Any advice for an old-school player coming back?

[Arelian]

I'm just curious if there's any advice for a player from about a year ago returning. The last time I played was about...1 month after ToAU was released, so any big changes there would be nice to know about. I have a 75 BLM, but I don't think I want to keep playing it, seeing as how ToAU kinda killed manaburn parties, and I'm not terribly fond of soling.

Is there anything I should know for leveling a lowbie job? I don't have a 2nd account to Plvl myself on, so that's out of the question. Is going to the Dunes still a good idea, or is it more effective to solo DC-EM mobs until 25ish?

What role does BLU play in most parties? I have BLU to level 35, but if they get relegated to a pure healing role at some level, I dunno if I want to keep playing it.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

[Metah]

BLU is DD. No question about it, but they can /sub WHM to help with healing if really necessary at lower levels. They also get Wild Carrot now to heal.

Dunes parties can be good if you don't get a group of retards, which happens more often than not, of course. 22ish-25 can be done soloing Gigas Leeches, sure.

[Judai]

Don't come back?

BLU is more of a solo job xpwise tbh, I hate partying on it unless it's a BLUburn but it's a solid DD job. Pretty versatile, can /whm and heal, /nin for xp/solo, /thf for endgame. You never have to heal as BLU unless you get a party that wants you to do that.

TAU actually made manaburn parties better, so idk where you heard it killed them.

Either solo to 37 off Gob pets or party up the regular ways for lowbie lvls imo.

[Saraphym]

signet bonuses have made solo'ing/duo'ing/trio'ing at lower lvls a decent alternative to xp parties these days. Also if you want to level a lowbie job might want to wait for WoTG to be released, a lot of people will be lvling lowbie jobs then, will be easier to get PT etc.

[Kyupi/Kij]

(Figured I'd drudge this up instead of making a new topic.)

I'm an "old-school" player too, even made a few useful posts here in my hay-day, but I relinquished my account to friends and didn't really want to ask for it back. (It's in good hands as-is. =p) So I went out and bought the 2007 collection, made a quick glance over the last few updates and ran around the forums, and noted some pretty funky changes. Then I realized on the day I wanted to start playing they have a bloody maintenance, too, so here I am again.

My general question for now is basically how has playing from zero - well, not *really,* I'll probably get a little bit of help, lol - has changed. So far I've noted for at least my second noob experience:

- Signet defense/evasion buff on EM and lower
- DEX/Acc relationship change for 2handers (is it just me or did this turn SAM into the Jesus DD?)
- BST is now on easy mode (I want to play it again, but is everyone else playing it now?)
- Apparently you barely have to do Genkai, lol

Any other heads-up or corrections about how I'm going to totally have it easy because of changes in the last year or so would be appreciated. I like to take full advantage of those kinds of things, lol, but knowing about them is the first step. =p

[Vigilia]

(Figured I'd drudge this up instead of making a new topic.)
- BST is now on easy mode (I want to play it again, but is everyone else playing it now?)

From what I've seen on Asura there aren't any more BSTs running around than usual but you have to consider that many of the spots that previously were competed leveling spots between BSTs and "normal" parties of that level are now completely empty 55+ when everyone runs to the ToAU areas. Even if there were BSTs leveling most players wouldn't see them anymore till later on. Just as well Boyahda tree is now empty most of the time. I've been solo/duoing PUP lately and see BSTs here and there but no more than before.
It's been said many times before but lot of people are holding off their leveling too until WotG, getting lowbie parties has been harder than usual the last few weeks. If any job is a current "bandwagon" job it's got to be Samurai. So many gimp ones around too.

To add to your list, Signet now also gives you a huge HP resting bonus and you do not lose TP while resting. If you fancy doing BST or any other soloing job it's simply wonderful. :D