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Alright I've now been playing for two weeks. I'm monk 20, war 20, thief 10.
During downtime, between pulls, while waiting for parties I've been reading every guide I can get my hands on, asking all the questions I can think of, and interviewing players in game to find the most up to date, accurate information on how exactly all of these jobs work.
Planning is what FFXI is about (and patience). If you find half way through the career of your chosen advanced job that you don't like it, you may find yourself leveling not one, but a few new jobs when starting over.
When I got started here I decided that while I learned the game I would work toward the goal of being drk/war. To that end, I started as a monk, leveled to 18, did the sj quest, then leveled war/mnk in an attempt to get to 30 and begin drk. I took brief interludes to play some monk and thief obviously during my levelign of war.
Here is a tiny amount of the wealth of information I've accumulated on all the melee jobs:
Dark Knight - Used for DPS, debuff, and skill chain ending post 66. Requires that you level scythe and greatsword, and leveling both warrior and thief is a plus, as warrior is preferred in parties at lower levels, and thief is preferred 66+.
Dragoon - Used for DPS with wyvern, jump attacks and powerful WS earlier on than some other jobs. I'm not certain about the skillchains here. There seems to be a wide variety of different subjobs for this job depending on player preference and party needs, but having /war is always a good choice for party DPS with berserk, double attack and warcry. Only need to level one weapon (lance), or one subjob if that's all you want.
Monk - Used for DPS, which seems to be more useful at higher levels than lower. With the most expensive hand to hand weapons I could find, and grabbing every +str +attack item available at low levels, monk DPS before 50 doesn't seem impressive. However, with progressively faster attacks, double attack at 50, kicks at 51, chi attack to start fights, monk seems to be highly respectable DPS at higher levels. Also can be used to start skillchains and briefly distract from mages in emergencies. Only requires leveling hant to hand, and only requires /war.
Ninja - I honestly havn't researched this extensively, because I"m not overly interested in tanking. However, with high evasion and Utsusemi (I believe that's the word) ninja are well regarded by most players in terms of tanking. They also seem to have higher DPS with ninjitsu and dual wield than paladins. Although I don't see them tanking quite as well. Only requires leveling katana, and only requires /war.
Paladin - In my opinion (and apparently many others') the most suitable tank in the game. With what seems to be the lowest DPS for melee job, that's all they seem to be able to do. However, I havn't gone into great depth here either so if I have any misconceptions please correct me. Requires leveling greatsword and sword, but only requires /war as a sub.
Samurai - Most of the players I've interviewed about melee jobs tell me that samurai is the most fun... I'm still not so sure. Having TP around much more often certainly does look fun, but that seems to be all they really do. Skillchains are great, though, and they have a couple of other little convenient abilities. I'm giving samurai deep consideration based on others' opinions. Levels only great katana, but generally requires /war at low levels and /thf at high levels.
Thief - DPS? Sneak attack, trick attack and weapon skills to finish skillchains, hate management as well, makes the thief job appealing in its unique role. It seems most high level parties need to invite a thief or an appropriate job with /thf for this reason. Uses the ninja subclass, and generally requires leveling of both dagger and sword.
Warrior - A well rounded melee job, the warrior seems capable of tanking with /nin or dealing damage, also with /nin and dual wielded axes. It seems like a straight-forward job, with various job abilities to complement both roles. Levels both one hand and two handed axes.
I want to play the melee DPS role in a party, and I want to solo 3,000 experience per day in between parties. (don't tell me not to, I know I can).
Also, jobs that only require /war are convenient because obviously I already have that. I was hoping to do that with drk but I seem to be getting some criticism for it.
Please, add to my knowledge on these jobs with your personal experience/opinions, or suggestions on which I may want to play and why.
I need to make a concrete decision on which job I am before I get warrior to 30 (probably about a week and a half from now) and begin.
Thanks again
During downtime, between pulls, while waiting for parties I've been reading every guide I can get my hands on, asking all the questions I can think of, and interviewing players in game to find the most up to date, accurate information on how exactly all of these jobs work.
Planning is what FFXI is about (and patience). If you find half way through the career of your chosen advanced job that you don't like it, you may find yourself leveling not one, but a few new jobs when starting over.
When I got started here I decided that while I learned the game I would work toward the goal of being drk/war. To that end, I started as a monk, leveled to 18, did the sj quest, then leveled war/mnk in an attempt to get to 30 and begin drk. I took brief interludes to play some monk and thief obviously during my levelign of war.
Here is a tiny amount of the wealth of information I've accumulated on all the melee jobs:
Dark Knight - Used for DPS, debuff, and skill chain ending post 66. Requires that you level scythe and greatsword, and leveling both warrior and thief is a plus, as warrior is preferred in parties at lower levels, and thief is preferred 66+.
Dragoon - Used for DPS with wyvern, jump attacks and powerful WS earlier on than some other jobs. I'm not certain about the skillchains here. There seems to be a wide variety of different subjobs for this job depending on player preference and party needs, but having /war is always a good choice for party DPS with berserk, double attack and warcry. Only need to level one weapon (lance), or one subjob if that's all you want.
Monk - Used for DPS, which seems to be more useful at higher levels than lower. With the most expensive hand to hand weapons I could find, and grabbing every +str +attack item available at low levels, monk DPS before 50 doesn't seem impressive. However, with progressively faster attacks, double attack at 50, kicks at 51, chi attack to start fights, monk seems to be highly respectable DPS at higher levels. Also can be used to start skillchains and briefly distract from mages in emergencies. Only requires leveling hant to hand, and only requires /war.
Ninja - I honestly havn't researched this extensively, because I"m not overly interested in tanking. However, with high evasion and Utsusemi (I believe that's the word) ninja are well regarded by most players in terms of tanking. They also seem to have higher DPS with ninjitsu and dual wield than paladins. Although I don't see them tanking quite as well. Only requires leveling katana, and only requires /war.
Paladin - In my opinion (and apparently many others') the most suitable tank in the game. With what seems to be the lowest DPS for melee job, that's all they seem to be able to do. However, I havn't gone into great depth here either so if I have any misconceptions please correct me. Requires leveling greatsword and sword, but only requires /war as a sub.
Samurai - Most of the players I've interviewed about melee jobs tell me that samurai is the most fun... I'm still not so sure. Having TP around much more often certainly does look fun, but that seems to be all they really do. Skillchains are great, though, and they have a couple of other little convenient abilities. I'm giving samurai deep consideration based on others' opinions. Levels only great katana, but generally requires /war at low levels and /thf at high levels.
Thief - DPS? Sneak attack, trick attack and weapon skills to finish skillchains, hate management as well, makes the thief job appealing in its unique role. It seems most high level parties need to invite a thief or an appropriate job with /thf for this reason. Uses the ninja subclass, and generally requires leveling of both dagger and sword.
Warrior - A well rounded melee job, the warrior seems capable of tanking with /nin or dealing damage, also with /nin and dual wielded axes. It seems like a straight-forward job, with various job abilities to complement both roles. Levels both one hand and two handed axes.
I want to play the melee DPS role in a party, and I want to solo 3,000 experience per day in between parties. (don't tell me not to, I know I can).
Also, jobs that only require /war are convenient because obviously I already have that. I was hoping to do that with drk but I seem to be getting some criticism for it.
Please, add to my knowledge on these jobs with your personal experience/opinions, or suggestions on which I may want to play and why.
I need to make a concrete decision on which job I am before I get warrior to 30 (probably about a week and a half from now) and begin.
Thanks again
also, sitting down to rest 1000 hp can be quite long. you wont get your 2000xp a day that way. :p
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