Removing negative status effects

[Amaku]

I'm a level 22 WHM and so far it's been really fun. The only problem I have is removing negative status effects. I don't know how to check if they've been silenced, blinded or whatever else. I'm constantly paying attention to the HP of my allies so I don't look at the chat log. I'd look at the chat log, but it goes by waaay too fast and I can't see what happened to who.

Is there a way to tell if a member of my party has a negative effect on him? I feel really bad when people say "Use ____ please" because I feel like I'm not doing my job correctly and I want to do the best I can. If not, is there a way to slow down the chat logs so I can see what the monster used on my partner?

[hexx]

Re: Removing negative status effects

Well, messing around with your chat filters so that battle spam doesnt cause someone having a neg stat effect inflicted on them has always worked for me. It also helps you to see when a buff has worn as well. Dont feel bad about asking, it would be worse if they kept the status effect or died because it was not removed. As a tank and DD, I make it a point to let the healer know the status effect is there just in case they missed it. We ARE only human after all Best of luck friend.

[Armando]

Re: Removing negative status effects

There's no way to know. Use chat filters, filter out anything useless to you, and look at the chat log. Also look up the abilities of the mobs you're fighting so you know what they can do beforehand.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Removing negative status effects

As a tank and DD, I make it a point to let the healer know the status effect is there just in case they missed it.

Try not to do this constantly, it gets annoying. Not saying you do, but if you do, cut it back to when it's been there a while longer than it should be. Sometimes the WHM is casting something else when you get inflicted, and can't get to it right away, but they know about it. One thing I really hate is the "informant melee" who feels it's his job to tell me everything the chat log already did. Yes, sometimes I miss stuff, but most of the time I don't. If your WHM sucks, well, that's another story.

Advice to the OP: learn which mob TP moves give status effects. That way, when you see the mob readying the move, you can start casting the -na right away, and the spell will go off right as the effect lands, maximizing your effectiveness as a WHM. It takes some time to memorize things, but after a while you'll know instinctively what to cast. You're still pretty low level so this is the best time to learn.

Also, in parties, look at the HP bars after a fight. See anyone's health ticking downward? They're probably poisoned or dia/bio'ed. If you were fighting a mob that does those things, you can pretty much guess which effect you'll need to remove. (For example, Flies use a TP move that poisons, but they don't do anything that inflicts Dia or Bio. If you're fighting flies and someone has HP ticking away, you can safely assume that they've gotten poisoned.)

[hexx]

Re: Removing negative status effects

Try not to do this constantly, it gets annoying. Not saying you do, but if you do, cut it back to when it's been there a while longer than it should be. Sometimes the WHM is casting something else when you get inflicted, and can't get to it right away, but they know about it. One thing I really hate is the "informant melee" who feels it's his job to tell me everything the chat log already did. Yes, sometimes I miss stuff, but most of the time I don't. If your WHM sucks, well, that's another story.

I shoulda elaborated more thanks for catchin that Aks

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Removing negative status effects

There's no way to know. Use chat filters, filter out anything useless to you, and look at the chat log. Also look up the abilities of the mobs you're fighting so you know what they can do beforehand.

So what you're really saying here is there is a way to know.

Here's another.

Each status spell has a particular sound effect. Turn up the SFX volume and the music volume down if you need to. Listen and observe your chat filters to get a better idea of whats going on. I've played so long I can pretty much just listen and know what status ailment was used and remove the ailment accordingly.

Your main priority is always going to be the main tank of the party, so he's the one you should keep an eye on. The tank will get hit with the bulk of the status effects and often its his actions that will influence the attention of the enemy.

Also know what status ailments require immediate attentions. Some people make a bigger fuss about poison than they should. Anything below Lizard's Plaguebreath and Poison II is not a priority removal until the end of a fight. Let the melees cry all they want about it, but your first concern is the tank. If a melee has Bio on him, however, don't ignore it - its doing greater DoT to him than poison and weaking his Attack stat at the same time.

1 HP per tick on a melee with near full HP is not a life-ender at any rate. It should be noted that there are nastier poison effects out there, but they usually just happen in specialized situations anyway. In that case, just get it off everyone as soon as possible because 10 or 30 HP per tick poisons isn't anything to roll your eyes at.

Things like Paralyze, Slow or Silence on a PLD or NIN are bad news and you want them gone immediately. Mages and /NIN users should always have a stack of Echo Drops handy for themselves, but do be mindful of your fellow mages and assist them with a Silena if they do get silenced.

Paralyze can be bad news to jobs that make frequent use of job abilities, if the paralyze effect triggers on the use of a job ability, the ability is used but isn't actually performed. The timer resets. It also can trigger when you attempt to use an item and has a similar effect - the item is lost and its effects as well. Everyone deserves to have it removed, but tank first, supporters second and melees third here.

Slow is bad for tanks and melee, but not so harmful to mages. Mages are lowest priority for this ailment, though it should still be removed from them.

RIght now you're likely facing pugils and crabs. These are two mobs that really never change at all. You don't have erase yet, but know that thier Bubble Shower lowers STR and melees should get top priority for removal. Pugils have a move called Intimidate, it doesn't happen often, but it inflicts Slow on the target it was looking at. Since you don't have Erase or Haste to counteract effects like this yet, don't feel bad, just know that when you face crabs and pugils in the future that these are status ailments they can inflict.

As Armando said, check up on the mob families you're facing on FFXIclopedia and you'll have a good idea of what you need to be looking out for when facing them.

Finally, I cannot emphasize this enough - Use Regen.

Regen is a very low-cost spell for the HP it restors. It cure allies for up to 125 HP, well worth this 15 MP cost. A lot of WHMs neglect this spell and it will be part of why you're staring at the HP bars more than your chat long. The tank has top priority for curing. Apply a regen on them at the start of a fight and then while keeping an eye on him, apply Regen to melees that have taken damage rather than just implusively drop cures on them.

Making moderate use of Regens will save you MP. Don't make a habit of keeping everyone's HP topped off with cures.

In fact, I'm generally against topping off HP unless there's undead around (since they like to aggro low HP players). Your job is to keep people alive and fuctional, staying healthy is thier problem. I say this because while you are the healer, you also need to hold the melee's reins a bit. Some melees are dumb as bricks, always trying to go all-out and zerg monsters to death. I will let such players take significant damage if it makes them learn to stop doing that.

Melees have just as much of an obligation to you as you do to them. They should be using thier actions in responsible ways that prevent more damage from being taken. This doesn't exactly mean they have to sub /NIN, just that when they go all-out on a monster, that they're doing so knowledgeably to ensure the kill. They should be making it a point to know the strengths and weaknesses of a mob just as much as you.

[Elwynn]

Re: Removing negative status effects

Basically, watching the chat log is your best way to see negative status effects. I think it sucks that there's no way to tell other than that, especially when NPCs and monsters can tell what effects you have and cast accordingly. There really should be mini icons in the party list or by the nametags (like the bazaar icon) to show status effects. Of course you would have to be able to choose which ones to show, because I usually have eight or so icons up when solo.

Just be glad you're not playing on PS2, where your eight lines of log are eight words wide, and most messages take two lines. Meleeing with Auspice or an Enspell is a pain in the ass, because that's half my chat window in ONE action.

After a few months, I have gotten better at noticing status changes in both the chat log and status icons, and a big part of that is probably from solo WHM, which basically consists of keeping buffs up to keep yourself alive long enough to get TP to use Hexa Strike or Black Halo. But that PS2 log window is still a pain in the ass.

[Armando]

Re: Removing negative status effects

I think it sucks that there's no way to tell other than that, especially when NPCs and monsters can tell what effects you have and cast accordingly.

NPCs anyways. I actually had a Tonberry Maledictor do this as soon as I pulled it.

Sleep II > Bio II > Sleepga > Bio II.

Not the brightest crayon in the box.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Removing negative status effects

Know what you're fighting--and peek at the cheat sheet really fast!

Category:Status Effects
The Big List of Status Effects

[ShadowHolyFlyingDragon]

Re: Removing negative status effects

Try not to do this constantly, it gets annoying. Not saying you do, but if you do, cut it back to when it's been there a while longer than it should be. Sometimes the WHM is casting something else when you get inflicted, and can't get to it right away, but they know about it. One thing I really hate is the "informant melee" who feels it's his job to tell me everything the chat log already did. Yes, sometimes I miss stuff, but most of the time I don't. If your WHM sucks, well, that's another story.

Advice to the OP: learn which mob TP moves give status effects. That way, when you see the mob readying the move, you can start casting the -na right away, and the spell will go off right as the effect lands, maximizing your effectiveness as a WHM. It takes some time to memorize things, but after a while you'll know instinctively what to cast. You're still pretty low level so this is the best time to learn.

Also, in parties, look at the HP bars after a fight. See anyone's health ticking downward? They're probably poisoned or dia/bio'ed. If you were fighting a mob that does those things, you can pretty much guess which effect you'll need to remove. (For example, Flies use a TP move that poisons, but they don't do anything that inflicts Dia or Bio. If you're fighting flies and someone has HP ticking away, you can safely assume that they've gotten poisoned.)

Amen and amen! I -hated- when ppl would spam "POISONED" at me, as if I didn't know. I don't mind the polite "Poisoned." But not 10 times over the course of 10 seconds.

I'll tell you one time that I really hated being shouted at for something was back when I was a newbie on an old char and playing WHM. A DRK/WAR at lvl 30 had just gotten soul eater after leveling up and right before he would zerk/lr/se, he would scream at me "CURE ME CURE ME" and right after he used it and was sitting in red hp.

He did this for about an hour I guess.

I don't know what my problem was, but I cured him cuz I thot it was the right thing to do. If I knew then what I know now... I woulda let the <censored> die. lol I guess after 6 years, the whole fuzzy warm feelings of friendship and togetherness in pts for me just goes out the window. I'm just like "either do your damn job or disband." lol

[Firewind]

Re: Removing negative status effects

Couple of points:

1) I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but it is possible to change the colour of any message about negative status effects in your chatlog. Mine is bright pink so I can't possibly miss it. Note that this will NOT notify you of status effects that are part of a TP move that causes damage and inflicts some sort of status effect of debuff so be warned.

2) If you are new at a job then tell the party that you are new. It doesn't matter if you have every other job at 75 main healing is considerably harder than it looks as there is so much to learn at once. The vast majority of the playerbase will be perfectly willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if you tell them beforehand that you're new at this so will be a little slow at healing.

3) Regen is your best friend. It saves a ton of MP in the long run. It's more cost effective than Curaga for topping up HP (though Cura is up there if you know what you're doing with it). Pullers will love you for dropping this on them at the end of the fight especially if they are voke or jump pulling though really pullers shouldn't *need* healing as most exp mobs shouldn't be able to outrun you especially if you are subbing NIN (Or you're a BRD subbing WHM).

4) Read up on mob families. It's useful to know what TP moves can cause what effects

5) Poison is actually very beneficial to leave on especially if the mob you're fighting can also use sleep (Imps, Imps, Imps, Imps oh and Mandies. If I has a Bronze Coin for every DD that whined about poison when fighting these things I could buy all of Kujata a Walmart Turban) as the damage from poison will wake you up instantly. There are very few exp mobs that use a poison effect potent enough to warrant curing before the end of the fight. I think crawler type enemies are the only ones.

6) Bio is the exception since it also lowers attack. I'll also add in Dia too since it lowers defence (although the DoT for Dia is rarely as potent as Bio) though there are very few exp mobs that even cast these spells. Erase is the only way to cure them. You get it at Lv32 and it is probably the most useful spell you will ever get. Erase will cure virtually any debuff and status effect that -na spells don't cover. Just remember that it does produce a chunk of hate when used so please avoid spamming it unless it's an emergency.

7) The tank almost always comes first when curing status effects. It's debatable as to whether or not you should cure yourself first but there are some effects (Silence, Paralyse, Virus, Disease, Bio II) which are just too dangerous to leave on yourself and I have never seen a party complain about the healer getting rid of those from themselves first.

Still remember that the tank staying healthy is your top priority. The only status effects that are particularly harmful and should be removed to frontline DDs are Paralyse, Petrify and Sleep for obvious reasons. Most of the other status effects can be left until the tank has been seen to.

8) Amnesia can't be cured by any means other than a ring with an enchantment. if the tank is ever hit by this then immediately switch to all of your -Emnity gear and try your best to avoid pulling hate. If you pull hate then it's going to be stuck on you for some time until either someone crits or you take enough damage to lose hate in which case you'll just take hate back when you have to cure again. You don't have to worry about amnesia until the late 60's but it's worth remembering nonetheless.

9) If you see a SCH or anyone who is /WHM complain about a status effect feel free to /point and /laugh.

10) If you see a SCH or anyone who is /WHM and they don't help you cure status effects on the party feel free to kick them from the party.

[Elwynn]

Re: Removing negative status effects

3) Regen is your best friend. It saves a ton of MP in the long run. It's more cost effective than Curaga for topping up HP (though Cura is up there if you know what you're doing with it). Pullers will love you for dropping this on them at the end of the fight especially if they are voke or jump pulling though really pullers shouldn't *need* healing as most exp mobs shouldn't be able to outrun you especially if you are subbing NIN (Or you're a BRD subbing WHM).

In mission parties, I rarely have to do any cures but Regen 3 and the occasional Cure 3, since many players will come in jobs with healing (PLD, /DNC, /WHM, /RDM, etc.) or damage mitigation (/NIN, Stoneskin). This makes WHM/NIN work well in missions, since you can both heal and melee because you don't need to keep resting MP from cure bombs. And there is no pressure to keep chains going in mission parties, so you can rest after a couple of fights.

Erase is the only way to cure them. You get it at Lv32 and it is probably the most useful spell you will ever get. Erase will cure virtually any debuff and status effect that -na spells don't cover.

Also, Esuna lets you AoE cure one negative status effect you have. (two in Afflatus Misery mode) This is good when the party receives an AoE debuff.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Removing negative status effects

I had to get help on this from Kamiel when I started seriously working on Koren's WHM. It's been long enough that I don't remember precisely what does what in all cases, but there are two big points:

1) Damage and debuffs are both under the same chat filter category, but you can filter out things that do numeric damage by switching to on-screen damage display. This is under the Misc settings in Config. This will ruin parses and such, but it's extremely useful in terms of trying to watch the log for statuses. Note though that you won't be able to easily check things like whether WSs missed.

2) Color settings are more fine-tuned than chat filters. I'd recommend making buffs and debuffs each have unique colors.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Removing negative status effects

You should also filter out damage done by your party and alliance members. There is never a time as a WHM when you really need to know that. (Wanting too and needing to are two different things.) I haven't seen anyone's damage but my own for probably two years now.

[Murphie]

Re: Removing negative status effects

I had to get help on this from Kamiel when I started seriously working on Koren's WHM. It's been long enough that I don't remember precisely what does what in all cases, but there are two big points:

1) Damage and debuffs are both under the same chat filter category, but you can filter out things that do numeric damage by switching to on-screen damage display. This is under the Misc settings in Config. This will ruin parses and such, but it's extremely useful in terms of trying to watch the log for statuses. Note though that you won't be able to easily check things like whether WSs missed.

2) Color settings are more fine-tuned than chat filters. I'd recommend making buffs and debuffs each have unique colors.

THIS. Between filtering out other people's damage, knowing what special attacks the mobs have and what the effects are, and changing the color of my text, knowing what is going on status wise is a snap. Color coding made everything easier.