Character progression. Your thoughts, please ??

[Boldfinger]

I’m very new to FFXI (about 2 months) and this is my first MMORPG. I’m a longtime lurker and I’ve been enjoying reading the forums here to try and broaden my lacking knowledge. As I work abroad on a month/month cycle, I’ve been leveling a new job every other month to reacquaint myself on the basics when I get back. Now, this has been quite slow going but it has helped me to get a basic grounding in a few jobs and have a better idea of what is going on around me in the various (seldom good and often bad) low-level parties I’ve been in.


I’m not entirely sure about my job levels (as I’ve been stuck in Africa for the last 4 months with my passport lost in immigration) but I think they are something like:
RDM 30, WHM 20, BLM 20, MNK 17, THF 17, WAR 10, BST 10, BLU 1


I’m not really bothered about getting any particular job to 75 in a rush and am quite happy to continue leveling a variety of jobs to experience different aspects of the game. So, I was wondering if any of you seasoned campaigners could offer up some advice on my (undoubtedly newb) queries and character progression plan. My goal at present is to eventually settle on BST as my main but would probably do that after I’d leveled my subs, depending on what you guys recommended obviously.

Do you recommend to level WAR from 10 to 37 purely for /WAR purposes ??
Could NIN be solo’d to 37 (once unlocked) for /NIN purposes, as I see many recommendations for /NIN ??
As I don’t intend on taking WHM past teleport and /WHM purposes, is it possible to solo WHM to that point (as I’ve seen conflicting posts) or would it just be best to party my way there, even though I don’t intend on using it as a main again once I get there ??
Is it worthwhile to level THF to 45 just for Treasure Hunter II. If so, can I realistically solo it there ??
Any other general advice on a route to take or sub that I may have overlooked ??I’m stuck behind a webfilter here as it’s a work connection and this has been the only place that I’ve been able to access. I’ve been very glad of it too as all your advice has helped my game, even though I haven’t actually managed to use any of it yet. Thanks in advance for any and all input. Even the flames, they’re character building.

[Murphie]

Let's see:


WAR is a nice general purpose subjob. So taking it to 37 regardless of your intentions later on is a good idea.

NIN could be soloed to 37. I soloed most of my 37 levels on NIN. It's slow going, but doable. That said, it's a job in high demand, so the party invites are there if you want to take them.

WHM? Not so much with the solo. Kills would be painfully slow, and you'd have to target mobs that didn't give you much exp at all. You'll probably have to party that up to 37. That said, especially in the early stages of the game, a WHM is pretty valuable to a party. So you shouldn't have much trouble getting invites.

THF is really your call. It's worthwhile to take the job to 37 (which can be soloed, but again, at a slower rate than in parties), but whether to take it further to 45 is kind of something you have to figure out on your own. You'll probably be ok with just /THF and Treasure Hunter I, but again, your call.

[IfritnoItazura]

Lv.37 is nice, but aim for Lv.40 for your some of your support jobs. That way, you'd have more option for BCNMs and level capped fights (like those found in CoP missions).

If you want to solo WHM or THF, I recommend you level BST past your target levels for those two jobs first. That way, you can solo as WHM/BST or THF/BST.

[Boldfinger]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I'm intrigued by using /BST to Solo WHM or THF. I had intended leveling WHM first for BST/WHM but was wondering if you thought my RDM 30 would be a viable option for taking BST/RDM high enough to allow me to solo WHM/BST and THF/BST ??

I figured /WHM would be good for cure and ~na spells but I could probably swing it with /RDM if I stock up on antidotes and the likes ??


Edit:

Nevermind, I've pretty much looked right through the BST forums this morning and have come up with this:

1. Level BST 10 to BST 30 using /RDM 30 (and antidotes etc.)
2. Switch to WHM 20 and level to WHM 30 using /BST 30
3. Switch back to BST 30 and level to BST 40 using /WHM 30
4. Switch back to WHM 30 and level to WHM 40 using /BST 40
5. Switch back to BST 40 and level to BST 75. Never worry about WHM again ^^

Then I can level up WAR and NIN for alternative subs at my leisure. What do you reckon to that ??


Edit 2:

Also, I was wondering if you thought it would be possible to also level MNK with /BST. If I equipped lowbie (or even none) H2H weapons, would that help to avoid stealing hate from my pet but still keep H2H capped. Is that even possible ??

Same with WAR and a lowbie Great Axe or NIN and a lowbie Katana ??