Final Fantasy XI Beginner's Guide, Day 2

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We give you the tools you need to make a go of it, in a land of overwhelming adventure

Summoner (SMN)
Role: Support, Damage, Healing
Best Weapons: Staff, Club
Recommended Support Jobs: White Mage

This is undeniably one of the coolest jobs in concept. This is a Final Fantasy game, after all - Summoners were born by this series. Unfortunately, Summoner is cumbersome to play at first. The good news is that it becomes useful in the late game, when they learn their most powerful attacks. As a result, Summoners are often asked to leverage their massive pools of magical power to heal the party, making a White Mage Support Job essential. Avatars, as summoned monsters are called, are gained when you defeat them in battle. Summoners channel their magical power, or mana, through these ethereal beings to unleash abilities to support the party, weaken enemies, or use physical or magical attacks. Fans of FF will find plenty of classic summoned monsters hidden throughout Vana'diel.

Currently the ultimate support class and always in demand, Bards tend to level faster than any other job. Using a variety of instruments, their songs can confer tons of bonuses to friends while making your foes weak and pathetic. As a Bard, you'll almost never get to attack, but will instead run around herding the other players into groups to maximize bonuses. If you ever wanted to be a kindergarten teacher on a field trip, this might be the job for you.