[redhotfanboy]

I carry 2 astrals and 2 ermemites with my level 38 blm. When my MP goes from 550/550 to 500/550 i switch them out. Its not like my taru dosnt have enough INT anyways

51 base
5from +1 wand, 3 from Seers+1, 2 from morrion earings, 1 from talthum, 1 from Mage's Robe(level 38 thingy), 1 from black necklace, 2 from Seers Mittens +1, 3 from Black Cloak +1, 1 from Shamans, 1 from Mage Slacks(level 20?), and one from Garrison boots.
51+21 with my astrals on with 550ish mp at level 38 ;o and i switch the astrals for ermemites when i go through 50 mp to bring it up to 76 INT without food...

[Secrenja]

Astrals if you join parties that are prone to AFK every 5 minutes so your MP can reach it's max.

INT if you're in normal groups.

[Thegod]

I see your point about the blk mage with the 6 int difference, but the bottom line is in the game things dont work out like that, I mean every blk mage in the game should have at least two ermite's rings, they are cheap and give +2 int......

but i see countless blks without even one ermites ring.


The fifty extra mp is a must for my mithra to compete at all with taru's, and at my level (20) i have more MP then 90% of the tarus, definately because i havent seen another taru blk with two astrals since ive been a blk mage, on the same note i'm the only blk mage ive ever seen with ermite's+1

I also notice, that its 50 MP to my character, but compared to other non taru blks, im eclipsing their max mp, especially humes.

[Karinya]

Well, there's no question that Atropos's suggestion of carrying both and switching between them is more effective, but the difference is so minor that you may or may not consider it worth the cost. If you are only bringing two rings they should be INT.

MP usage over time is determined mainly by how fast you can recover MP. As a BLM you can't do anything about Refresh and Ballad - they're either in your party or not - and clear mind traits are determined by your job level, so that leaves +mp recovery items (dark staff), foods, and the extra MP you get from long rests. Long rests are usually long downtime, and the bonus is very minor anyway compared to any of the other factors. So astrals will very rarely give you more MP (i.e. only when you can rest to full and not care about the resulting downtime, like when someone dies or leaves party). On the other hand INT increases the effectiveness of most of the things you do with your MP as a BLM, so you can get the same result with less MP, or a better result with the same MP.

One more thing - if you find that you often have MP left at the end of the battle and the WHM is low or out, why not cast some cures before you sit? BLM/WHM's cures are just as MP efficient as a WHM's, and between-battle healing doesn't create a hate problem. Take a little load off the WHM and your party may get a longer chain than it would have otherwise. (Of course this assumes that you can't just use the extra MP to nuke more, because of hate. Otherwise it may be more efficient to end fights faster by doing more damage.) It's true that BLM shouldn't be a main healer and should rarely have to heal during a fight - but that doesn't mean it isn't sometimes a good idea to heal after a fight.

[astraycat]

Get both, switch them when needed! That's what I would do >.>

The thing is though at level 20 +50mp is gigantic For anything except a Taru I'd suggest getting the astrals and get a pair of regular eremites to switch on whenever you don't run out of mp. Or, you can wear the astrals for the first 50mp worth of nukes, then switch out of them into the eremites for the rest fo the fight, switch back while you're healing, or if you never get to full mp during the chain just don't switch back until you have a chance to rest to full.

[Thegod]

ok i tested this out last night again, i had both in a party in qufim, and noticed i had like 87+ mp at the end of every battle, so i began asking the wht mage to res when the mob had 1/5 health or so, so i could heal, and he could rest (after all i can rest at the start of a battle ima blk) so we did it like that and i still noticed i had like 40-50 mp left over, so i went to jeuno and picked up a ermites +1 (put 1 astral on the AH to make up for the 100k i spent ) so thats 3 more int and 25 less mp, i noticed my nukes did like 4-5 more damage, but i was being resisted a little less, i mean the 3 int really helped, i was hitting hard consistently, and thats rare for a blk mage.

[Altruist]

Right now as 57 BLM I use Zircon and Electrum (yes, I'm cheap and I only buy what will produce a substancial increase in performance). When I rest, I use a macro that equips my electrums, dark staff, gold hairpin, and seer's tunic. This setup is 54 more mp than my normal nuking gear.

I always go through the standard 2-3 elem debufs and maybe throw in a drain. Then all my spell macros equip my +int rings, respective stave, and shaman's cloak.

It isn't too uncommon though for me to hit max mp at times, I have +14 MP while healling with /rdm and food, and last night my PT was doing c5 w/o rdm or bard.

So in all, astrals + eremites (normal) will help you out more in the long run, there are also a lot of things blm's should do besides nuke like heal, unless your one of those blm/smn or nin >.>

[leii]

get astrals. you can get +4 int from melon pies

[AtraposBLM]

Originally posted by leii
get astrals. you can get +4 int from melon pies

And you'd have +8 int with the rings...

Personally, I use both, and switch to int rings after dumping the MP. Basically, if I'm at full mp, I get Elemental Debuffs and a stun for free, which is what I do before nuking anyways...so, it helps me out.

[wolfjorg]

IM CURRENTLY A LV 41 BLM HUME I HAVE THE 2 ERMITE+1 RINGS AND RIGHT NOW IM HOLDING A +19 ON INT ,AND I HANG WITH THE TARU'S IN DMG BUT THERE MP BLOWS ME AWAY LOL.

I WOULD GO WITH THE ERMITES + 1 RINGS IF YOUR HUME.

[Blood Red Poet]

Originally posted by wolfjorg
IM CURRENTLY A LV 41 BLM HUME I HAVE THE 2 ERMITE+1 RINGS AND RIGHT NOW IM HOLDING A +19 ON INT ,AND I HANG WITH THE TARU'S IN DMG BUT THERE MP BLOWS ME AWAY LOL.

I WOULD GO WITH THE ERMITES + 1 RINGS IF YOUR HUME.

*Places tape over Wolfjorg's mouth*

Uh, yah, anyway. People are forgetting how easy level 10-30 monsters are... if you are using all your MP(at least after 20) then something is seriously wrong with your party, which 50 more MP can not help. I remember only getting 2-4 nukes in(including MB) before the mob dropped. Rested until puller could get something(which was usually 30-60 seconds). Killed the next mob. Rinse and repeat. At least this is the case level 30 and under ~.

[mdn]

i wear astrals around jeuno to look like i have more mp than i do :|

oh and wearing them along with whatever other level 30 gear i have (seer's morions, etc) i actually have more mp than hp when i do promyvian's. :sweat: