Classes in Final Fantasy XIV work differently than you may have experienced in other MMOs or RPGs. For example, in World of Warcraft, a character can only have one combat class and two “tradeskill” classes. In other games modeled on the D20 system, some characters can multi-class and gain access to many different class abilities without having to change jobs so that a cleric, for instance, can learn how to cast the same kinds of spells as a wizard.
In Final Fantasy XIV, on the other hand, a single character can be every class but can only access the unique abilities of one class at a time. For example, you might decide to initially play as a Marauder which is a fighter-type class. If you got tired of that and wanted to try being a healer, you could go and learn the Conjurer job and you would be able to switch between Marauder and Conjurer by changing which weapon you had equipped. You could also save your armor sets so that you wouldn’t have to constantly re-equip your different gear when you switched — but we’ll talk about that later.
There are also no race restrictions in FFXIV — any race can play as any class. So, if you have your heart set on playing a tiny little Lalafell, you can still play a warrior who can take on the mightiest of foes even if they wouldn’t be able to ride most of the roller coasters at the average amusement park — even the ones for little kids. However, each job does have a city it is based out of which means that it takes some time to gain access to all of them since you must reach a certain point in the story before you can travel freely between the different cities.
Another thing you will notice that is different in FFXIV is that the non-combat classes have almost as many abilities and skills as the combat classes to help them gather and craft high-quality, high-end items, housing items, toys, minions, and accessories for mounts.
So, with that understood, let’s move in to exploring the different classes and roles available in FFXIV.