Starting questions and tips

[Februs]

I know this is vague. Sorry about that. ^^

It's actually pretty specific, since you're asking specific questions. To answer them in order:

• PvP is pretty much an end-game thing in FFxiv. It's still possible to get into lower level content, but it's pretty rare and the queue times are astronomical. If you want to PvP, it's best you start at lvl 60.
  
  
• PvP Gear is a non-issue in most cases. All max level PvP modes gear sync you down to lvl 150, so PvP gear is not required to actually play the mode. Morale and materia bonuses are also no longer a factor, because too many people complained about seasoned players having too many advantages and SE took them out to "balance" the fights.
  
  That said, it is still possible to Min/Max your character secondary stats by using a mixture of PvP and PvE gear. To give you an example, the accuracy stat caps are quite low in PvP, so you can often sacrifice a lot of Acc for additional Det, or Crit, or whatever your particular job uses to deal additional dmg. It's not required to stay competitive, but it's an option. The general rule of thumb, however, is that as long as you're rocking PvE gear roughly lvl 190 or above, you'll be fine.
  
  
• This is a personal preference thing. The shortest answer is that the easiest class to start on is the one you're most comfortable playing as.
  
  The more complicated answer is admitting that some jobs are, in fact, more difficult to use in PvP than others, and the difficulty of the job can vary quite a bit depending on the game mode. Front Line game modes are larger format and more casual. Feast is smaller format and far more aggressive (especially due to rankings). You may find one job is easier to play in one than the other; so, there is no universal answer to this question. You'd do better to decide what job you want to play first. Then try to learn how to use it in the content you are most interested to play.
  
  
• PvP actions are accessible from the word go; however, the enhanced versions are only accessible using "Action Points." You attain Action Points as you rank up your character within your GC. This is a completely distinct and separate system from PvE and is only tied to your PvP ranking within your GC. Each match (regardless of type) will net you GC experience points which are attributed to your overall Rank. More exp is given for victories than losses, but all matches provide at least some exp. There are also other contributing factors including weekly challenge log exp and the like. Currently, there are 50 ranks (possibly more to come in the future, as there used to only be 30); however, you should be aware that the last 10 of those ranks require more exp than the total exp of the first 40 ranks combined; so, it's quite the grind. If you take a strong interest in PvP, however, it is worth it because the enhanced versions of your skills can provide you an edge in combat.
  
  Another thing to consider is that your PvP GC ranking is distinct from your overall GC rank (ie: you can be a "Second Storm Lieutenant" but be at PvP rank 0) as well as your Feast Seasonal Ranking (which resets each season). Your ranking is also GC specific. This means that, if you rank up to 50 in one GC, then you are only rank 50 in that specific GC. If you swap to another, then you have to start over. That said, your ranking is saved within each GC. This means that if you swap back to your initial GC your original rank within it will be restored. If you get to 50 in Maelstrom, you will always be at 50 with that GC, even if you switch at some point to another GC.
  
  Finally, the last thing to know about Action point is that they are job specific, but they can be reallocated as you see fit. This used to be a much bigger pain in the butt, since you had to go through the PvP menu and manually re-assign all of your points each time you swapped jobs. Recently, however, SE has given us the option to assign "pre-sets" for our action points, allowing you to save up to five individual action point loud-outs. This means that once you've set up your initial Action Point loadout for Smn, for example, you can save it, and you won't have to manually re-assign your points if you decided to moonlight as a Sch for a few matches. This is extra handy for Front Lines, as it allows you to swap jobs as needed without having to spend a ridiculous amount of time in your menu trying to set up your skills. Just remember to actually assign those skills to a hotbar so you can use them. "PvP Actions" are actually considered to be distinct from "Job Actions," so it's usually a good idea to have one or two hotbars set aside specifically for PvP.

I hope that answers your questions adequately. PvP in FFxiv is pretty ambiguous, so don't be afraid to ask more questions if you have them. Try to be patient with queue times, as well. The number one killer of interest in PvP is long queues. Things were going well for a while with Feast, but Front Line game modes have always been questionable due to GC restrictions. Shatter, in particular, has thrown a wrench into the works recently, and we're all waiting to see what, if anything, SE does with it.