Advice Needed. Many Questions. Newb Here Please Help :)

[Enkidoh]

Welcome!

1. It's ultimately up to you how you play your character in regards to classes, but yes, levelling multiple classes does actually help you in the long run, because certain abilities can be 'cross classed' with other classes, it can help increase another class's effectiveness (such as setting Cure and Protect from Conjurer onto a Gladiator). Additionally, when a Disciple of War (melee) or Disciple of Magic (mage) class reaches level 30, and another certain class is level 15, you can then gain what is called a 'Job' which effectively is an upgrade to that class, allowing them to focus on a particular role (such as Gladiator becoming Paladin, which greatly improves on Gladiator's tanking abilities).

You're limited to what abilities you can cross class as a Job though from two specific classes, but on the up side, the Job gains special unique abilities of it's own, and also boosts that class's primary stat (for instance, Gladiator with the Paladin Job equipped gains a boost to Vitality). Disciples of the Land (gathering classes) and Disciples of the Hand (crafting classes) do not have Job upgrades however.

2. As once you unlock a class you can switch between classes at will by simply equipping the relevant weapon or tool, it is very wasteful to create a new character to play as another class (those that do this usually do it to experience playing as another race or starting city). And yes, stat bonuses are specific for each class, so any points you put into Vitality on Gladiator for instance will not effect other classes.

3. A Free Company (or 'FC') is basically a player Guild - and yes there are definite bonuses for joing one. There are status buffs the FC leader or authorised members can buy with Company points from the controlling Grand Company which apply to all members of that FC, when set which can boost things such as exp, spiritbonding on armour, even how much it costs to teleport. FC's also can buy land in a residential area and build their own shared house too. Having said that, it's best to find a smaller, friendlier FC as the really large ones tend to be very impersonal and not very welcoming of new players (my small FC on Ridill gladly accepts new players incidentally. ).

4. Personally, I would probably say Archer ('ARC' for short) would be the easiest class to pick up as a beginner, as they have a set of well rounded abilities, plus they can attack while moving, a unique trait that is not shared by other classes that generally have to stand still while using abilities (an ARC just runs around shooting arrows at the enemy). Having said that, Archer upgrades to the Bard Job (BRD), a much tougher role to play, but as I mentioned earlier, as you can unlock multiple classes and Jobs and can switch between any at will once you gain that ability (at level 10 in your starting class and after having completed the level 10 quest for your starting class's Guild), the class you start out as you are definitely not restricted to playing as that class for the entire game.

Also it should be said that starting class choice dictates what city you start in - unlike the original FFXIV (version 1.0) where you could choose a city at will. The city choice is determined by the location of your class's Guild headquarters, as one of the first quests you have to do upon starting involves signing up with that Guild. The starting cities and which starting classes start in them are shown below:

Gridania - Conjurer (CNJ), Archer (ARC) and Lancer (LNC)
Limsa Lominsa - Arcanist (ACN) and Marauder (MRD)
Ul'dah - Gladiator (GLA), Thaumaturge (THM) and Pugilist (PGL)

It should also be noted you can only start as a Disciple of War or Magic - you can't start the game as a Disciple of the Hand or Land sadly.

Anyway, hopefully this has helped you.