend completing the game with one class first. You'll have everything unlocked to make leveling lower level jobs faster. :)

Good luck!

You'll definitely want to unlock Paladin once you reach 30.

If you're just (for now) going as far as 15 for the Paladin unlock requirement, Your CNJ class quests and hunting log should pretty much get you there. There's also some low-level sidequests in and around Gridania you probably didn't finish while leveling GLD in Ul'dah, so you could throw in those as well, or add a few FATEs.

You'll be getting double XP on mob kills just for having another class at a higher level, plus another 30% if you wear the ring from the Novice Hall training, and more if your FC offers the XP boost. With all those XP boosts, the first few levels go pretty quick, and you won't have to look too far to find enough experience to get to 15.

Then, if you come back later to level it further, past 15 you'll have dungeons, and those (especially through leveling roulette) give tons of XP.

Great! These are all helpful suggestions. Thanks so much for the input. :)

The quickest route to finishing the game is always sticking with one class. Personally, I did it differently, and it took me longer. Once I hit 50 with my starting class, I leveled two more classes to 50 and continued to level all three to 60 at the same time so when it came time to do dungeons and the solo duties, I would have options depending on what the duty was asking. Needless to say, all of them can be completed with any class.

For leveling your CNJ, you can do it whenever before 30 on your GLD. Do the hunting log, class quests, fates, side quests, and the Guildhest Roulette (level 10).
Cure, Protect, and Raise are good to have in case you find yourself in some trouble. Healers will generally take care of you, but it's always good to have a second person who can use Raise (But! 8s to cast. If you're the only tank, you might be interrupted).

Once you do start leveling other classes, though, go ahead and level them to 15 and then dungeons will be best for leveling :)

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Originally Posted by SeriousxSarcasm

Paladin will give you a big stat boost as you progress, so you'll want to get it before level 35 at least. For CNJ, lots of people say go straight for stoneskin, but I've also seen a lot of PLDs be like "well that was a huge waste of time, :/ " once they got it. XD So I think you're safe just getting it to 15 for now.

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35 doesn't take that long either. A year ago I would have urged OP to go for stoneskin too, as it does have its uses (like saving a party with bad healers, as you can stoneskin while they heal/raise) and if nothing else makes me feel like I stand out among the other tanks, however with the new cross class system coming in a just a few months, I doubt the effort is worth it for just a couple of months of use (please SE, retain the identity that comes with PLD cross classing with WHM, I don't want to be a terrible vanilla DRK, I want to keep my white magic).

So last night I leveled CNJ to 15, and it was every bit as easy as the above posters made it seem. Thanks for the pointers everyone!

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).

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

... however with the new cross class system coming in a just a few months, I doubt the effort is worth it for just a couple of months of use ...

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

As far as i know, they havent released any details about the changes theyre making to the battle system as it relates to cross-class abilities. Theyve just said some general nonsense about there being a change, and we've been stuck speculating for months. We should hear actual info soon though, as the expansion is less then 3 months away.

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). And if the item you want to craft has a component that drops from an NPC, being higher level means you can more easily go out and get it. I dont consider that a big advantage because generally the thing youd need to kill would be close in level to what you need to craft the item(if not far lower), and often these drops end up selling for pennies on the market board because their use isnt obvious and they drop often. The advantage to trying to work in tandem is that you could potentially make things you currently or will soon need. With that said, most people who do get into crafting eventually level up all the classes because the cross-class skills in crafting make a world of difference in finishing things easily/at high quality/both. My general advice is to pick a class(for instance armorsmith to potentially make your own gear) and level it to about 15. Generally this can be done in around an hour without leaving the crafting guild, as they have a material salesperson right there. If you like the crafting system, then you can do the same thing for the other 7 classes(level 15 is also where you get your first crafting cross skills, the rest are at 37 50 and 54). If you do go all the way, its a little easier to level them all roughly equally. That way they can share gear, and you can make your own components to save money(for instance, a lot of armor recipes will have some leatherworker components as padding).

Gathering will also help you save money on crafting supplies(or make some money if you decide to sell what you dig up). It works differently though, as there arent really any cross-class skills to worry about(they exist but they arent useful). They can share gear though, and both botany and mining are really easy to get into and get what you need out of. The gathering log tells you roughly where things are, you have skills to pinpoint their exact location, you go there, choose what you want to try to dig up, and get it. Fishing, much like in real life, is its own separate thing. If you need a specific fish you need to know where it lives, what it eats, and when it comes out(only at night? usually when it rains? other even worse scenarios?). Sometimes this is all super easy, sometimes it feels punishingly random. At its basic level, you pick a spot, bait your line, cast, and wait to see what(if anything) you catch. As someone who doesnt enjoy fishing in any form, im probly not the right person to advocate for it.

Paladin doesn't have amazing choices compared to the other tanks, protect is good for solo and some party uses, raise is very situational, stone skin is amazing to use during down time on bosses to save some hp. You'll want mercy stroke from Maurader. We do know that we are losing rampart and dark knights are losing shadow skin. They are combining those abilities and offering it as a cross role ability in the new system but that's about it.

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Originally Posted by Ayrenn

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

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by Ayrenn

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).

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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.

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Originally Posted by Frizze

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).

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

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Originally Posted by Frizze

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

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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).

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.