I hate White Mage

[Coinspinner]

Re: I hate White Mage

I went 1-13 as BLM/WHM, using Banish/Stone to nuke DC/EM or Paralyze/Blind and my hammer for EP. It was easier than most jobs, and I took all but PLD and DRK to at least 9. To releive tedium in slow groups I arranged some mirrors so I could watch TV and keep my eye on the HP bars. In bad groups... just leave. I eventually static'd and with some skilled LS members. We always liked to push it a bit, so I was never bored.

"Astral Flow is up, pull 5."

Good times.

[Kutch]

Re: I hate White Mage

Some people like to play melee.
Some people prefer mage classes for damage.

And there are people like me, who get the most fun out of the game, NOT by dealing damage (other than in a very symbolic kind of way) but instead by keeping other players alive while they're at it.

Having said that, I am a melee whm (lvl 65 whm / smn as I write this), and I generally make new friends on my friends list every time I PT with new people, because, apparently, I'm not a bad whm. On some odd occasion, I will not melee, simply because the PT configuration does not allow for it (lack of refresher, for one).

Healing is all about challenge. People are so different in their play styles, that you have to change your way of play allmost from one PT to another. The challenge is allways how to preserve as much MP as possible, in order to keep the puller busy, and the experience chains going to 5 each and every time.

To me, this is one of the biggest challenges, and also the most fun jobs in the game. You need to prepare for the worst for every new camp, know what to expect from the mobs, and be a fast reader, so you can remove ailments as soon as they happen. You need to know how much you can heal, how often, without turning the mob against you, and sometimes, you have to take calculated risks, knowing that the next curaga III will give you aggro means you curaga at the right time, letting nobody die.

And sometimes you just take the fall for the PT, knowing that one dead WHM, out of MP will gain experience faster than anyone else simply because we are still in high demmand (alltough more and more whm's seem to appear in the game, and the lack of refreshers is now higher imo).

Curing alone is no fun. If you only do that, and miss out on enfeebles, removal of ailments, and the few debuffs you should be best at, then you're not playing whm to it's full extent, and I can relate to how you feel it's boring...

The WHM sets the pace of experience. 4-5k experience /hour is allways possible with a good whm that knows what he's doing, and has his/her gear in order. No other job comes close to the effectiveness of a whm in terms of working FOR the PT. The whm is NOT a solo job, it is depending, and made entirely for the benefit of other players, in which it excels.