Unlike the Disciple of the hand jobs, it take much more time to level up combat class to level 50. So, it is an investment you have to think about.

I heard the pugilist/monk and lancer/dragoon classes got gutted in patch 4.0, tell me if it's true. If they are weaker, I'd rather go toward the machinist & samurai as DPS. Maybe I would take a tank class & a healer class.

Thanks