New Black Mage Advice...

[Sirius]

Hello,

I will be starting up on this game again and have previously played an Elvaan SAM/RNG with every decent sub for both at 37. That was deleted on a JP account ages ago. I came back to play an Elvaan RNG to 65 and quit a couple years ago. I still have the Elvaan and would like to play something different this time.

While I was away on other games I had grown attached to mage classes (WoW, WAR, LOTRO, CoH/V, etc). I wonder how much more difficult a mage class on this game is. So, I have a few questions...

1. I tend to enjoy setting hotkeys for all of my spells and was a little dismayed when I saw that most of the BLM videos on youtube showed the player cycling through their spell menu for each attack. Is this common? I fear having too many spells than I know what to do with.

2. Elvaan. Everyone that I talk to seems to agree that I will be gimping myself if I play this race as a mage. Others tell me that it won't matter at end game with the right gear. This would present a possible cost and farming issue and I got enough of that as a RNG with a gun. I hear the game is more solo friend now and I don't mind starting over as a Hume since I will duo with my Fiance's mnk/war/pld. I wonder if starting anew is the best choice.

3. I hate healing, a lot. I know that I will be leveling a WHM as my sub, but I wonder if I would be able to solo. My current plan would be to reach 18 with blm, 37 with whm, then continue with blm. I will have a tank with me at all times, so this may work as far as I know. I have been away for a while and I would like an opinion on the matter.

4. As I have stated, I hate to heal. Would my role as a blm happen to be that of backup healer or simply a nuker?

(Wow, that was a bit of text. I will be heading to bed and hope to see your comments tomorrow.)

[Reverent Knight]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

Ive taken black mage from 1-51 and I have never been asked to heal in parties not once. I remember once in qifim a whm said dont you dare cure, I was like lol ok if its you about to die Ill remember that. Ive duoed part of the way with a war but soon as he hit 30 and sub dnc I just rest to full mp while he voke cure ing waltz to build hate then just stand up and nuke the hell out of it. Great fun.

I had a party 49>51 where I'm sure out whm was asleep or something, kept complaining about a his dog so I threw out a few cures to keep our tank alive, while enfeebling and doing MB on 2 SC per beetle (yay for sleep bind stun). Ive focussed on nuking for my blm career so far but Ive always had good parties (been lucky on that front) with people that know the value of a SC MB (very rare these days), rather than following the idiots guide to partying where everyone just mindlessly mashes any option that are highlighted white and hopes the mob dies.

GL with blm its a very fun job if people will let you do your job and co operate.

[Elwynn]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

1) It depends. When in a solo or manaburn situation, there are really only two or three nukes you'll be casting, but (after 51, anyhow) you will want to do them with gear swaps. For that I have a complete macro set of my current elemental nukes, then copy/paste the three that I want to use down to another row that has the other standard stuff like the sleeps and stoneskin and stuff. If I want to change the tier for sync or something, I can edit the pasted copy. Also, I have an emergency "sliver of HP bar" nuke on the paste row (like a Thunder I or something), which has saved my butt quite a few times.

In campaign, where I'm usually having to melee for Spirit Taker, and the gear swaps would kill my TP, I have the menu manually sorted so that nukes arranged in the order you get them (all the tier 1, then 2, then 3, then Aspir and Drain, then tier 4) and use the menu when I feel like nuking.

2) The main thing is a lower INT, which will hurt you badly if you want to solo at 50+, when resists can mean death. But that's what the RSE gear is for. It's just that you'll have to go on a quest where your window for gear is once every few days, and maybe not even a time of day when you're awake, and do it multiple times. On the other hand, it'll take up space that you would otherwise have to fill with expensive INT+ gear off of the AH.

3) WHM works fine as a sub. WHM gets reraise at 25 now, so that's level 50 as a sub. The other main sub for BLM is /NIN for solo and manaburns, partly because of the +1 INT, but mostly because it lets you ignore hits for long enough to get a second nuke off. /RDM is also used in manaburn parties for Gravity, and /SCH is worth considering too.

4) If you're going to /WHM, at least be willing to backup heal. Even just healing yourself a little can't hurt. Now that /DNC is more popular, there is a trend toward bringing your own heal abilities for some things, mostly campaign and friendly LS zerg xp parties.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

If you intend to solo only (even after reaching 75), fine, don't cure--don't even buy the spells.

Otherwise, just accept that the better BLM players know when to toss out emergency cures when playing with other people, and can figure out in which parties they need to do more than just spot curing. Not every party with a BLM in it needs the BLM to do any curing, but it's a dumb BLM who insists on never curing for any reason whatsoever. (Hint: Nothing kills exp/hour like someone in party getting KO'ed.)

Be the better BLM--the "nuke-only!" attitude will hold you back more than picking Elvaan ever could. Of course, an equally well equipped Tarutaru will out damage an Elvaan spell vs. spell, and have the more MP to cast more spells before needing rest. But, when things go bad, that Elvaan is more likely to survive by the virtue of A) having more HP, and B) the critter will likely go for the Taru nuker first--giving the Elvaan more time to run away.

All jokes aside, you'll spend a long, long time looking at your character. If you like Elvaan's looks, go for that. If you like looking at the MP bar, go for Tarutaru.

* * *

99.9% percent of the time on BLM, I cast spells only from macros, which can be activated by key combination (<ctrl> or <alt> + '1' through '0'). I do know many WHMs and BLMs who like to select spells from the spell list instead--after pressing macros to switch in appropriate equipment.

[Reverent Knight]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

I'm black mage 51 and I'm using 6 macro books for my spells at the moment, re wrote them all to include elemental stave gear swaps when I hit 51. I learnt to save my macros to POL after an hour of doing that lol.

1)Ive got a standing in book 1 which includes all my panic buttons ( sleep bind stun warp escape) and my starting buffs like blink stoneskin utsemi.

2)Tier 1 has all my single target elemental spells with drain and aspir.

3)Enfeebling marcos with elemental enfeebs in order of possible combinations that will stick together and the black and white magic enfeebs.

4) Tier 2 and tier 1 ga spells on another set.

5) Tier 3 and tier 2 ga spells

6) Ancient magic macro set for when I get them all at 60 (looks a bit lonely with just freeze sat there)

And I can access any page from any set using the /macro set # command. I get lost if I try to select them from the spell list, only thing I use that for is things like protectra and shellra and the occasional bar spells.

[Malacite]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

1. I tend to enjoy setting hotkeys for all of my spells and was a little dismayed when I saw that most of the BLM videos on youtube showed the player cycling through their spell menu for each attack. Is this common? I fear having too many spells than I know what to do with.

I'm not sure why a lot of videos do this either. Generally you're going to use macros for your spells as BLM is extremely swap-happy with its equipment.

2. Elvaan. Everyone that I talk to seems to agree that I will be gimping myself if I play this race as a mage. Others tell me that it won't matter at end game with the right gear. This would present a possible cost and farming issue and I got enough of that as a RNG with a gun. I hear the game is more solo friend now and I don't mind starting over as a Hume since I will duo with my Fiance's mnk/war/pld. I wonder if starting anew is the best choice.

Elvaan and Galka both are gimpy BLM's, but you can make up for it with skill and gear. Tarutaru have a huge advantage in this class, but if you really like your Elvaan just try to make sure you have the right gear and food and play the job well. You won't ever perform quite as well as a Taruatru and the early levels/soloing will be rough due to the INT disparity, but it can and does work. I've played both, as my mule is a 59 BLM taru and when I took it up again on my main I could really feel the difference >.<;

3. I hate healing, a lot. I know that I will be leveling a WHM as my sub, but I wonder if I would be able to solo. My current plan would be to reach 18 with blm, 37 with whm, then continue with blm. I will have a tank with me at all times, so this may work as far as I know. I have been away for a while and I would like an opinion on the matter.

Not just WHM, but RDM and SCH as well. Do you mean solo on WHM and your other subs, or on BLM? Lionheart wrote a very good BLM soloing guide that's over on the wiki. As for getting your subs to 37, it's a total breeze with Fields of Valor so don't sweat it.

4. As I have stated, I hate to heal. Would my role as a blm happen to be that of backup healer or simply a nuker?

Hate to break it to you but any BLM worth their salt needs to be ready to back-up heal when shit hits the fan. You're primary focus will always be spike damage, crowd control and stun but if someone's about to go down you'd damn well better be able to cure them.

[Sirius]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

Thank you for all of your replies. I feel better knowing that I will not have to cycle through a spell list, this had been bothering me and making me stand clear of this job. I am used to macros that swap equipment as I did this with my SAM/RNG in late game.

Many of you mention Tarutaru as a race, though I hate to be short. I did enjoy my Elvaan before, yet now I look upon him and shudder with disgust. I see his tiny head on a really long neck and... Meh I could see if I warm up to him again. Really all depends on choice so I will play around with him and other races to see what I like. (Elvaan has quite a few subs already leveled to 37 and is rank 6, so it also depends on if I want to make an alt or not.)

Not just WHM, but RDM and SCH as well. Do you mean solo on WHM and your other subs, or on BLM? Lionheart wrote a very good BLM soloing guide that's over on the wiki. As for getting your subs to 37, it's a total breeze with Fields of Valor so don't sweat it.

Ah, yes. I meant leveling up a WHM main for a sub later. I will be with a tank, so I can likely get to 37 easily.

Otherwise, just accept that the better BLM players know when to toss out emergency cures when playing with other people, and can figure out in which parties they need to do more than just spot curing. Not every party with a BLM in it needs the BLM to do any curing, but it's a dumb BLM who insists on never curing for any reason whatsoever. (Hint: Nothing kills exp/hour like someone in party getting KO'ed.)

If you're going to /WHM, at least be willing to backup heal. Even just healing yourself a little can't hurt. Now that /DNC is more popular, there is a trend toward bringing your own heal abilities for some things, mostly campaign and friendly LS zerg xp parties.

I suppose I could try out being an occasional back-up healer. I mostly just hate to main heal as I have tried it before and failed miserably. I used to enjoy only being the warrior type who runs in and smacks things with a sword, now I enjoy the glass cannons so we will see how I like.

I have concluded that I will try this job, although I have yet to decide if I will make an alt Hume or Tarutaru (usually make the human wizard). After my business today I will play with the character creator and see what hits me just right.

---EDIT---

Alright, I decided I will not make a Tarutaru. I have a new question. Is there really that big of a difference between Hume and Elvaan BLM?

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

I suppose I could try out being an occasional back-up healer. I mostly just hate to main heal as I have tried it before and failed miserably.

Main or backup healer, the key is anticipation.

Is the tank holding the monster well? If so, that's the person who needs cure/regen the most. If not, prepare to spread the cure around.

Is the main healer getting low on MP? Cut back on nukes, and start tossing out smaller cures to keep main healer's MP from hitting 0, and take over if the main healer is resting.

Fighting Imp? Work out who casts Silena for whom. Again, if main healer is resting, take over his/her Silena duty, too.

Someone got hit by something big? Stun first to buy time, and immediately figure out if main healer needs help or not. Big AoE probably means a Curaga will be helpful, especially if it's RDM main healer instead of WHM.

I used to enjoy only being the warrior type who runs in and smacks things with a sword, now I enjoy the glass cannons so we will see how I like.

Keep in mind that nothing in this game prevents you from leveling Black Mage and a Warror both on the same character.

Alright, I decided I will not make a Tarutaru. I have a new question. Is there really that big of a difference between Hume and Elvaan BLM?

Naked,

Elvaan BLM75/RDM37:
HP: 1059
MP: 599
INT: 66

Hume BLM75/RDM37:
HP: 968
MP: 675
INT: 72

Source: FFXI Stat Calculator

Significant difference? I think so--but not as much of a difference between a well geared and normally geared Black Mage.

Really, just pick which ever race/face you like looking at.

[Sirius]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

I believe I will try making a new Hume BLM since my fiance and a friend will be starting fresh. I thank you all for your comments as I have now found an interesting way to renew my love for the game. Certainly seems like a nice challenge that I will enjoy.

[Elwynn]

Re: New Black Mage Advice...

I did enjoy my Elvaan before, yet now I look upon him and shudder with disgust. I see his tiny head on a really long neck and... Meh I could see if I warm up to him again.

Yeah, they're a bit... gangly. Even selecting the "short" model doesn't help.