You start with a main job, and you can change that main job at anytime in your mog house. Because of this ability to change jobs, it can mean that someone of much lower level than you (or even someone without a current advanced job) could have much more experience. Also, they could just be playing a new character, and have another 60+ level character they aren't playing. Bear this in mind. (Also bear in mind that some people act like they know a lot, but they actually are quite misinformed; so try to test things out for yourself if you are unsure, or ask other people).

Also bear in mind that every job has its own level and experience amount associated with it, and these will not change when you change jobs. So that 5th level Warrior Job you have will always be 5th level and always have the same amount of experience until you go and kill more monsters for exp or use a Page from the Dragon Chronicles Scroll (nets you 500-1000 exp). (The latter is gotten from the Eco-warrior quests, and can be done once a RL week).

All equipped items will definitely be unequipped when changing to a new job for the first time. However, if you switch back to a job you have been in before, it will automatically try to re-equip any items that job was using when you last used it. For instance, if your Thief has a Brass Dagger equipped then you switch to a Warrior for the first time, that dagger will be unequipped (even though a warrior can use a dagger). However, when you switch back to a thief, and if you still have that dagger in your inventory then it will be equipped again. Items that are unequipped in this way remain in your inventory, but you can move them to storage, sell them, or do anything else you want with them.

The beginning jobs are Warrior, Monk, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage, and Red Mage. You will be stuck with those 6 jobs at least until you get one job to level 30 and do some of the "advanced job" quests. The Warrior, Thief, Monk, and Black Mage are all damage dealing classes, but they differ in many ways. The White Mage is a healing class (*the* healing class), and you will almost always want one when you start being in parties. The Red Mage is probably the hardest job in the game to play correctly, since it can fight, heal, debuff, cast offensive magic, and cast supportive magic. As you gain levels the magical side of the class grows in importance.

The Warrior is a melee class. It is best at the Axe and Great Axe (two-handed axe). They have pretty good strength and vitality. It is most importantly a tank, and gains the essential skill of "Provoke" at level 5. Provoke will almost always (depending on the hate generated by other party members) cause the target monster to attack you. While this might not sound like a great idea, it actually is. You *want* the monsters hitting you and causing you damage. You *don't want* them killing the white and black mages. Those two classes heal or do a huge amount of damage, but neither takes damage well. The White Mage will be able to keep you alive, you just have to keep the monsters off him. Provoke can be used once every 30 seconds, and if you are the main tank in a group (always decide who the main tank is), then you'll want to use it *every 30 seconds*, even if the monster is still attacking you. This is because provoke generates a certain amount of hate, and by continuing to use it as much as possible, you keep the hate for your character high. This means the monster is very likely to keep attacking you, no matter what other people do. Being a good tank will greatly help you get parties as a warrior. There are many Warriors and other tanks out there, but good ones are remembered (being good helps you compete against the hordes of warriors when looking for a group).

The Monk is also a melee job. It attacks with its fists (and there are fist weapons), and does less damage per hit than the Warrior, but it gets in a lot more hits. They have a lot of hitpoints with good strength and vitality, and at low levels (before 20 or so), they *can* tank if they have a subjob and warrior is that sub (for provoke). After that you are best of remembering you are not a tank, and focus solely on dealing damage. The Monk is quite underrated currently by most people, but they are a good job. Remember this even if you aren't a monk, for when you look for a damage dealer, you should consider people holding this job.

The Thief is also a melee job, and they possess good evasion, dexterity, and agility. From level 1-14 it is sub-par, and has trouble dealing damage. Once they hit 15 though, they get two awesome abilities. One is backstab, which makes the next attack deal a large amount of damage (but you must be positioned behind the monster for it to work), especially when the attack is a weapon skill. The other is Treasure Hunter, which increases the amount of drops you find on monsters. While they don't fully come to power until level 15 (and even more so at 30), you should still invite one to your party before this. Remember that Sneak Attack needs to be initiated from behind a monster, so be on the opposite side of a tank, and remember to Trick Attack off the Tank, so he gets your hate. Right now too many people think selfishly, and won't help players get to a level where thier job gets a very effective skill. The Thief is the main example of this. It's time to change that, and be nice. Afterall, you don't know when you'll be leveling your thief.

The White Mage is an essential job for almost every party. They provide a huge amount of healing, and unlike the Red Mage, they have a number of group affecting spells. At level 16, for instance, they gain Curaga (my favorite white mage spell so far), which cures everyone in the party. They have more healing power than any other class, and they have good support spells too (like protectra, which casts protect on each party member in range). Since there are often relatively few White Mages at any give level, they are in high demand, and you'll seldom have trouble finding a party. As with all the mage jobs, pick another mana-focused job to sub with White Mage. Hence Black Mage (for utility--warp!--, and mana), Red Mage (better cures/debuffs via better mind, some utility), or Summoner (more mana, more mind).

The Black Mage is a dealer of massive damage, and is also a relatively rare job. They are important however, as they typically deal more damage than almost any other job. The main subjob options for a Black Mage are White Mage (most general utility), Red Mage (some utility and better damage), and Summoner (every so slightly more damage than the Red, a lot more mana, better mana regen at 50+, and reduced utility). Oh, also bear in mind that while you can learn Warp (transports you to your homepoint) at level 17, you won't be able to Warp others until you obtain and learn Warp II (level 40 spell).

Ahh, the Red Mage, easily one of the most, if not the most, challenging jobs to play. They posses some white magic, some black magic, and fighting capabilities. They require a lot of macros (see Ralluwen post below) to play well. You need to fight, cast, and rest to do well. At higher levels (30+) you'll not want to fight if it means you are going to be hit by an area effect attack (depends on the monster). If you are the main healer in a group (deplorable, but give the shortage of White Mages it happens), then you probably want to minize or eliminate how much you melee too. You're nuking ability is below that of the Black Mage, but you can enfeeble (weaken) the enemy better than any other job. You get all of the White and Black enfeebling magics, and you have a higher enfeebling skill cap too. Use that fact along with some melee, the occasional cure, and the occasional nuke to base your strategy. A Mage job is best to sub with this, as they are primarily a mage, despite the limited melee abilities.