Any White Mage Advice?

[Idun_Midgardsormr]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

I agree with Icemage's comments for the most part. Blink is very useful, and much more efficient than stoneskin.

The only reason for having the single target protect spells around is for soloing or, as Gentoo mentioned, for people that cancel their protect by mistake!

Take a look around and make sure you get all the spells you can from the NPCs and not from the AH - notice though how the only way to get the bar-ra spells is to visit jeuno .... SE strikes again, I see lots of level 4WHM with no sub job trotting into waag-deeb's shop every day!!

In kazham you will need barsleepra (mandies AoE) ... it doesn't stop it but it does reduce the time of effect. You will also need barfira for the gobs when they start their bomb toss. The others have already mentioned the cure spells needed, basically all of them!

For food, someone already mentioned ginger cookies and sweet rice cakes, but I'll add another: roast mushrooms! They are sold by an NPC in kazham, in the shop next to M&Ps (the B&B place). These give 10mp, -1 STR, +3 MND and HMP +2 and last 30 minutes - while ginger cookies are HMP +5, they aren't readily available except through cooking or the AH.

I've always gone to Altepa at level 30, rather than sticking it out in the jungle, and worked up from there - possibly your server has a different mindset, Midgard does have its quirks - then GC from 34 and later on to CN. I hope you have the selbina clay quest done!! I actually met a level 51 RDM yesterday shouting for help to find the chest there as she didn't have a map!

As far as farming goes, zip over to sandy, equip your whm staff as MNK and take ghelspa by storm! Stacks of fire crystals and staff skillups, then go back and do it again as WAR, this time equipping the club instead of a sword!

Hope that helps a bit, and good luck with WHM ^^

[Joon]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

Another thing I forgot to mention is the distance required to avoid most AoE abilities like mandy sleepga ability. Find your tank's dot on your radar. Move far away enough that your tank's dot is at the edge of the radar & you should be good.

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

I disagree. Stoneskin is terribly feeble when you first acquire it. It's useful when fighting things that have extremely high damage area effect attacks (Goblins), but otherwise doesn't get much use in XP parties since most Very Tough or Incredibly Tough enemies can blow past it in one hit.


The MP cost is hefty, but always worth the investment. Why on earth would you choose to use Reraise I when you have Reraise II available? Just cast it during downtime. If you really are worried about MP efficiency, use a Reraise Hairpin.

A. Even 50 extra 'hp' is a significant amount of breathing room at the level you get Stoneskin. Geanted, bli9nk is probably better at the earlier levels, but I for some reason have always been a huge stoneskin fan.

That and if you cap out your enhancing magic by doing drills like I did back when /I/ went through the jungles, stoneskin gets alot more effective. Remember, MOST whitemages dont' get a chance to regularly skill the hell out of enfeebling in parties pre-haste. Also, new whitemages don't know how to properly use Regen (another chance to skill enfeebling lost). Hence stoneskin looks a lot less useful than it could be to someone who input the skill to use it.


B. You caught me, I was for a time trying to secretly 'bleed away' exp from my whitemage, on account of a certain person being mad because I leveled too far... Downtime? What downtime? I use Reraise for the things that have no downtime, the sudden madcap desire to go streaking in Ifrit's Cauldron, the sudden appearance of a NM, anytime I'm in a hurry, don't have time to rest, and would rather use the extra 20 mp for...dun dun dunn...stoneskin.

[Gwynn]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

Not quite sure if its been mentioned specifically yet, but save your Beastmen's Seals for when you hit level 40. If you can't manage to afford Erase until then, you should do some BCNM40 runs and see if you can get Erase (all BCNM40s drop Utsusemi:Ni and Erase to my knowledge, so either one of those will be able to get you Erase). Erase is definately nice to have right at level 32, but people won't really expect you to have it that early if WHM is your first job. If you really want to get it earlier and don't have much farming options, get WHM to 36, quest the scrolls for Teleport-Dem, Teleport-Mea, and Teleport-Holla, and start giving Teleports in Jeuno. Some of the teleport rewards I've seen lately on Asura could definately help you get Erase. Granted, it will take a while, but if you're dedicated enough its a plausible route. Don't know what the economies like on Shiva though...

Edit: Oh, and a note on getting Ginger Cookies... they are sold by the leader of the traveling circus. The Circus will reside in whichever city is in the lead of the Conquest Campaign. When I was leveling up WHM to sub for RDM, I just got a couple stacks from him to last me for a while. I'd usually end up giving cookies away to other foodless mages in my parties to help things run smoother, so its always nice to have spares.

[Icemage]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

A. Even 50 extra 'hp' is a significant amount of breathing room at the level you get Stoneskin. Geanted, bli9nk is probably better at the earlier levels, but I for some reason have always been a huge stoneskin fan.

I was forcibly reminded how weak stoneskin is at lower levels when I levelled RDM earlier this year. It really doesn't do much of anything until level 50ish when you actually have enough Enhancing and MND to make a dent towards the absorption formula.

I like Stoneskin for a lot of things - at higher levels. Low level Stoneskin is situational at best.

That and if you cap out your enhancing magic by doing drills like I did back when /I/ went through the jungles, stoneskin gets alot more effective. Remember, MOST whitemages dont' get a chance to regularly skill the hell out of enfeebling in parties pre-haste. Also, new whitemages don't know how to properly use Regen (another chance to skill enfeebling lost). Hence stoneskin looks a lot less useful than it could be to someone who input the skill to use it.

Eh.. Regen by itself was pretty much enough to keep my Enhancing capped or close to capped on WHM. Besides, other than Stoneskin, there's really not a whole lot else that's materially affected by Enhancing Magic for WHMs (well, barspells, but even those don't get much).

Any WHM who doesn't use Regens deserves whatever they get, IMO.

Downtime? What downtime? I use Reraise for the things that have no downtime, the sudden madcap desire to go streaking in Ifrit's Cauldron, the sudden appearance of a NM, anytime I'm in a hurry, don't have time to rest, and would rather use the extra 20 mp for...dun dun dunn...stoneskin.

ROFL!

The only time I use Reraise I by choice is in Besieged, where XP loss is 0 (and therefore the extra MP of Raise/Reraise II/III are wasted).

As I said, Reraise Hairpins are really cool when you can't be bothered to spend the MP.


Icemage

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

Any WHM who doesn't use Regens deserves whatever they get, IMO.



Icemage

I can remember a day when I didn't know how to use regen. I thought it didn't do anything. ^_^;;

[Praetorian13]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

Practice, practice, practice. You'll learn where the hate threshold is and how close you can get to it. Regen is your friend and vary your cures, I've found that using cure 1-3(only a 32 whm) doesn't rack up as much hate as multiple high level cures.

[Iccarus]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

Ok I have now reached Level 33.

I'm off to Garliege Citadel until level 35 then I'm off to Crawlers Nest. I have obtained the spell "Erase" as a kind friend of mine dontaed me 50k towards it and I paid the other half to get in Jeuno.

Sorry to keep bombarding you guys and girls with questions just trying to get good at this job. ^^

Firstly thanks again for all your advice it has helped me loads and has made this experience really enjoyable thanks

When and how would I know when to use Erase? What exactly does it do? I'm thinking along the lines of it removes one negative effect on me or a party member, is that right?

Also what do Cursna and Viruna exactly do? This is my highest level character so try to picture me never fighting with any real tough enemies. I hear that Doom is used by enemies is that right? I am just a little confused on these three spells and when to use then to their full effect.

What do memebers look for for a subjob for a White Mage?

Should I stick with Summoner or will having Black Mage make my party attempts easier to obtain? I only see Warp as a perk to being a Black Mage as I can get back Jeuno safely without having to spend conquest points on Instant Scroll of Warp.

As before thank you for your time and all of your help ^^

[Joon]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

When and how would I know when to use Erase? What exactly does it do?

Erase removes any affliction that can't be removed with your -na spells. Examples would be Dia & Bio. When you hit lvl 50, you'll get the trait Divine Veil, so that'll be an mp saver when, for example, a mage mob casts Diaga.

Also what do Cursna and Viruna exactly do?

Cursna removes Curse (from ghosts) & has a chance of removing Doom. Viruna removes virus afflictions Disease & Plague.

I hear that Doom is used by enemies is that right?

Doom is used by Taurus in Phomunia Aqueducts & certain mobs in Dynamis.

Should I stick with Summoner or will having Black Mage make my party attempts easier to obtain?

I really don't think this matters too much since the reason PTs invite you is to heal. However, subbing BLM has more applications, especially when you hit lvl 58 when you'll have Escape available to you. Personally, I always xp with a SMN sub.

Also, if you wanna know more about your spells, check out ffxiclopedia.org. It's a great resource for finding out basic info on your job.

[Karinya]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

Ok I have now reached Level 33.

I'm off to Garliege Citadel until level 35 then I'm off to Crawlers Nest. I have obtained the spell "Erase" as a kind friend of mine dontaed me 50k towards it and I paid the other half to get in Jeuno.

Sorry to keep bombarding you guys and girls with questions just trying to get good at this job. ^^

No problem. Although in my experience if you're using regen and bar spells you're already above average... and having erase that early, too. Congrats.

Firstly thanks again for all your advice it has helped me loads and has made this experience really enjoyable thanks

When and how would I know when to use Erase? What exactly does it do? I'm thinking along the lines of it removes one negative effect on me or a party member, is that right?

Yes, except it doesn't remove effects that have their own -na spell like poison or paralyze. It removes Attack/Defense/Accuracy/Evasion Down, Burn/Frost/Choke/Rasp/Shock/Drown, Bio, Dia, Slow, Bind, Gravity, stat reductions, Max HP/MP down, most songs from enemy bards, and probably some others I can't think of right now.

In particular, if you take the advice of some people on this thread and go to Altepa, you should be aware of dhalmels' Sonic Wave attack. This greatly reduces the defense of the target and is very dangerous. Since you have Erase, you should usually immediately Erase whoever was hit by it; this is one of the biggest benefits of early Erase, I think. Bats' evasion down and crawler or spider slows are also good candidates for Erase early on, especially on a ninja.

Also what do Cursna and Viruna exactly do? This is my highest level character so try to picture me never fighting with any real tough enemies. I hear that Doom is used by enemies is that right? I am just a little confused on these three spells and when to use then to their full effect.

Cursna removes Curse and has a chance to remove Doom. Curse is used by ghosts, Doom by taurus; you probably won't fight either for a while.

Viruna removes Disease (hounds and raptors) and Plague (buffalos). Disease prevents the affected person from regaining HP and MP while resting (so it's normally only a problem for people who want to rest, like mages and PLD). Plague also drains some MP and TP over time, so you should try to remove it as soon as possible. But again, you probably won't fight those types of monsters for a while.

It's good that you're asking these questions, though - one of the most important things for a white mage, in my opinion, is knowing how to deal with the attacks of different types of monsters (either preventing them with bar spells, or curing harmful conditions they cause, or both). Mysterytour has a good guide sorted by monster family (it's originally in Japanese and some of their translations can be hard to understand, though). In some cases not every monster in the family can use all the attacks listed, but they can usually use most of them.

What do memebers look for for a subjob for a White Mage?

Should I stick with Summoner or will having Black Mage make my party attempts easier to obtain? I only see Warp as a perk to being a Black Mage as I can get back Jeuno safely without having to spend conquest points on Instant Scroll of Warp.

As before thank you for your time and all of your help ^^

Both Summoner and Black Mage have their advantages, depending on situation, but I generally lean towards Black Mage in exp after level 40. Conserve MP is a very powerful trait. Once you get to 58, /BLM also gets Escape which can save the party from dangerous situations. /BLM also has the option of Elemental Seal + Sleep if you get two monsters at once (although you will often have another party member that can sleep).

However, most parties will accept either one without any trouble - White Mage is not a job that depends much on its subjob in normal situations.

[Idun_Midgardsormr]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

As far as erase is concerned, look at it this way: it costs 18mp to cast and the recast is instant, although you need to factor in the cast time. If the party is hit by slowga, for example, you should remove it in a specific order. My method is to erase the tank first, cast haste on the main melee, then erase myself, then work around the rest of the party if time and mp permit it.

Also, watch out for secondary effects hitting a party member after the main effect does: In Phomiuna Aqueducts, the tank was hit by doom, followed by slow. Erase removed the slow, I had to recast to remove the doom! I nearly missed it as I was spamming around the entire party and suddenly realised the tank was in the red. I spammed cure on him until someone told me he was still 'doomed' - another erase fixed it. We all learn from mistakes ^^

Also, be aware that erase, like regen, cannot be cast outside the immediate party. Not even on alliance members.

As far as a subjob is concerned, go /BLM by all means, but remember that once past 50, you will get the auto-refresh from subbing /SMN which can make a major difference in your party's down-time. BRD/RDM refresh or food effects stack with this also, cutting down time still further. I clearly remember parties where I was like a jack-in-the-box - pop up, cast a spell, down again just to try and get mp back up. A warp cudgel is very useful under those circumstances

Good luck with the job!

[Icemage]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

As far as erase is concerned, look at it this way: it costs 18mp to cast and the recast is instant, although you need to factor in the cast time. If the party is hit by slowga, for example, you should remove it in a specific order. My method is to erase the tank first, cast haste on the main melee, then erase myself, then work around the rest of the party if time and mp permit it.

Erase has something like a 5 second recast. Small, but very noticeable when you have to cast it a lot.

Also, watch out for secondary effects hitting a party member after the main effect does: In Phomiuna Aqueducts, the tank was hit by doom, followed by slow. Erase removed the slow, I had to recast to remove the doom! I nearly missed it as I was spamming around the entire party and suddenly realised the tank was in the red. I spammed cure on him until someone told me he was still 'doomed' - another erase fixed it. We all learn from mistakes ^^

Eh? Erase doesn't do anything against Doom. Only Cursna will remove Doom, and it only has a 50% chance (and you can't spam Cursna because it has a ~7 second recast, and Doom kicks in after 10 seconds).

Also, be aware that erase, like regen, cannot be cast outside the immediate party. Not even on alliance members.

This, at least, is correct.

As far as a subjob is concerned, go /BLM by all means, but remember that once past 50, you will get the auto-refresh from subbing /SMN which can make a major difference in your party's down-time. BRD/RDM refresh or food effects stack with this also, cutting down time still further. I clearly remember parties where I was like a jack-in-the-box - pop up, cast a spell, down again just to try and get mp back up. A warp cudgel is very useful under those circumstances

Good luck with the job!

I'm still unconvinced that SMN sub is superior to /BLM except in those rare cases where the shadows from Aerial Armor matter (if for some reason you're fighting Buffalo or Marids with a Paladin tank), or in the case of having a Bard in the party from level 50-54 when Bards don't have Ballad II yet. Having seen firsthand the differences on WHM, RDM, and BRD parties at all levels, I didn't see any performance bonus from WHM/SMNs over WHM/BLMs.


Icemage

[Shanisasha]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

With some practice, you'll be able to tell who needs to get Erase'd first.

Attack down - erase your damage dealers and skillchainers first

Defense down - erase your tank ASAP. SATA partners as well

Evasion down - again, your tank and the SATA partner are priorities.

Some things you dont have to erase if you dont want to. Attack or eva down on yourself? I never bother. Unless you're going to pull massive hate, none of those should affect you much and can be allowed to wear off, saving MP.

Anything that lowers HP on mages (burn, frost, bio) should be erased as fast as off tanks, so it doesnt interfere with MP resting.

PS - Doom is best handled by 1 Cursna and a holy lot of holy waters. My own personal opinion. Melees have to realize Cursna doesnt guarantee removal of Doom.

[supersimian]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

All of whm spells are very usefull.

Stoneskin is a very important spell as soon as you get it. The reason for this is that even when you are hit of the damage you get is 0, then your cast will still go off. If you are getting hit you probably dont want to be casting anything in an xp scenario but in xp its still good to take little to no damage the first hit which gives the tank more time to get hate back, so the given here is that taking less damage is good. So then Stoneskin is good. I use this in xp parties to help save my self from too much harm when someone takes huge damage fast and I have to cure alot and possibly get hate.

regen should be used on the maintank always. If you have a ninja tank it is good to but mostly should be used on the monk or whatever is helping the ninja tank as ninjas loose hate to well damaging melees easily.

reraise is very important, if you happen to die for some reason you pop right out of the ground and gives your entire party less dependency of outside help in dire situations. Ofcourse this means your party can recover if a problem arises.

at your lvl you dont want to use cure 3 unless you really have to. Like if you have a pally tank you may do very well if you just concentrate cure 2 on the it. Ninjas may need the emergency cure 3, some ninjas often. prehaste and Ni ninjas aren't so great, keep that in mind. You don't want to get the Emnity on you for the mob to start smacking you up if you can help it.

Blink is your buddy, use it with stoneskin for great magical defensiveness.

Here is a tip on lvling your skillz.

enfeebling- to lvl this easily use dia alot. Use dia in the start of every fight, its cheap and saves an enfeeble from a red mage to use. Dia always has an affect when used and if you enfeeble is kinda weak the it wont last so long on the enemy so you can use it slightly often. The occasional EP then regular enfeeble is helpfull too.

enhancing- using stoneskin on yourself, blink, protectra, shellra, regen on tank, these things should take care of that. The less powerfull your enhancing is the quicker stuff wears so the more you cast thus the quicker it lvls so this should take care of itself as you are a whm and it is one of your primary duties. You don't really need it capped at all times as itll catch up to you when you get more spells to use on the team and more mana to exploit during fighting.

have fun!

[Icemage]

Re: Any White Mage Advice?

All of whm spells are very usefull.

Not true. Holy, Barvira, and Barpoisonra come to mind as being completely pointless.

Stoneskin is a very important spell as soon as you get it. The reason for this is that even when you are hit of the damage you get is 0, then your cast will still go off. If you are getting hit you probably dont want to be casting anything in an xp scenario but in xp its still good to take little to no damage the first hit which gives the tank more time to get hate back, so the given here is that taking less damage is good. So then Stoneskin is good. I use this in xp parties to help save my self from too much harm when someone takes huge damage fast and I have to cure alot and possibly get hate.

In a decent party you shouldn't be grabbing hate much, and Stoneskin absorbs a whole lot of nothing when you first get it - I'd say it's really not that handy until somewhere in the 40s, when it can actually absorb the full damage from a single hit at least once in a while.

It also costs a lot of MP, which hurts you ability to maintain XP chains.

Blink is your buddy, use it with stoneskin for great magical defensiveness.

Blink is a much better defensive option than Stoneskin. It's less reliable, but more efficient.

enfeebling- to lvl this easily use dia alot. Use dia in the start of every fight, its cheap and saves an enfeeble from a red mage to use. Dia always has an affect when used and if you enfeeble is kinda weak the it wont last so long on the enemy so you can use it slightly often. The occasional EP then regular enfeeble is helpfull too.

White mages aren't very good at enfeebling beyond level 50. They're "OK" at it even with capped skills, but it's frustratingly difficult to land Paralyze and Slow against enemies that aren't vulnerable to Ice or Earth even with capped Enfeebling Magic skills.

That being said, it's still an excellent idea to keep your Enfeebling skill up to date, because three of the spells you might need to cast in an emergency (Silence, Sleep, Sleepga) are Enfeebling Magic, and even Elemental Seal won't make those stick if you're not at least within shouting distance of your skill cap.

enhancing- using stoneskin on yourself, blink, protectra, shellra, regen on tank, these things should take care of that.

Blink, Haste, Regen, plus the odd Teleport/Protectra/Shellra should be more than sufficient to stay at or close to cap.

The less powerfull your enhancing is the quicker stuff wears

This is not true at all. No Enhancing Magic spells that I know of trigger their duration from your skill level. All of them have a set or random duration.

Set duration: Regen (all), Protect/ra (all), Shell/ra (all) Haste, Blink, Stoneskin, Barspells(all), Reraise (all), Aquaveil, Spike spells(all), Phalanx

Random duration: Sneak, Invisible, Deodorize

Of these, the only ones that trigger their potency from Enhancing Magic are Stoneskin, Phalanx (when /RDM), and Barspells.


Icemage