Reasons I'm Wary of Inviting BLMs...

[greydaze]

I'm a BLM75. I have levelled it entirely after ToAU came out. So I know there's a small bit of squeeze when it comes to TP burns. But levelling RNG, I groan inwardly with the BLMs we have in our PTs, and rarely wish to invite myself. Why?

1) Over-nuking. Stop it! Just stop! The NIN tank can't take hate off of you when you're spamming tier 3-4 nukes. The PLD tanks are even having a time at it! I don't care how much you like seeing those big numbers. Yes, we do excellent damage, but you're draining away MP both because we have to heal you and bcause of unneccessary nukes.

2) "Wait for me!" I REFUSE to slow my pulling because you can't learn to conserve your own MP pool. If you're our of MP when we start the fight, {That's too bad.} Learn when to rest and when to nuke, because our XP doesn't hinge on you having it. I will wait for the main healer's MP and the PLD's, but NOT YOURS. And if you're out because of overnuking (see 1), then all the better for the PT if we DON'T wait on your MP.

3) Low Enfeebling Magic. Every level, as long as I levelled BLM, my enfeebling was capped. It isn't that hard! Go to {Besieged}. Throw a dia or dia II during battle. There is no excuse for you to NOT be able to sleep a mob that I could have slept at your level.

4) Levelling Dark Magic. I don't really give a rat's behind what level your dark skill is. You see that robber crab? The one we're hitting for crap? DO NOT cast Bio on it! We need Dia! Clear it with the PT if you're going to use Bio, and use your BRAIN! Cast Aspir and Drain once a minute to raise skill. If you spam Bio on crabs, I'm liable to kick you on the spot.

5) Elemental Enfeebles {Where?} If you have nothing beter to do with your MP than nuke at the beginning of battle, cast the appropriate enfeebles. Don't know which to cast at 60+? Well, that's just pretty damn sad. With Poison II, you get -8 mob HP per tic. With Bio/Dia II, it's 10. That's enough reason right there to cast at the beginning of a fight, let alone the other benefits. I'm not saying every mob every time, but why not on XP mobs that last 1 minute or more?


This is why, dear friends, I hate levelling with BLMs. These problems arise again and again. I think this is mainly due to one thing and one thing alone (aside from laziness/stupidity wen it comes to the job): MANABURN PARTIES.

1) Overnuking isn't possible in MBs.

2) In MBs, everything hitches on your MP pool.

3&4) You don't get to raise skill for enfeebling and dark in MBs.

5) You don't get to use DoT on MB mobs.


Please please please!!! Remember one thing:

Normal XP parties are different from manaburns!

Take this into consideration when you level and I won't have to kick you. I love BLM's, I really do. But I hate the stupid, lazy ones who don't put enough effort into the job to do well.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I hope it can help someone who might be doing the abovementioned.

[Jarre]

As a pld I have had times where it has been difficult to keep hate due to "over nuking" etc. This is normally resolved with a quiet word. Not all blm overnuke or grab lots of hate, most of them can get the right balance, they may grab hate a few times from magic breaks etc, but as a tank I normally can control this and recetify the situation before anything goes badly wrong.

If they keep doing it and ignore your requests, /blist, move on don't invite again. There are plenty of blm out there who do there job well.

[Lambeaus]

What the hell? I really hope you don't hold a grudge like this against all BLMs...

[Murphie]

Personally, I don't think it's ever a good idea to paint the members of a job with the same brush. So you've had some crappy BLM experiences. I've had some excellent ones. It depends on the player, and someone who is going to play one job terribly is likely to play another. Don't hold their poor playing against everyone else who does the same job.

[LilithAngel]

I just have to say thanks for that post. Every party I've been in lately (over the past few months) in a few jobs, most of them have had problems with Black Mages that were Manaburned Babies, i.e. they've gotten used to how Manaburns operate, and try to apply those same dynamics to a normal exp party. Those types have usually ended up dead, killing the party, or kicked outright. And for some God-forsaken reason, just about every single last one of them has had shitty, horrible, "I'm the master of the universe and you will bow to me" attitudes. WTF @ that? These I usually slap silly, drop them on the spot, and /blist them. Case closed.

Not every Black Mage I've known was this bad, but for some reason, this has become prevelant in the past year or so. The OP has a very valid reason for posting what he did, because it may not be uniform across the board for all Black Mages, but enough of them are following this mold that it had to be addressed.

[Kirsteena]

I'd be seriously upset if you painted me with the same brush. Sure I have soloed a lot, but I know exactly how to walk the hate line as a blm - when going over is appropriate, when it isn't.

Course the fact that noone really invites blm anymore makes it more difficult for them...

[Icemage]

That's not really a fair assessment. Bad players exist in every job. Blaming manaburn parties doesn't work - those don't even start until level 54+. There's plenty of time to learn good skills before then.

Besides, who invites BLMs to XP parties in the mid-60+ range anyway? :/


Icemage

[Celeal]

There are still players out there who loves traditional SC + MB =(

[LilithAngel]

There are still players out there who loves traditional SC + MB

I happen to be one of them. Unfortunately, most of the time, when I exp, it's either a rare TP burn, or a 'traditional' exp setup in which either there's no Black Mage availiable (because they're off Manaburning), or the Black Mage has little skill in a normal exp party because they normally Manaburn. I do occasionally come across a Black Mage that actually knows what they're doing, but I must stress the use of *occasionally*.

I can understand and respect those people like Kirsteena and Icemage defending thier job, it's natural to do so, and for this job, worthy of doing so. I truly do. Trust me, I've been doing so for my job longer than most people on these forums have been for thiers; unless you're a Dragoon as well, I can guarantee that.

But that's not the point. The point the OP was trying to make (and I felt he made quite clear) is that Black Mages who use manaburn tactics (and yes, the examples given *are* manaburn tactics and the results of haveing manaburned for significant numbers of levels) in normal exp parties are a hinderance, and that could lead to some of the problems Black Mages *in general* are having in getting 'traditional' exp party invites. It's the few ruining the reputation of the many.

[Murphie]

Well since the OP is so smart, she should realize that the few aren't indicative of the many, and thus shouldn't let her experiences with a few bad apples ruin her opinion of BLMs overall.

[Mog]

1) Over-nuking. Stop it! Just stop! The NIN tank can't take hate off of you when you're spamming tier 3-4 nukes. The PLD tanks are even having a time at it! I don't care how much you like seeing those big numbers. Yes, we do excellent damage, but you're draining away MP both because we have to heal you and bcause of unneccessary nukes.

I don't overnuke, thank god. Moreover, if I did overnuke, I would be made into taru cutlets pretty fast. (which is how I found out why I don't want to overnuke ) Granted, I won't cast AGA-III every second, but if the melees are doing a light skillchain, you can bet your sweet ass that I will Magic burst Aeroga III (which hit for 1163 points of damage. woot woot!)

2) "Wait for me!" I REFUSE to slow my pulling because you can't learn to conserve your own MP pool. If you're our of MP when we start the fight, {That's too bad.} Learn when to rest and when to nuke, because our XP doesn't hinge on you having it. I will wait for the main healer's MP and the PLD's, but NOT YOURS. And if you're out because of overnuking (see 1), then all the better for the PT if we DON'T wait on your MP.

I rarely, if ever have mp issues. Then again, I'm a tarutaru. Since I've gotten my style of play down to a science, it's very hard for me to be less than 200 mp, unless the fight is lasting way longer than it should have.

3) Low Enfeebling Magic. Every level, as long as I levelled BLM, my enfeebling was capped. It isn't that hard! Go to {Besieged}. Throw a dia or dia II during battle. There is no excuse for you to NOT be able to sleep a mob that I could have slept at your level.

I try to keep my enfeebling magic capped as much as I can. This is not to say, however, that every sleep will land on the mobs (unless I ES >> Sleep II, which usually works) So don't hold the same standards for /whm and /rdm.

4) Levelling Dark Magic. I don't really give a rat's behind what level your dark skill is. You see that robber crab? The one we're hitting for crap? DO NOT cast Bio on it! We need Dia! Clear it with the PT if you're going to use Bio, and use your BRAIN! Cast Aspir and Drain once a minute to raise skill. If you spam Bio on crabs, I'm liable to kick you on the spot.

Could you elaborate why it's such a problem to cast bio on crabs? What I usually do is stack Dia and Bio II. I don't really see the problem in this unless Bio heals the mob...

5) Elemental Enfeebles {Where?} If you have nothing beter to do with your MP than nuke at the beginning of battle, cast the appropriate enfeebles. Don't know which to cast at 60+? Well, that's just pretty damn sad. With Poison II, you get -8 mob HP per tic. With Bio/Dia II, it's 10. That's enough reason right there to cast at the beginning of a fight, let alone the other benefits. I'm not saying every mob every time, but why not on XP mobs that last 1 minute or more?

Also....mention that the other elemental enfeebles stack, such as burn >> shock >> choke or rasp >> drown >> frost. The way I tend to think of it is that the first set of three are more focused on how much damage the nuker will do to the mob and how often he will get resisted. The latter three are more oriented toward the melee, so if they're having a bit of a hard time, just throw these three down and it will make their jobs a bit easier. Plus, they all stack DoT, so that's always a plus.

This is why, dear friends, I hate levelling with BLMs. These problems arise again and again. I think this is mainly due to one thing and one thing alone (aside from laziness/stupidity wen it comes to the job): MANABURN PARTIES.

It seems you've been leveling with a lot of blms that don't seem to know what they're doing. Just brush it off. I can assure you, I'm sure the blms will get better as you level up. >.<

1) Overnuking isn't possible in MBs.

2) In MBs, everything hitches on your MP pool.

3&4) You don't get to raise skill for enfeebling and dark in MBs.

5) You don't get to use DoT on MB mobs.

Ugh.....this has happened to me quite a few times. When I was Manaburning off crabs one time, someone casted shock......suffice to say, that battle was interesting and we barely got out of it alive.

Normal XP parties are different from manaburns!

People would have to be really stupid to not understand these words. I would think that most blms would know this, but from your experiences, apparently not. And yeah.....I agree with what murphie said.

[LilithAngel]

she should realize that the few aren't indicative of the many, and thus shouldn't let her experiences with a few bad apples ruin her opinion of BLMs overall.

I wholeheartedly agree with that, but unfortunately, as we've seen way too many times in this game, popular opinion > common sense. Thus why such posts as the OP come to be. The ones that are good never get the opportunity to make thier impression felt because the few ruin it for them.

[Visper]

There are still players out there who loves traditional SC + MB =(

yup thats me, believe it or not I've only ever been in 1 manaburn, I still enjoy the traditional party, wish everyone else did too!! Loved to MB on chains, etc.

Lately been teaming up w/a brd in my LS - she won't take an invite unless there is room for both of us - so I'm actually getting a party like 2x a week now (I also have that I have a brd partner in my search comment - really does help attract invites) But I actually like the Idea of solo'n or trio'n!! I have me (66) brd (65) and a sam (66) in our LS any goo xp areas for 3 ppl goin on in ToAU areas? I know its only 3 ppl away from full party but I was just curious!

[Mog]

There are still players out there who loves traditional SC + MB =(

Interestingly enough, I've gotten invited to a lot of parties as my BLM. :D Unfortunately enough, the majority of them are at caederva mire. >.<

[Murphie]

I wholeheartedly agree with that, but unfortunately, as we've seen way too many times in this game, popular opinion > common sense. Thus why such posts as the OP come to be. The ones that are good never get the opportunity to make thier impression felt because the few ruin it for them.

I agree, but do you know why things like this become popular opinion? Because folks post on message boards about how terrible all the [X Job]s are.