Best Job Merits

I know this is debatable on certain merits, but I was going through my merits and realized that a lot of what I used to have merited, isn't really valid anymore. Due to various updates (job changes, armor, etc.), I need to change merits for different jobs. The sad part is that I really have no idea where to start. I haven't really sat down and actually played the game in about a year. I sign in and do small things here and there, like putz around with my Mog Garden. But I really haven't done anything productive as far as the latest expansion goes.

So, I'm curious to know what different users feel are the best merits for each job. This way I can go through and change anything that needs changing.

I know a lot can change for a job depending on how you play it, I'm just looking for a good overall start so that I can change merits to suit my play style. But, again, I need somewhere decent to start.

I believe all of the job "guides" on this forum have a little info about useful/relevant merits for the jobs they are written for.

Pick a job, consult the guide, choose what's best for you.

Don't think you need optimal merit setups for Mog Garden.

Fair enough, Kenrusai, I should have elaborated a little better. I want to start playing the actual game again. But I've been out of touch for so long that I feel I don't know the jobs anymore.

I tried looking for guides on different jobs and had no idea where to start. I used to pull all of my information from the FFXI wiki, but that site has turned to total s#it (not that it was ever the greatest site for information anyway, I liked the simplicity of it and it seemed to be updated the quickest).

Allakazham doesn't really have any information either. I tried looking at the site and it seemed like the only information they posted was reposts of what SE had already posted and that's it.

Which is why I started a thread here, in hopes that people would be able to help me out.

What jobs do you want to focus on? I think it'd be a bit easier to find help if you listed a few jobs that are currently important to you. Though some merit choices have changed over the past couple of years, some jobs still use the same upgrades they've always used.

Whm: Cure Cast time 5, Barspell 5, Shellra V 5. Pro V 5/5 may be best second option if you're never in a party with another mage, or 4/5 and 1 devotion.
Mnk: 5/5 Counter, 5/5 Kick Attacks, 5/5 Mantra, 5/5 Formless. I don't think this has changed recently, unless there's a use for penance again(?).
Drg: 5/5 Jump, 5/5 High Jump, 5/5 Angon, at least 1/5 Deep Breathing and 1/5 Empathy.
Bst: 5/5 Reward 5/5 Call Beast, 5/5 Beast Affinity, and probably 5/5 Beast healer. Killer effects merits might be useful somewhere if using Ferine body still and doing something other than dynamis.

Only jobs I can think of at the moment. There are War, Mnk, Whm, Blm, Thf, Pld, Drk, Brd, Sam, Nin, Smn, Blu, Cor, Dnc, Sch, Run, and Geo guides right here on XIAH and they should list all of the currently relevant merits for the jobs. Rdm, Bst, Drg, and Pup don't actually have guides and most likely never will.

That's the thing, based on what has changed, I may not like playing the jobs that I used to love playing.

I loved playing WHM and DRG. But WHM armor isn't the simple set that I used to have. I had the best gear for my WHM back at 75, when I got it to 99, I just seem to be playing catch up the whole time.

DRG was always fun, but there was never any good gear for DRG. I haven't been keeping up with what every update has and as it turns out your wyvern isn't a little b!tch anymore and can actually take some damage. Plus I think I saw that they have finally learned healing breath IV. And I've never been fond of Angon, everyone (friends) has always told me to fully merit it, but when I would go with a group (random people) to fight something, they told me not to waste them.

MNK is fun, but without a black belt, I feel like my MNK is totally gimp. Even with the new spark weapon, it helps boost my guarding to 500, but I was told the stat boost it gives is a ghetto boost.

At least you are giving me cause to start thinking about my job merits. Why merit the bar spells instead of Regen? I have a macro for my relic armor so that my regen spells heal a nice big chunk. Whereas bar spells seem to be very situational. I know they made the bar spells more effective, but is it worth re-meriting to take bar spells instead? I always thought people would prefer the additional 5HP/tick along with relic body and emp+2 hands. Plus, they boosted the Protect merit effect so it's by 5 now, compared to Shell which is still only 1. Why would you fully merit Shellra to a total of 5 and not Protectra to a total of 25?

I'll try looking again to see if I can find the guides on each individual job. I was just hoping to get an idea of what other people are using so that my questions that arise will have something to go off of.

WHM isnt really hard to gear up,

Easy to hit 50% curepot
"precast" gear" are few pieces "easy" to get

the only think I guess is "hard" is probably the enhancing gear to hit 500 to max boost spells..

Most DD's jobs if you don't have an ilvl-119 weapon(Delve/AA2/RME's)... you will have hard time getting in pugs.

Monk doesn't really use Black Belt anymore these days. SE put Haste on everything and Black Belt has been overkill for a long time.

Anyhow, you should really peruse the job forums here at FFXIAH. For Monk and White Mage, the guides are top-notch and will explain exactly what and why for merits. Dragoon is, sadly, neglected in this respect and would take more effort. Mind you, I could probably slap together Dragoon merits and gear in maybe an hour from what info is in the forum, but you have to spend the time to organize it for your own uses.

BB is still nice to have for AA fights where they just toss MNKs at them. I'm sure you can cap PDT without it though but haven't looked.