New Player - Can't Decide! =(

[brody138]

Also Punk you are on Hyperion... I am helping a returning friend level up his Ninja and can invite you along for XP dungeons if you are online when he is. His schedule is a little haphazard so I can't really give you any consistent times though aside from "nighttime Pacific time". Feel free to send me a tell in-game.

Yeah man, that would be awesome! I also play in the evenings on PST, so I will message you when I get on tonight and add you to friends.

[Nyalia]

I couldn't log into game and got bored, so I wrote you this wall of text. I didn't read the other advice people gave you, so sorry if some of this is redundant!

1. The first thing to decide is if you are okay with having 30+ minute Duty Finder queues for dungeons required to progress through the main story (or for your daily roulette exp bonus). If you are okay with those wait times, then it's okay to main a DPS class as your first class. However, many people find that really frustrating. Healers have a significantly shorter queue time, and Tanks have the shortest by far. However, tanks are expected to know the content and lead the party. The way to cheat around this problem is to main Arcanist (Summoner). After level 30, if you're sick of having long wait times for dungeons, you can run them as a Scholar instead. Scholar and Summoner share the same experience pool because it's the Arcanist experience pool.

That said, I've been running all content as a Black Mage lately, and the wait times for endgame content aren't that bad (about 10-20 minutes). The Low-level Roulette still takes 30-90 minutes for me as BLM though, so I don't even bother with it anymore.

So, as to your actual question, some pros/cons:

Pugilist/Monk (PUG/MNK): MNKs deal the highest single-target DPS of any class in the game right now, though NIN and DRG aren't that far behind. However, for a MNK to maintain that high DPS, they have to be constantly attacking. If they are forced to not hit something for more than a few seconds due to mechanics, their DPS drops significantly because they lose their "Greased Lightning" buff and they have to restart their combo with no initial stance, making their initial hit weaker. They are relatively easy to play though, you just run a combo that varies slightly to maintain buffs/debuffs while you switch between a target's flank and rear. However, because their DPS relies heavily on positionals, their solo DPS is rather low compared to other classes since, when solo, they can't hit the positionals for any of their attacks.

PROs: Highest single-target DPS, relatively easy to play (in my opinion), can stun (at level 30), can silence (at level 26)
CONs: Have to constantly attack to maintain high DPS, relatively low DPS while solo, attacks highly dependent on position requiring you to constantly move between rear and flank, lowest AoE damage in the game (I think?), awkward silence skill (tied to weak AoE), long dungeon queue times



Lancer/Dragoon (LNC/DRG): DRGs are probably the best melee DPS for handling large-crowds, though AoE attacks don't really matter much until the endgame and they don't get their first AoE until level 42. They're the best DPS at stunning (they get their first stun at level 10 and at level 28, they can use it every 20 seconds, AND at level 40, they get a second stun). Their single-target DPS isn't bad, and though positionals help their DPS a bit on a couple specific attacks, they do not rely on positionals like MNKs do. DRGs though, in my opinion, are the most complex DPS class as far as rotations go. They have a bunch of short duration buffs and debuffs built into their attacks, and they have a large number of off-GCD abilities. DRG is currently my favorite DPS class for FATE grinding because at very low levels, they have the simplest rotation (spam Impulse Drive (with Heavy Thrust up if you have it) - best DPS from levels 8-25). DRGs also have the highest physical defense of any non-tank class, and their magic defense is the same as other melees. An enemy's main target gets primarily physical hits, and their AoEs/off target hits tend to be magical. So, this extra defense doesn't do much in dungeons or raids, but in solo content while leveling and going through the story, it's pretty nice.

PROs: Good AoE DPS (at endgame), higher physical defense than other DPS classes (especially for solo content), decent single-target DPS, low reliance on positionals (so, good solo DPS), good stun (at level 10)
CONs: Can't silence, runs out of TP relatively fast (despite a skill to restore it) in long fights, most complicated DPS to play (in my opinion), long dungeon queue times


Rogue/Ninja (ROG/NIN): NIN can be really fun to play. They can stealth, which can really help at times when doing story content, they naturally move faster than any other class (though I think everyone sprints at the same speed), they take much less damage from falling (though while out of combat, no one can die from falling damage), and they have a move that increases the item drop rate of their target (non-quest items only, I think, and quest items tend to have a 100% drop rate anyway). These can be really helpful your first time through the game. They're not amazingly awesome, but they're nice little things. NIN have decent single target DPS, but their AoE is pretty bad. They don't even get one that they can spam worth mentioning until level 48, though at 35 they do get a ninjitsu that does AoE damage, which can be used every 20 seconds. I guess their AoE is better than MNK, but not as good as DRG, BRD, SMN, or BLM (in my opinion, of course). They're a much easier class to play than a DRG - a DRG running an optimal rotation can keep up with a NIN running an optimal rotation, but a bad NIN is very likely to do much more damage than a bad DRG. They only have two attacks that rely on positionals (their sneak attacks) and one requires them to stab the enemy in their face, so it can be used solo. That means they only have a single attack that can't be optimally used solo, but it's an opener and they can open with it (and it's a level 50 skill), so they don't have MNK's positional problem. They have a TP-restoration skill they can use on other people (but not on themselves), making them really nice to have when supporting MRD/WAR tanks, DRGs who are spamming AoE moves, and on all melee DPS classes in endgame content (everyone has TP management issues in endgame raids). Also, ninjitsu are kinda fun (and if you screw them up, you get Setzer's Lagomorph bunny from FFVI on your head!).

PROs: A bunch of fun/useful support abilities, can stun (36), can silence (34), TP restore buff, good endgame damage buff, practically no positional attacks, fairly easy rotation
CONs: Stun and silence share a cooldown, fairly low AoE damage, lag can make mudras/ninjitsu really awkward to use (and lowers DPS noticably), long dungeon queue times


Archer/Bard (ARC/BRD): BRDs are a support class that pretends to be a DPS class, or a DPS class that pretends to be a support class, depending on your point of view. Endgame, BRDs do the lowest DPS out of all the DPS classes, but they're the most needed in any raid group and always welcome in a party because of their support abilities. Having only BRDs in the party for your DPS is annoying because BRDs do not have a damaging Limit Break (they have the healer one instead). BRDs are the easiest class to play while dealing with mechanics because their the only class that can attack at range while moving without it affecting their DPS at all. They're also straightforward to gear up since they have a clear best secondary stat at endgame (Crit, because of the level 48 "River of Blood" trait (50% chance that a DoT crit instantly cools down Bloodletter)). Their buffs include an AoE movement buff, which is nice for using between pulls in dungeons or when running around town. They're pretty much the best class for silencing since they can do it instantly at range (PLDs are the other great silencers, but they have a long animation attack in their basic rotation and can't silence during it, unlike BRDs who don't have that problem). They have good AoE and good single target damage, but overall, their DPS is generally the lowest of any DPS class.

PROs: Easiest DPS class to play (in my opinion), can move while doing full DPS at range, no combo moves, no positionals, best for silence (at level 42), good instant ranged AoE attacks, great party support abilities: party MP restore, party TP restore, +10% to SMN/BLM damage, party movement speed buff, practically required in endgame raids
CONs: Can't stun, relatively low DPS all around (especially at endgame), no damaging Limit Break, long dungeon queue times



Arcanist/Summoner (ACN/SMN): SMN is a pet and DoT class, arguably based on WoW's warlock class. ACN/SMN are nice for solo content because their pet can tank, and they can both DPS and heal. At level 30, you get a spell to transfer all the DoTs (and their remaining timers) from one target to a few enemies nearby, making them pretty good for AoE. At low levels, they have great MP management due to Aetherflow, though at high levels, they use MP faster than Aetherflow restores it and run out before melee classes run out of TP in long fights. At level 30 though, ACN becomes two clases (and two roles!) in one. You can take both SMN and SCH, they share most pre-50 gear, and you can switch between them whenever you like. SCH have pretty good queue times compared to any DPS class. And the best thing about running low-level content as a Scholar? Since you have a healing pet, you can just DPS the majority dungeon and let your pet heal. The worst thing about running low-level content as a Scholar? You don't get the debuff-curing spell until level 40. It's not that big of a deal until level 50, but still annoying.

PROs: Can switch to SCH for quick queues (after level 30), good mobile DPS due to DoT focus, good small-group AoE damage after level 30, great solo class for story content/quests
CONs: Can't silence, can't stun, pet micromanagement can be annoying, terrible endgame gear at the moment (practically every single piece of endgame gear, including the SMN weapons, all have the worst SMN secondary stat on them for some reason (Spell Speed - totally useless on a DoT/pet class)), serious MP management issues at endgame, likely the least liked DPS class for raid groups right now (due to the last two points)



Marauder/Warrior (MRD/WAR): They're a tank class. Compared to PLD, they have the same eHP, but very different flavor. WARs deal more damage while main tanking (though (I think) less as off tank), they can heal themselves a bit through dealing damage, and they are amazing at getting AoE aggro (compared to PLD). Because they are a tank class, they are expected to lead the party in most four-person content (the first eight-person content doesn't start until level 49), mark targets, know where to go, interrupt stunable monster attacks, etc. Because they're tanks, in solo story content, they tend to not die. They can also deal a decent amount of damage (though less than any DPS class), and they can heal themselves some, making them pretty good for clearing the solo story fights.

PROs: Instant dungeon queues, very survivable solo, great AoE threat control
CONs: Expected to know fights/dungeons, lowish DPS for solo content




2. Sure, here:
The extremely simple ones:

• PUG/MNK: All in Strength
• LNC/DRG: All in Strength
• ARC/BRD: All in Dexterity
• ROG/NIN: All in Dexterity
• THM/BLM: All in Intelligence

The slightly less but still simple ones:

• CNJ/WHM: I'd do all in Mind, but you can argue for some/all in Piety
• MRD/WAR: I'd do either all Strength or all Vitality. Vit makes you a bit more survivable, but Str helps with threat generation and DPS
• GLD/PLD: I'd do either all Strength or all Vitality. Vit makes you a bit more survivable, but Str helps with threat generation and DPS

And then there's:

• ACN: If you don't care about SCH, definitely do all in Intelligence. If you don't care about SMN, definitely do all in Mind. If you want to play both SMN and SCH, I'd do all in Intelligence - the 30 point swing matters more for SMN than for SCH.

Keep in mind that you can switch your attribute points around if you want to via an item bought with either Grand Company Seals or Allied Seals, so you aren't locked in forever (but it isn't super cheap to change them).



3. Don't ask me, I hate playing BRD. It was my original main class, but I found it so boring and simple, I was about to claw my eyes out before I switched to maining PLD (and later, BLM). Sure, laugh at me and say that PLD and BLM are just as simple if not more so. My fingers are in my ears and I'm ignoring you. (BLM dodge timing is very strategic, making endgame fights really fun for me as BLM, and tank party-organization was really fun for me for a while, so the simpleness of the BLM/PLD rotations didn't lead to the same bored feeling as with BRD.)



4. Endgame crafting takes a massive investment, and the endgame items tend to be extremely highly priced when they first come out, a couple get sold for massive profit, and then the filthy rich all have their new toys and the market stagnates since the price the items will sell at drops below the cost of the materials, until the materials come down, and then everyone's doing it and there's no profit.

The real trick to making money in this game is to find a profitable niche, exploit it until it runs dry, then check your old niches and see if any are suddenly profitable again, and if not, find a new niche. I made my first ~5 million using one such niche market (selling i55 Miner and Botanist equipment (the market there is super inflated due to RMT bots buying/using them)). Then, I made a bunch of money here and there as niches appeared and vanished (selling pre-melded relic weapon bases, buying base materials and selling the materials you make from them, selling glamour prisms of all kinds, selling high-value furniture, etc). I made my next big amount of cash (about ~10-20 million) by fishing up Big Fish and having my wife Desynth them to get the swimsuits out (especially when they secretly patched the swimwear yields from fish to be 10x what they used to be - we made a killing right after that change!), but each of those markets would run dry and stop being profitable when the supply exceeded the demand. I've gone back to some from time to time and they've been profitable again, but you have to ride the ebb and flow of the supply/demand tides. I made my latest ~50-70 million in a market that is STILL PROFITABLE (more now than ever before, in fact!) even though I've posted about it in tons of places and RMTs even had bots doing it on my server for a while.

So, I've made about ~10 million (at MOST) from endgame crafting, and spent about ~10 million getting to endgame crafting. I've made about ~100 million doing stuff that did not require endgame crafting at all, and in many cases (FSH, desynth), did not involve crafting at all. Heck, right now, Gathering can be super-profitable due to the currently inflated prices of certain base materials, like Crawler Cocoons, that people either use to make items to turn in for GC seals or use to make items that desynth into Mastercraft Demimateria. Gathering is not normally profitable due to the overabundance of RMT gathering bots who oversaturate the market.

I hear there are monsters you can farm to make money, like sheep for snurble tufts and fleece or hippogryphs for hippogryph skin, but I've never bothered with those. There are dungeons that drop valuable loot, like crafting materials, but the easier they are to get from dungeons, the more they're farmed (RMT even run BLM bots through dungeons to farm stuff like that - you can watch them queue up at the Ul'dah aetheryte).

Also, a fairly good way to make money is by Spiritbonding items, converting them to Materia, and selling the Materia. Combat items are terrible for this due to the existence of the worthless elemental materia (literally half the materia you get from combat equipment conversion is completely worthless). What you want to use are crafter/gatherer items (except Aetheryte Rings which ONLY convert to elemental materia due to some classification bug) that are at least level 45, and as low ilvl as possible. Level 45 items always convert into at least grade 3 materia and have a chance (about 5%) to convert to grade 4 materia. The rate at which items spiritbond is based on how close they are to the optimal ilvl for the enemies you're fighting. The optimal ilvl is 10 levels below the enemy's level. Enemy levels over 50 are invisible, but no open-world enemies have a level above 50. So, ilvl 40 equipment would SB the fastest against level 50 enemies, but since you don't get decent materia from level 40 items, you want to go with items as close to 45 as possible. Crafter materia is usually the most valuable, and there's almost a full crafter set at level 46, and you can fill in the gaps with either higher level crafter stuff, gatherer items, or your normal equipment to make fighting easier.

Also, you can get tons of grade 1-2 materia super fast by buying level 15 items (again, level 15 is where items have a chance of yielding grade 2 - level 14 can't give grade 2) and finding a place full of level ~25 enemies and murdering them. You can buy the level 15 crafter/gatherer gear from city vendors.

The best place to spiritbind level 45+ items is with the water sprites at the very end of Urth's Gift in South Shroud. Check the Party Finder for a Spiritbonding group, or go there and ask to join the people who are spiritbonding there. On my server, there's ALWAYS someone spiritbonding there. For spiritbonding level 15 items, I recommend the little culdesac full of djiggas north of Hawthorne Hut in East Shroud.


Crafting is really fun though - I recommend trying it. Just be aware that you have to level all crafter classes to get all the crafter skills. If you're going to level all the classes and want to do it in some kind of order, get every class to level 15 first (gives you the first unique skill for each class), then get CUL to level 37 (gets you Steady Hand 2 - extremely useful). No other class has a useful unique skill at level 37 (the elemental skills are utterly worthless, as is Flawless Synthesis), but almost every class has a really useful level 50 skill. LTW is arguably the best class to get to level 50 for money making (imo - I made my first millions from it as said above, so I'm biased), and WVR/LTW/BSM let you craft your own i55 crafter gear, but LTW has the worst level 50 skill. Skillwise, CRP and WVR have the best level 50 skills, followed by BSM and GSM, then ALC and ARM, and then I guess CUL and LTW. So, keep that in mind when choosing what order you level your crafting classes in.

WVR's level 50 skill is just a flat upgrade to your basic synthesis. It gives you 120% progress with a 100% success rate for 0 CP. Basic Synthesis is 100% progress with a 90% success rate for 0 CP. It's just really nice to have, always, for everything. CRP's level 50 skill is a massive Quality boosting finisher move. It's amazingly good and important and will basically double/triple your final quality numbers. It's just that good. Get these two first.

BSM and GSM's level 50 skills are varying forms of progress/quality buffs. BSM's doesn't do a thing for low level crafts (or extremely high level (i110) crafts), but it's extremely good for moderately high level crafts (i55-i90), which are the majority of the crafts I find myself doing. BSM's buffs both progress and quality, and the buff to progress is definitely noticeable. GSM's only boosts quality and it doesn't last as long, but it boosts quality a bit more than the BSM one,it's much less CP, and it works on any craft.

ALC and ARM's level 50 skills are essentially ways of saving CP. ALC's is essentially a flat +14 CP on most synths. Some endgame synths can get +28 or even +42 CP out of it if they go on long enough. It's exactly as nice for most crafts as having 14 extra CP would be. Good, but not world-changing like WVR or CRP. ARM's level 50 skill increases progress by 1/3rd of the remaining progress. This amounts to saving 10-20 durability on your progress steps on high level crafts, but since it costs 15 CP and only has a 90% success rate (meaning, you have to use a Steady Hand skill on it as well raising the cost above 15 CP), and 10 durability is worth about 28 CP, you don't wind up actually saving that much by using it. So, it's nice, but not THAT nice. Nice for extremely high level furniture though, but since furniture can't be HQ, you shouldn't need the ARM skill even for furniture that takes 1,400 progress (something like 28 raw Careful Synthesis IIs) to complete.

CUL's is only useful for certain endgame crafts or when you're doing a craft that costs millions in materials, and LTW's is just useless (except, maybe, for the latest crafter turnin tokens - not sure yet, but still, 99.9% useless).



5.

• If you haven't done so already, go to Limsa and find the level 17 quest "Rising to the Challenge." That unlocks the Challenge Log, which gives weekly exp/gil rewards for doing certain content a certain amount (run 5 dungeons, commend 5 people, etc).
• Before you do too much crafting, get a combat class to level ~45 first so you can unlock the Ixali Beast Tribe quests. They give tons and tons of crafter experience. Also, you want to get your Ixali rep high because the later repeatable quests give Ixali Oaknots. You'll need to collect tons of those for crafting your endgame crafter gear. Or, you can sell the Echtal Sealant for a fairly large amount of money. At the end of the Ixali quests, you can get 1x Echtal Sealant a day, and they sell on my server for 234,000 each.
• If you're maining SMN (or SCH, or WHM), get THM up to level 26 when you can. That unlocks the cross-classable skill "Swiftcast" which is just amazing in all cases forever.
• Run Duty Roulette once a day for the experience bonus.
• Random note in case you haven't noticed: When leveling a class that isn't your absolute highest experience class, you get a +50% boost to your experience.
• I strongly believe that healing is the best spec for chocobos. They just don't do enough damage or get enough aggro for the others to be worth it.
• If you're not in an FC, join a rank 8 FC with a house. Leech their FC buffs, buy base crafting materials from the house's merchant, and dye/train your chocobo in their stables. If you don't like them, mute FC chat. If you don't like the buffs they run, find a new FC. My FC always runs the +10% battle experience and reduced teleport cost buffs.
• If you don't have a One Time Password authenticator, get the phone app. The free teleport will save you tons of gil in the long run, and it's great protection from hacking. If you do this though, log into the Lodestone and get your "Emergency Removal Password" asap, and write it down somewhere safe! It's very, very important. Sometimes, the app glitches and unregisters itself (occasionally happens when you run the app during maintenance) and you can't log into the game without reinstalling the authenticator. You can't reinstall the authenticator without the emergency removal password (except by calling Customer Service during business hours and waiting on hold for hours - believe me, it's a pain). If you have the password, removal and reinstallation is simple and quick. I've had to do it ~3 times so far.
• Favoriting an aetheryte halves the cost. Your FC house's aetheryte is super cheap compared to all others. For endgame, there are five locations you'll be going to really often: the three cities, Coerthas, and Mor Dhona. I'd set one as your home point, one as your free teleport, and the other three as your half-price teleports.
• When buying an item from the MB, if you're currently in the same city as the retainer, you don't have to pay taxes. When buying expensive items (or items in large quantities), often the teleport is cheaper than the tax.
• There are three great ways to level crafters: Ixali quests, Levequests, and GC daily turn-ins. If you're using Levequests to level, the Courier quests (also known as Ingenuity leves) are almost always the best bang for your buck. Those are the ones that start in the craft's home city but are turned in at another town. At a certain level (15, I think?) the Courier quest is backwards (from a town to the home city instead). Turning in HQ items for a levequest gives double the experience. Also, triple-turn-in quests are never worth it, as they take 9x the materials of single turn-in or courier leves for only a small amount of extra experience.
• GC turn-ins are daily turn-ins for your Grand Company, one per class. HQ items give double experience, and starred items give double experience (turning in an HQ item for a starred request gives 4x the listed experience).
• If you fish, use na.ff14angler.com for all your fishing needs (the timetable there is amazing for Big Fishing). If you want to know if something can be bought from a vendor, check it out on xivdb.com. If you want to know about quest rewards or levequests or anything like that, check out the FFXIV wiki at gamerescape.com. If you want to know anything about desynthesis, check out my comprehensive guide.

6. BLM. BLM's DPS is directly proportional to how little they move. I'm weird and like the puzzle of finding the best place to stand during a duty and finding the best time to move to avoid mechanics. I also enjoy the timing game of anticipating when mana tics occur, and I love the surprising tankiness of BLMs due to Manawall (immune to the next two physical hits) and Manaward (negate magic damage up to 30% of your max HP). Mines in T8? No problem! With Manaward up, a single BLM can handle one without taking damage, or two with taking normal damage from the second. Garuda HM light farming? When Garuda vanishes the first time, instead of dodging, Manaward and Mistral Shriek only hits for ~500 so you can DPS her during her cast. Fighting the second boss of ST and your tank isn't in position to tank the Clockwork Squire? Save up a Firestarter (and maybe a Thundercloud) and spike the Squire as it spawns while standing right there to draw aggro, use Manawall to ignore the first two hits from the Squire, and either the other DPS will be paying attention and the Squire will die before hitting you a third time, or the Tank will do the right thing and Provoke it off of you. If the provoke comes from across the map and the tank pulls it to some weird place way out of position, spike again! It's great fun.

EDIT: There are a ton of other good places for it too. Targeted with a Divebomb in T9 during the phase where she double-dives? Pop Manawall, and even if you get targeted in both of the back-to-back sets, you take zero damage. ZERO. Standing in a meteor in WoD against the Cloud of Darkness? Pop Manaward and you take ~100 damage. Fighting Cerberus in WoD and he starts casting Ululation with none of your party members nearby? Pop Manawall and it completely blocks Ululation, which makes the Abandonment debuff not even trigger. It's also great for if you are standing in front of him and he uses Hound Out of Hell (0 damage and no extra damage debuff).

(note: all of the BLM Manawall tricks also work with NIN's Perfect Dodge. However, Perfect Dodge only works on a single hit instead of two, you have a much shorter window to get hit after using it (5 seconds instead of 20) making it harder to time, and I think if you successfully dodge naturally you still use up the buff (you don't use up a charge of Manawall if you naturally dodge).)

And there's nothing like having infinite MP and being immune to the MP/TP troubles of other DPS in endgame raids.

Also? Triple/quad flare at the start of Slaughter-mode PvP (when all the new melee players are clustered around the Defense System) followed by Cometeor is hilarious. I love BLM in PvP - you hit like a truck, and everything hits you like a truck. Also, instant AoE sleep and ranged AoE bind are good times.

[Saseal]

ALL the infos!

Holy mutha of info, Batman! xD



OP> Their post has a good outline, there *Hopes to maybe contribute*

You can check the other skills of the other classes to see what good skills there are to cross-class once you pick your primary (some jobs won't let you cross-class skills with others once you get your soulstone). Some of those skills (like swiftcast) won't come till passed level 20 (26, for instance), so if you wanted, for instance, lancer's Invigorate for TP when you chose, for, as an example, Monk, it would be so worth it to level the other class for that skill. Pugilist/monk's Second Wind is <3 and with exception to bard, I use marauder's Bloodbath as a clutch heal (Internal release + hopefully GL 3 + Bloodbath = mini heals. I do this when the healer has died or I'm soloing).
Same thing for WHMs - BLM's swift cast + raise = <3... Swiftcast + Stoneskin II = <3 Swiftcast + anything = <3
It's fun to weave these other skills together into your own class' abilities

a lot of DPS atk boosting skills can be cross-classed. Internal release, Blood for Blood, etc (some cases, like BLM - bard's Hawk's eye, etc)

When you choose your preferred class and are happy to main that class, look to see what cross-class skills you can use with it to optimize yourself (hell, you can use them on secondary classes, also)

not very helpful info, but...

[brody138]

I couldn't log into game and got bored, so I wrote you this wall of text. I didn't read the other advice people gave you, so sorry if some of this is redundant!

Thank you so much for all of this info! There was a ton that helped me, and I definitely appreciate all the tricks and tips you included.

Also, thank you to everyone else who chimed in!