What level should the new jobs start at?

[LineageRazor]

Honestly I have no clue where this idea that grinding lower levels taught you anything. I don't really think 20 levels of spamming Impulse Drive as a lancer really taught me anything. Jobs are pretty straight forward, and your most optimal way of dealing damage is pretty obvious. The only real difficulty comes with learning how your personal class mechanics interact with a boss's mechanics, and you don't learn that while leveling.

Lancer is a ridiculous exception, not the rule, and can be chalked up to piss-poor low-level design. It SHOULD have made True Thrust -> Vorpal Thrust the focus, but made the mistake of having that combo deal less damage than Impulse. The fact that they removed Impulse Drive's positional requirement is partly to blame; prior to that, solo LNCs would see better damage with their combo and so were at least encouraged there. Even then, it wasn't very good design, as the best way to play LNC in a party (which, to be honest, is where ANY job gets the best practice) was to stack opposite the tank and Impulse Drive over and over. To be honest, Impulse Drive should have 150 potency or even less, and add a trait later on to make it 180.

Most jobs are NOT like Lancer, and teach you some pretty crucial things at low levels. Tanks learn why the enmity combo is so important (a lesson, I'll note, that FAR too many DRKs struggled with when they were plunked into the role at level 30 having never played a tanking role prior). THMs learn how to alternate astral and umbral. PGLs learn how their attack options change as they shift forms. CNJ learns how to balance healing with DPS, as the early levels are very generous in how lightly the mobs hit back. I could go on, but I'm pretty sure I've made my point.

Can a player jump in at level 60 with all skills available and eventually sort things out? Sure. Some - particularly those who are familiar with MMO conventions, may even get into the swing of things quite quickly. The leveling process, though, provides a structured, step-by-step path to learn to play your job, a process tailored for a general audience, not just the previously-experienced or prodigious. For those that say, "I was able to get into the new job quickly," remember that we're not talking about YOU, but about players in general. Just because you're talented enough to sift through the bucketloads of new skills in a heartbeat does not mean that everyone will be so adept - and if you claim that they are, aren't you doing yourself a disservice? If you're claiming that everyone is as least as skilled as you are, isn't that the same as saying that you're at the very bottom in terms of skill?

[Averax]

Probably 30

Hopefully 60

Leveling has killed me this expansion. Judging from the amount of time it took to get from 50-60 in HW, i feel like 10 levels would be more than enough time to learn a class.

[Konungarike]

It'll probably be 30, which is probably the best level to start at overall. Enough skills to have something to do, but not so much it's overwhelming.

That said, I did have to do a few runs of Copperbell to get a hang of things when I picked up the HW jobs... I simulated my own levelling process to learn the job. Too many skills at once are extremely disorienting for me and I enjoy the levelling process immensely in any RPG I play. To start the new jobs at too high level would take away a lot of enjoyment for me.

[ErikMynhier]

The HW ones were half the new levelcap, 30/60. So since the new cap is 70 I would say 35 would be good.