How do you guys do it?

[Antmf]

The party box is so small how do you heal or how can you tell when they need a heal? Also how do you know when someone has anegative effect on them like poison etc? Please let me know. Had my first group at 10 tonight and it was a tad harder then I am used to in other mmo's with a more user friendly interface. Thanks...

[Jei]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Seeing HP isn't that hard. There's HP bars that is pretty easy to see imo... If you're not sure, just target that person and his HP will pop up on its own window.

Read logs. Really. You have to learn the chat filter and font coloring. There are other stickied thread explaining about these. Basicly, filter everything you don't need to see. And seperate each message by giving them very clear color.

As Whm for example, you don't need to see how much damage your warrior is doing. You only need to see how much damage he is taking. Filter ALL damage done by your group, filter all misses message will take care of those.

Also very helpful to filter everything else done by other people out side your group. Those can flood your log really fast.

You know what bad effect your party members have by monitoring spells/moves done by monsters. Over time you'll learn what each spells/moves do. And pay attention when your member tell you he's got something bad on him.

[Neomage]

Re: How do you guys do it?

FFXI is a very hardcore MMO. As a matter of fact, if not for the amazing storyline I wouldn't be here at alll because FFXI is to hardcore for me. As such, you can't have huge symbols saying XXXX is poisioned, you have to know what to look for.

[Lanih]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Don't worry, you're not the only one who's panicking after his/her first party-experience ^^ I did that too.

It already gets a lot easier if you filter your chatlog (very nicely explained by Jei). You won't have so much trouble spotting special attacks.

I recommend trying out the F-keys. You can target your party members quickly with them. You yourself are always the first name on the party-list, so you're F1, the second member is F2, and so on. I know using those is a personal preference, but at least for me it works wonders ^^

I keep the tank targeted all the time by default, and heal other members via subtarget. Unless the tank blinks like a christmas-tree... Then I just target him when he needs healing.

Keep your eyes on the chatlog and the HP-bars. You don't really need to watch the battle itself, unless the monster readies a special attack which can hit multiple people with status effects. Then you can take a quick glance at the battle and see who gets hit (if it doesn't appear on the chatlog).

You shouldn't worry about people dying in Valkurm that much. Your MP pool and spells are very limited, and deaths do happen even if you do your best. Only later on you'll be able to propely take care of your party, and even then you often will need another mage for backup. It really gets easier when you get some levels and more useful spells.

Good luck! ^^

[Saren]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Just to confirm really what everyone else here and particularly Lanih said. Try not to worry too much, you will be suprised by how fast you get a grip on things. I panicked like mad too, your first party can be really overwhelming.

As everyone before me has said, look for the posts on filtering and colouring your chat messages, play around with effects to filter out other parties fight messages and maximise the size of your chat window. It can take a while to get things how you want them but doing that definitely helps to stop the important messages slipping by you so fast. Reading the whm help threads here helped (and still helps) me enourmously too and I would recommend them to anyone wanting to play the job. The guides will help enforce just how important enfeebling the mob is for preserving your mp pool.

During the dunes the only status effect I remember that you can do anything about (there may be more) on things you are likely to fight is Poison from the Cursed Sphere attack that damselflies use. When the damselfly uses the attack, you will get a message in the chat log telling you who was hit by it, then you need to watch those people closely to see if their hp is going down when they aren't being hit (you will notice a small drop every few seconds if they are poisoned, it's harder to see on non nin tanks because they tend to be being hit more).

Again as Lanih said, the dunes isn't something to take too seriously. No one has that many tools to help the party go smoothly, you don't have a lot of mp or spell options and everyone is pretty much learning their job so will make mistakes. Just remember if someone dies then it's not automatically your fault, all party members help keep the party alive not just you. A dd or blm or the tank can get people killed just as easily as a whm can.

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Another little tip, drink juice. If you're windurstian, buy a couple stacks of saruta oranges to take to the dunes with you. Save the water crystals from crab kills and use them + 4 oranges to make orange juice. You may lose a few crafts, but when you get a juice, you can drink it and get an effect called "Refresh". Try one when you're low on MP and you'll like it, I promise.

Find a really nice higher-level player and have them buy Imperial Coffee for you from the teahouse in Aht Urgan. If you play on Midgardsormer, I'll buy you some. It boosts the amount of MP you recover when you rest (and HP too), it's DIRT CHEAP, and it lasts for three hours.

Everyone always recommends cookies for mp recovery while resting, but I never can remember to eat them, and they last for so little time and cost so much for a stack I consider them to be a very bad food for a new player. I really wish the coffee was available somewhere other than whitegate...


Don't forget Protect and Shell, use Barwatera when fighting crabs and pugils, barfira when you move up to goblins, these things can help out a little with the damage your pt takes. Above all, stick it out, find yourself a mentor to bug with all the questions that pop into your head.

[LilithAngel]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Poison from the Cursed Sphere attack that damselflies use.

Actually, Cursed Sphere is Water-based AoE damage only (which Barwatera really helps out against, which you might want to look into, as it's only a level 9 spell), but does no Poison.

The move that *does* Poison is called Venom (ironically enough), and is a cone-shaped AoE damage move, focused in the area in front of the fly.

[DevilKas]

Re: How do you guys do it?

I just (without engaging in battle) marco Cure, change to the player that needs my healing and hit the key Cure is set on. I just keep my eye in the right to where the players' health is.