How long does it take to get a job class to 50?

[VydarrTyr]

Time for another noob question from me! What is a spiritbound party?? Apologies if this is something simple and I'm just overlooking easily accessible information.

"Spiritbond" or "SB" is related to the Materia system. Essentially, when you get XP, your gear gains "spiritbond." When the spiritbond meter is full on that particular piece of gear, you can convert that piece of gear into materia. (Go into your inventory, click on the item, and then choose "Create Materia.") This will destroy the piece of gear and give you a piece of materia.

Materia basically offers stat buffs, like +4 Strength or +4 Accuracy. Different pieces of gear can be converted into several different types of materia. There are 4 levels of Materia, with the highest levels of materia usually coming from gear that's made for levels 41 and above.

The materia can then be attached to a new piece of gear, sold (to NPCs or other players), or stored for future use. The process of attaching materia to gear is called "melding." You have to use a "catalyst" to meld the materia to a piece of gear. Catalysts can be obtained through gathering or bought from the Market Wards.

In order to start converting gear into materia, you have to first complete a quest. You need to have at least one crafting class at level 18 (other than Alchemist or Culinarian). Then you go talk to an NPC goblin north of Camp Black Brush. He'll have you walk through a couple of steps, and then give you the ability to convert items into materia and meld it to gear.

Here's a more detailed explanation of the materia/SB process.

SB parties are groups that wear cheap gear while killing as many mobs as quickly as possible so everyone can SB their gear. They then convert the gear into materia, and either sell or use the materia. (The best pieces of materia right now usually sell for over a million gil on the Market Wards.) SB parties are essentially grind parties, only the point is to level up your clothes.

[Zidclo]

Awesome post again VydarrTyr! I knew there was materia but I'm a ways off from understanding how it works. I have noticed a spirtbond meter on my equipment but I assumed it was just related to my character's ability to maximize the use of that equipment... clearly that was a stupid assumption as I now realize I didn't see any changes to my stats that would indicate so. Now I get it, thanks a lot for the thorough and detailed response. After just reading a couple of your posts I feel more informed than I did after playing for a couple weeks!