BLM, WAR, or WHM...

[vaderko1]

So, i'm trying to figure out what i should play to 50.

I like Warrior, but my problems with it are, i'm not sure how hard tanking is in this game, i don't mind a challenge, i've tanked in other mmos, but if the blame is always going to fall to me, i'll pass.

I like White mage, but my problem with it is questing. Seems like for most of the game i'm going to merely have Stone and Aero.... Though I've seen a lot of people saying that dungeon/roulette spam is the fastest leveling method?

I like Black Mage, but it's a dps. I'm sure, like every other mmo ever, its overplayed, and the Que times are really long for dungeons. I don't want to play something if every third person i see is the same class. But again, with the dungeon ques, i'm sure leveling is slow as a black mage?

I dunno, just wanted to see what your opinions were. Thank You!

[SinSilverwing]

Well, I have all three leveled. I have done the dungeon leveling method for all of them because it helped me learn the way to play to an extent.

It depends on preference really. The ups and downs are as you mentioned. Tanking right now seems to be degraded down to pull all enemies to boss and either kill or lock em out, because of the early dungeons being used for relics. White mages actually have some use from other casters like acn and thm. Blm gets use out of some acn and archer skills. And are good burst damage. I enjoy them all and switch regurally.

[Vircon]

BLM. Going as a DPS generally is the least vital role in the party so even if you do mess up while trying to learn mechanics the chances of you causing a wipe are not as high. Once you use that as a test run then I say progress to whichever role you want. The last thing you want to do is do endgame content as a Tank/Healer and mess up and cause everyone to wipe each time. Plus leveling up a BLM gives you Swifftcast for your WHM and you need that for that class(and any other magic users). Granted wait times are bad but they're not as bad as when the Ninja came out. Even then that can be easily remedied by getting a healer/tank to goo with you in a pre-made party.

[Garlyle]

Level all three! Being able to queue as any role is incredibly liberating for a variety of reasons (I personally have Warrior, White Mage, and Monk)

I'll say that I don't find tanking that hard at all - in a lot of content it's arguably the easiest role because your entire job is just to stand at the edge and keep the boss occupied, and it shouldn't be hard to keep hate (Except when you first hit 50, at which point there's a rough patch while your gear is way below that of everyone you'll be partied with... but if people steal hate from you there chances are they can survive the aggro because they'll still be really really overgeared).

If you want to level white mage, doing dungeons is definitely the best. You'll still be doing the main quest one way or another though, and yeah, WHM soloing is pretty boring. Healer is pretty much the most essential role in XIV though; if you die in any given battle that's it.

[Qaaliaa]

I leveled my WHM to 50, got the relic, and promptly wished I had done ACN/SCH. Started over with ACN, got to 50 and found myself with a DPS *AND* a Healing class for the same amount of leveling time (though it does require two separate Relic runs). I prefer the healing style of SCH and I can use my SMN for level 50 quests out in the world if I want to.

Something to consider!

[Gorvi]

I have all three leveled and enjoy each for different reasons.

You'll likely do the majority of your leveling on your first class to 50 through main scenario quests and dungeons, so the one with the disadvantage there is BLM if only for the longer que times. Really, though, it's just a matter of what role you want to play.

Having all of them leveled I can tell you that WAR will be the one that demands the most of you, if only because you need to know the fights more than other classes in most cases. BLM is mostly kill the mobs, kill adds in bosses, blow stuff up. WHM is all about making sure people don't die (You>Tank>DPS), and while knowing some fights really helps on your way up (and is far more important for all classes the deeper you get into endgame), you can get by with just "cure that person who just got hit".

Don't rush it. Level all of them, get a feel for how they play, and choose the one that you enjoy playing the most.

[Niwashi]

If you're going to level multiple roles, there's some advantage to making one of the Damage Dealer classes be the main one you do most of your main storyline with. That first class will get a lot of its leveling through quest XP and need less from dungeon XP. Due to their quicker queue times, tanks and healers are quicker and easier to level through dungeon XP, so leave questing for your damage dealers. (You'll still want to do a number of dungeon runs with your damage dealer classes as well, just because it gives you a better view of how the class works in groups than you can see elsewhere. But having quests to get a lot of your XP from as well as to keep you occupied while waiting on a dungeon queue makes things run smoother.)

[radioactive_lego]

I havnt done BLM, but the cue ti,es for all DD classes are atrocious. WAR, IMO is the way to go. Awesome cue times for dungeons, solo tactis are easy (spamm kill chain). the only problem you'll have is people who are dicks expect you to know how to tank every dumgeon/raid/whatever prior to joining it. "watch a video" or the like... Those people should be shot, since it doesnt breed good tanks or good communities.

[ruskie]

Wait times for DDs are maybe 30 min in rare cases can be an hour but nothing like the 2-4h it was like at launch.