My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

[Chveya]

I've just reached lvl 10 with my WHM job, and headed to the Dunes to join a party. Got an invite immediately, and joined a party consisting of:

WAR10/MNK5
MNK10
THF10
BLM10
WHM10
WHM10 (me)

The tank is the WAR/MNK. First battle, tank dies. I felt terrible, my first party as the main heal, and I feel like I failed them. I was casting Cure as fast as I could, and the other WHM was an Elvaan, and he was resting most of the battle. The tank said it was the third time in an hour that he had died. Then it dawned on me...no backup voke. It was kind of a crappy setup. We fought three more battles, then the tank died again and we all had to zone cos the mob was nowhere near dying.

I left the party after that. I was rather shook up and stressed out. My party kept yelling "Heal the tank" over and over, and I was spamming Cure and sweating bullets. No one else in the party could pull hate off the tank anyway. I think it was a bad setup to begin with, but really I didn't think it was more than I could handle. I guess it was. Anyway, I just wanted to complain and get a little reassurance that it won't be like this every time. Please.

[Final]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

What was you guys fighting? Dont sweat it, people die, they get over it once they pass that lv, you'll learn with exp.

[Chveya]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

We were fighting lizards when the tank died.

[Final]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Did you have or used Protectra before battle?

Did the War even have good armor?

[Mog]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Don't beat yourself up over it! If what you're saying is true, you guys were fighting a much higher level mob than you should have at your level.

As far as the party setup goes, it looks great. As long as the warrior maintains the hate and the monk and blm don't deal too much damage, it should make your job a ton easier.

As far as spamming cures for fear of someone dying, you should never be in that sort of position with a good party. Just brush it off and always remember to protectra/shellra before you start fighting.

Edit: yeah, Final makes an excellant point. If his gear is outdated, you should go find another party with a better tank :x

[Final]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Don't beat yourself up over it! If what you're saying is true, you guys were fighting a much higher level mob than you should have at your level.

As far as the party setup goes, it looks great. As long as the warrior maintains the hate and the monk and blm don't deal too much damage, it should make your job a ton easier.

As far as spamming cures for fear of someone dying, you should never be in that sort of position with a good party. Just brush it off and always remember to protectra/shellra before you start fighting.

agreed

[durecellrabbit]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

What armour did the tank have? When I was a level10 whm my tank kept dieing too, turned out he was wearing some def1 gear with a speed bonus in sandy, looked like leather armour too. When we changed to a better armoured tank, it made a lot of difference.

[Icemage]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Lizards are too hard at level 10 unless you've got really good gear and an extra tank. Don't worry too much about it; at level 10 you only have a single Cure spell. At level 11 you get Cure II, which gives you better options (but watch out, since it also draws way more attention to you, and you may find yourself being the one in need of healing at that point).


Icemage

[Chveya]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Thanks for the replies. I had cast Protectra before the first battle, but I don't have Shellra yet. I didn't think to check the tanks armor, that is a good point.

I had heard that Cure II pulls hate, so when I do get it I should only use it if the player's hp is in red, right?

[DJJGKWYA]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Unfortunately everyone fights liz nowadays and until 11 you might have trouble without backup healers or backup voke.

People used to fight thickshells or dhalmels and that wasnt as bad, I dont know why people stopped, but whatever.

If the other WHM was curing instead of resting chances are he would have been fine.

Usually people will say something if your doing a bad job or something they dont approve of.

edit: As far as Cure2 goes, when someone is in trouble give them Cure2. Otherwise dont use it. Dont use it after combat especially because its not worth it till you have high enough healing skill. (Itll cure for 90 HP)

[Mhurron]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Thanks for the replies. I had cast Protectra before the first battle, but I don't have Shellra yet. I didn't think to check the tanks armor, that is a good point.

I had heard that Cure II pulls hate, so when I do get it I should only use it if the player's hp is in red, right?

As it cures more then Cure 1 does it does draw more hate. At this point you are better off curing with Cure 1 and saving cure 2 for when things take a turn for the worse. Now that will change as you level and you'll find yourself doing the same thing with cure 2 and 3. The trick is to try and generate less hate then the tank has. At low levels, tanks don't have much in the way of hate generating tools besides Provoke so you have to rely more on the low hate generating Cure 1.

But ya don't worry about it. WHM was the most stressful job I've taken through the dunes, and that was even after a decent amount of experience as a main healer for a party as RDM. It lead me to the conclusion that people hate the dunes not so much because of noobish behavior (though it never helps) but because no one has the tools they really need for an exp party to go smoothly. At 21 WHM gets Cure 3 and Regen, you'll have the important bar*a spells and your healing skill should be getting high enough to Cure 2 for about 90hp. They make the job a lot less stressful.

Make sure to get barfira for when you hit level 17 and use it before every gob fight, and use barwatera before a crab or pug fight. Those bar*a spells really are your friends.

[kuu]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Fighting lizards at lvl 10 is a good way to die. Pulling a higher end lizard will kill you, or just a well placed stone glaze.

Heck, with the way most pts 1-30 are, they don't eat food, armor is limited, no juices, no above standard equips...

VT fighting is normal. Reason earily levels are 3k-5k per level.

The pt probably can't even hit IT+, without sushi at that level. If an IT+ lizard decided to eva up, you've got a slow death on your hands. No dispel, nothing, just wiff.

Food makes a huge difference in earily levels like juices, attk and acc, because none of the equipment is really that good. Sadly, that's the stage, people don't use food.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Make sure to get barfira for when you hit level 17 and use it before every gob fight, and use barwatera before a crab or pug fight. Those bar*a spells really are your friends.

I'd also like to add that when you kill the Damselflys in the dunes, use Barwatera. Yes they are a flying mob but the ability Cursed Sphere that they use is water based. The bar spells in the lower lvls are very helpful!

As far as feeling bad when someone dies, you'll probably never get over it. I know to this day I do not. I always sit there and think "Maybe if I had done this..." or "Ok I need to do this differently and then try this..." Don't bother second guessing yourself, especially at that level. It's a learning process and many times its not your fault anyways. Like someone mentioned, if your tank comes to the pt in crappy gear, he's just begging to die!

[Aanya_Ramuh]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

I've just reached lvl 10 with my WHM job, and headed to the Dunes to join a party. Got an invite immediately, and joined a party consisting of:

WAR10/MNK5
MNK10
THF10
BLM10
WHM10
WHM10 (me)

The tank is the WAR/MNK. First battle, tank dies. I felt terrible, my first party as the main heal, and I feel like I failed them. I was casting Cure as fast as I could, and the other WHM was an Elvaan, and he was resting most of the battle. The tank said it was the third time in an hour that he had died. Then it dawned on me...no backup voke. It was kind of a crappy setup. We fought three more battles, then the tank died again and we all had to zone cos the mob was nowhere near dying.

I left the party after that. I was rather shook up and stressed out. My party kept yelling "Heal the tank" over and over, and I was spamming Cure and sweating bullets. No one else in the party could pull hate off the tank anyway. I think it was a bad setup to begin with, but really I didn't think it was more than I could handle. I guess it was. Anyway, I just wanted to complain and get a little reassurance that it won't be like this every time. Please.

As it was said, you can not really put the results of this squarely on your shoulders. Its hard not to do that when you are the whm and you have (or you feel you have) the responsibility of keeping your party alive.

Everyone here gave you excellent spell advice you will learn with each mob what ailments you need to be prepared for. I dont like fighting lizards at that level, since the spell (Stona) is a much higher level for getting rid of petrify. Leaving you, another party member, or many of the members - standing there pretty much helpless.

You are at the level you are now learning hate control, how to balance your mp and other stats, where to stand to avoid AoE's from mobs and how far/close you have to be to cast on party members.

My suggestion - go to the areas right before either the dunes or the penninsula.. for some reason (not sure when either) people started going for the IT+++ for the one big number kills, forgetting that by chaining and going down a level they are able to do much better at a safer pace. Less taxing on both the melee and the mages.

Best to just realize many wont update their armor until around lvl 15 or so - or that is what I have noticed. If they are taking way way too much damage, maybe see if they can get some Selbina Milk (inexpensive and gives a bit of regen) this should help with the curing.

Otherwise, it sounds like you were doing your best - dont let it get to you, best way to describe the game is "Die - Raise - Repeat"

[nazlfrag]

Re: My first party as a WHM, arrgh!

Don't worry - deaths happen all the time in the dunes, and it's not the whm's fault alone. You are part of a team, and that early on your team is very limited in what it can do. Lizards are possible at level 10 only if you have a well structured, equipped and fed team. With the general chaos of pickup parties there, this rarely happens. To make it happen, try to equip yourself with good equipment and food, and buy future spells like Cure II before you need them, so you can use them immediately when you level.

An excellent early spell that you can use is paralyze. Every time the mob is frozen by the effect is another cure you won't have to do. Not bad for 6 mp. Decent food for a white mage at that level would be roast mushrooms, which can be bought from NPCs, though unfortunately they wouldn't have made much difference for you in that party. If the tank was using +defence food, it could have worked. It wasn't a bad setup, but you need a superb setup to kill IT++ at level 10 with only cure1 (why do people bother? I'm sure I level faster solo in konschtat(?) highlands or la theine, and even faster in gelshba)

I think you found a flaw - no other voke, but the real flaw is being at level 10 fighting lizards, even a decked out paladin tanking could be toast. A poorly equipped war/mnk using no food or the wrong food wouldn't stand much of a chance. You could heal as fast as you like, if the mob is hitting harder than you can cure there is no hope, you'll hit 0 mp and if your lucky, zone, if unlucky, party wipe.

Oh, and if things are getting really bad and you have little or no mp,(and feel slightly suicidal) and the mob is almost dead, you can be the hero by using Benediction! Be warned though, you might not even last 1 hit if the mob decides to use its weaponskill.