As of the Endwalker expansion, Final Fantasy 14 has 20 jobs for players to take on, ranging from combat to gathering and crafting classes. Each of these jobs has story quests that go with them, introducing NPCs of that job and a side plot.
While Final Fantasy 14 jobs are not usually chosen based on storylines, fans tend to have a consensus on which jobs have the best storylines, and which are utterly forgettable. How memorable these storylines are depends on the NPCs introduced, what happens in the story, and what sort of insight they bring to the Warrior of Light. Some job storylines were also better and worse in certain expansions.
The Most Forgettable Storylines
Like with a lot of aspects of Final Fantasy 14, the storylines in A Realm Reborn are considered to be most lacking. This is true of its job storylines (before they get new job stones at level 30). Most do not remember the Archer, Arcanist, Thaumaturge, Gladiator, Conjurer, and Marauder quests, but when Final Fantasy 14 starts its more interesting content, not all of these classes catch up.
Paladin is known for being the hardest-to-kill tank, but its storyline is consistently disliked by fans for being predictable and bland. Monk is actually an interesting class in terms of storylines because fans actually prefer the early Pugilist storyline over the current Monk one. The Monk storyline did not introduce popular characters unlike the Pugilist's Master Hamon. In fact, fans actively disliked the Monk quest giver, Erik.
White Mage and Summoner are not popular choices either, often being called boring due to their lack of interesting characters, lore, or any focus on the Warrior of Light. Blue Mage is similarly not popular for its storyline, which repeats itself a number of times.
The Best Storylines
Dark Knight is generally considered to be the job with the best storyline, as it has a good twist that shows a different angle on the Warrior of Light. It also sheds some more light on the lore of Moogles, a fan-favorite recurring Final Fantasy staple. A lot of other classes do not have story tie-ins to their abilities, but Dark Knight does when it comes to summoning Fray at level 80. There are a lot of fans of the Samurai storyline as well, calling it "simple but strong" with good emotional stakes. Scholar's storyline has both a unique premise and a satisfying character conclusion once players reach level 80.
Rogue and Ninja both are favorites due to their focus on physical comedy, with particular details in the Rogue storyline standing out as the characters use lingo based on actual thieves' cant. Crafting storylines are also sometimes beloved by fans. For example, those who love more wholesome quests tended to really like the Goldsmith storyline. Some of these are comedic as well, such as carpenters - who have to make lumber to help cheer up a depressed man. Culinarian is also interesting because it includes main story characters more prominently.
There are jobs that sit more in the middle. For example, the appeal of Dragoon's storyline depends on whether the player loves Estinien. Some players love the Warrior, but others generally find the rom-com quests Estinien is associated with to be dumb. Dancer has a refreshing premise, but some fans found it not engaging. Hopefully future expansions give each job a lot more content to enjoy.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
