whm 30-40ish

[Saren]

Sorry to make yet another one of these kinds of threads but I could really use some advice on my gear/setup. I have stopped at level 30 for a while to get my gear sorted out, do some CoP, advanced job quests and get my fame up as breaks from the mammoth amount of money making I am doing right now to pay for the aforesaid gear. This is the gear I am currently in and aiming to have. Please forgive the newbie questions and the uh….length.

Main: Yew +1/Pilgrim’s but I have a High Mana Wand and a Solid Wand ready for when I hit 32, at the moment I am planning on just sticking with the High Mana Wand.
Sub: Mahogany Shield (I was in a rush and poor when I looked last) until I can level enough to beat Bo’Who the Warmonger for the Tortoise Shield or I hit the level 40 shields. Not stressing about this slot too much.
Ammo: Morion Thalum at the moment though I may switch it out for the Fortune Egg until I hit 35 and Holy Ampula.
Head: Silver Hairpin +1 but aiming for a Trump Crown here.
Neck: Holy Phial, aiming for a Spirit Torque at 38.
Body: Seer’s Tunic, upgrading to the +1 before I level again. Royal Squire’s at 40 (the def boost is pretty large, it’s cheapish and I can keep the seer’s to swap in)
Hands: Devotee’s Mitts. I am not planning to upgrade to the +1 as it’s really expensive and it’s not a big improvement on the NQ. Mycrophile Mitts at Taskmages suggestion for when I can beat the nm to swap in for cures.
Waist: Mohbwa Sash +1. I probably spent a bit too much on this but the +2hmp is just awesome and I will be wearing it until 44 and probably swapping it in for resting for a good time after that so money well spent I think.
Legs: Seer’s slacks, probably won’t upgrade for the one level I will be using them for, Custom pants for when I hit 31. Baron’s swapped in for resting.
Feet: Custom F Boots for now, mannequin pumps when I can beat the NM and/or Spirit Moccasins if I can find out how get hold of them and manage to do it. All hail free gear.
Back: Talisman Cape, I love my talisman cape. I am also thinking I should get a white cape (+1) in case I start having problems landing enfeebles.
Ears: Energy Earring +1 in one and a reraise earring until 33 in the other (I have another energy +1 for 33+), which is a bit depressing. I’m not really sure what I will do here, probably a pair of Enhancing earrings because I can still use them for level 40 capped things and Aura Earrings don’t seem worth the price. Honestly I am tempted to stop bothering with earrings altogether until something more worth the space comes along though it feels a bit sacrilegious to say so.
Rings: These slots are the bane of my existence at the moment. I think I am 0/5 or 6 on Wings of Fury for an Astral Ring, not horrendously unlucky but a bit *wince*. I have a pair of Saintly Rings which I will upgrade for +1s before I level any further I think for swapping in if nothing else assuming I get astral(s). People are starting to say to me that ‘whms need Astral Rings’ and it’s annoying me that I haven’t managed to get at least one yet, though as I am levelling up 25mp extra is getting to be less of an awe inspiring boost. I am aiming at buying one and saving my seals to get the other.
Food and extra’s: A stack of echo drops, a stack of ginger cookies and pineapple juice is what I am toting round with me at the moment. I think I can get away with cookies for a while longer before Mushroom Stew is going to be more helpful (and within my price range) I will be able to make melon juice reliably soon but I should really add some remedys, a stack of silent oils and prism powders (for running through magic aggro areas and just incase) perhaps a Hi-potion or two and a couple of ethers. One of my last parties had a really well prepared paladin who was awesome and definitely made think more carefully about what I was carrying round with me.

Two question areas really so I will do the straightforward one first. I remember catching somewhere that for certain items with enchantments on them, you can equip the item, use the enchantment and then equip something else in that slot and still have the enchantment active on you. I believe it was mentioned in reference to the Empress Band, am I remembering that right? The idea of possibly being able to use the High Mana Wand and then switch to Solid and Pilgrims for resting is *glee* and definitely worth a test though I am expecting probably not possible.

The second question is more for opinions. What constitutes a reasonable amount of effort being put into your gear? Do I really need at least one astral ring? Am I going to get repeated rumbles of ‘n00b’ and hassle if I ditch the mediocre earrings available right now in favour of a couple of inventory slots for other things? Have I missed anything major? Anything else I should be carrying around with me? Silence and paralyze seem to be the main things to absolutely make sure you can cure yourself of.

Erase is very close now and haste isn’t that far off so I am expecting my job to get a bit more complicated soon. Having helpful gear definitely seems to take the stress out of partying, particularly if you have a new additional role or ability you are getting use to. I just want to make sure I am giving myself a decent safety net without getting too anal and over the top about it which I probably am but I don’t like joining a party without being pretty sure that I am as well prepared as I can be. Sorry again about the hugeness of the post.

[Taskmage]

Re: whm 30-40ish

You're already way ahead of par for whm gear. I would suggest actually not making a couple of the upgrades you're looking at, such as the Tunic +1 and the Spirit Torque. +1 mp isn't worth the money in the case of the tunic, and isn't worth the loss of 3 mnd for the torque.

Devotee's Mitts are definately your friend, but the mnd boost only really helps you out on enfeebles. For cures I'd suggest picking up a pair of Mycophile Cuffs (practically free, easy NM) for the -enmity, and to swap in for any black magic you might want to cast, like Blind.

I think the High Mana Wand needs to stay equipped for you to keep getting the bonus. In general, if the item gives you the red-lightning enchanted icon in your status bar, you need to keep it equipped to keep the bonus. Items like Reraise Earring and Empress Band give you a standalone buff with a different icon, so you can swap those out after using them.

Honestly, you're going way above and beyond what a lot of players do for their gear. If you keep going forward with that standard, you shouldn't have any trouble with people criticizing your equipment. People are probably going to tend to notice if you leave equip slots empty, but anyone paying the slightest bit of attention should notice the other good choices you've made and the fact that your actually gear swapping.

[Raji]

Re: whm 30-40ish

Well, I'm no expert WHM by any means, and it's been quite a while since I've leveled WHM in that range, but I'll take a crack at it....
Main: You should be good here until you hit 41 and get to use your AF hammer ^^
Shield: Like you said, nothing to really stress over here (and IIRC, WHM doesn't get to use the Decurion's Shield ><)
Ammo: Again, you're good here for a pretty long time
Head: Personally, I'd stick with the Silver Hairpin +1 until you hit 40 and can upgrade to an Electrum(+1 if you're particularly flush :3 ). Like a lot of Garrison drops, the Trump Crown is pretty rare, and therefore horribly overpriced when you CAN find one, IME
Neck: Keep the Holy Phial, +3 MND and the extra gil you save are worth a LOT more than +1 MP and +5 Evasion
Body: Stick with the NQ Seer's, and DEFINITELY keep it to swap in for resting, cause +hMP is one of the most important considerations for a WHM. If you really NEED the extra +2 MP more than you need the cash or inventory slot, you can swap in the Royal Squire's Robe at 40, but I didn't bother
Hands: Yeah, Devotee's are pretty much the best hand items you'll have for a long time, so learn to love 'em :3
Waist: Just no beating the Mohbwa Sash+1 until you hit 40 and can get a Qiqirn Sash(+1), and spare a cheap laugh at the poor shmucks who bought a Reverend Sash for the same amount of cash about a week before these got added in, LIKE ME! *ahem*
Earrings: You *should* just use the other Energy+1 now, and just swap in the Reraise Earring to use the enchantment as necessary if you're really that concerned about that (the Reraise effect will stay even after you switch out the earring) until you can get Geist Earrings. I know that +8 MP doesn't really seem like much, but it's more MP than you'll have if you don't fill those slots at all (and at that level, there's really nothing else to put in them). If you're really feeling the gil pinch, you can always downgrade to the Black Earrings in the meantime, same amount of MP for a higher level requirement, but a more reasonable price :3 And yeah, you're going to get quite a bit of hassle if you show up without any earrings whatsoever (one of the major "n00b warning signs" for a lot of players is someone showing up to an experience party past 21 with any empty armor slots. Like Taskmage said, hopefully they'll see the other good choices you've made and ease up)
Rings: This is the tricky one. Honestly though, if you've gotten this far without Astral Rings, I wouldn't start stressing too much over them now. If you feel like a ridiculously long and boring NM "camp," you can always go for the Fasting Ring for the next 10 levels. Once you hit 40 though, you'll be able to use Electrum Rings, which are only 5 less MP than the Astrals, for a LOT less gil (you won't be able to use them in 30 capped BCNMs/PMs, but you can't have everything)
But yeah, you're going well beyond the standard that most WHMs (like myself) would even think about holding someone else to, let alone themselves :3
And as a last thought: the gear definitely helps, but skill matters a lot more.
Anyway, I hope this helps, take care now ^^
(EDIT: I give up, if this doesn't fix the post, I'm gonna just leave it as it is ><)

[Tirrock]

Re: whm 30-40ish

You may want to consider wizard cookies over mushroom stew/NQ cookies. They were down to 10k a stack on my server, which is pretty good considering it's the most hMP you can get on a food. Although I'd just stick to cookies if your wallet is hurting.

Being able to make melon juice is a great idea. I'd keep pinapples around anyway though, since with all the new hMP gear out there for low levels (compared to a couple years ago) low level mages aren't hurting for MP so much.

As far as gear goes....don't overthink/overdo WHM gear, unless you're dead-set on being the best there ever was and having a set of gear for every situation.

In general, get any cure potency items you can (unless you have 2m sitting around, this will probably just be light staff for you).

Items with refresh on them on them and hMP are next on the priority list. Since the refresh pieces are expensive...I wouldn't worry too much about them unless you have money. hMP, on the otherhand, is fairly cheap and in large enough numbers, can restore more MP than the 1MP/tic refresh on gear would. Seer's body, the level 40 hMP belt, and baron slops can all last you until the 70's.

MP, MND, and -enmity are the next priorities. I don't think there's much -enmity until 50, when suddenly you're swimming in it. In exp, you likely won't need a whole lot of it. For BCNMs, you may want to wear more though.

At lower levels, MND doesn't really do a whole lot. You lack the enfeebling magic skill to really be able to land enfeebles consistantly. (33 RDM with 2 enfeebling magic skill merits and I still get resisted fairly often.) It will, however, boost the potency of enfeebles, should they land, and will make your newest cure reach the cap faster. When you get cure V, it kind of changes things, but that's about 30 levels away for you.

Max MP is pretty good before refresh (or in parties where you're lacking refresh). After refresh it starts to matter less and less. It's not to say it's worthless though. In general, just for exp, I'd wear MP over MND. But that's just me being too lazy to redo all my WHM macros. (I rarely land a full ~770HP cure V in exp anyway, so I don't feel like carrying more gear just so I can heal slightly more once every 70th cure V.)

Of course, also buy things based on how expensive they are. I probably don't need to say this, but I will anyway - I'm long winded. Don't save up two million gil to buy a noble's tunic, but lack cheaper gear that's still awesome for the price, even if I said that stat is lower priority...

@Raji -
1) Do I see an errant story avatar?
2) Yeah, sometimes this website has been messing with the spacing of my posts too. It drives me nuts.

[Spiritbear]

Re: whm 30-40ish

You are doing good on your gear. Astral rings are not a neccesity but are nice to have. My Whm is 50 and I don't have Astral rings either. At lvl 40 you can buy a Mana ring and and Electrum ring which is another 35mp for about 10k, and you only loose 20hp with the Electrum ring. I have been wearing my Elvaan RSE since I was able to and have had no issues with mp when it comes to partying.

The main thing you need to remember about playing Whm is you are needed in the party and don't have to have the best of the best when it comes to gear. Just get what you can afford and what works best with the way you play.

[Saren]

Re: whm 30-40ish

Devotee's Mitts are definately your friend, but the mnd boost only really helps you out on enfeebles. For cures I'd suggest picking up a pair of Mycophile Cuffs (practically free, easy NM) for the -enmity, and to swap in for any black magic you might want to cast, like Blind.

I think the High Mana Wand needs to stay equipped for you to keep getting the bonus. In general, if the item gives you the red-lightning enchanted icon in your status bar, you need to keep it equipped to keep the bonus. Items like Reraise Earring and Empress Band give you a standalone buff with a different icon, so you can swap those out after using them.

Thanks for the pointer on the cuffs I had been pretty much ignoring –enmity gear so far because enmity hasn’t been a problem really but I will definitely get some to try out. By the time I am high enough to beat the NM the mobs will probably be hitting the tank hard enough for me to be grateful for the –enmity. I hadn’t really considered things from that perspective and I see your point on the neck piece and the +1 seers isn’t really worth it (more using it as a reason to get some of leatherwork levelling done so I could try making it) As for the enchantments, definitely makes sense though that also implies that I might not be able to have the wand and the cape going at the same time, definitely going to have to try that out. Thanks again J


Raji:

Doh, no we don’t get to use it, I wondered how I had missed seeing it at level 20. One piece I don’t have to buy though J

As far as the hammer goes….it doesn’t seem as good for partying with as the high mana wand. I am pretty much going for hmp>anything else, at first because that’s what was recommended and then because I could see for myself that it just makes such a huge amount of difference.

Waist: Just no beating the Mohbwa Sash+1 until you hit 40 and can get a Qiqirn Sash(+1), and spare a cheap laugh at the poor shmucks who bought a Reverend Sash for the same amount of cash about a week before these got added in, LIKE ME! *ahem*

Hahaha yeah, I am still trying to convince the AH goers that they really do want the Hojitsu Belt I bought the day before the Mohbwa Sash came out at something close to what I paid for it.

Bleh on the earrings L but thankyou for the advice. Personally speaking it just seems to make more sense to give up 8-10mp from my maximum for a couple of extra juice before I run out or a stack of medicines. I guess it’s one of those times where it’s more sensible to bow to what other people think is ‘good practice’ even when it’s not necessarily optimal. Good job I was planning on doing a couple more gobbie bag quests soon.

I had a look at the fasting ring but it didn’t’ seem worth it for 10mp now I am ten levels from electrum/ether rings if I really struggle for the astrals. The only reason I was really going for Astrals is that I can use them for level 20 and 30 capped things later on so honestly if they aren’t one of those things that’s going to get me a lot of complaints 30-40 and a bad reputation I might put them off until I can make money more quickly. The only reason I am a bit worried about not having them before I level is that more people who I am fairly sure are good players are telling me that white mages should really have them.

What you said did help thankyou, and yes skill first always over anything else. Its part of the reason I make an effort with my gear, not that I am new anymore really, but decent gear gives me a bit more lee way to fix things if I mess up while I learn/get used to new paying attention to new things. I could make a large number of excuses why I make an effort with my gear to be honest but truth be told I just hate not knowing what I am doing/being unprepared/having bad gear. It’s sort of rude (depending on the circumstances) to join a party (ask other people to help you level) if you can’t fill your role in the party competently.


Tirrock:

And you are worried that you are long winded :S

Thanks for the tip on the Wizard Cookies, they are cheaper than I remember them being last time I looked (about 11k on my server so definitely still qualifying for cheap) and it will let me feel like I am not skimping too much on my food. Fortunately gear choice for me is still fairly simple and I only have to worry about a few different stats, I don’t know how melees choose gear without getting really confused. I noticed the level 50 –enmity gear swamp thing when I was looking at gear too.

I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and am very much a support job person so I will use a lot of this gear again and I like to max out my performance, it’s part of the fun. Unfortunately, no 2 mil lying around or the astrals wouldn’t be a problem but I am probably naively hoping that I will be able to make gil faster in another 10-15 levels or so and my struggle for 1mil now will be about the same struggle to get 2mil later on.

In terms of enfeebling skill, I haven’t been gearing for enfeebling and I only noticed that my enfeebles were starting to tail off in effectiveness against exp mobs in the last…..3-4 levels with capped skill (no rdms in my 25-30 parties), starting to get resisted, paralyze activating less and wearing faster. Slow effectiveness I can never really tell because I am not looking at the mob, we tended to have nin tanks who dodge quite a lot (we hope) and I have everything damage/miss wise but damage taken by party members filtered out on whm. I will go with you on the max mp being fairly useful, the safety net is nice so long as you aren’t losing something better for it. Thanks again to Taskmage for reminding me to think of things in terms of ‘you are getting 1mp and losing 3 mind and you would have to swap the mind in for enfeebles anyway’ instead of ‘ooo more mp good’ J

I thought a Nobles Tunic was one of those things you just had to suck up and save for as whm? I haven’t looked at any gear above level 50 yet though so I haven’t any idea of the alternatives.

p.s Your avatar is from my favourite episode too.


Spiritbear:

I appreciate that my gear isn’t as important to my performance as a drgs or drks gear is to theirs for example but it would annoy the hell out of me if I was a melee and a whm/rdm/bard turned up having made no effort at all with their prep or gear just because they have a job that’s more in demand but I definitely take your point, thankyou J


Sorry about this being so very huge everyone and thankyou so much for all the advice so far.