Character Development Strategy

[comma]

Go ahead and share your character development strategies, assuming you're starting with brand new characters. What class(es) are you starting off with? What job(s) do you want to get to first? How did this influence the race, gender, and look of your character, or was it vice versa?

I actually haven't made my character yet because I never really figured out when the day-early access started with the timezone differences and all. And now the server I wanted to play on is full (Gilgamesh). Whoops.

Anyway, I liked playing as a male Miqo'te in Phase 3, so I think I'm going to stick with that for the rest of the game. I'm still flirting with the idea of picking a Hyur, but I want a physical class and I don't really like the Highlander's generic beefy look. So Miqo'te it is. Probably going to name him either Kilgore Trout again or Tristan Tzara. Fun names.

Now to the meat of it: I think I'd really like to end up with dragoon and bard jobs. I tried the different party roles and ended up feeling most comfortable as DPS. It's definitely less pressure than tank or healer. One thing I really wanted to avoid, though, was starting off in Gridania, because it was my least favorite area. So what is an archer/lancer/conjurer-job guy supposed to do? I think I'll just start off as a marauder in Limsa, get that level 15 requirement for dragoon, and continue on as a lancer after that. Then once I complete dragoon, I'd get back on the path to being a bard. And two jobs is probably the most I'm going to get out of the game before I get bored with it.

Let me know if I'm making a mistake anywhere. Is anyone else planning ahead like this?

[Loony BoB]

I actually haven't made my character yet because I never really figured out when the day-early access started with the timezone differences and all. And now the server I wanted to play on is full (Gilgamesh). Whoops.

Try every minute or so - in my experience over the various Betas, they tend to refresh pretty regularly. I think Andy got Sargatanas on the third attempt.

Now to the meat of it: I think I'd really like to end up with dragoon and bard jobs. I tried the different party roles and ended up feeling most comfortable as DPS. It's definitely less pressure than tank or healer. One thing I really wanted to avoid, though, was starting off in Gridania, because it was my least favorite area. So what is an archer/lancer/conjurer-job guy supposed to do? I think I'll just start off as a marauder in Limsa, get that level 15 requirement for dragoon, and continue on as a lancer after that. Then once I complete dragoon, I'd get back on the path to being a bard. And two jobs is probably the most I'm going to get out of the game before I get bored with it.

Let me know if I'm making a mistake anywhere. Is anyone else planning ahead like this?

If you're trying to avoid fairies, want to play as a DPS player and you don't want to start in Gridania, I'd start as a Pugilist (Monk) or a Thaumaturge (Black Mage). All the Arcanists (and therefore Scholars) will be in Limsa, Marauder is a tank job (it's still good at DPS, but you'll probably be expected to tank. The pure DPS jobs are Dragoon, Monk and Black Mage. Bard is what I would generally look at as a support job that still deals some good damage rather than a pure DPS.

If you dislike pressure, I'd go for Monk/Dragoon purely because Black Mages have the added pressure of not having much HP and when you're dealing with the likes of Ifrit, that can be rather stressful with the large scale AOE attacks and the fact that a player (ie, you) dies then Ifrit suddenly gets more powerful. So you'll have the pressure of staying alive. xD I don't know much about the differences between Monk and Dragoon.

[Del Murder]

When I played FFXI I played a tank. It was fun and I might do it again, but not at first. During beta I played around with the Archer class and it was pretty cool, but I'm not sure if I want to take it all the way. To mix it up I might start with a magic based class.

As for race, I was thinking Miqo'te but in beta pretty much every other character I saw was a male Miqo'te. So I might go with a Hume (or whatever dumb name it has in this game).

[Loony BoB]

Hyur. xD Hyur hyur hyur hyur hyur.

[Del Murder]

Exactly.

[comma]

Thanks for the tips, BoB. I wasn't serious about avoiding faeries. I actually kind of wanted marauder because I'd be able to play alongside arcanists and see what that's like. I'm interested in arcanist but not sold on how it or summoner plays.

I know marauder is a tank class, but I'm only thinking of using it until I can switch classes. Marauder seems like a good, self-sufficient class for low levels, anyway. Dragoon has a level 15 marauder requirement, right? That's what I read.

I do ultimately like archer the best, but that's what I did in all of Phase 3, and I wanted a change for a while. I also spent a lot of time in Ul'dah, but I want to go to Limsa and also be a fisherman. Sound like a decent strategy to you?

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I just played for about two hours and realized that I totally lost interest in this game after Phase 3. How funny is it that I'm about to cancel my preorder?

[Del Murder]

We're all laughing on the inside.

[comma]

What's the difference on the internet?