Class vs Job

[Guitarman]

Is there any reason I need to go with a job vs staying as a class? I think archer looks interesting, but will I be gimping myself if I don't go forward with it and be bard? Like, are jobs inherently more powerful than the classes?

And how does archer damage stack up vs other DD? Who's currently the best? Marauder?

[Niiro]

Jobs give an across the board stat boost and the unique skills are often pivotal to your function in a group.

Also MRD/WAR is a tank, not a DD.

[Krandor]

BRD is a solid DD, especially in AoE situations, but your damage will be taking a hit due to having to sing in longer fights.

[Slycer]

If you can come up with an ability palette for a class setup that strongly takes advantage of cross-class skills that wouldn't otherwise be available when you specialize as a job, then there could be some situations where it would work. If you aren't taking advantage of that, there's really never a reason that you wouldn't want to specialize into a job.

The only exception I can think of is SCH, which fundamentally changes ACN from a DD role into a support role, but there's SMN if you want to remain DD (can't really think of any situations where ACN would be useful over SMN).

[Guitarman]

So warrior is a tank, so if i want non-magical dps i'm looking at dragoon/bard/monk?

[Slycer]

So warrior is a tank, so if i want non-magical dps i'm looking at dragoon/bard/monk?

Unless I'm greatly mistaken, I believe WAR is really only a tank for Duty Finder purposes, otherwise only GLD(/PLD) would come up as tanks. It should retain all of the DD capability that MRD gets, plus some great damage abilities like Inner Beast.

[Tokitoki]

So warrior is a tank, so if i want non-magical dps i'm looking at dragoon/bard/monk?

Yep. Until they come out with more jobs/a new class that's where we're at.

EDIT:

Unless I'm greatly mistaken, I believe WAR is really only a tank for Duty Finder purposes, otherwise only GLD(/PLD) would come up as tanks. It should retain all of the DD capability that MRD gets, plus some great damage abilities like Inner Beast.

MRD is a tank as well though. The skills that MRD/WAR have have enmity modifiers to make them tanks. WAR also has a larger HP pool than PLD and functions based on the ability to deal damage and heal itself through Crits. PLD gets it's own spells to heal and has more damage mitigation. They are both tanks, just different kinds of tanks.

[Seravi Edalborez]

If someone wants to move the below to a topic in Advanced or something you're welcome to.

Observed base stat values as a 50 Plainsfolk Lalafell. Equipping soul crystal gives boosts.

Noting VIT/PIE values on weapons equipped for the sake of HP and MP which may be slightly off, but these values are not included in the attribute total.

Gladiator
Paladin
(weapon: VIT +17)
HP 2261, MP 1199, STR 189, DEX 183, VIT 212, INT 102, MND 191, PIE 162
HP 2721, MP 1478, STR 200, DEX 193, VIT 232, INT 122, MND 202, PIE 172

Marauder
Warrior
(wep: VIT +24)
HP 2448, MP 559, STR 200, DEX 183, VIT 212, INT 61, MND 101, PIE 81
HP 2908, MP 772, STR 210, DEX 193, VIT 232, INT 81, MND 111, PIE 91

Pugilist
Monk
(wep: VIT +24)
HP 1933, MP 747, STR 212, DEX 204, VIT 189, INT 91, MND 171, PIE 122
HP 2189, MP 990, STR 232, DEX 214, VIT 200, INT 102, MND 181, PIE 132

Lancer
Dragoon
(wep: VIT +24)
HP 2189, MP 906, STR 222, DEX 193, VIT 200, INT 81, MND 121, PIE 142
HP 2419, MP 1166, STR 242, DEX 204, VIT 210, INT 91, MND 131, PIE 152

Archer
Bard
(wep: VIT +19)
HP 1787, MP 1678, STR 169, DEX 226, VIT 189, INT 162, MND 151, PIE 162
HP 2031, MP 1970, STR 179, DEX 246, VIT 200, INT 172, MND 161, PIE 172

Thaumaturge
Black Mage
(wep: VIT+21)
HP 1816, MP 3436, STR 78, DEX 193, VIT 189, INT 225, MND 141, PIE 233
HP 2060, MP 3662, STR 88, DEX 204, VIT 200, INT 245, MND 151, PIE 243

Conjurer
White Mage
(wep: VIT +15, PIE +13)
HP 1729, MP 3316, STR 99, DEX 204, VIT 189, INT 203, MND 224, PIE 223
HP 1973, MP 3618, STR 109, DEX 214, VIT 200, INT 213, MND 244, PIE 243

Arcanist
Summoner
Scholar
(wep: VIT +10)
HP 1657, MP 2933, STR 169, DEX 193, VIT 189, INT 225, MND 151, PIE 203
HP 1901, MP 3005, STR 179, DEX 204, VIT 200, INT 245, MND 161, PIE 213
HP 1901, MP 3369, STR 179, DEX 204, VIT 200, INT 225, MND 232, PIE 243

Note that SCH gets a huge-ass MND boost to compensate for its role adjustment. For everyone else it's more or less "20 in primary damage/healing stat, 10 in most other things".

[Niiro]

Unless I'm greatly mistaken, I believe WAR is really only a tank for Duty Finder purposes, otherwise only GLD(/PLD) would come up as tanks. It should retain all of the DD capability that MRD gets, plus some great damage abilities like Inner Beast.

WAR loses the cross class DD skills available to MRD, not to mention Defiance explicitly reduces your damage delt.

[Meko]

So, do you keep your jobs and classes or does your "class" morph into your job? This system has me all confused because I see people leveling marauders to 50 but if "warrior" is better, why would you ever get a marauder to 50?

[Deejay]

So, do you keep your jobs and classes or does your "class" morph into your job? This system has me all confused because I see people leveling marauders to 50 but if "warrior" is better, why would you ever get a marauder to 50?

The Job's level is always tied to the level 30 class needed to unlock it. So once you unlock WAR at lvl 30 Marauder, you're automatically a level 30 WAR as well. If you gain exp on your WAR, it transfers over to your MRD as well.

[Tokitoki]

Levels are linked for classes and jobs. Think of it as a specialization rather than a new entity.

[Slycer]

The Job's level is always tied to the level 30 class needed to unlock it. So once you unlock WAR at lvl 30 Marauder, you're automatically a level 30 WAR as well. If you gain exp on your WAR, it transfers over to your MRD as well.

Probably the easiest way to say it is that when you are playing on WAR you are still leveling up MRD. WAR is just a specialization of MRD and when you get experience, it'll even say in the chat log that you're gaining "marauder experience points."

[Seravi Edalborez]

The easiest way to say it is that changing to job is as simple as equipping an item.

[Meko]

Oh, wow...good thing I asked. I was thinking when I switched to scholar that I'd have to level all over again. So, for each "class", the job is linked to the primary "class" that it requires.

[Slycer]

Oh, wow...good thing I asked. I was thinking when I switched to scholar that I'd have to level all over again. So, for each "class", the job is linked to the primary "class" that it requires.

Yeah. I just gave you an internet for getting it. The SCH and SMN thing is unique because both of those jobs are tied to arcanist, so they all level up together (the other classes each only have one job specialization). It's a weird imbalance because you're leveling up two completely different jobs at the same time... I mean yeah they share a couple of spells, but they fill totally different roles in parties. Even if you weren't planning on playing SMN, make sure you unlock it. It's great for soloing, if nothing else (you may never die because of your faerie, but SCH is really slow soloing compared to SMN).

[Meko]

I planned on unlocking SMN because everybody says to go with it instead of SCH but I want a healer (I didn't want to be a WHM but maybe that's a better route).

[Charismatic]

SCH is far more useful than SMN and aside from The Aurum Vale I'd say its on par with or better than WHM in pretty much every instance.

[Skai]

If you want a WoW reference, think specs. You have your priest and it can go shadow priest for DD or holy/discipline for healing. In XIV's case, you'd have arcanist and it can go summoner for DD or scholor for healing.

[Raineer]

Just wanted to add my thanks for this thread and all who contributed. This is muddy as hell while you are leveling and trying to understand longterm goals in the game.