Elvaan- these elves are great at melee jobs from what I hear. They also make pretty good healers.

1.2.2 Starting Jobs:
Warrior (Standard weapon types: short swords, axes, scythes, spears and two-handed swords)-this job is adept at all forms of combat and its secondary purpose is to protect the other players. (Esp. the mages) The ability "Provoke" learned on level 5 is used to keep the monsters focused on you and for luring them to you so your party can attack.

Thief (Standard weapon types: Daggers, a few claws and short swords) - my personal favorite job, this job can net you tons of battlefield treasure to put to various uses. (Such as crafting, but I'll get into it later) Steal is learned on level 5 and is about as effective as in previous games in the series, but the latent abilities such as Gilfinder and treasure hunter more than pick up the slack. Also later the Thief learns great attack abilities like Sneak Attack and Trick Attack that greatly increase the amount of damage you can do.

Monk (Standard weapon type: claws)- these guys can basically beat up the monsters. They make for one of the best attacking jobs in the game and usually have no problems soloing at certain points.

Red Mage (Standard weapon type: short swords)- these guys can use both white and black magic, plus they don't make bad attackers either. Early in the game this job works but later it can get to be a total pain or so I hear...

Black Mage (Standard weapon types: Clubs, some daggers, and Staves)- The biggest drawback to playing Black Mage is that you don't get a lot of HP very fast. On the flipside you get a ton of MP and some great attack spells!

White Mage(Standard weapon types: Clubs, and Staves)- You're gonna be spending a lot of time using cure spells, but then again you've got friends everywhere. (It can be hard to level up at the start) This job is in high demand thanks to the high cost of potions so if you decide to go here everyone will want you to join them. (If you want a ton of friends...go this way!)

1.3 Worldpass system:

Well you want to play with your friends but landing on the same server as them is like a shot in the dark. No worries though since your buddy can buy an in game item called a Worldpass which is basically a code that your can use to create a new character on the same server as your buddy. It works by emailing you the code and you putting it in right before the server selection screen.