Summoner Advice Plz

[Galaxia]

Hello everyone

Need some advice on Summoner. I have just got to lv 40 and lately all pt's want me to do is Main Heal. I used to DD quite alot was wondering if this is all summoners do? I know when WHM runs out of MP that I need to take over healing but I don't wanna go from 4o to 70 just been main healer! I was wondering if anyone else is having this problem too? Really hope somone can give me some advice for this cause I am getting really fed up of main healing all the time. If this is what it's gonna be like to 70 I might aswell be BLM or WHM.

Thanks for your time.

[kuu]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Unless your pt is especially bad...and I've met some of them that are, you shouldn't be.

Like any pt, the better everyone else performs, the more you can "push".

A smn should be more in line with a rdm style, where you split your duties accordinly to how the flow of the fight is going, and try not to run dry.

You usually fair better with nin tanks, which don't need constant healing, so you're free to do other stuff.

But anyway point is, you do use healing, but don't just do that, it almost always worse to just heal, because it's too limited. Offensive or defensive bps are needed somewhere.

Usually a flow will let you MB once, or bp twice per fight for damage. Levi tail whip is great at your level.

As you go towards higher and up, it's gets harder as your bp damage goes down with lack of new skills. You really need a good pt to use double slap effectively, as MB is way more powerful then anything you have at that point.

at around 55 with meteor...well...you can play with it when you get that high.

[Kalel]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Most parties will have Summoners heal most of the time. They usually never take us to do DD before lvl 70. I am lvl 62 even with a good push, I heal majority of the time for 70% of my parties. But I do always use bloodpacts in between. Its another reason its hard for Summoners to build up their skills because they use whm more than smn.

[Arris]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Hello everyone

Need some advice on Summoner. I have just got to lv 40 and lately all pt's want me to do is Main Heal. I used to DD quite alot was wondering if this is all summoners do? I know when WHM runs out of MP that I need to take over healing but I don't wanna go from 4o to 70 just been main healer! I was wondering if anyone else is having this problem too? Really hope somone can give me some advice for this cause I am getting really fed up of main healing all the time. If this is what it's gonna be like to 70 I might aswell be BLM or WHM.

Thanks for your time.

Finally someone says what I've been thinking. Alot of people tend to misuse any job with mp (other then DRK of course) they assume slap a /WHM sub job and we got ourselfs a main heal. The most misused job of all is SMN. The name itself is the description of the job Summoner. No one seems to want them to summon much, other then some enhancing spells, just main heal. That's why I left SMN at 65 and went and lvl WHM...might as well right? But after lvling WHM some I keep hearing how useless WHM are in pts and how 2 RDMs were better (another misuse of a job my is 70). Sorry to tell you but even after 70+ ppl will still invite you for just main healing. But SMN is a great job to have for stuff such as promys, BCNM/ENM, HNM etc, your main job there is to summon and maybe back up cure.

[kuu]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Most parties will have Summoners heal most of the time. They usually never take us to do DD before lvl 70. I am lvl 62 even with a good push, I heal majority of the time for 70% of my parties. But I do always use bloodpacts in between. Its another reason its hard for Summoners to build up their skills because they use whm more than smn.

There's a good rule of thumb I tend to use in xp pts. The good outweight the bad, the faster you kill, the more likely you are to sustain MP. Not always true as blms that goto 0 in chain 1 is any indication, but using it smartly.

Unless it's a bad pt that is no helping it, I usually test them to see how well they can handle "not" needing defensive backup. Aerial armor is expensive for 100mp. Does your tank need it or not? hmmm... maybe yes maybe no. A good pt usually no. This frees up BP for DD. A good mage support, also means lessening your heal burden. A good Rdm or brd, that converts, doesn't DD, etc, etc, will also backup heal as well. This frees the smn from non stop healing ,allowing BP, MB, and /healing. (I always like trading off 200+ damage for 3 paladin hits) In those situations you're not main healer but rather a split job. semi DD semi healer.

IF you got none of those...and I've had my fill and still get them, of bad rdms... OMG is there a thing with elvvans and there need to wave swords? Can't even convert right...anyway... if you got none of those, you're stuck with 70% throwing cures.

Basically like almost any job, if you got bad team members that can't take up the slack, you gotta tougher time.

[Galaxia]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Finally someone says what I've been thinking. Alot of people tend to misuse any job with mp (other then DRK of course) they assume slap a /WHM sub job and we got ourselfs a main heal. The most misused job of all is SMN. The name itself is the description of the job Summoner. No one seems to want them to summon much, other then some enhancing spells, just main heal. That's why I left SMN at 65 and went and lvl WHM...might as well right? But after lvling WHM some I keep hearing how useless WHM are in pts and how 2 RDMs were better (another misuse of a job my is 70). Sorry to tell you but even after 70+ ppl will still invite you for just main healing. But SMN is a great job to have for stuff such as promys, BCNM/ENM, HNM etc, your main job there is to summon and maybe back up cure.

Lemme hear a AHHHHHHHHHHHHH MEN SISTER lol

This is exactly what I mean. At the moment my damage is pretty good and my MP never gets lower then 200! If the WHM runs out of MP then yea I will take over and heal but ya know when they don't why not make use of them shiny bloodpacts. ALSO NO WAY CAN 2 RDM'S REPLACE A WHM! Ignore them they can't.
Think of it this way
2 RDM's - 1 WHM
thats 2 spaces in pt taken when you could just have 1 space for whm and 1 free!
So why waste that space when ya dont have to?

[Arris]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Lemme hear a AHHHHHHHHHHHHH MEN SISTER lol

This is exactly what I mean. At the moment my damage is pretty good and my MP never gets lower then 200! If the WHM runs out of MP then yea I will take over and heal but ya know when they don't why not make use of them shiny bloodpacts. ALSO NO WAY CAN 2 RDM'S REPLACE A WHM! Ignore them they can't.
Think of it this way
2 RDM's - 1 WHM
thats 2 spaces in pt taken when you could just have 1 space for whm and 1 free!
So why waste that space when ya dont have to?

LOL thank you. I know I've played RDM a bit too. The other RDM usuelly stops refreshing and curing after a few fightes so I have to take over all of that(Super melee time). I understand there are certain situations when I would get two or SMN as a last resort but never continuelly. (That's usually after I've done asked all the WHM"S in my lvl range).

[Galaxia]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

*waves arms* You go girl lol
Ok I watched "Brining down the house" too much

Wrong area but whats RDM like I was considering it this morning hehe
any comments?

[Arris]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

*waves arms* You go girl lol
Ok I watched "Brining down the house" too much

Wrong area but whats RDM like I was considering it this morning hehe
any comments?

RDM is awesome best of both worlds as far as mage type and damage dealer goes. Especially 40+ once you get refresh your pretty much unstopable ^-^

[Galaxia]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

hehe
Yea but I keep been told till 41 the Pt's are kinda slow >.<

[tazirai]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Ill give you some advice, but depending on your personality and reputation, this may work for or against you.
i notice this heal>heal>heal> role mode mainly in NA style PT setups, Not saying JP PT right or wrong, it's just something I notice. The only two common buffs I normally throw a PT is listed below and the reason.

Blink> at the start of a PT and if I have the MP after a chain.

Stoneskin> Makes the monster hate whatever ,melee its going up against that much more, since it cant lower its hate level. I use this alot.

Hastega> When we get links and whatever we are fighting needs to die that much faster, People need cures that much faster, Cast spells that much faster.

Accuracy boost> Great for pld or nin or war tanks that need to be accurate and with it lasting 3 minutes Its a great buff. It also boosts high accuracy jobs like thf and rng, and lower accuracy jobs like drg. I use this alot also..

Evasion down Works well since whatever we need to fight should die as fast as possible, I use this mainly on Things like birds raptors and some "jobbed" bestmen. Not used as much in PT as in BC's.

meteor> Unbeliveable since everyone seems to like light or dark renkei at my level and using a free rat means i can mb along with the blm or rdm.

Carbuncle cure and curaga> its amazing since rat wont generate hate and you can do other duties. Also by rat gaining TP it enhanes his cures that much more. And you wont need to worry abotu aggro, and if your rdm or bard is up to snuff then you will be GAINING mp with rat out most of the PT.

Poison nails at the start of a fight against bestmen or crab eats em up and stacks with dia so they die that much faster.

Carby Tank: If you get an add let the rat tank while your group focuses on something else. If the monster is slow rat will last long and with its Aoe heal it can heal itself.

When you JOIN a PT tell the leader your intentions for your role. dont let them tell you what to do. Whenever I join a NA style PT i immediately tell them . I will pull, backup heal MB and help weaken the baddie. My job is also spotter in case we are fighting in a dangerous locale.
Most leaders will usually go along with what you say, BUT you need to be good at multi-tasking. A summoner cant have tunnel vision and expect to be a good Summoner.
I truly think All summoners need to level rdm to help learn timing with JA's, Magic, Supprt.

If you have a good rep as a Great Summoner, that can go a long way to helping not only get PT's but also not just curing 70- or 90% of the time.

On Ramuh since ive been around awhile I can pretty much dictate my role in a PT, without sounding like a prude. ALso Not all PT's need you soley as SMN/WHM. If you have a BLM or RDM in the PT or even Another SMN, Depending on what you are fighting Sub rdm.

SJ rdm will basically be a Summon/Dispel/Cure monkey. Dispel isnt resisted half as much as your other spells and if you have no RDM in the PT your dispel will help greatly.

ALSO try joining a PT with Beastmasters. Your job will basically be to Close the kill when the beastmasters release their Pets.

Grab the bull by the horn and let PT leaders know that if they need you curing all the time, they are doing something wrong. Which i've found is 90% of why many leaders who want smn to main heal, only want heals.

[Spellbinder]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

*claps* Posts like that are why you were my mentor~

[grunion]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

as 75smn my advice is, do whatever the party wants you to do. get xp, that's the only reason you're in the pt. if they want you to do something stupid and you can't talk them out of it, just do whatever they want, get your 4k xp and wait for pt to break to get another one.

you'll spend weeks leveling but after that, youll spend months as 70+ smn and all those dumb xp parties will be long forgotten.

[Spellbinder]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

as 75smn my advice is, do whatever the party wants you to do. get xp, that's the only reason you're in the pt. if they want you to do something stupid and you can't talk them out of it, just do whatever they want, get your 4k xp and wait for pt to break to get another one.

you'll spend weeks leveling but after that, youll spend months as 70+ smn and all those dumb xp parties will be long forgotten.

Do whatever they want you to? If that's the case then go make a Whitemage, because more than likely they'll only want you for healing unless you lay down the law for them to know otherwise. People play Summoners to summon, and if a party can't handle that, then you probably have no business teaming with them. I would go on but, my senpai worded it so beautifully, there's no need to post further.... *points up to tazirai's post*

[silentsteel]

Re: Summoner Advice Plz

Grab the bull by the horn and let PT leaders know that if they need you curing all the time, they are doing something wrong. Which i've found is 90% of why many leaders who want smn to main heal, only want heals.

heh, good advice.

Something to prevent this though, is to make your own PT's. I've made about half of my Pt's as whm & was glad for it, and I bet the smn's I invited were too.