Leveling Alts Along with Main

I didn't come to FFXIV because I necessarily want to play with others, I came because I heard it was a fun game to play with a great storyline, and so far that's what I've found- only been playing for about two weeks. I don't get bored because I can't find people to play with, nor do I get bored with grind... I actually enjoy running the same quests over and over again- probably why over on ESO I have created and deleted numerous alts, I just loved leveling... and yet never felt a NEED to be at 'end game'... I had fun just questing.

So... at this point my Arcanist is level 24, and now I've started leveling Archer and Gladiator. Is there a reason why, in my case (not wanting to rush to level cap), I should or shouldn't level classes at the same time?

I have contemplated buying a Level Boost for a class that I don't care to actually play, just to get a class to level 60. However, I don't want to skip the class questlines for those classes that I DO want to enjoy leveling. Would using a boost in this way be in any way detrimental- or would it help in leveling the other classes by increasing the XP gain? I don't necessarily want to speed level but I also don't want leveling to drag on forever, if that makes sense.

Thanks.

The class/job with the highest level gets no XP bonus.
classes/jobs, who are not your highest class job get a XP-boost of 50% and if they are below lvl 50 iirc, they get 100% XP-boost but only discipline of war and discipline of magic and only for killing XP, so not for quests.

To your question:
No, it wouldn't be detrimental.
You would secure the XP-Boost for your other classes/jobs until lvl 60 and shorten the needed dungeon runs by a good portion.

Also the main story quests are a very good XP ressource for your "main".

need to? no, play how you want and how you enjoy. the need is to change the style of play or what to do. unless you NEED to play redmage, samurai or something then you have to have a high level class to unlock them. Since you enjoy the story and question, there isn't a need to except for what class you enjoy killing stuff with.

Your highest-level class can pick up EXP from the story, which doesn't get doubled for lower classes so you're not missing out on anything by doing that.

I feel like the game has a good pace of quest EXP. You can level one class almost entirely from running MSQ and sidequests, while using a second class for your daily roulettes, and keep pace with the story quite nicely at that rate. (I'd suggest keeping your highest class two levels above the current story quest level, so you don't get caught out and unable to accept the next quest.)

There's not a lot of use to getting a character quickly to Lv60, because there's not much you can do with it! High-level content is all locked behind story progress so the only thing it would get you for now is instant access to the red mage and samurai jobs. (Definitely don't buy level boosts for those. They start at Lv50.)

The other not-entirely-an-advantage of buying a job boost is if you particularly wanted to play one of the jobs locked behind the Heavensward expansion: astrologian, machinist and dark knight. But as you say, it means you'll miss out on the story attached to those job quests, and I enjoyed those particular ones - astrologian and machinist anyway. I haven't played dark knight but a lot of people say it's their favourite. It gives a darker slant to your characterisation though, and I didn't like the sound of it for (my idea of) my character's personality.

But still, it does take a long time to level up everything. I've been playing for a bit over a year and have just about finally gotten all my battle classes to Lv70 - though I've also got a couple of alt characters that I've been spending time on as well.

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Originally Posted by Legion88

The class/job with the highest level gets no XP bonus.
classes/jobs, who are not your highest class job get a XP-boost of 50% and if they are below lvl 50 iirc, they get 100% XP-boost but only discipline of war and discipline of magic and only for killing XP, so not for quests.

To your question:
No, it wouldn't be detrimental.
You would secure the XP-Boost for your other classes/jobs until lvl 60 and shorten the needed dungeon runs by a good portion.

Also the main story quests are a very good XP ressource for your "main".

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This was the answer I was looking for. Since I'd be using the boost on a job that I would never want to play in the first place, I wouldn't miss not running the class questline, yet it would secure me XP boost to the lower level classes that I DO want to experience leveling- even if it is only for XP from killing- but since so much of the game involves killing things (including battle leves), it would definitely help. I have not yet decided upon a MAIN class... Arcanist is level 24, but I'm working on Archer now and enjoying it. I figured I'd work on some classes to level 24 and decide from there which to progress through the MSQs. Since it appears the boosting a job to 60 would be beneficial for the XP gain without any detriments in the storyline or quests, I think that's what I'll do.

Thanks again for all the replies. It's nice to be a part of an MMO where the playerbase is a lot more friendly... coming from ESO, their forums are a nightmare of angst.

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

Thanks again for all the replies. It's nice to be a part of an MMO where the playerbase is a lot more friendly... coming from ESO, their forums are a nightmare of angst.

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ESO playerbase is still 100 times better than WOW's...

Also, for leveling alts, I find it fastest to level tank and healer through dungeon roulettes, especially the one class that is in need. DPS are way harder to level and more boring because you either wait long queue times, or run POTD...

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

Since I'd be using the boost on a job that I would never want to play in the first place, I wouldn't miss not running the class questline, yet it would secure me XP boost to the lower level classes that I DO want to experience leveling

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All but one of those classes will automatically get the XP boost anyway, regardless of whether you buy the level boost or not. So you'd be paying just to get the boost on one more class. (Personally, I'd find that benefit too minor to make the purchase worthwhile, but there's nothing actually detrimental about it so long as you weren't going to play the selected class anyway.)

And if you do have the xp boost on all the classes you're playing, you'll have to be careful about alternating which you use for content. If you try doing all the main scenario quests on a class with that XP boost, you could get pretty far outleveled for the quests you're doing. Since you're planning on leveling multiple classes concurrently anyway, you can avoid that problem by doing a few quests with one class, then the next few quests with a different one, and back and forth like that. You just need to give a bit of thought to which you currently want XP on when deciding which to play.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

All but one of those classes will automatically get the XP boost anyway, regardless of whether you buy the level boost or not. So you'd be paying just to get the boost on one more class. (Personally, I'd find that benefit too minor to make the purchase worthwhile, but there's nothing actually detrimental about it so long as you weren't going to play the selected class anyway.)

And if you do have the xp boost on all the classes you're playing, you'll have to be careful about alternating which you use for content. If you try doing all the main scenario quests on a class with that XP boost, you could get pretty far outleveled for the quests you're doing. Since you're planning on leveling multiple classes concurrently anyway, you can avoid that problem by doing a few quests with one class, then the next few quests with a different one, and back and forth like that. You just need to give a bit of thought to which you currently want XP on when deciding which to play.

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Thank you for the advice, and that's exactly how I was planning on playing. Although, I am pretty much using ONE class for MSQ and then using alts for the sidequests, FATES, and Battle Leves. I discovered another plus from the level jump, I was able to get the Chocobo Companion early. ;)

I do have another question though... having jumped one class to 60 using the boost... I have acquired both Samurai and Red Mage jobs... I absolutely LOVE Samurai. In DCUO I played a couple of powers that were 'combo' powers, so I understand how the system works. However, is it even possible to use Samurai or even Red Mage in lower level MSQ dungeons? I figure I could run the dungeon with SAM/RDM and then switch back to another class to turn in the quest for the XP. But, I'm not sure if you could use higher level class with lower level MSQ quests or not? I do understand that higher level skills will be greyed out for lower content, but would be nice to know if it were possible to even do.

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

Thank you for the advice, and that's exactly how I was planning on playing. Although, I am pretty much using ONE class for MSQ and then using alts for the sidequests, FATES, and Battle Leves. I discovered another plus from the level jump, I was able to get the Chocobo Companion early. ;)

I do have another question though... having jumped one class to 60 using the boost... I have acquired both Samurai and Red Mage jobs... I absolutely LOVE Samurai. In DCUO I played a couple of powers that were 'combo' powers, so I understand how the system works. However, is it even possible to use Samurai or even Red Mage in lower level MSQ dungeons? I figure I could run the dungeon with SAM/RDM and then switch back to another class to turn in the quest for the XP. But, I'm not sure if you could use higher level class with lower level MSQ quests or not? I do understand that higher level skills will be greyed out for lower content, but would be nice to know if it were possible to even do.

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It is possible to do MSQ quests with a high lvl job and the turn in with a lower lvl job, but the lower lvl job has to be at least of the lvl of the quest.

This also works with battle leves, but i can't say if the reward gets lowered for this.

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

I do have another question though... having jumped one class to 60 using the boost... I have acquired both Samurai and Red Mage jobs... I absolutely LOVE Samurai. In DCUO I played a couple of powers that were 'combo' powers, so I understand how the system works. However, is it even possible to use Samurai or even Red Mage in lower level MSQ dungeons? I figure I could run the dungeon with SAM/RDM and then switch back to another class to turn in the quest for the XP. But, I'm not sure if you could use higher level class with lower level MSQ quests or not? I do understand that higher level skills will be greyed out for lower content, but would be nice to know if it were possible to even do.

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The skills will be unavailable, yes. Fortunately, they thought of that when designing classes that don't start at 1 and they will have around the same amount of abilities as everyone else at lower levels. Sure, if you get dropped into a level 17 dungeon as a Samurai, you'd probably only have one or two buttons to press, but you'd be able to do it. And yes, all melee have combo systems in place to make it a bit more engaging, while DPS melee also have the thing of positional requirements for maximum damage (which is a pain to do consistently outside of group content). If you really, really like combos, could try out Monk or Dragoon.

Samurai's combos are like, 1-2-3 1-4-5 1-6. Monk has an interesting setup where their combo pieces are interchangeable but instead follow a 1-2-3 stance rotation with some choice in what to use for each stance so it could be like 1-2-3 or 4-5-6 Or 1-5-3. Then there's Dragoon which has two combos, but at max level the combo is like, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-5-4. It gets a little crazy when factoring that and different buffs, positionals and non-rotational buttons to throw in there. Of course, wouldn't recommend laying the keybinds out like that either and would GREATLY recommend setting comfortable keybinds if you were to play a melee job. It's a bit easier for casters, though having important buttons on easy keys benefits them just as much.

Ultimately, it comes down to which ones you prefer most, dungeons grant a decent amount of experience, though a large portion of it ends up being split between monster kills (which benefits your lower level characters) and the end of dungeon duty finder bonus (which is higher for your highest level character). I played to 70 with mostly only one class before I started branching out and didn't hit any snags at all, not sure how much extra you might have to do if you ended up splitting them by only getting exp on some characters from quest turn-ins, since quest turn-ins have level requirements as well if you end up outpacing the quests you might not be able to turn them in on a lower character.

Researching more... discovered that progression of the Samurai Job quest is locked behind completion of portions of the SB MSQ, which sucks... as there is a skill locked behind a quest completion... let alone the fact that SE is saying, "Hey, you can play the Samurai early, but you can never complete the class quests for possibly weeks or MONTHS until you complete all ARR's MSQ and progress through HW and possibly into SB's MSQ as well... as it requires access to areas only accessible after completing certain portions of the MSQ. IMO, if a quest requires you to access another location, they should either not offer the quest until you are able to reach the other location OR should make the location available along with the quest. If SE offers access to jobs via 'pay to jump to xx level so you can play the new job' then they should also offer you a means of completing the job quest as well, especially since the job quest givers are both located in ARR starter zones. Just seems to me to be quite an oversight on their part; at least Red Mage doesn't have any skills tied to a quest completion.

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Originally Posted by VileIves

The skills will be unavailable, yes. Fortunately, they thought of that when designing classes that don't start at 1 and they will have around the same amount of abilities as everyone else at lower levels. Sure, if you get dropped into a level 17 dungeon as a Samurai, you'd probably only have one or two buttons to press, but you'd be able to do it. And yes, all melee have combo systems in place to make it a bit more engaging, while DPS melee also have the thing of positional requirements for maximum damage (which is a pain to do consistently outside of group content). If you really, really like combos, could try out Monk or Dragoon.

Samurai's combos are like, 1-2-3 1-4-5 1-6. Monk has an interesting setup where their combo pieces are interchangeable but instead follow a 1-2-3 stance rotation with some choice in what to use for each stance so it could be like 1-2-3 or 4-5-6 Or 1-5-3. Then there's Dragoon which has two combos, but at max level the combo is like, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-5-4. It gets a little crazy when factoring that and different buffs, positionals and non-rotational buttons to throw in there. Of course, wouldn't recommend laying the keybinds out like that either and would GREATLY recommend setting comfortable keybinds if you were to play a melee job. It's a bit easier for casters, though having important buttons on easy keys benefits them just as much.

Ultimately, it comes down to which ones you prefer most, dungeons grant a decent amount of experience, though a large portion of it ends up being split between monster kills (which benefits your lower level characters) and the end of dungeon duty finder bonus (which is higher for your highest level character). I played to 70 with mostly only one class before I started branching out and didn't hit any snags at all, not sure how much extra you might have to do if you ended up splitting them by only getting exp on some characters from quest turn-ins, since quest turn-ins have level requirements as well if you end up outpacing the quests you might not be able to turn them in on a lower character.

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I use a controller with PC, so there really are no keybinds for me to setup... I use xhotbars for skills/potions and regular hotbars for keeping an eye on skill cooldowns, etc. I love the Samurai because, being a huge anime fan, I've always preferred the ones with Samurai warriors with cool sword techniques- hence the appeal towards the job. I will also be leveling the Red Mage as well, which I think I'd prefer to take into dungeons vs Samurai. In dungeons I much prefer to be at range, but solo content, you tend to be the center of attention anyway, so might as well be melee. ;)

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

Researching more... discovered that progression of the Samurai Job quest is locked behind completion of portions of the SB MSQ, which sucks... as there is a skill locked behind a quest completion... let alone the fact that SE is saying, "Hey, you can play the Samurai early, but you can never complete the class quests for possibly weeks or MONTHS until you complete all ARR's MSQ and progress through HW and possibly into SB's MSQ as well... as it requires access to areas only accessible after completing certain portions of the MSQ. IMO, if a quest requires you to access another location, they should either not offer the quest until you are able to reach the other location OR should make the location available along with the quest. If SE offers access to jobs via 'pay to jump to xx level so you can play the new job' then they should also offer you a means of completing the job quest as well, especially since the job quest givers are both located in ARR starter zones. Just seems to me to be quite an oversight on their part; at least Red Mage doesn't have any skills tied to a quest completion.

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Red Mage and Samurai both have skills tied to quest completion: at Lv60 and Lv70. Although if I remember correctly, the difference is that the red mage quests up to Lv60 are set entirely in ARR territory, while samurai Lv58 requires you to visit Ishgard and western Coerthas (the first 'field area' of Heavensward) so you'll have to wait until then to complete that quest line.

Once you complete the Lv60 quests, they actually do stop giving you quests until you are able to access the next location. Or more exactly, they won't give you the Stormblood set of quests (Lv60-70) until you reach Stormblood in the MSQ, regardless of whether you can access the required locations or not.

For the most part this applies to the ARR jobs as well - the initial job questline takes you up to Lv50, but you can't pick up the Lv50-60 Heavensward-era quests until you reach Heavensward in the story. Red mage and samurai are the only exceptions for this, since they are accessible in ARR and the other option would be to give them nothing at all storywise until you unlock Heavensward.

Access to areas for quest progress does vary a lot from job to job. Some of the Lv50-60 plots take place back in ARR settings and can be cleared immediately. Others require you to wait until you gain access to one of the very last regions unlocked at Lv58 in the MSQ. Likewise for the Lv60-70 quests, which may be immediately accessible in previous zones, or may require you to reach certain new areas, or in at least one instance simply says you can't progress until you have completed quest X in the MSQ.

Even in ARR you'll find occasional blocks, like summoner which - for lore purposes - requires you to have cleared a certain fight before you can progress with the job storyline.

As a general rule, the job quests are written with the expectation that you are playing both job and MSQ at around the same level. If your class level has gotten ahead of the story, you're "out on your own" and the game won't be expecting you to be there yet.

The other thing is that there is no actual issue with you not having access to your Lv60 samurai skill yet - because there's absolutely no content that it's useful for at this point. Any dungeon you participate in will synch down your level to match the dungeon, so you won't be Lv60 and won't have the skill anyway. (It's just a passive "meditate to charge your kenki gauge" skill - and you won't have the gauge in any ARR content either.)

Also if you had directly paid to boost samurai, it would automatically mark the Lv60 quest as done, and give you the ability. It would just be a very inefficient way of spending your job boost instead of using it on a class that starts at Lv1, purely to get an ability that's not all that useful yet.

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

However, is it even possible to use Samurai or even Red Mage in lower level MSQ dungeons? I figure I could run the dungeon with SAM/RDM and then switch back to another class to turn in the quest for the XP. But, I'm not sure if you could use higher level class with lower level MSQ quests or not? I do understand that higher level skills will be greyed out for lower content, but would be nice to know if it were possible to even do.

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As others have already said, you can take your high-leveled jobs into low-level dungeons but they are synched down and only have a few skills available. Have a look through your skill descriptions in the Actions and Traits menu - it will list the level at which you "learned" these abilities (even though you really got them all instantly at Lv50). Level synch for dungeons gives you access to your skills based on these levels.

As for handing in the quests, all the game checks is whether your current level is equal to or higher than the quest level - so you can do this not just with another battle class, but actually with crafting or gathering classes as well! In ARR anyway. They 'fixed' that for Heavensward.