Your class levelling preferences

[Garland]

Is one class combo enough for you? Do you level as few classes as possible to focus solely on your main? Or do you level lots of different classes, switching around all the time because you get bored quickly doing the same old thing?

I keep trying new classes, but always revert back to whm/blm. I tried Bard, but I didn't like feeling like an exp leech in parties. People proclaim Bards as gods among men in terms of exp per hour, but I never felt I was helping much. As a Whm, my contribution to the success of the party was concrete. Hp that was yellow is restored to white when I hit my macro. I like to see the effect I'm having on a party to know if I'm doing a good job. How can I know as a bard if I'm helping a party progress? I'm under the impression I can't. Bards make every party better, but they never make or break a party's survival the way a tank, healer or damage dealer does. I need to feel important.

Summoner flopped for two reasons. The main one was that for all intents and purposes, when debating between Whm and Smn, I was debating the following: Do I want to be a level 30 Whm in a level 30 group, or do I want to be a level 10 Whm in a level 20 group. Having my effectiveness in a party cut in half - no thank you. I'll party with every tool at my disposal, not only the first half. The second was that the 1 minute bloodpacts, the life blood of what we call a summoner, is too long, and the effects too short. Because of this, I more often than not have to live with problem number one - main healing with only half the tools a main healer should have. Life is stressful trying to be responsible for the lives of the party as a whm, and as a whm I'm fully equipped to manage that role. Summoners aren't. No thank you to that in a party.

I keep trying new things, as from time to time, different jobs perk my interest, but nothing ever really surpasses the fun of being a whm. of course, the fact that for 32 levels, or about 45 cumulative days according to the game counter, I've been main healer. It's really all I know how to do. I dread levelling my blm sub any further as it's now nearing 18. I haven't learned how to magic burst yet, and I'd hate to be seen as a noob. I guess I should learn at some point, anyhow.

[Lionx]

You really need to party with a BRD as a melee to see how good Madrigal and Minuet are, and Ballad too. It makes all the difference, you just dont see it as the robot.

SMNs are more than healers now...

BLM-After seeing super cool effect you have 2-3 seconds to fire it, time your charging and its easy once you get it.

That being said i will switch jobs and lvl another at lvl 75 ^^

[Benaresu]

I'm only focusing on my RDM/BLM right now. I want my attention to be on them solely, and push them to level 75. Once I've done that, I'll look into other jobs. I'm really wanting to try out NIN or SAM. But until I get my other two to where I want them, I won't even think about any other jobs, not even advance jobs.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I'm going to stick with Black Mage until 75. I also want to level Red Mage, but I think as a Tarutaru I won't be as effective of a Red Mage as a hume or a mithra.

Black Mage is the reason I chose Tarutaru. You bet I'm gonna stick with it. I might need to level a farming job though, because I'm terrible at farming as a Black Mage.

[KentaRawr!]

I am a whitemage o_o and I usually go out to kazham and lvl..but then I think "I need money!" so then I try to get money and lvl down a bit, thus I have been in kazham for a while :p

[Lionx]

Lies, RDM Tarus have the best convert ratio and can focus on other gear instead of min and maxing mp and hp. Tarus are best over all at any mage. That being said, any race can do RDM well..its one of those jobs that are fair overall.

[Citizen Bleys]

I level every class (except BST because I hate it too much), but I bought the game to be a bard, and a bard I am. I am actually getting to the point where I hate having a bard in the party when I'm levelling anything else because I hate the fact that the bard is not me.

[Garland]

If you can stick with Bard, all the power to you. People will love you for it, and you'll be left wondering exactly why, because none of your buffs make you any better, and thus it's hard to see your effectiveness. I know Bards are important, but the unshakable feeling that I was being given a free ride in pt's was too much for me. I need my effect in a pt to be clearly observable, for the sake of my in game self esteem.

[Citizen Bleys]

I have NO trouble seeing the difference I make in a party. As a whm, I've seen how the party dynamic works. I know how often Elvaan Samurai miss, and I can see them NOT miss as soon as I play Madrigal. Want something quantifiable? Play Ballad and watch the mages' MP rise. Play Paeon and watch people recover.

The only thing I like better than having a bard in the party is when I AM that bard.

[Garland]

Yeah, you have a good point about Mage's Ballad there. I think the problem here is just me, and not the class. Bard is held as the premier support job in the game for good reason-they bring downtime to pretty much nothing. Some people at other forums have gone as far as to say they might even be *too* good, but that's open for debate. Conversely, white mages *are* the downtime. Parties never wait for anyone but the whm.

I've tried Warrior, Thief, Red Mage, and Monk through the early levels of soloing (about level 5), and decided they weren't for me. I immediately unlocked Bard on reaching 30, and I took the class to around 13, and decided that I liked main healing more than support. What had drawn me to Bard initially was that I wouldn't be the reason parties stop to rest. That's my biggest grief with being a WHM. I'm the only limit to a party's chaining ability.

I had levelled summoner too, and lost interest for several reasons. One was that I felt inadequate not pt'ing with all the spells I'm capable of. As a whm, I never partied with anything less than every spell possible, plus the spells for the levels I hoped to gain in my inventory. As a summoner, I had Carbuncle, Earth, Fire, Wind, Ice and Water. That's not even half the spells a summoner could potentially have at my level (13). I was a gimp by my own definition. I was like a white mage that didn't have all the cure spells.

[Lionx]

SMN seems to be more rewardful as you lvl up. Especially if you gotten Fenrir already. Spells and stuff are availible through each avatar and you have to get all of them and earn the right to use them. Which makes it pretty cool IMO, sorta like Yuna if we count only her summonings and not her white magic. She only had Valefor(which in this case is Carbuncle) at first, but later on she got more summons and that made her more powerful as the game went on in that sense. Same thing here, epsecially with the new boost they get in attack and stuff, bloodpact is more useful than ever. But you gotta work for it..O.o

[Garland]

If I level summoner, and it's certainly not out of the picture, it'll be the "real" way. I'll acquire all the summons, and the carbuncle mitts as my whm, and join parties with all my resources. If I'm anything, it's not a hypocrite, and expecting others to have all their spells while I stroll around with only 1/8 of mine is hypocracy at its finest. Such is the reason I haven't levelled my level 31 white mage in weeks. I'm saving the gil for Erase. Once I can put "Has Erase" in my search comment, I'll no longer be one of 10 whm's seeking in Kazham or wherever. I'll be the only whm seeking, for all those who actually read search comments.

[Lionx]

Well while personally i wouldnt get Erase yet, i would say you do have alot of determination and dedication to your job, in which is admirable in a sense. And yes i do agree with what you are saying, bring as much ammo as you can out into the battlefield. '-')b Wish you good luck man.

Also just wanted to mention that as a BRD..i really do have a hard time feeling i am useful lol unless i look at ballad or paeon. I mean your not the one meleeing(and if you are its crap even with buff songs), and not the one with typical mp issues...but when you arent the robot and actually the one receiving the buffs, you feel the world has shifted into making you one of the best mage/melee/tank out there. So i guess thats why ppl say its not so obvious a buff to the BRD itself, but its like a sign of god for other players.