Out of the first few starter classes.. which one(s) would be best for soloing?

Red Mage

none of them past lvl 17

Beast Master used to be so cool, then it got nerfed.

i got a question... is it true u can only "solo" up to a certain lvl, then u are forced to team with others for yourself to gain more lvls....?

For the most part... yes.

FFXI is a Japansese game.  The Japanese pride the accomplishment of the team over the accomplishments of an individual.  Western philosophy is in direct contradiciton to this as, in America, we mostly honor the VIP, the CEO, the winner, etc.  We want to give the trophy to one person and we don't like ties.  So basicly that is the mentality that went into designing this game: GROUP, not individual accomplishments.

That being said, I have yet to find group combat system that's more entertaining in the long term.  If you really want to play FFXI, don't let the "forced" grouping scare you.  It's not like WoW where you are scared to PUG for a regular dungeon... no no no... FFXI everyone PUGs.  Its standard practice.  I made many friends in FFXI and nearly all of them stemmed from a PUG while leveling.  From there you join guilds, make buddies, etc.  FFXI is much more social in this regard.  Unlike some games like WoW, where anyone who sticks their head out in public is ridiculed for whatever reason...

On a side note, I leveled up a Bard, Redmage, and Beastmaster to 75 before I finally called it quits.  At the time you could solo BST 1-75, and I did!  But, not because I wanted to, because no one would invite Beastmasters because they "nerfed your exp."  This is no longer the case (and never really was).  But, in my day if i COULD have leveled up my BST in a group, I would have.

Originally posted by ipod80gb

i got a question... is it true u can only "solo" up to a certain lvl, then u are forced to team with others for yourself to gain more lvls....?

Yes. I would heavily suggest rolling a WHM otherwise youll be waiting for a few hours to get a group. Been playing since 2003. This is how it is. WHM cant solo past 15ish but they are heavily needed.

I also strongly suggest starting as a WHM if you want to play a caster or WAR if you're adamant in playing only melee jobs.

If you are looking to level a BLM, BLU, BRD, BST, COR, DNC, PUP, RDM, SCH, or SMN to 75, you will most likely use WHM as your subjob or WHM as a subjob while you are leveling your subjobs. Likewise, WAR will be just as important for the other 8 jobs - excluding WAR and WHM themselves.

If you are looking to play both caster and melee jobs during your time in FFXI, I strongly suggest starting with the caster selecting WHM to begin.

solo??

ffxi?

what? O.o

Red mage can always solo, at any level, Especially a Taru red mage.

Phalanx

......And what's the point in soloing? As a Rdm it is always easy to find groups

It's not hard to find groups on any job if you are on a decent server. If you haven't started yet, go to Asura or Fairy, or even Odin... those are popular servers with 2-3k+ players on during prime time. It may slow down at lvl 60+, but by the time you get to that level, you will have learned a lot about the game and know whether you want to stick with it or bail.

There have been people who have soloed Beast Master all the way to 75.

Well if you're a RDM/NIN you can solo better. Of course RDM75/NIN37 for utsu:ni. It just takes awhile to kill but you can solo pretty well.