Subjob or no subjob???

[timoteo]

I'm currently lvl 12 WHM, and i plan to be SUMMONER/WHM in the future


should i stay ONLY white mage till i get lvl 30, or should i bother with a subjob till lvl 30 comes around??? thanks

[PetriW]

General consensus seems to be get BLM subjob first.

[(MR)Cloud]

Leveling your subjob a few levels alredy gives you a good bonus in hp / mp . And you get new spells.

[Pilsbane]

Get a few levels of Black Mage, the extra MP is worth it. People pay thousands of gil for items with plus 3-5 MP while you can get 15 MP or so just by leveling up Black Mage to about level 7. The nukes aren't all the beneficial for a WHM but utility spells like Bind are priceless.

As for going summoner, try and get in a leech group at Quifim Island in your upper 20s to get a Carbunkle Ruby. Until you get one you can't do the summoner quest. My girlfriend is a 30 WHM/15 BLM and happend to get a Carbunkle Ruby while we were killing leeches in Quifim so she is working on the quest right now.

[Icemage]

I'm not sure how others feel about it, but I really, really hate sending party invitations to people who have something like:

WHM30/BLM1

It's not that a WHM30/BLM1 is all that much weaker than a WHM30/BLM15, but I personally think the subjob level speaks volumes about the quality of the player.

When I set out to construct an XP party, I'm looking for people who know what they are doing, and know how to handle their role in a party. It makes things go a lot smoother, and also makes things a lot more fun. When I see someone with a subjob that is way below the normal 1/2 main level cap, that tells me that that player doesn't care enough about how they play, and how they fit into a party to bring their best abilities to the table.

People with single digit subjobs after level 25 have a tendency to get picked last for parties, because in almost all cases it is a sure sign of inexperience.. By the same token, inappropriate subjobs tend to get picked last too, because its another good indicator of inexperience.

Before the individualists on this board all dogpile me for promoting cookie cutter thinking, I'll explain my reasoning behind why I make the choices I do:

(1) If you have am abnormally low subjob, that means that you are automatically slightly less capable than the person with the same job/subjob, but higher level subjob. Since the effect on XP is the same (assuming skill level is equal), the person with the higher subjob will tend to get picked first.

(2) If you have a terribly inapproprate subjob, I treat your subjob as being level 0 for purposes of party construction. BLM/WAR, for instance, is pretty much identical to BLM/Nothing. By the same token, PLD/BLM is the same as PLD/Nothing. If you want to express your individuality this way, be prepared for the fact that people will treat you this way - because it will be true.

(3) The point about inexperience is the most telling issue when determining party construction. You can talk all you like about being "creative" and "original", but until you can prove to other players that your creative approach to playing your character is at least playable and moderately effective in a party, you're going to be treated poorly when it comes time to recruit party members.

Inexperience often translates into incompetence, and no one likes to party with incompetent players. It's not fun. Incompetent players make mistakes, slow everyone down, break the rhythm of a group, and can often get themselves or other party members killed, which ruins the playing experience for everybody.


Icemage

[Selenitic]

Im going BRD/WHM and when i got lvl 18 I subed a BLM and lvled it up and i got a whooping extra 15 MP =P So i wouldnt worry about getting a sub right away just for MP.

[Leri]

Subjobs aren't going to help you out as much right away no.. they aren't god. But you do get stronger with one. People wouldn't be so stingy about subjobs if they didn't actually help~

Anyway, too add to what Icemage said you at the very least try to level your subjob to to 12 or 13. Some people will understand the closer to get to 30 the less likely you will want to level your subjob until your main job hits that mark and that everyone wants. After all 2-3 more level will get you oh another job ability at 30 of course BUT when leveling to 30 for the first time people just want to get there~

On the other hand a 25+ without a subjob you just prolly won't get asked. WHM or not. You will be the last person people will ask.

So my adivce would be to sub BLM until 30 since its really the best combo for WHM starting out.

[Navia]

You dont just level a sub for the extra mp, the spells a blm sub adds are an immense help.
Leveling BLM enough to acquire the bind spell has saved my life and my parties numerous times.

As an example when I was deep in the middle level of delkfutt tower with 3 other people we got in a bad situation fighting a goblin smithy,pathfinder and furrier. A goblin shaman roamed close and linked, starting to cast on the party - i quickly casted bind then silenced it, taking it out of the battle until the rest of the goblins were dealt with.

If you are in a situation where you can run to safety, bind the monster then run for it instead of all fleeing and letting 1 person die, the bind will hold long enough even on IT monsters to give you a good head start.

Other jobs like black mage can get party invites if they have whm sub leveled up because they can backup heal decently.
And for melee jobs, if your sub isnt half your main job, parties pass on those people.

[timoteo]

thanks for all the feedback, i'll lvl blm sub

whats bind do?

[Calianeri]

Also, remember that while you can get the Summoner job at level 30, you'll only have access to the Carbuncle summon and elemental spirits. You need to be around level 60 to do the summon Prime battles to get their avatars. I think a lot of people are rushing for 30 to get SMN but will be disappointed at how limited the job is with only Carb. So since you'll have to get your first job (WHM) up to high levels, you'll need to keep leveling BLM along the way.

[Axterix]

Originally posted by timoteo
whats bind do?

Bind stops the mob from moving for a bit, rooting it in place.

[PetriW]

I just leveled BLM with WHM as subjob and boy is it fast, I went for even cons doing 1-2 exp chains. That's over 200 exp per med round. Worked fine to lvl 6 then I grouped with a friend (BLM same level no subjob) getting to 8 in a bit over one hour, could sometimes get 1 exp chain if the first gobbie was nice.
So umm... subjob takes like no time.

[Navia]

Originally posted by timoteo
thanks for all the feedback, i'll lvl blm sub

whats bind do?

Just to elaborate a bit on the spell some more.
It costs 8mp to cast, recast is very long (40seconds) - average hold time on a tough monster is at least 10-15seconds, best duration was 25sec on an IT in my experience.

When you think about the kind of damage a goblin at that level puts out:
Hits for 30-70pts, if hes rooted and you are standing out of arms reach they cant build TP for goblin rush or the dreaded bomb toss which makes fighting more than 1 goblin at once very deadly.

So you can use 8mp to cast a 30pt cure on someone and let the extra monster cause more trouble, or cast bind to park that extra monster in place that can easily do more than 30 damage in the time its spent rooted in place away from your PT.

Sometimes you have to yell at someone to move away from the add you casted bind on, but a good tank will know what you are up to and drag the monster you are currently fighting away from it if you weren't able to bind it before it got close.



And as far as leveling BLM sub, my time invested to get 10 levels was like 3-4 hours . Maxxed evasion and 2h staff skill = 1or 2 critical hits on a decent challenge will kill it - blowing your MP for the sake of killing the monster exclusively with spells just slows you down - I just stuck with melee and using stone to pull and rarely used water/aero to keep the resting time down.