Few questions from a new White Mage

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

NA partying attitude is pretty much do one's job while in party, but take care of oneself before and after. JP parties are more likely to gather together before starting, and run to city together after ending. It's a good idea to keep a stack of Prism Powder and Silent Oil in inventory at all times. Those two plus Ginger Cookies and Echo Drops almost never leave my inventory.

As for short party time, that's the hazard of being a replacement. On RDM75, I usually reject replacement invites; one never knows if the party's been going 4 hours and is 20 minutes away from breaking, or if people will start dropping one by one, disrupting the partying every 10 minutes. Or both.

Can't be as picky at lower levels and other jobs though... I pretty much take anything unless I'm on RDM75. Even then I'm not terribly choosy except for the "Don't want to be replacement" rule. ._.

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Well I'm in the UK so European parties tend to be one or the other, or both. I've been in a few where the party meet up outside the Dunes or in the city and I've been in another where half of the party is at the Bastok side of the Bat Cave and the other half are at the Sand 'Oria so the Sandy members group up before going through the cave. I've also been in a few where I've had to just brave the cave myself since at this level it's hard to afford full stacks of Prism Powder and Sneak Oil while keeping spells and equipment up to date. Looking at the AH prices I don't think I have to worry about gear costs until I hit Lv20.

The only thing I'm really picky with in parties is having a PL. I do understand that having a PL will be inevitable at some point and it makes gaining exp much faster but thankfully pretty much all of them have been nice enough to tone it down and only step in in emergencies and let me get some experience with main healing. One even let me cast Protectra over his Protectra III so I could skill up my Enhancing Magic skills (since the guy knew how hard it was to get skill ups in Enhancing magic at my level) ^_^

Oh and a question. When I get my Sub Job would it be a better idea for me to switch to that and level that now so I don't have to do it later? I was thinking of going for BLM and if I get that to Lv20 as soon as possible then I won't have to touch it again until my WHM hits Lv42 (which going by what people on my LS have been saying will be months away).

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Some people like to level WHM and BLM in tandem, switching back and forth to keep them around the same level up to Lv.37, because they share a good amount of equipment in common.

Other people just want to concentrate on one job at a time; it does take some time to farm up the gil needed (for equipment and scroll) and quest for some items, and doing all that for two jobs at a time may be cumbersome.

There's no wrong way of doing it, as long as you always arrive at the party with the appropriate, fully leveled support job.

[Saren]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

The only thing I'm really picky with in parties is having a PL. I do understand that having a PL will be inevitable at some point and it makes gaining exp much faster but thankfully pretty much all of them have been nice enough to tone it down and only step in in emergencies and let me get some experience with main healing.

It definitely helps, glad you got some non asshole PLs

Oh and a question. When I get my Sub Job would it be a better idea for me to switch to that and level that now so I don't have to do it later?

Yes, you need a fully leveled subjob as soon as possible. Honestly, once you get sch available to you I doubt you will want to use anything else for exp for a while/ever but getting blm to 20 gives you an alternative for a while and warp from sub so you can telewhore if you want to

[Illuen]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

Oh and a question. When I get my Sub Job would it be a better idea for me to switch to that and level that now so I don't have to do it later? I was thinking of going for BLM and if I get that to Lv20 as soon as possible then I won't have to touch it again until my WHM hits Lv42 (which going by what people on my LS have been saying will be months away).

The best way I've heard to do this, and this is how I did it on BLM/WHM (until my love of White Mage screwed things over) was go JOB1 to 18, get your subjob. Then go JOB2/JOB1, taking JOB2 to 37. Then you are free to take JOB1/JOB2 to 75 without having to stop every three or four levels and level up your sub so you aren't gimped.

I also must say that your LS is right, /BLM is one of the best subjob options for WHM and it is absolutely the best in terms of spell selection for most situations (Gravity and Phalanx are useful from /RDM, but the availability of Warp, Tractor, Sleep and Sleepga, along with Elemental Seal and the additional MP and MAB from BLM seals the deal for me).

ETAL: I've not yet finished leveling my SCH sub, and therefor do not know its potential, so I cannot speak for it as a subjob.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I also must say that your LS is right, /BLM is one of the best subjob options for WHM and it is absolutely the best in terms of spell selection for most situations (Gravity and Phalanx are useful from /RDM, but the availability of Warp, Tractor, Sleep and Sleepga, along with Elemental Seal and the additional MP and MAB from BLM seals the deal for me).

What does a WHM do with MAB? o_O? Holy?

IMO, /RDM's strongest point is Fast Cast II. Anticipation will always beat out Fast Cast, but you can't anticipate crit hit after big TP move from monster, and Fast Cast will improve your odds of landing that Cure V in time.

ETAL: I've not yet finished leveling my SCH sub, and therefor do not know its potential, so I cannot speak for it as a subjob.

Seems pretty simple on paper: Mostly, it's about Light Arts, Celerity; and, Dark Arts, Aspir.

Light Arts: Decrease cast time, recast time, and MP cost of all White Magic.
Celerity: Cuts cast time of Raise by half.

Dark Arts: Raises Enfeebling Magic Skill to B, giving a better chance of landing Slow and Paralyze (at additional MP and cast time cost).
Aspir: With Dark Arts, this can be used (and abused) on most critters which have MP (crab, beetles, worms, some beastmen, Lesser Colibri, etc.)

Penury is also kinda useful if you can anticipate when you'd need to drop a big cure way ahead of time, like when RDM Converts, and you can slip in a half-cost Cure V. Drain is also very MP efficient when on Dark Arts, but if you need to replenish your own HP while playing WHM then the tank may be iffy for safely casting Drain. Well, at least it should be usable after Devotion. YMMV.

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

A couple of high level people on the Kujata server are after the LS Rod so Carp prices just skyrocketed from 1k a stack to 2.5-3k a stack so i think I've found my income for a while. I took this morning off fishing and I think I may do it for the rest of the day to build up a nice chunk of gil before those players don't need carp any more.

I now have all of the spells up to my Level (Lv13) except for Slow which seems to be sold out in both Sandy and Jueno (Yay for higher levelled friends being able to check Jueno for me ^_^) so I will have to wait before I can get that spell.

And I can't unlock scholar regardless because I don't have Wings of the Goddess yet. According to the Wiki you need a mage job with a 2hr skill that lasts for a length of time (e.g RDM's Fast Cast) rather than an instant cast (like Benediction) so I will need to level something like BLM anyway. I don't think I'll be taking BLM all the way to 37 as when I get WoTG I will be subbing Scholar instead which is why I'm not concerned about capping BLM right now. My main target would be Lv17 so that I can use Warp when my WHM hits Lv34. But I'm still at Lv13 so it will take some time levelling in the Dunes before I unlock my sub anyway.

[Ellipses]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I now have all of the spells up to my Level (Lv13) except for Slow which seems to be sold out in both Sandy and Jueno (Yay for higher levelled friends being able to check Jueno for me ^_^) so I will have to wait before I can get that spell.

If San d'Oria is in first place, you can just buy it at the magic shop there. Or you can ask someone who's from the nation that is in first to buy it at their magic shop. No sense paying AH prices for it when you don't have to.

And I can't unlock scholar regardless because I don't have Wings of the Goddess yet. According to the Wiki you need a mage job with a 2hr skill that lasts for a length of time (e.g RDM's Fast Cast) rather than an instant cast (like Benediction) so I will need to level something like BLM anyway.

It's going to be a while for you regardless, since you need to hit level 30 in something, but just for clarity: you can use the RDM or BLM (or SMN) two-hour regardless of level once the quest is started. I flagged the quest on WAR, then switched to RDM (which was I think level 5 or something silly) to activate Chainspell for that part of the quest.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

And I can't unlock scholar regardless because I don't have Wings of the Goddess yet. According to the Wiki you need a mage job with a 2hr skill that lasts for a length of time (e.g RDM's Fast Cast) rather than an instant cast (like Benediction) so I will need to level something like BLM anyway.

AFAIK, You need a Lv.30+ job to flag the quest for Scholar, but you can complete it as a Lv.1 BLM if you want to.

I don't think I'll be taking BLM all the way to 37 as when I get WoTG I will be subbing Scholar instead which is why I'm not concerned about capping BLM right now. My main target would be Lv17 so that I can use Warp when my WHM hits Lv34.

Unfortunately, you're not getting off that easily.

/SCH is probably the best support job for most exp parties.
/BLM is good all-around, and Elemental Seal is unbelievable useful when needed. (ES Sleepga from a WHM made a certain CoP fight doable for me.)
/SMN is a very strong support job for mobile fights; Auto Refresh will compensate for lack of time to rest, and the larger MP pool means lasting longer between rests.
/RDM is probably the only optional one of them all; with /RDM and appropriate merits and gears, gives a WHM the second fastest cures in the game.

[Illuen]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

What does a WHM do with MAB? o_O? Holy?

IMO, /RDM's strongest point is Fast Cast II. Anticipation will always beat out Fast Cast, but you can't anticipate crit hit after big TP move from monster, and Fast Cast will improve your odds of landing that Cure V in time.

You see, when I say MAB, I really mean Conserve MP. I mean really, you should've known that! =P

Seriously though, I've found conserve MP to be much better than SMN's Auto-Refresh for saving MP.

To be completely honest, I've not yet finished RDM sub, simply because I haven't had the time to do so. I do need to do so, however. Color me shamed for being such a n00b.

[Icemage]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

The only time I've used the Magic Attack bonus as WHM/BLM is during King Ranperre's Tomb parties where I'm casting Banish III to drop the defense on ghosts.

Regarding Conserve MP versus Auto-Refresh, it depends largely on how much extra MP recovery you're getting. Lots of +MP recovered while resting gear + a RDM / BRD / COR will make Conserve MP vastly outperform Auto-Refresh over time.

Neither /BLM nor /SMN holds a candle to /SCH in an XP setting, though. 10% MP conserved on every spell plus Fast Cast plus Penury. It's like being able to sub BLM and RDM simultaneously and getting triple the Conserve MP traits. There's absolutely no reason to use /SMN these days if you have /SCH at level 10 or higher.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I finally got my sub job and I'm going through the hell of trying to level Black Mage. it's at Lv5 right now (WHM is at Lv18) and I already hate it and want to go back to White Mage.

Any advice on how to make getting this to Lv37 less painful? Bearing in mind that merely taking it to Lv5 has caused me a great deal of frustration (as my LS unfortunately found out after I snapped at someone offering helpful advice). I seriously do not like Black Mage as a job but as I don't have any advanced classes unlocked so I'm stuck with it (since RDM really doesn't sound all too useful until you are at Merit levels and a melee class would just be dumb). Anyway any advice on how to make this easier (other than praying for a PL) would be greatly appreciated.

[Icemage]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

If BLM really rubs you raw, then do this:

RDM to 15
WHM/RDM to 30
Activate Scholar extra job (get Wings of the Goddess)
Raise Scholar to 37 by using SCH/WHM
Raise WHM to 75 by using WHM/SCH


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

I was thinking of simply doing that with BLM anyway. I wanted to get it to at least 17 for warp but I may stick it out until 20. My reason is that by the time I do finally get Wings of the Goddess (FF games in general are almost impossible to find in the UK due to their popularity) I may have hit 30. It won't take anywhere near as long as getting to 37 and Scholar seems to be the way to go for a White Mage sub.

Don't get me wrong I do like the bonuses of subbing Black Mage. The extra MP is always welcome (especially if you don't have a RDM or a mage class/WHM in the party to backup heal). I simply do not enjoy playing the class itself. it also took a friend of mine 4 months to get his WHM to Lv33 so the thought of playing a class I dislike playing for that long does put me off it a lot. But an LS freind who is at v75 BLM has told me that the class gets better when I hit Dunes level so maybe I should give BLM a little more time before I completely write it off as a choice.

[Pteryx]

Re: Few questions from a new White Mage

But an LS freind who is at v75 BLM has told me that the class gets better when I hit Dunes level so maybe I should give BLM a little more time before I completely write it off as a choice.

That's entirely true, for two reasons. One, nukes seem balanced on the assumption that you at least have Magic Attack Bonus I, which you gain at level 10. MAB I increases the power of your nukes by a whopping 20%.

Two, BLM really works better in a party than it does solo. However, BLMs have been forced to develop a soloing strategy as of late due to their extreme unpopularity in all parties due to their being inappropriate for a specific type of high-level party. (Ridiculous, I know.)

As Icemage said, if you absolutely love healing and hate nuking, you could always sub RDM in the short term. Unlike many nonstandard combos, that one will not get you laughed out of a party. Heck, I did it myself and nobody seemed to even notice. Be aware, though, that only BLM and DRK get Tractor, which comes in handy if someone dies in an inconvenient spot. -- Pteryx