Few questions from a new White Mage

[Firewind]

I'm fairly new at the game, I only picked up the game on Monday on the recommendation of a couple of friends (we all play on the Kujata server). I really like the game but I do have a couple of questions:

1) Is there any quick way of levelling up healing magic? I'm at Lv5 right now but my healing skill is only at Lv2. To contrast, my enfeebling magic is at lv8 (since I open every battle with Dia), Club is at Lv12 and Evasion is at Lv15 (i think). It seems like no matter what I do I rarely gain any skill points in Healing Skills. On the other hand I gain several +0.3's in Club, Evasion and Enfeebling every other fight but the only real way for me to gain a +0.1 is to let an Orc beat me down into the red then spam Cure and I get +0.1 each time. But since I run out of MP after about 4 cures it's highly counter productive because I tend to, you know die quickly or have to spend the next few minutes resting and putting myself in danger of being ambushed by aggressive mobs while at very low health. I've tried just standing there and spamming it on myself or random passers by but that rarely gains any sort of skill up and I run out of MP very quickly.

I have no problem with Levelling up in general, I have an Lv35 Red Mage friend who helps out a lot since he wants to level up his Warrior Class (Lv4) so we usually just run around for a bit until we level. He is quite happy to loan me gear to help so I have no problems with levelling or finding good gear and he has also taught me a lot about being a White Mage (His White Mage class is also Lv35). It's just levelling up that healing skill. I also have another friend who has a Lv60 Bard but she lives in a different time zone (She's on EST, I'm on GMT) so she's rarely on at useful times ("useful" meaning times she can help me out ^_^;; )

2) Should I really be concerned about it at this level or should I? I mean I'm only healing 10HP a pop which makes me pretty useless as a healer in parties. I was in a 3 person party (all Lv5's) that wiped out because I could only manage about 5 cures at 10HP a pop. I really don't feel like I'm helping anyone at all if I'm barely even adding anything to their HP, especially when the Warrior with a White Mage sub can outheal me despite being the same level as me.

3) Is there any real point in buying anything from the AH? I mean a 200 gil robe costs anything from 500-1500 gil on the AH and the asking price for a lot of crafting materials is sometimes ten times what you would pay for from a guild. Selling items is even worse as the items you can easily get from farming outside San d'Ora are rarely if ever in demand. I see Earth Crystals selling for 50 gil each or 800 gil for a stack but I can never get them to sell. NPC price is only 14gil but at least I can sell them to NPCs.

4) How useful are Ginger Cookies at this level? They only cost 12Gil each in San d'Ora and they're good for resting for MP but are they really useful at my level?

[cyrusblaze]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I'll answerasbest as I can, but Ihavnt been ingame inalong time so my answers could be a little off...

1) I found the best way (at lower levels mainly) is to stand outside your mog house and cast till out of MP, step inside moghouse *poof* full MP, go outside and repeat.

This is really only nessesary at lower levels (pre 10-15) where you arnt partying as much. Once you start to party full time your healing skill will be cappd rather easily.
This method can also be done with enhancing magics aswell (prtect, shell ect.)

2) As you increase your skill and get more +MND gear your cures will increase in potency. Cure 1 has a 'cap' of 30 (it can go higher but takes ALOT of MND to see an increase) Cure 2 is 90.. others i dont remeber offhand..

3) AH is your friend.. and enemy, at lower levels most gear/spells are cheaper at NPC shops, you can also sell certain 'junk' at NPCs, although your primary income will come from sellng on the AH, crystal especially at low levels due to every craft needs them and they typically sell quick.

4) at your level +hMP (+MP while resting) has little effect as compared to higher levels due to a lower MP pool. As you increase you'll see a much more noticable difference due to sitting for longer (IE- 1 less tick to get to max at low levels vs even more ticks less)
When I played as my WHM i used cookies all the time to reduce downtime (+hMP equip macros) between fights, or beng able to sit for a couple ticks mid fight to get more MP when I can.


Hope this helps some
As I said I havnt been ingame in along time so some of this 'may' have changed a little, but it should be fairly accurate.

[Saren]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

1. Two options, but wait till you are a bit higher to try either.

• Take on the skeleton mobs that spawn at night in the starter areas. You can use cures offensively on them which should mean faster skill ups. The only problem with this is that because you are using cures on the mob you can only skill up to the skill cap of the level that is equal to the mob. Those skeletons go up to level 8 so the maximum you could reach is your level 8 skill cap (27 for healing skill on a whm)
• Second option is to wait till you are high enough that some of the mobs start to be very easy kills but still hit you enough to do a bit of damage. Do the letting them hit you and spamming cure on yourself. This will be slower than the skeletons but because you are casting on yourself but because you are not using the mob directly to skill up from you can get all the way up to your current level cap and are not limited by the mobs level.

2. Yes it's too early to stress about it Honestly for most things, most of the time, your healing skill isn't that vital. Unfortunately hitting level 11 is one of the exceptions. You already noticed that your cure 1 is a bit disappointing at the moment. Cure 2 is just as disappointing when you first get it and getting your skill as close to cap as you can for when you hit level 11 and cure 2 helps make it a less painful spell (mp efficiency wise) to use.

Edit: You can cure spam on yourself outside your mh like cyrusblaze suggested, it does work. I just really hate doing it and it felt so very slow. If you are going to do it try and pick the least busy mh in your city as a courtesy gesture. Skill up spam can be irritating.


As for the whole party wipe thing. It's your first job at the moment and you don't have a sub. The war in your party will have capped skill from leveling on whm already which is why his cures are (at the moment) outdoing yours. Anyone you party with will see you don't have a sub and should be understanding of that (most will). Honestly most people just grab the best weapon they can and melee 1-10 because no one can really function in their usual party role well just yet and it tends to be faster. Your cure 1 will get a lot better very soon and your enfeebles will be helping a lot, so don't worry about it too much, this feeling slightly useless phase is over very fast.

3. Some people are just too lazy to look for the NPC that sells the item they want, you are a big step ahead on making money by not being one of them. Earth crystals tend to be common and in less demand. Try remembering the mobs that drop rarer crystals in the AH like fire crystal or dark crystals (I think the Funguar in Ronfaure drop those) and targeting those when you level.

4. I would say no on the cookie usefulness. Even in a party, 1-10 you should be meleeing and some cheap attack food (check out Grilled hare) can make a noticeable difference. If you really don't want to melee or the constant running out of mp is killing you then check out some mp food (pie or roast mushroom), you can get a huge relative boost pretty cheap at your level.

Roast Mushroom is +20mp, -1 str, +3 mnd (which will help you edge a bit closer to the soft cap), -1 enmity and +2hmp so it's not a bad all round food. If any of your friends have cooking 11+ they can even make them for you and from stuff you can farm in Ronfaure as you level. The other common mp food used at low level is Rolanberry Pie.

Once you start partying I would consider sticking with the mp food for a few levels (and keeping some on your just incase) because your mp pool will probably still be very small relative to the cost of your cures and so the boost you can get from even fairly cheap mp food is fairly large. Once you have enough mp to go through a whole fight without running out and a nice buffer on top for emergencies it's time to start thinking about trying out cookies.

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Thanks for the advice. I really like how mature the community is here compared to other games. I've been getting a lot of help and advice from people ingame too.

I know it is a little early to be worrying about those things. I guess my habits from Phantasy Star Universe have carried over. Basically if you play any mage class (most notably Fortetecher and Acrotecher) and your support spells aren't levelled to your class's cap by the time you hit Mid to High level it becomes almost impossible to get into a party regardless of your level or gear.

My habits from PSU are also why I always check to see if the NPC shops are cheaper. People regularly charge well over the NPC price for items in that game. I have noticed that my Fire and Water Crystals do sell within about 30 mins to an hour and a half (even though Fire Crystals are dropped by every other Orc for me) so I think I'll stick to selling those for a profit.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I've been playing WHM for about 2 years now, and at 75 my Healing Magic skill is still 40 levels below the cap. It's not really something I can help ... with blink tankers and my love of Regens, curing gets put on the back burner. Nowadays, I get skillups more from casting Raise III than cures.

I wouldn't freak about it, no one's going to pass you over for an invite because your skill's not capped. People really don't care too much about that.

Just skill up on it when you can. Even curing yourself for 0 repeatedly outside the Mog House will get you (slow) skill ups, and you can zone into your MH for full MP and try again.

Good luck and have fun (which it sounds like you are) and if you need any more WHM advice you can bug me. ^^

[Icemage]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

There's a whole thread dedicated to new White Mages stickied at the top of this very forum, actually.

To answer your specific questions; yes, it's possible to level healing magic faster, but I seriously wouldn't worry about any magic skills on White Mage. None of them are so debilitating even if vastly under-levelled that it will significantly affect your potency as a healer. They'll go up on their own. The only magic-based jobs that seriously need up to date skills are Black Mages with elemental magic and Red Mages with enfeebling magic.

You'll notice that as you gain levels, the potency of your Cures will improve. If you're still unsatisfied with their power, try picking up some inexpensive gear to boost your Mind score (but be aware that enemies will get angrier about the amount you heal as it goes up).

One piece of gear you should definitely pick up as soon as possible is a Justice Badge, which is a level 7 neckpiece that gives +3 MND and 1 Defense. It can be acquired through a simple quest in Windurst ([url=http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Truth%2C_Justice%2C_and_the_Onion_Way%21]Truth, Justice and the Onion Way! - be aware that there is one pre-requisite quest you must complete before this one, however), or simply purchased through the Auction House from another player for a nominal amount of gil.

There are also Saintly Rings you can purchase from the Auction House, which are usable at level 10 and give +2 MND.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I can get the justice badge quite easily. I know a white mage who can teleport me to Windhurst without much trouble so I'll ask him when he gets online

[Evion]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

You will start healing as one of your only party/fight jobs as of lv 10. Your Healing will cap out and stay capped till about the 30s. That's when the cap rises higher than you'll hit between levels.

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Now I've hit Lv10 I can see my cures begin to heal a lot now. With my White Mage's new Willow Wand her cures heal 23Hp a time which is great and saves a lot of MP in parties. I've only had one major screw up in a party and was forced to use benediction but it really wasn't the party's fault. Our Tank left so the Thief ended up having to pull (It was that or having a White Mage or Black Mage pull). It went badly when he hit a link and we got attacked by about 3-4 goblins. I ran out of MP and everyone was in red so I used it and luckily there were no chains and I had Shining Strike ready and the Thief had Fast Blade ready so the goblin that went straight for me went down pretty quickly and the rest soon followed.

Right now I have the following gear setup (Farming Fire and Earth Crystals makes me a lot of money which is good given how expensive the AH is):

Weapon: Willow Wand
Shield: Maple Shield
Body: Tunic
Neck: Wing Pendant
Hands: Mitts
Ring: Empress Band
Legs: Slacks
Feet: Solea

As for spells I have: Cure, Dia, Protect, Protectra and Poisona. What other spells would be useful to pick up? I know that Barwatera is useful and I get Cure 2 next level but how useful are the other spells that I can use right now? I was thinking of getting Paralyze but the Lv36 White Mage friend I mentioned earlier told me that it would be better to leave enfeebling spells to a Red Mage (He also has his Red Mage job at Lv31 so I guess he knows how Red Mages work more than I do).

[Ketski]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Yep, White Mages in party should usually focus on healing. Later on you'll notice that its very important to conserve your mp ( meaning not casting any enfeebling or other spells than cures ). Sometimes just saving 5 mp could mean your party's survival.

Here's the breakdown of how proficient a WHM is in their spell types:

Healing Magic A+
Divine Magic A-
Enhancing Magic C+
Enfeebling Magic C

And yes, a red mage's job is to enfeeble in the party. They also have higher enhancing magic than a White Mage (which I found odd).

Enfeebling Magic A+
Enhancing Magic B+
Healing Magic C-
Divine magic E

Nevertheless, you should still get the support spells. Shell and Shellra should be next on your list for that. I wouldn't worry about the other spells. So far in parties my 25 WHM has only been using cures, poisona, protectra and shellra.

And it looks like you're pretty good at being a WHM. Some WHMs I've met don't know when to use their benediction, or are too afraid that they'll die shortly after using it.

Hope that helped a bit

EDIT: Oh right, here's a link to more WHM info that could help you out.
White Mage - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki

I use ffxiclopedia practically for everything. I heard from some people in-game that the bar spells are essential at higher levels though. Don't think you need to be worried about getting them now, however.

[Saren]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

If you are going to Windy for a Justice Badge anyway and you have some help consider getting a Pilgrim's Wand, it's pretty easy to get and a really great resting piece that will see you to at least 32 and a lot of people use it up to 51.

Spells wise, get everything you can afford but prioritise cures, protectra/shellra, -na spells, enfeebles and barwatera/barfira.

Barfira can make a huge difference against goblin Bomb Toss. The strength of barspells is totally dependant on your enhancing skill though so it might not seem to do much when you first start using it but it's worth perservering with.

I know your friend said leave the enfeebling to the rdm and if there is one in your party who is actually enfeebling then yes you should but if there isn't then it's better to be able to cast your own.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Weapon: Willow Wand
Shield: Maple Shield
Body: Tunic
Neck: Wing Pendant
Hands: Mitts
Ring: Empress Band
Legs: Slacks
Feet: Solea

Probably should try to acquire:
- Pilgrim's Wand
- Copper Hairpin
- Energy Earrings x2
- Saintly Ring x2
- Justice Badge

Oh, and get a stack or two of Ginger Cookies before you start partying; those are 10-12 gil each from NPC, so less than 1,200 a stack.

As for spells I have: Cure, Dia, Protect, Protectra and Poisona. What other spells would be useful to pick up? I know that Barwatera is useful and I get Cure 2 next level but how useful are the other spells that I can use right now? I was thinking of getting Paralyze but the Lv36 White Mage friend I mentioned earlier told me that it would be better to leave enfeebling spells to a Red Mage (He also has his Red Mage job at Lv31 so I guess he knows how Red Mages work more than I do).

You can only count on always having one job around: WHM--yourself. Even if there is a RDM in party, there's no guarantee that player will use appropriate enfeebling spells. So, get Paralyze, and later, Slow and Silence.

Gather the scrolls, and make sure you have all your spells up to Lv.15 (keep Lv.16+ spells in Mog House) before heading out to Valkrum Dunes as WHM10.

Oh, at Lv.18+, don't actually use Diaga unless you have a very, very clear idea why you're using it. Even then, consider not using it... (For the record, yes, it's a useful spells, just in very limited circumstances.)

[Illuen]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Especially with WHM, a great deal of spells are situational, so you may be able to survive on the bare minimum, it has always been my philisophy that you might as well have them and not need them, rather then be in a situation where you need them and do not have them.

The bar spells are rather helpful if you have a good idea of the mobs you're fighting. Barfira is a godsend against goblins and other mobs that rely on fire based spells, while Barwatera will come in handy when you fight crabs and pugils. One thing to note is with status effect bar spells (barsleepra, barpoisora, etc..) many newer White Mages can get the impression that they do not work well because they never stop you from getting hit with a status effect, but instead lower the duration of that status effect. This will be very important when you get to places like Yhoater Jungle where your whole party can be blasted by Mandragora's AOE sleep due to lack of room/ bad party spacing.

Like others have mentioned, Enfeebling and Enhancing magics rely much more on their skill level than other types, so it is prudent to get the spells and try to skill up with them as you go along, rather then end up having to spend hours/days skilling up because you've reached a point where you cannot paralyze or slow anything, even with fantastic gear. Paralyze, Slow and Silence can be devastating spells, especially in lower level groups, where I've seen a good paralyze completely stop a mob in its tracks.

With the Protect(ra) and Shell(ra) spells, you really don't need to pick up the single target spells if you don't want to spend the money, as in 99% of situations you will much rather want to cast it on the group instead of one person at a time.

Deodorize is honestly the only spell that I think I have never used in two years of being a White Mage, save for the time when I was trying to get as many status effect icons on my screen as possible. Completely useless, the only reason I have it is for the sake of completion.

Poisona, Paralyna and spells that remove status effects are vital to your job, and I cannot think of any of them that you will not use repeatedly. Get them as soon as possible, if you can. Just like a bad status effect can be devastating to the enemy with the right timing, it can be just as bad for your party, and it is very important to be able to prevent disaster.

Something I did not find out for far too long when I was starting the game was that if you us an empress band, you can remove the band without losing the Exp+ status, so make sure to reequip your regular gear (Saintly Rings are extremely inexpensive and very helpful at your level, I'd suggest a pair.)

I'm going to go against what some others have said and tell you that if I would not under most circumstances melee in any party. It is much much more beneficial for you to be able to rest if you don't have full MP and don't have to be casting than the tiny amount of damage you will be doing in a party. At lower levels, you have a very small MP pool and it can be extremely difficult to keep everyone healed even if you're wearing the best gear and have a ton of experience healing, and you never know when a battle is going to take a turn for the worse, and you need to curespam. Also, the experience timing your rests and managing your HP is priceless, and is something you'll be able to pull on for however long you play the game.

Finally, welcome to the ranks of the White Mage! I would say that it is the most difficult of the base jobs, and pretty difficult even when comparing to the advanced jobs to get a hold on, and a good understanding of how a Healer works is priceless no matter what job you are.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Deodorize is honestly the only spell that I think I have never used in two years of being a White Mage, save for the time when I was trying to get as many status effect icons on my screen as possible. Completely useless, the only reason I have it is for the sake of completion.

It's great for getting away from track by scent monsters. Repose (or ES Sleep) a crawler, Deodorize, Sneak. Run for it. Handy when there's no puddles or streams around.

I'm going to go against what some others have said and tell you that if I would not under most circumstances melee in any party. It is much much more beneficial for you to be able to rest if you don't have full MP and don't have to be casting than the tiny amount of damage you will be doing in a party. At lower levels, you have a very small MP pool and it can be extremely difficult to keep everyone healed even if you're wearing the best gear and have a ton of experience healing, and you never know when a battle is going to take a turn for the worse, and you need to curespam. Also, the experience timing your rests and managing your HP is priceless, and is something you'll be able to pull on for however long you play the game.

Very sound advice; I second it.

would say that it is the most difficult of the base jobs

Pffft. You mean Red Mage, don't you? >_>b

[Feba]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Deodorize is honestly the only spell that I think I have never used in two years of being a White Mage, save for the time when I was trying to get as many status effect icons on my screen as possible.

You're forgetting cheesy jokes. Nothing like casting deodorize on random Galka and Elvaan until one of them feels bad.