Need some help understand the class/job system

[Vabryn]

So I've played a lot of mmo's and I played wow for roughly 4-5 years and no longer find it enjoyable, so I came to FFXIV. Now this job system is a bit confusing to me as at this point I've read so many different things about it I'm not sure what to believe, so to put it simply I've got a few basic questions but any more information on it would be welcome.
1. I've just reached 30 on Thaumaturge, to become a black mage do I need a level 15 archer or arcanist? or both?
2. Are there any other restrictions to becoming a Black mage?
3. Does my secondary class get an exp increase when it is a lower level than my main one?
4. Can you switch between those classes freely once you've become a black mage?
Thank you for any answers in advance.

[Anova]

1. To become a black mage, you need thaumaturge 30 and archer 15.

2. You also need to complete the level 30 class quest for thaumaturge. You do not need to complete any quests from archer (although it does give you exp and free equipment). Simply leveling it to 15 is enough. Leveling arcanist is completely optional.

3. You get a 50% xp bonus when leveling any other class below your highest level class. This might have increased to 100% for pre-50 classes since the expansion. This bonus only applies to monster kills, not any of the quest exp or challenge exp. You also get the first-time completion bonus for any and all guildhests you do for every class. Blackmage will start at level 30, and any exp you earn as a blackmage will also be counted as thaumaturge exp and vice-versa. Basically, you are leveling blackmage and thaumaturge together.

4. Yes. You can change classes simply by switching the weapon. You can also save equipment loadouts to quickly change between classes. Just be aware that doing it outside of a town means a 1 minute cooldown on all abilities. This feature is unlocked and explained in some detail when you do your level 10 thaumaturge quest.

[Shougun]

To become a Black Mage it will only require a level 15 Archer, however you should consider leveling Arcanist to get some of the cross class skills like Virus and Eye for an Eye (and in emergency Physick may become helpful).

Your only real restrictions to becoming a Black Mage is having 30 Thm, 15 Arc and then completing the main quest Sylph-Management. When you are a class you can use all the cross classable skills, when you go to a job you can only use the class skills your job has association with (Black mage associates with THM, ARC, and ACN).

No class will level when you are not playing as it. So playing as BLM or THM will not level ACN or ARC. You will have to level them specifically. Edit: Misread the question, Anova answered it all anyway, but yes you get an exp bonus called the Armoury bonus when you are leveling something under your highest leveled job. Please be aware certain abilities will be expected of you so be careful taking too much advantage of the Armoury bonus (for example as a white mage you are expected to have Swiftcast, you will have it for being a level 30 THM but sometime people haven't and they might receive party stress because of not having it).

You can switch between all classes and jobs freely, welcome to FFXIV .

Arcanist has Physick (lvl4), Virus (lvl12), and Eye for an Eye (lvl34)
Archer has Raging Strikes(lvl4), Hawk's Eye (lvl26), and Quelling Strikes (lvl34).

[Vabryn]

Thank you both for you're answers they were very helpful, but they did spark a new question, are all abilities cross class or is it only specific ones?

[Garlyle]

4. Can you switch between those classes freely once you've become a black mage?

You can; the difference between being in Thaumaturge and being in Black Mage is literally whether or not you have the Black Mage soul stone equipped! With that said, the further you go into Black Mage, the more skills you will receive that are completely unique to Black Mage and can't be used in Thaumaturge, and the more important those will become to your capabilities. Before long, you won't have any reason to swap back into Thaumaturge, really.

Thank you both for you're answers they were very helpful, but they did spark a new question, are all abilities cross class or is it only specific ones?

Specific abilities are cross-classable. For instance, you can cross-class the Thaumaturge's Surecast onto other classes... but you can't cross-class Thunder, or Manawall, or Apocastasis, or Fire 3... etc etc

It's also made slightly more complex that Jobs have less cross-class options available to them than classes. For instance, when you're in Black Mage, you won't be able to use, say, Marauder's Foresight or Pugilist's Second Wind, although a Thaumaturge would be able to. However, to be clear, the value of the Job-only abilities vastly outstrips the power of the lost cross-class options, especially since you will generally still be able to use the most valueable ones to your chosen class (eg Archer's Raging Strikes can still be equipped in Black Mage).

Shougun was kind enough to list the skills that Black Mage will be able to take from cross-classing.

[Shougun]

Thank you both for you're answers they were very helpful, but they did spark a new question, are all abilities cross class or is it only specific ones?

Only specific ones, when you hover your mouse over an ability it will read which classes and jobs can use it.

Here is a fun list: http://www.ffxivguild.com/ff14-cross-class-skill-guide/

The Guide is a little old but should still be fairly accurate, you can also see specifics by going at the top and going through the menu job > black mage > cross class: http://www.ffxivguild.com/ff14-black...-skills-guide/

[Dualblade]

You can; the difference between being in Thaumaturge and being in Black Mage is literally whether or not you have the Black Mage soul stone equipped! With that said, the further you go into Black Mage, the more skills you will receive that are completely unique to Black Mage and can't be used in Thaumaturge, and the more important those will become to your capabilities. Before long, you won't have any reason to swap back into Thaumaturge, really.

Don't forget that the soulstones also give extra stats while equipped, making you that much stronger.

[Vabryn]

Everyone is incredibly helpful here so thank you. While I'm here does anyone have any tips on how to go about leveling a second class? considering you're missing the main story to lead you around quest hubs.

[Garlyle]

Everyone is incredibly helpful here so thank you. While I'm here does anyone have any tips on how to go about leveling a second class? considering you're missing the main story to lead you around quest hubs.

The first thing is good news: Whenever you're levelling a battle class that's lower levelled than your highest, you receive a free +100%(!) experience modifier up to level 50 (it's +50% after level 50 though), which is pretty huge. This applies to anything that can receive EXP bonuses, so FATEs, dungeon mobs, etc.; only quest reward turn-ins and similar static EXP rewards won't benefit.

The first steps I suggest for any class is the process of getting them to 15, which is easy enough. Crack open your Hunting Log and go kick some mob butt; clear out a couple FATEs that spawn nearby as you do, and clear your early class quests as well. It's amazing how fast the first few levels will actually just fly by with that experience bonus. Once you're able to start participating in group content, the Guildhests give an EXP bonus to every class the first time that class clears them. At 15 you can start running dungeons, which hilarious amounts of EXP with the +100% armory bonus. You'll easily be netting a level a run or more.

[Shougun]

Everyone is incredibly helpful here so thank you. While I'm here does anyone have any tips on how to go about leveling a second class? considering you're missing the main story to lead you around quest hubs.

As Garlyle points out, you get a huge bonus for having a higher leveled class/job - so that is very helpful and it makes the main story line that more helpful (taking your first job through without a bonus).

This link has a lot of points on ways to get exp and even a recomended effeicency: http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Experience.