Needing some Advices/answers

[Nowakii]

So ! im a new player as you can guess ! (Duh! "new player help" subforum ofc i am D: )
Anyway i just purchased the whole game and pre ordered SB because why not, and im a little confused with some stuff so it would be wonderful if some can help me witht hem !

1- Fre companies, is that the Guild system in here? if so, how do i join one? and how important is to be part of one ? (wonder is really important since im new and full of questions)

2- I just got my character to lvl 30 and completed my SMN quest which was on the ACN class qust, so im wondering, if i want a BLM do i need to finish all the THM quest to get acces to the one that gives me the BLM job?

3- I just noticed that i get another quest for lvl 35 on the ACN guild to unlock Fester, does it means that i need to do 1 quest per SMN skill in order to unlock them?

... And ofc there is a Characters limit in a forum for whatever reason ._. imma put the others in first post.

[Nowakii]

..... Continuation

4- When do i start caering about Gears? i mean so far i've been using the one you get as reward for doing MQ and some drops from dungeons that i need to do for MQ, so, when do i actually need to farm something to get X gear?

5- Best way to level another class ? so far ive been doing Palace of the Dead, so if thats the best way, should i start doing it at lvl 1? or should i get to X level first?

6- Again with same previous topic, is it better just to Repeat 1-10 floors? or should i do the whole thing to 1-50 in order to level faster?

7- Once im done with my SMN ill prob go over healer or BLM....So about healers, which one is.... more required/usefull/wanted/whatever AST or WHM ?

Well thats it (for now ! )! Thx in advance for those who answer, and for those who just read too !

[Urthdigger]

Ok, first off you can edit your posts to get around the 1000 character limit. It's dumb, I know.

1: Yes, they are basically guilds. Finding a nice FC can make the game much more enjoyable, but it's not really required per se.

2: Yes. You should be doing all your class quests for any class you level up anyway, and BLM is the evolved form of THM.

3: Yes. You get a new job quest every 5 levels until 50, at which point they come every 2 levels.

4: Try to keep your gear from falling too far behind. My general rule of thumb is that if your gear is 10 levels out of date (or 4 levels past level 50) you should focus on getting new ones. The sole exception is that some level 50 sets (notably the augmented ironworks gear) have a higher item level than the post-50 crafted gear, and as such can last you a considerable time into the expansion.

5: Palace of the Dead is the fastest way to level DPS classes as it doesn't need role requirements, and an option for all jobs to avoid caring about gear. I would recommend pausing every now and then to practice using your new abilities as you gain them however, so you're not thrown into level 60 with no idea of how your class works. Also, tanks and healers get fast queues for leveling dungeons, so it's far faster for them to level that way.

6: No idea, I level in dungeons because I prefer them.

7: AST is currently preferred, but WHM is far from useless. Also, Stormblood is launching in a little while and all classes are undergoing some major changes in how they work, so "what's good now" is irrelevant.

[Sida]

1. Free Companies are indeed the guild system in this game. As for necessity of having one, it depends how inclined you are to have a social circle. There is not really "need to be in FC" content, now that people can purchase even apartment rooms outside of them. There is also Novice Network, a sort of chat channel dedicated to help new players. You need to be invited to it by a mentor (those folks with fancy crown icon in their name), usually asking in the /shout in any major city should catch at least someone's attention.


5. Apart from what previous poster said, while you can start PoTD from level 1, if you actually do the first class quests you find yourself on about level 7 in no time. And I too heartily recommend playing every dungeon (maybe not each of the first three) at least once on every class when you come on their level, to keep a current understanding how your skills work in context of usual party play. The PoTD playstyle is quite different for most part. Also I seem to recall that up to level 47 or so, if you have one class on high level and thus the experience bonus for leveling other class, you pretty much gain one level from one dungeon run. Choosing to level through dungeons is thus as valid choice.

7. For healer class, unless you're wanting to shoot into the peak endgame content right on this minute, the healer class you choose doesn't matter that much. They are all valid healers in most of the content and what matters more is how you like their peculiar play styles. It's not even bad idea to dabble a bit in all three to see which you like the best. Also as said the SB is just around the corner and the classes are bound to have changes and while their core ideas should stay the same, the "flavor of the month" for the peak performance might shift. But for nearly all the content, there is not one healer class that's more or less wanted than others (same for other classes as well, actually).

[Nowakii]

...here is also Novice Network, a sort of chat channel dedicated to help new players. You need to be invited to it by a mentor (those folks with fancy crown icon in their name), usually asking in the /shout in any major city should catch at least someone's attention.

8-i think i saw the mention of "mentoring" a few times, but im still not quite sure how does it works/how helpful it is, can someone please explain it to me?

9-Also, do SE usually realse a kind of Patch notes or somethiong to see the changes prior to the actually update? or is pretty much wait till the Expansion hit to see whats different?.

[BorisDaBlade]

Just a quick comment on healers, if your leveling a smn, your already leveling a healer. The Scholar. It shares the same XP pool as ACN/SMN. SCH is always relevant in endgame with WHM and AST being interchangeable.

[Nowakii]

Just a quick comment on healers, if your leveling a smn, your already leveling a healer. The Scholar. It shares the same XP pool as ACN/SMN. SCH is always relevant in endgame with WHM and AST being interchangeable.

if thats the case, may i ask, what makes Scholar "always relevant in endgame" cuz as far as i know (which is not much tbh) WHM is like supr defensive healer (big heals), while AST is offensive suport healer... so whats the SCH role in there?
Sorry if im wrong, im still trying to figure evrything out D:.

[LunaFaye]

if thats the case, may i ask, what makes Scholar "always relevant in endgame" cuz as far as i know (which is not much tbh) WHM is like supr defensive healer (big heals), while AST is offensive suport healer... so whats the SCH role in there?
Sorry if im wrong, im still trying to figure evrything out D:.

That is true, if you level'd or are leveling a summoner, your healer the scholar will be gaining experience as well. Just have to go to the marauders guild after you level'd your conjurer to level 15 and pick up the scholar Job stone.

So with that out of the way lets get to the actual job : scholar
Scholars are a must in every group, no matter if progression, raiding, old school, learning or just don't matter kind of content. A scholar can not only heal but has a little buddy, the so called fairy, which in most cases does the job of healing, that leads to the point that a scholar can do both - heal and dps to the same time, making this job a absolute hybrid when it comes to own play styles. Not in terms of SE declaring it an hybrid, let's not get that wrong. However it comes at a price of having to micro manage your fairy, which can be very overwhelming at the start and especially for new players.

While WHM dps is great, it can't do both to the same time, you can either heal or you can either dps, you can also do both right after another but just not at the same time. AST's dps is like none existing, and others wanna tell you it's outstanding but it is not. However Astro's can and should switch their stances they are equipped with to either slip in the role of an WHM if not already in the group or an SCH if not in the group. AST is pure support heals and while it can heal a couple of encounters solo, that will be more player skill dependent then from it's actual tool kit. But the reason people do take astro's are their cards. Mind you these are rng based but if the astro is able to please RNG'esus your runs will be much faster and in general better because of their ability to buff a single players as well as the group with damage increase, attk speed increase, spell/skill speed increase, damage taken decrease, mana and tp replenishment.

WHM will always be the main healer, and AST as well as SCH are the off healers, even tho the scholar can and will solo heal in encounters that doesn't have a two healer slot or in progression/content sale runs/speed runs etc.

I could go into detail and also explain the other two healers, as well as show you a comparison between old ARR and now new HW content, but then we are looking at least at a novel that keeps you busy for the next 5 hours. There's much more to it then "just" healing, so if you're interested in playing a healer one day, take a look at in depth guides for all 3 of them and take some time to practice.

[Okamimaru]

I'd like to add that while it's true you level SCH by leveling SMN, SMN is int based and SCH is mind based which means respecing each time you swap between the two

[Urthdigger]

I'd like to add that while it's true you level SCH by leveling SMN, SMN is int based and SCH is mind based which means respecing each time you swap between the two

At level 60, that + 30 MND/INT is fairly inconsequential. You can respec it if you wish, but I'd hardly call it required.