[Sacrosankt]

I have not yet my hands on this game and I'd like to know what (job/sub-job) is most effective at end-game(lvl.75). I am not looking for mage classes, im thinking more of a class that can deal the most damage (melee or ranged) and can solo high level creatures. Perhaps explain on how this combo can be better in several areas such as guilds and producing gil (crafts,creatures etc...).......

Please share your opinions and questions. If you have some questions, post them here and perhaps people here can help you as much as they do me. If any.. >.>

Thank you for your time.

Do not hesitate to type down your opinions/questions; after all people are here to help, aren't they?

[Spazz]

I'm sorry to say that Final Fantasy XI does not allow many solo options for any job unless you are a Beastmaster (which you solo everything to level up). As in terms of effectiveness, it depends on what you really mean by that. Every job is effective around level 75. Every job has its own purpose. As for damage, im sorry to say that even though you may not be looking for it... Black Mage is your main choice when it comes to level 75 for the most damage. The very close second to Black Mage is Ranger. Ranger is a melee job using ranged weapons to deal alot of damage. As for producing gil for spending on crafts and etc. ... I would have to say THF or any job with a THF sub. Black Mages have the power to kill massive ammounts of creatures with their Area Of Effective (AOE) spells; where as a job such as a Paladin can kill a monster one by one.

All in All... Every job has its own unique purpose at lvl 75.
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Black Mage ~ Damage Dealer of 1200+ damage with 1 nuke aswell as using Stun.

White Mage ~ To keep your party alive... simple... easy.... basic.

Red Mage ~ To cast Refresh on all players who use/depend on magic - aswell as back up heal.

Summoner ~ To deal damage with their avatars, aswell as use their high lvl buffs to aid in combat.

Bard ~ Some creatures can only be slept by BRDs, and BRDs use Mages Ballad to Refresh magic users... on top of all that, keep songs on the melee to increase almost every stat you can think of (Accuracy, Defence, Attack, DEX, VIT, STR, etc)

Paladin ~ To take all the hits a creature can dish out and use their magic to cure themselves - causing the monster to further its aggression towards the player.

Dark Knight ~ To get in there and deal the damage. They can also help Black Mages because they have the ability to Stun aswell.

Samurai ~ To deal massive damage through Weapon Skills. Their Meditate ability allows them to gain 100% TP in under 10 seconds... allowing them to pull off multiple Weapon Skills in a short amount of time.

Ranger ~ Shoot things ^^ Rangers are very usefull aswell for their multiple types of ammo they can use that have different effects. They could use a different bullet for each situation - its very handy and cool to have.

Ninja ~ Some things at high levels are best tanked by a Ninja because of their blink abilities. Instead of having high defense and Vitality like the Paladin... Ninjas have the ability to dodge up to any 3 attacks thrown at them; which can come in handy for certain monsters who hit too hard for a paladin to hold.

Dragoon ~ Penta Thrust... what else can I say... At higher lvls, Jump - Super Jump - and Penta Thrust are awesome additions to have in almost any battle.

Warrior ~ To deal damage. High level WARs have some pretty cool Weapon Skills that deal quite a bit of damage.

Thief ~ Sneak Attack and Trick Attack... Both are a welcome addition to any party. With these Abilities... you can turn a normal 100 damage weapon skill into a heart stopping, jaw dropping, whopping 400 damage. Its a massive increase in damage and is great for hate control.

Monk ~ Hell, who doesnt want a guy who can punch the heck outta monsters ^^. They do damage and have some sweet looking Weapon Skills.

Beastmaster ~ Now this is where I become a little hesitant. Other than the Charm ability for claiming high level monsters... Beastmaster is a solo job that should be left solo. However, BSTs can summon pets that can deal a decent amount of damage.
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Thats my little run down. I am a level 74 Black Mage who has alot of different jobs (including a Samurai and a Ranger). I have experienced alot of what the end-game life is like... so that is my take on all of it.

[Skygto]

Dragoons don't Penta Thrust that level, they use Wheeling and Impulse for more reliable damage. And yes every class has a purpose endgame BUT some classes are more effective and wanted than others. And when I say "some classes" I mean Ninja, Bard, Redmage, and Ranger. And when I say "others" I mean melees.

[Jonnyram]

Originally Posted by FF_Spazz

Red Mage ~ To cast Refresh on all players who use/depend on magic - aswell as back up heal.

You missed the best bit, enfeebling

[Miriamel]

Most effective, or in other words, what you'll find HNM LS' made of to 80%, are considered to be NIN, PLD, WHM, BLM, RDM, BRD, RNG, SMN.

All the other damaging classes have their place in HNM LS, but they share their percentage with all the other damaging classes.

[ClydeArrowny]

Hmm...non mage...most damage would be ranger I guess, but it's a very expensive job, you pay for your damage. As for soloer, and also farmer, I'd have to go with BST.

[Sepukku]

Originally Posted by Jonnyram

You missed the best bit, enfeebling

I was thinking the same thing. w

[Vinen]

RDM/NIN can solo things beast can only dream about.

Overall BST is the most effective solo job.

[Riceman]

ive seen a lvl 75 RDM/NIN solo Ramuh it was awesome

[Tokitoki]

a RDM friend of mine solos all that stuff. RDM/NIN is an awesome soloer at 74+, but then again a lot of classes are. At 74+ you gain Utsusemi: Ni from ninja sub and pretty much everything can solo. THF is good for solo at that period. Ni combined with the status bolts (bloody bolts blind bolts sleep bolts acid bolts) you can keep your hp up and the monster debuffed.

[Riceman]

yea but with rdm/nin you got Stoneskin / phalanx and the utsesimi

[kuu]

How did lvl75 jobs suddenly become synonymous with HNMLS?... too much drama stuck in the head maybe...

Not everyone has their ffxi life revolve around HNMLs. Some people *gasp* don't care.

In terms of what the original poster as for... a good well rounded answer would be THF/NIN

They good in all the area's mentioned. They are fairly high ranked as soloers due to evasion bonuses. You're not soloing em, but no class would really want to, even if possible.

They are the best thing you have to farming and thus crafting

HNMLSs all have uses for treasure hunter obviously

And damage wise, is decent if you can get sneak trick somehow.

Clearly other jobs excel in different areas of this equation, but hey that's life, if you had a GOD character that is good in everything, it's called cheating.

[Tokitoki]

Sneak attack can be done by sleeping the mob with a sleep bolt... pre-charge, disengage, shoot a sleep bolt, run behind, attack. Only takes a few seconds.

[Prisya]

I think you're approaching the subject with the wrong line of thought. FFXI is a party-centric game, much moreso than the other MMORPGs I've encountered. For decent experience past the 'teens, partying is required. I don't mean decent as in say, Ragnarok Online where you could do fairly well for yourself solo, and then do REALLY well in a good party. I mean decent as in faster than a snail's pace. With that in mind, your role in the game is to be part of a party, to perform a specific function that when combined with the efforts of the other members, creates an efficient, well-rounded experience-machine.

In a game like World of Warcraft, every class has a range of abilities that when used with some thought and creativity, allow you to easily solo. In FFXI, your class is made with your role in the party in mind, with little regard for your ability to function outside of the group. It's completely coincidental that some classes (other than BST, most likely) have the ability to solo at a certain point. RDM is able to use the full extent of all of its hybrid stats and spells to simulate the party-entity, whereas a warrior only really has their damage dealing and mitigation at their disposal.

When I started the game, that aspect was a sort of slap to the face. I'd been used to games where there was the sort of class you were looking for, that was able to be a completely self-sustained levelling unit. Any class in Diablo 2, the RO knight WoW Shaman, etc.

The closest I can come up with would be my previous example of the red mage. However, be forewarned that you will not be using the bulk of your available abilities in a party situation, for redmage has a very specific task of refreshing the party's mp users once they gain the spell. Enfeebling, magic bursting, and back-up healing is what you'll be doing up to that point, and when you can afterwards. Once you're out of the experience party setting, you're free to take advantage of your melee abilities, and the myriad of defensive and offensive self-buffs at your disposal.

As for crafting, it's equally available to all classes, so there's none with any inherent advantage. For guilds, I believe it's been stated previously in the thread which classes are seen as important in a guild (linkshell) boss-hunting setting.