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Well, I suspect I'm sticking my face into a hornet's nest here, but here goes nothing.
I suspect the primary reason White Mages are not looked to for leadership, is instinctive human nature. In real life battles, the healers are not involved until well after the battle is over. The battles are fought by the combat units, and the combat units only, and as such, people instictively look to combat capable individuals for leadership in dangerous situations. It's the same reason tall people tend to have an easier time leading groups than shorter people.
DnD style games are very unussual, in that healers have to be an integrated part of fighting units, and involved in the front lines of combat. In essence, in FFXI healers are combat units, which is a direct contrast to the way the real world opperates. People tend to think of things in refference to the way the real world works, and in this case, it leads to an erronious assumption that White Mages are not involved in combat.
I hope that made some semblance of sense. It probably didn't.
Now, on the subject of hate control. At lvl 20, a Warrior only has Provoke, Berzerk, Boost, and damage to keep hate with. Provoke hate decays naturally with time, so we already have to keep it going once every 30 seconds. Boost generates very little hate, though it's useful in increasing the dealt damage. Raw physical damage generates a noticable amount of hate, but if we are packing def+ gear, and chowing on Boild Crab, instead of Meat Mithkabobs, our damage output is pretty much gimped.
That really leaves us with Berzerk, and Weapon Skills, for dealing with someone pulling to much hate suddenly. Berzerk is not a great option, as lowering our def not only strains the Whm with extra healing needed, it also cuts down our retained hate, though the extra damage we take when using it. Sure, we can activate it, and then immediatly deactivate it, but most of the hate Berzerk pulls is due to the extra damage it lets us deal, rather than the activation of it.
Weapon Skills, while useful for pulling hate, also have risks associated with using them. If we're supposed to be part of a skill chain, using our WS to control a loose mob will break the SC for that round. Additionally, if the mob is moving around (as in chasing a moving target) there's a fairly good chance the mob will move out of range before the WS activates, thus spending the TP, without actually doing anything to the mob.
So really, until Warriors start getting skills like Defender, and Paladins start learning Flash and Cure II-III and Shield Bash, tanks do not have a large number of tools at their disposal to control hate spikes. At lower levels we end up depending fairly heavily on other party members keeping their hate under control, in order to keep the mob firmly locked on us.
The Paladin forum has a number of very interesting threads on controlling hate, and the ways to do it right. They are very interesting reads, and quite interesting to implement.
Harry Voyager
I suspect the primary reason White Mages are not looked to for leadership, is instinctive human nature. In real life battles, the healers are not involved until well after the battle is over. The battles are fought by the combat units, and the combat units only, and as such, people instictively look to combat capable individuals for leadership in dangerous situations. It's the same reason tall people tend to have an easier time leading groups than shorter people.
DnD style games are very unussual, in that healers have to be an integrated part of fighting units, and involved in the front lines of combat. In essence, in FFXI healers are combat units, which is a direct contrast to the way the real world opperates. People tend to think of things in refference to the way the real world works, and in this case, it leads to an erronious assumption that White Mages are not involved in combat.
I hope that made some semblance of sense. It probably didn't.
Now, on the subject of hate control. At lvl 20, a Warrior only has Provoke, Berzerk, Boost, and damage to keep hate with. Provoke hate decays naturally with time, so we already have to keep it going once every 30 seconds. Boost generates very little hate, though it's useful in increasing the dealt damage. Raw physical damage generates a noticable amount of hate, but if we are packing def+ gear, and chowing on Boild Crab, instead of Meat Mithkabobs, our damage output is pretty much gimped.
That really leaves us with Berzerk, and Weapon Skills, for dealing with someone pulling to much hate suddenly. Berzerk is not a great option, as lowering our def not only strains the Whm with extra healing needed, it also cuts down our retained hate, though the extra damage we take when using it. Sure, we can activate it, and then immediatly deactivate it, but most of the hate Berzerk pulls is due to the extra damage it lets us deal, rather than the activation of it.
Weapon Skills, while useful for pulling hate, also have risks associated with using them. If we're supposed to be part of a skill chain, using our WS to control a loose mob will break the SC for that round. Additionally, if the mob is moving around (as in chasing a moving target) there's a fairly good chance the mob will move out of range before the WS activates, thus spending the TP, without actually doing anything to the mob.
So really, until Warriors start getting skills like Defender, and Paladins start learning Flash and Cure II-III and Shield Bash, tanks do not have a large number of tools at their disposal to control hate spikes. At lower levels we end up depending fairly heavily on other party members keeping their hate under control, in order to keep the mob firmly locked on us.
The Paladin forum has a number of very interesting threads on controlling hate, and the ways to do it right. They are very interesting reads, and quite interesting to implement.
Harry Voyager
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