Conserving mp without a redmage.

[Somajan]

Level 50 paladin here, I've just had a little paper party with my static party (first we've had since we're waiting for the whm to catch up to 50) but one thing that I noticed was during battle the whm would always end up with almost no mp.

I was wondering how it would be best to conserve mp for those situations that we don't have a redmage, since we don't have a steady redmage available or blackmage for that matter, so that we would minimize downtime to that period of time when the puller is looking for monsters to kill and still be able to get a good chain running. I know its possible, but these monsters are hitting me for 54-120 (regular to crit), and with many of them double hits, it can get pretty dicey and costly as far as mp is concerned.

Also my role in curing myself is helpful.

[Feenicks]

No BRD either I'm guessing.

Your best bet is to either get the WHM to invest in lots of juice or a Dark Staff, or sub /SMN, or something that will either increase his MP regen rate when resting or gives an Auto-Refresh ability.

[Rones]

No rdm, no blm, and no brd? 1 mage party will always have loads of downtime. Your best bet is help him get a dark staff, +mp regen tick food, have him lvl bard to 25 and use that as a sub for mages ballad (this will have same effect as /smn on the whm, but will also help the pld and other mp users in the party along with allowing the mage to throw some small accuracy boosting songs).

Another thing that takes practice and can be a bit tedious/tiring after a few hours of exping is to fill the pld up as much as possible and try to get a tick or two of mp rest in. I can usually get two ticks by the time the pld is at half hp, or if the pld throws a couple cures on himself I can get up to 3-4 ticks. Then you stand up, throw a couple big cures to fill up the pld (don't overfill). Rinse and repeat. This requires the whm to react quickly though if the mob decides to fire a nasty special attack.

Its a matter of getting all the little stuff so you finish with some more mp. At least 2 mages in the party though is really crucial to fix this problem even if its a blm/whm who can throw a few cures while the whm rests more.

[Icemage]

At level 50+ you should never be heading anywhere without MP recovery. The downtime is just awful otherwise, and there's really no way to mitigate it without spending enormous sums of money (Dark Staff - which is a level 51 staff, btw).

A few things that might help:

- Get your mages to eat MP recovery food - Bubble Chocolate is + 1MP/healtick, Goblin Chocolate is +2MP/healtick, Pamama Tarts and Opo-Opo Tarts are +2MP/healtick.

- Have the mages sub /SMN25+ for Auto-Refresh.

- Have one of the mages sub /BRD (this is something I've been doing a LOT lately - Bards are almost non-existent, so most of the time I'm partied with a Red Mage)


Icemage

[Manatra]

BLM sub is the best for conserving MP.

The conserve MP ability will pretty much negate the auto-refresh effect. Not to mention you get elemental seal which is useful for slapping paralyze on the occasional monster that likes resisting. Without a RDM make sure the WHM has maxed enfeebling, it will help immensely in saving MP if they can put Paralyze + Slow onto a monster and have it stick, the 2-3 times the monster may freeze up can save 100+ MP.

Not to mention you get tractor, escape, and warp with BLM sub and if you wear +int equip so it sticks when you cast Frost, you can also lower their agi (albeit by a bit) which makes hitting monsters easier.

And yes, invest in a dark staff, drinks (have the WHM level up cooking so they can make juices on the spot), and other stuff.

[umeboshi-kun]

but it just gives you more mp, not mp regen, does it not?

[Rones]

Whm/blm is always considered the standard, but don't put down whm/brd so fast until you check this thread out.