Time required

[Shadowneko]

personally it took me 2 years of Dying(missions...I'm obessed with them), farming and playing with a slow static to get my fist job to 75. My second one is going abit faster but I still have 20 lvl to go.

It takes some jobs longer and you gotta decide what else you want to do than just level...just leveling would totlly drive me crazy XD

[Lunaryn]

Actually, depending on your schedule and server size, willingness to make your own party may not help that much. I have had many nights where I was ready to level a job, but there just were not enough players near my level to make a viable party who were not already in parties. I've also noticed that at least 75% of my invites are as a rep rather than to a forming party.

I'd recommend against trying to form your own parties on your first job until you're fairly high level, as you need experience with good and bad parties to know what's expected of you, what makes a viable party, etc.

I've been playing for about 2 years now. In that time I've managed to get THF62 and DRK43. DRK has been leveled entirely in static parties (first duo w/ PLD/RDM, then trio w/ PLD/RDM and BLU/WHM) while THF has been leveled almost entirely in pickup parties (occasional partial static with Kamiel's RDM at low levels and WHM at higher levels).

Pteryx joined the same time I did and got RDM60 within a matter of a couple months and RDM75 within the first year, IIRC. This owes in part to a partial static with an experienced player notorious for shooting up in levels fast, and in part to her being able to devote most of every day to FFXI for a good while, while I was juggling it with a Historical Perspectives course and full-time work.

So, there is a large amount of time investment involved, but you can make progress even if you only have a few hours a few days of the week. The amount of time you put in, and how you prioritize it, will have a very significant effect on your results.