Elvaan WHM just starting out...

[Axle]

Hello! New guy here! I'd like some tips on how to be a good WHM, even with the MP handicap and how to benefit the party in general?

[Issaac]

There is no general advice. Get a warrior who is able to provokate and group up. There are so many play styles and everybody of us is sure the own is the best )

So just find your style and read the board. Post if you have a spezial question

[Cassidy]

I would disagree on the "no general advice"

General advice would be as follows

-solo till about 10

-buy +MP gear (hairpins, rings)

-buy the spells you can, if you have to skimp then avoid barsleepra,barparalyna, etc they suck, while barfira (and other elemental ones) are good and def worth buying

-once you get cure II (at 11) only use it in emergenices until it caps out at 90 HP healed

-try to keep your magic skills as high as you can

-manage your mana well, as elv you are at a disadvantange but it can be made up for with a couple items, food and juice (bit to expensive at the start) and mana effiecieny

[Issaac]

I would strongly advise to find a Warrior partner (no big group, just a partner) at lvl 5. Its cutting down downtime to zero and you can fight even and though beside endless decent chains. The exp might be lower for one mob but the endup exp is a lot higher. Lvling White mage solo to 10 is a pain because you will feal like a gimp. But its doable with a little staying power.

But it has to be a Warrior, all other meele classes will make you die a lot.

[riceburner4540]

not true...leveling whm sub was fairly fast and painless for me up til 10...i subbed blm, so with the slight mp boost and an occasional stone, i was able to fight for a while before resting, often taking even matches without a prob. you shouldn't have too much trouble going 1-10, even without a subjob.

[Axle]

Thanks for the advice. I'm already a level 8 WHM! I even met Jagedy Eared Jack today! But i wasn't high enough to kill him yet, so i had to run for it... with 3 level 40 players following me, wiaitng for me to die or disengage XD, my only real concern is... Will Warriors in Valkurm manage to keep me alive...?

[IhsanShade]

The best part of being an Elvaan white mage pre-30 is the fact that you will live through aggro a lot better than all the other whm's. You will get groups who don't Provoke right away. It puts less pressure on the group to always watch aggro, if you take two whacks you don't need to heal yourself since you'll be sitting and healing soon enough. There is trade-offs to everything the game is built that way, Elvaan get high magic Defense and a good amount of hp sub-par mp and a good mnd stat while taru get a massive amount of mp sub-par hp and low vitality.

Only thing i would vote against would be a Galka WHM, even with RSE you'll barely have enough to get through 1 fight. As an Elvaan I can make it through one fight fine but I spend a lot of time taking a knee and depending on my BLM's or RDM's to pick up the slack.

[Issaac]

That depends of the warrior/paladin. A good warrior or paladin will provocate as soon as it is available to hold agro over the complete fight. The paladin most likely will due to the fact that he already has a lvl 30 subjob. New warriors didnt learned it to the point where they group the first times in valkum. So yes, even as a tarztaru i hardly got killed in the dunes due to bad groups.


To lvl a subjob is mostly easier then the first start job. As a White/Black you start with a maxed elemental skill and can nuke worms before meele engage. The subjob is a big helper in lvling from scratch. For me, my white mage was a pain when i soloed, i was hardly able to kill maneater hornets or crabs with lvl 8 while the monk beside me chained 2 of them at lvl 7.

[PTT]

A Galka WHM is doable. Definitely not easy by any stretch of the word though.

My friend levelled WHM to 30 as a Galka (He's since switched to DRK/PAL, or something... DRK/? for sure)

...anyway, yes, he barely had enough MP for 1 fight. He wasn't high enough craft level to make anything useful foodwise, and was too cheap to buy any . As a support healer, he was superb, and even as Only-healer he got the job done.

In fact, the only reason he quit, and I don't blame him, was that he got tired of people saying "A -GALKA- white mage? ....WHY?"

...or something along those lines. ^^

[Thingol]

I actaully grouped with a JP Gilka WHM last night. The party was WHM, RDM, Bard, Ninja, Ninja, Thief. 3 JP 3NA. Great group! There was aslight communication barrier but everyone knew what they were doing and was very patient. the group was 33 with one of the JP ninjas hitting 34 about half way through at Crawler's Nest. No deaths and we were pulling about 3,500/hr :^D.

The WHM had no problems. With full RSE he had about 300 MP but with Ballad it went a bit further. Both the RDM and I only had to cure a bit and it was more for insurance rather than emergency. Basically a Gilka whm is not ideal but they can be very effective in the right party. After getting the whm, we decided that getting a Palidin or warrior would not be the best idea as it would require too much MP. Having 2 ninjas to tank was ideal as tey simply take less overall damage, enven though they have less HP overall. When they got hit, of course they got wholloped and would need some serious cureing but then the other ninja would provoke off and give us plenty of time to cure up.

Basically it's all about playing into your party's streight. But if everyone is smart, any whm can be good for grinding.

My best advice for a Elvaan whm though is, always have a good supply of apple pie (1,500-1,600 gil /12) and try to make friends with one high level melee to help you get your RSE starting around level 26. RSE makes a HUGE difference for an Elvaan whm. Even as a bard/whm I have found that I get probably twice as many invites from JP groups now that I have full RSE (given that they can see your toon before they invite you of course). the extra 60-70 or so MP is a big help.

[Valerathon]

Yes, if you invest in getting your RSE (don't really hafta bother with the body part, just hand, legs, feet, really), and always go for the MP boosting equipment, then you'll be fine. I focus heavily on equipment, and was in a PT one day in Crawlers' Nest and had more MP than the Taru BLM, I kid you not (his equipment was unremarkable, and I did have a Rolanberry Pie, but still...). Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. :p

[yeahyeah]

subjob question

i'm also an Elvaan mage just starting out.

i think i remember reading that elvaan RDM get more MP than BLM. so does this affect the MP boost that black mage subjob gives to an ELV WHM/BLM, would a RDM subjob bring in more MP for ELV??

[Miriamel]

The red mage class has the least MP out of all mage classes.

SMN > BLM > WHM > RDM is the MP order. Sorry to say, but subbing RDM will give you less MP than subbing BLM.

[Negorath]

BRD MP pwns all!

[Miriamel]

A Galka whm is totally do-able. You have to keep in mind that the situation in which you have no backup healer whatsoever will not arise that often. Be it a rdm, a whm or a blm/whm, additional healing power is likely.

Especially with a redmage post-41, chaining won't pose a problem anymore no matter what your MP is. I hit 41 yesterday and my MP is at 401 now (still no RSE -_-; ), and in the group I had (PLD, DRG, RDM, BLM, WHM, SAM) we had a limit to chains because of the lack of mobs, not my MP. Proof attached.