An Essay Concerning SubjobsFollow

Lately, it has come to my attention that there are some who believe that they can do as they please with their subjobs, without regard to anyone else. They see no problem with having a badly underleveled subjob, or picking a subjob which offers, at best, minimal benefit to either their party or themselves. This is being written so that these people may come to understand the error of their ways. The intention behind this essay is in no way pretentious, but merely a passing on of experience from someone who has put over 1000 hours into the game and earned some 150 levels upon his character.

First of all, I will tackle the question of what a subjob is. A subjob is not designed to be some job with which you have a passing interest in. It is not something which you use because you like the job, but not enough to play it full time. You do not use a subjob to show off how elite you are. Subjobs are used for no other reason than to improve the efficiency of your character. They are there to help define the way you play the game. Subjobs give statistical boosts, but their most important role is in the abilites they grant to a given main job. Paladins sub Warrior for Provoke and Defender. Dark Knights sub Warrior for Berserk, then later switch to Thief for sneak attack and trick attack, and because using Berserk is a death wish at higher levels. Rangers sub Ninja to mitigate damage.

What makes a good subjob? A good subjob is one that enhances the primary role of your main job. A bad subjob is one that provides minimal skills in a job for which your main job is ill-suited. For example, a thief should never sub a mage class. This is not because it isn't nice to heal yourself on occasion, but because abilities like Boost, Focus, and Dodge enhance a Thief's ability to deal out significant damage while avoiding taking damage in return. This is the very essence of what a Thief does. Anything that helps a Thief do what he does best even better is worthy of pursuing. This is why so many thieves camp and farm for weeks to attain an Emperor Hairpin: Not because they can't do without it, but because they become better thieves when they have one. By comparison, subbing white mage to thief merely draws extra hate down onto a thief. Because he is constantly doing damage as part of his main job, it becomes very easy for a thief to steal aggro when using cure spells in battle. A thief should never have to use cure spells in battle in the first place. That is why you have a White Mage. If your White Mage is not more than adequate for the task, then you have a poor White Mage. Subbing White Mage to thief will not make up for poor performance from your party's white mage. It only makes you less effective at your job, which is dealing as much damage as possible while avoiding damage in return and keeping hate concentrated on the tank. What compounds this problem is the fact that you could be subbing a job like Monk which offers considerable enhancement to your ability to do damage without taking any in return. This is merely one example of many as to why you should pick a subjob which enhances your job's primary abilities.

Okay, I have a subjob now. Why should I keep it leveled? You see this so often in this game. People have a subjob now, but the most effective subjob for their main job is not one that they enjoy leveling or it is simply a time sink to spend time leveling their subjob. This is not the way to look at leveling your subjob. Remember, your subjob exists to enhance your main job. In order for that enhancement to kick in, you have to level your subjob to the point where those enhancing abilities are unlocked. You should never stop once you have the desired job abilities available, however. Each level that your subjob has is a statistical boost to your main job. Consider that Leaping Boots cost 220, 000 gil. Now consider that you can get the exact same statistical boost from three or four levels of subbing Thief. That's 220,000 gil worth of levels right there, and its an additional 220,000 gil worth for every three or four levels you add to your subjob. This is beside the fact that subbing thief also enhances your strength, boosts your hit points, and gives minimal enhancement to ever single other statistic except magic points. In short, a character with a properly leveled subjob will do more damage, hit more often, take less damage, be hit less often, take less damage from magic, resist more enfeebles, and be capable of absorbing more damage than someone who has an underleveled subjob. That is all just for using an appropriate subjob for melee. It does not even consider the mages.

"I do not need my subjob leveled, because I am going to use an advanced job once I hit level 30." In all honesty, this is one of the worst excuses I have ever heard for not leveling a subjob. If you do nothing else, level thief to 15. Practically ever job in the game, including mages, needs at least this many levels in thief, because it makes the process of earning gil much easier. IF you believe that you farm just fine without it, and that you do not need the extra help, then you are simply not aware of the cost of equipment and gear, or the significance of having good equipment, after level 30. There are other reasons for leveling subjobs. So what if you are going bard, you still need those levels in black mage. The expanded magic point pool is invaluable, and the ability to toss out a half level nuke is sometimes more important than a high-powered cure spell. Some jobs, like Red Mage, can easily switch between a number of subs. The flexibility to do so only makes you a much better player, and, by enhancing your role in the party, allows you to earn considerably more experience points through giving your party the ability to make up for its weaknesses. A Samurai who can bring additional damage to a party who lacks in the ability to deal damage is a valuable asset. So is one who can sneak attack and trick attack, or who can provide an insurance provoke and use defender. These abilities can be acquired easily through simply changing up your subjob: To Ranger, Thief, and Warrior respectively.

Now I will cover the most important reason for picking a good subjob: the effect it has on your party. In this regard, your subjob is even more important than your main job. An effective damage dealer picks a subjob which enhances his ability to do damage. However, this does not mean that picking Dark Knight for the Attack Bonus traits is always a good idea. The best damage dealers will consistently push the hate boundary. What this means is that they are always on the virge of stealing the mob's attention form the tank. In order to protect yourself, you must have abilities which either allow you to absorb the damage until the tank regains control, or you need to provide yourself with a subjob which compliments the ability of the party to place control of the mob on the tank. This is oen major reason why many higher level damage dealers sub Thief. By subbing Thief, it gives you the ability to sneak attack and trick attack hate back onto the tnak if the mob turns its attention towards another player other than the tank and you. You still have the ability to do great extra damage through using Sneak Attack regularly, and you also benefit from the higher hit rate which comes from subbing Thief. The primary objective of a party is to gain as much experience as it can in the shortest amount of time possible. In order for this to be done, down time must be minimized. This means that noone except the person best equipped for it should take damage. THis person must also maintain excellent hate control, because it allows their damage dealers to do the maximum amount of damage without stealing hate and taking unnecessary damage. THe damage dealers themselves rely on support types such as red mages and bards to take care of weakening a mob to make it a faster kill, and enhancing a party's ability to kill mobs faster. Subjobs must always be chosen for maximum party effectiveness.

Okay, so what about the fun factor? Where is the challenge? The challenge lies in finding a way to do something to the best of your ability. The fun lies in your ability to blow through areas while raking in tons of experience. People become the best they can be not because it was there for them to do, but because they enjoy the challenge of the climb to the top. People envy that eliteness of high-level characters because they know that these people have put in a tremendous amount of effort to get there. You can get there, too, if you believe in yourself and do what you have to do.

In conclusion, the best subjob is not necessarily one of your choosing, but rather one which makes your character the best it can possibly be in a party setting. This requires your character to fit into the party as well as can possibly be done. This may not seem like a lot of fun. You may find yourself cursing Square-Enix while you struggle through leveling a subjob which you detest. But the payoff is well worth it. You will find yourself meeting the challenge of rising through the levels. You will find yourself using gear you never thought you could get and doing quests that always seemed so far out of reach. You will be that guy whom everone checks and goes, "0_o!". This is where the real fun within the game is to be found. In short, this game is designed to give only the achievements which are earned, and these are earned through working together to achieve a common goal. Ask yourself: Are you up to the challenge?

I must say that that was a very awesome post. Not only did you explain why a proper, fully leveled subjob is important, you also used correct grammer and spelling!

Good work. Perhaps this will make a dent in the thick skulls of some people. If not, well, that's why square allows me to kick people from my party.

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