Easiest job to find groups at all levels? ninja? bard?

[gagaliya]

Hi i am just starting this game and looking for some advice. What is the easiest job or job/subjob combo to find groups at all levels - 30-75?

Is bard/whitemage most wanted? how about ninja/warrior or paladin?

What are the top 3 job/subjob combo that will get the most invites to single group exp?

One last question, from my understanding you can only have 1 subjob at a time but on mmorpg.com job guide, it said you will always have ninja as a subjob. What does that mean, if you can only have 1 subjob.

thank you.

[evilpaul]

Anything besides a melee DD or Black Mage will get invites.

Ninjas don't sub Ninja. Neither do quite a few other jobs in a variety of circumstances. You can only have one job subbed at a time.

[Okuza]

If you're just LFG'ing and not building groups yourself, I'd say any support job will get more invites than a DD job. Tanks are iffy and depend entirely on the current tank supply at that level. Sometimes you get invites while not LFG as a NIN but usually it takes a bit. Usually faster than a DD, slower than support.

BRD & RDM & WHM are the ones that seem to get lots of invites even when not LFG.

[spooky]

BRD/WHM it's also possibly the cheapest job to level. Sure you CAN spend loads of money on it and be an uber BRD, but you can also merit in AF and people wont care so long as they get your songs.
I'm not saying being a cheap BRD is a good idea, but you could level it on the cheap and still be acceptable in a PT.

[Isiolia]

Varies entirely on the mix of people leveling at your given level, or at best online at the given time. I've seen times where a tank was hard to find with multiple BRDs seeking. Sometimes you even find a lack of good DDs.

If you're interested in leveling quickly and efficiently, form a static. Even if it's not the absolute most efficient at all levels, removing LFG time does a lot.

For LFG, you're probably looking at your party-makers. You need a main healer. You need a tank (mostly). You -want- a buffer (like, seriously want). RDM and WHM are preferred healers, BRD and COR for buffing, and NIN and PLD for tanking.

For just starting, you'll likely have the easiest time going with BRD/WHM. If you are inclined to do a lot of stuff on your own, RDM/WHM would probably serve you better, or PLD/WAR if you are looking to do more front-line stuff. COR and NIN are very expensive to level, WHM is less popular later on for XP/merit (PLD is also not that popular post-70 for that).

Any of those jobs will have other subjobs to level. You can only -use- one sub at a time, but you can mix/match main/sub from any jobs you have leveled.

[Saraphym]

BRD, not even debatable.

every exp/merit pt wants one, and every good exp/merit pt will most likely have one. /WHM will cover pretty much all situations but having /NIN doesn't hurt either.


COR is actually really nice also, but lot of people can go 1-75 w/o pt'ing with one cor, in my own experience they seem to be more rare then brds while lvling.

[Woozie]

Bard, but DON'T DO IT, IT'S A TRAP!

I hate BRD.

But with that said, the answer is definetely BRD at most levels. At about 25+, invites are very fast. At 60+, they're even better. At 70+, there are too many invites.

Oddly enough, my PLD got much faster invites from 10-70 than my BRD, but that's because Phoenix was lacking tanks at exp levels back when I leveled PLD.

P.S. Don't do it, it's a trap.

[Airenn]

I took BRD slowly.

Little by little...
And with it @ 75 now?

I love it. Best decision I made ever. And I get to keep my lovely RDM as my main.

[Atlasion]

Bard, but DON'T DO IT, IT'S A TRAP!

I hate BRD.

But with that said, the answer is definetely BRD at most levels. At about 25+, invites are very fast. At 60+, they're even better. At 70+, there are too many invites.

Oddly enough, my PLD got much faster invites from 10-70 than my BRD, but that's because Phoenix was lacking tanks at exp levels back when I leveled PLD.

P.S. Don't do it, it's a trap.

When did you lvl PLD? When I lvled it, I got the same. Easy as hell to get invites all the way up to 70. Then it slowed right down from about 73-75. This was a long time ago though. Pre September 2005 (I only know cause thats when I joined Finale)

BRD is very very easy to get invites on. I actually enjoyed lvling it (to some extent).

Warrior was fun too, and I don't recall every waiting too long on invites. I lvled it before BRD though, so wasn't comparing it to much ;p

RDM was fun too. I made almost all of my parties myself though and staticed with a BRD. I don't think it would be too hard to get invites on though. Granted you're not an idiot and don't object to main healing.

[Leeto]

bard gets quick invites, but personally I think it's the most dull of my jobs. gear is wholly unimportant past a few specific pieces and after you finish casting songs you turn into a very weak support class until they need to be recast (end game, at least)

[gagaliya]

thanks all, appreciate the straight answers none of that play what you like bs. Guess i will continue with my whitemage instead of starting over as a warrior. Then when i am high level enough to get the bard job, will switch the main.

Currently try to solo the <15 levels with my whitemage as noone really groups yet and it's painfully slow. Boy it sure was a rude awakening to fight the first level1 mob outside the gate and having it almost kick my ass, as compared to the easymode games like wow/lotro etc...almost feel like soloing in the original everquest

[Zarath]

BRD, not even debatable.

every exp/merit pt wants one, and every good exp/merit pt will most likely have one. /WHM will cover pretty much all situations but having /NIN doesn't hurt either.


COR is actually really nice also, but lot of people can go 1-75 w/o pt'ing with one cor, in my own experience they seem to be more rare then brds while lvling.

Additionally on the COR thing, COR for a starting out person I wouldn't highly recommend, actually infact, I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have a sizeable wallet. Playing a good COR cost a pretty penny till you get an acceptable melee weapon, looking at you joy toy. I know when I lvled COR I spent a good about 4-5 mil on it, gear, AF, food, ammo ect, they all add up quickly.

IMO COR is a luxury if you happen to pt with one, especially if they're good; just the only thing we don't have is a slow on par with elegy .... and haste >>;

[ryskar]

I actually leveled bard for my endgame job... my shell has three solid bards (including me) who come to pretty much everything. But, the only time I merit on it is when I'm recapping exp and halfway through the session I'll cap.

Also, because my other jobs are monk, thief, and dragoon, I can pretty much assume I'm coming bard to an event unless it's sky/sea farming. This is nice, I can just go to the area of the event early and afk until it's time.

[Vigilia]

BRD/WHM is by far easiest and cheapest combination to get to 75- most races can do it with RSE/AF up until the 70s and NQ gear is more than sufficient. Just do not go cheap on the instruments, especially stuff like Mary's Horn. I wanted to gouge my eyes out while ago partying in the mire in a lvl 70 party with a BRD who had one instrument (cornette), NQ staves and could not sleep imps to save his (or his party's) life.

RDM, WHM, COR, NIN and PLD all also get quick invites but the demands on gear and subjobs are slightly more demanding (by 75 all of them will require 2+ subjobs minimum and the day-to-day running costs with regards to ammunition or tools can get pretty high). You can't really pick a top three out f those six jobs, it all depends on who's currently LFGing. RDM, BRD and COR are the most guaranteed to get invites though whatever the day. Rule of thumb, even when there's a drought of tanks every party only needs one tank but many parties are more than happy to invite multiple peeps in support jobs. Having all RDM, BRD and COR in one party is a hell of a combination.

I think someone else touched on this already in their reply, but just be aware the bard job seriously sucks in doing anything alone. RDM is a safer bet in the sense that you will still get very fast invites but you'll also be able to melee, quest and farm for money when not XPing much more efficiently than on bard. Just to get to level 75 RDM's not really any more expensive or slower than BRD either. RSE/AF/Errant and a few staves should do it and with the current trend of RDMs main healing you can get by with just having /WHM for leveling. You will need to work on /BLM and /DRK later on though.

To be brutally honest though, if you're just wanting to level to 75 as fast as possible to be able to play end-game, most linkshells by now have a ton of bards and many will not let you in if bard is your only 75 job (unless you're insanely merited and well-geared 100% committed career bard). The really elite end-game shells are starting to have a requirement of having 2+ lvl75 jobs and even the more casual ones only recruit on basis of jobs needed... and in most cases dime-a-dozen bards are now in abundance because so many take it as a quick road to end-game.

If you do make BRD your first 75 for the purpose of end-game I'd recommend you work on your in-game relationships and getting to know the right people in the right linkshells along the way as well. Making a good impression is very important, you don't need all gear HQ especially if you talk to people in your parties and make it known it's your highest level job.. peeps are surprisingly forgiving then. But do take the time to keep your skills capped and learn to play the job and what songs to sing where. As a BRD you have the opportunity to merit a lot at 75, it's a great way to get to know new people. Do not jump into the first LS that comes your way because if it's a rotten egg their reputation will follow you too.

[Larrieux]

I'd say BRD > NIN. I'd also add Support > Tank > DD should be your order of forming ye old pick up parties. I've seen party dynamics change from the old school SC - MB a mob to death to the new school DD a mob to death that we all enjoy today. In terms of quickest to 75 there are about 4 groups in order leveling speed, relatively speaking and considering they spent the same amount of time and effort to level up from 1 - 75.

PRESENT

Group 1 - |BRD ~ COR ~ RDM|
Group 2|WHM ~ PLD ~ WAR|
Group 3 |SMN ~ THF ~ DRG ~ MNK ~ BLU ~ NIN ~ SAM ~ DRG ~ DRK ~ RNG|
Group 4 |PUP ~ BLM ~ BST|

Jobs not ranked within groups in order of quickest to 75 they are randomly placed in the orders I've listed them

Some I've placed in groups based on my own experience with the jobs or through conversations I've had with vets telling me how tough they said it was to level up the jobs actively seeking and forming parties.

Ninja edited and amended after considering EG's comments about toah and how badly a good portion of NIN are at loltanking.

[Pergo]

how come sam is so low-ranked

[Excalin Garisk]

how come sam is so low-ranked

Because honestly most Sams lvling up suck

PRESENT

Group 1 - |BRD ~ COR ~ RDM|
Group 2|WHM ~ NIN ~ PLD ~ WAR|
Group 3 |SMN ~ THF ~ DRG ~ MNK ~ BLU ~ SAM ~ DRG ~ DRK ~ RNG|
Group 4 |PUP ~ BLM ~ BST|

I think most people knowing what is up once they hit ToAU is not going to invite a ninja. Even with a thf they just can't keep hate worth a shit in xp. Fuckers see this and start throwing boomerangs to skill up. Plds are pretty iffy espcially when you close in to 75. I honestly wouldn't invite a pld unless I knew he was good at it and just go for the burn set up when able. Honestly from there most DD get more pt invites based on merit. You either blend in with the rest, suck, or stand out...and when you standout your have others track you down for pt invites instead of waiting in line while lvling (merited polearm Sams go)

[Max™]

The stand out and be noticed thing applies very well, I had like, everything short of Sniper +1's for my loltaru Mnk as I leveled it, and I got many repeat invites, same with Warrior til I finally put up the 1h Axes and went on my /Sam bender... then ironically /Sam get's random invites again.

Yesterday I was doing Exp scroll in Tav for my Drg sub, and got a bunch of kanji in a tell, ask them to use auto translate, and then get asked to come party as Drg/Whm.

Sam, Drg, Mnk, Bst, Rdm, Smn... all four frontliners were tarus and we flew straight to 32-33 from 30 in a couple hours, rocked hard.

I must say I was kind of shocked to get a random invite on Drg of all things, like seconds after I had swapped to the job and popped exp scroll, and then to sub /Whm (which I really didn't mind, it's a great "Oh shi-" failsafe, even if it HB Trigger is 33% before AF helm) in an interestingly setup party.

[gagaliya]

Thanks again for the detailed explanation. For me endgame raids dont really concern me too much (bad memories from eq), i am much more interested in single group dungeon crawls whether to finish a quest or just exp, so i am more focused on the process of getting 1 to 75 instead of end game.

Also noticed, in this game people seem to place much more emphasis on player skills like the old days in eq compared to games like lotro which mostly are casuals who barely grasp the concept of grouping.

BRD/WHM is by far easiest and cheapest combination to get to 75

I hope this is the case soon so far leveling my whitemage from 1 to 10 solo has been pretty brutal, i bought the best gears possible for the level at auction, meat food, hi potions, all spells etc.. and it's still painfully slow to solo. Then i watch a less equipped war next to me easily solo mobs higher than me. I guess we bite the bullet earlier and get easy life later on

by 75 all of them will require 2+ subjobs minimum.....You will need to work on /BLM and /DRK later on though.....have a requirement of having 2+ lvl75 jobs

Everyone keep saying that but i still dont get this. From my understanding you can only have ONE main job and ONE subjob equipped. So what's the point of having say 4 subjobs when you can only equip 1. For example, why do i want to work on BLM or DRK later on as a brd with whm already as the subjob? Are you saying it's just for me to switch them around for when i am soloing vs grouping? but then why would linkshell make it a requirement? i mean all they care about is bard/whitemage.

[Obev]

Everyone keep saying that but i still dont get this. From my understanding you can only have ONE main job and ONE subjob equipped. So what's the point of having say 4 subjobs when you can only equip 1. For example, why do i want to work on BLM or DRK later on as a brd with whm already as the subjob? Are you saying it's just for me to switch them around for when i am soloing vs grouping? but then why would linkshell make it a requirement? i mean all they care about is bard/whitemage.

Different subjobs for different situations. For several monsters you're better off subbing black mage to bard. For most stuff white mage subjob is your best bet, but there are cases to be made for red mage subjob for spam-casting songs, and ninja subjob for pulling in merit parties. Someone who's able to adapt to different situations will be more useful than someone who's stuck with one combination only.