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Final Fantasy XiV Class/Job system explained.
SirAoS
Member Posts: 203
For people who don't know or people who want to know just ONE of many things that separates this great MMO from others
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/job-class-system-explained.6/
Let me know what you think
Comments
It's fantastic! You've answered a number of my questions.
I really appreciate it. The part of the end was also really helpful.
Life of an MMORPG "addict"
For 7 years, proving that if you quote "fuck" you won't get banned.
Thanks, but just a quick heads up. Some of the jobs list the wrong secondary classes now, as some changed for P4. For instance, Bard no longer requires Conjurer, but instead you need Pugilist as the second class and it now gets some skills from lancer as a third optional class now. Once you understand the system from the OP's link, here's a link for an updated class combo chart
http://www.gamingreality.com/2013/08/ff14-class-job-chart-with-cross-class.html
This is still a confusing system to me lol.
So I have a Lancer right...which means I can become a Dragoon once I hit level 30 in Lancer, and 15 in Marauder? (or whatever if that is not right)
So is Dragoon considered a class at this point? What level is it? 1 or 30?
Can I level up an Archer to 30 and whatever to 15 and get Bard as well?
Can my Lancer also level up a thaumaturge and gain rdps spells to use as a Dragoon too?
You are misunderstanding classes and jobs. You can freely pick to be any class you want based on the weapon equipped (arcanist, conjurer, pugilist, ect.). Once you reach a certain combination of levels you can accept a quest to gain a job - effectively a 2nd tier class.
The job is defined by an item you equip, this means that you must equip a different item to change a job - it's NOT simply based on your weapon. Furthermore, a job only has access to cross class skills for the requirements to take the job.
For instance, a scholar requires a 30 arcanist and 15 conjurer. As a scholar you can only pick arcanist or conjurer skills.
Okay:
1.: Yes the job that comes with Lancer is Dragoon.
2.: Dragoon is a job, you are level 30 Dragoon at that moment. Overall a Job is just a Class that equips a soulstone, you keep leveling your main class which is Lancer, you just will be called Dragoon at that point.
3.: You can be everything there is on a single Character yes.
4.: You would have to check the Thaumaturge abilities. Every ability is tagged with which classes it's compatible, so check out that Thaumaturge ability you have in mind and search for the LNC. Though those spells will scale with Intelligence and you are focusing on strength as Lancer which means they will do bad damage and you won't have the mp to support a lot of spells.
The weapon you have a equipped will always determine your class.
The job stone you have equipped will always determine your job.
In the case of lancer, you equip a lance and become a lancer. Currently, the only compatible job stone is the dragoon. You equip the Dragoon job stone and you are still a lancer (your level is the same level as your lancer class) but now you have access to specialized Dragoon abilities and a limited selection of cross class skills. You could almost view a "job stone" as a modular "talent tree" from other MMOs.
For example, the arcanist has access to a RDPS job (Summoner) and a Healing job (Scholar). As long as you've unlocked all abilities for each job, you could switch between the two roles as necessary. Group really needs a healer, equip the "Scholar" job stone. Really needs dps? Equip the "Summoner" job stone. Both jobs are still arcanists. They will have access to all the arcanist abilities, but the Scholar will have some healing abilities where the Summoner will have more offensive abilities on top of the arcanist staple.
All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares, and likewise, all Dragoons are lancers but not all lancers are dragoons.
The system, thematically, is kind of confusing to wrap your head around at times. One thing you will notice is that most cross class abilities are either heals or short-term buffs that enhance defense or offense in some way. When you aren't running around as a job, you'll have access to all of these so you can boost your dps, offense, or survivability as needed.
For example, as a gladiator, you already get plenty of defense but may want some healing and dps boosting abilities - whereas a thamauturge may want healing and defense boosting abilities. But as a job, you will be limited to only two other classes for abilities which may only provide abilities that enhance your job's role.
For those not interested in grinding a lot, I'll also point out that pretty much all the abilities you'd want to pull from another class tend to be relatively early (somecases VERY early)level.
It's nothing like "Oh man if I want to be the best DPS I can be I hvae to level thaumaturge to 50 also so I can get their nuke".
Most of the stuff you can't even use on other classes, only certain abilities can be carried over.
In other cases where you can, it isn't necessarily desirable either because you won't be statted for it.
Leveling up classes (at least past token levels) is more for having the option to change your play style than it is min/maxing your character, like being able to switch from DPS to tank.