Black Mage Partying?

[Rothy]

I've heard recently that BLM hardly get party invites..

I was really hoping to level to 75 via. partying as my LS needs a BLM for events and such.

So, I have some questions..


1) Do BLM get party invites at higher levels? (If not, why?)
2) Is WHM the main sub for BLM?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[TheGrandMom]

Well, blm's do have an issue partying in the higher levels. Melee burns are really what most people prefer and many times blms are left out. But if you have a good ls, ask people to form a static with you using ls members. People are usually looking to level another job in an ls. You usually get better players using lsmates too. I've found around level 60 that the invites have slowed down but you can also do manaburns and even solo or duo mobs. I was just duo'ing tonight in sky with another blm trying to get some diorites. Even though the exp is slower, its still a lot of fun.

As far as subjob, both /whm and /rdm have their applications and you should level both.

[Rothy]

Alright, I think I will try it out. Thank you for the help.

[Feenicks]

Once you get over the initial fear, you can solo BLM very easily and quite effectively. I soloed quite a lot from 60-75 and a guy in my LS levelled BLM from 1-75 by soloing only. And this was before Campaign as well.

[Jonastb]

I soloed blm from 35 to current level of 65. I used /nin a lot of the time. It saved me a lot when trying to sleep the mobs when I couldn't one shot them.

[Andrinor]

One thing to keep in mind: soloing is an entirely different animal than what you will experience end-game as a BLM. While soloing may get you to 75 OK, it doesn't teach you how to 1) Manaburn as a team of BLMs and 2) How to operate effectively in a normal PT. I'd recommend you at least flag up and try to get a sense of what it's like playing BLM this way so that when you get to 75, you know what everyone will expect you to know.

I know I'm oldschool (I leveled BLM almost exclusively in a standard XP setup and never soloed), but it saddens me to see 75 BLMs with no idea how to burst on a SC, how to time nuke, control hate, set elemental debuffs, etc. You should know by 75 which sets of 3 elemental debuffs you can cast without overwriting each other. You should know what elements burst off light. Etc. I know this sounds obvious but I'm being serious: there are 75BLMs who soloed the whole way there and do not know this stuff.

Anyway, good luck to you and I hope you have a fun time leveling the job as I did, just try to experience this stuff along the way so that when someone calls ":52" in your end-game event when you're in the BLM PT, you know what the heck it means :)

[Audioma]

I've recently been soloing in Lower Delkfutt's Tower >.> Tarutaru Deathmaze.


I prefer a nice solid party as I am right now, I get to comfortably nuke without knowing a bat or another giant can sneak up behind me and split my skull open. (._.*)

Until 24 (560 tnl til!!), I'll stick to the traditional party. Soloing without shadows is horrid ;_;

[Rothy]

One thing to keep in mind: soloing is an entirely different animal than what you will experience end-game as a BLM. While soloing may get you to 75 OK, it doesn't teach you how to 1) Manaburn as a team of BLMs and 2) How to operate effectively in a normal PT. I'd recommend you at least flag up and try to get a sense of what it's like playing BLM this way so that when you get to 75, you know what everyone will expect you to know.

I know I'm oldschool (I leveled BLM almost exclusively in a standard XP setup and never soloed), but it saddens me to see 75 BLMs with no idea how to burst on a SC, how to time nuke, control hate, set elemental debuffs, etc. You should know by 75 which sets of 3 elemental debuffs you can cast without overwriting each other. You should know what elements burst off light. Etc. I know this sounds obvious but I'm being serious: there are 75BLMs who soloed the whole way there and do not know this stuff.

Anyway, good luck to you and I hope you have a fun time leveling the job as I did, just try to experience this stuff along the way so that when someone calls ":52" in your end-game event when you're in the BLM PT, you know what the heck it means :)

I'm getting better at the whole hate control and elemental debuffs.. but what exactly is ":52"? Is it a recast timer or something?

(On an off topic note, got 40 BLM the other day. :))

[Feenicks]

I'm getting better at the whole hate control and elemental debuffs.. but what exactly is ":52"? Is it a recast timer or something?

(On an off topic note, got 40 BLM the other day. :))
:52 is a call indicating the time that all BLMs will start casting. So for synchronised nuking like in certain BCs, if the leader says 20:40 or something like that, it means that all BLMs will start casting their nukes at 20:40 Vana'Diel time.

[Nuriko]

For example, the CoP 4-2 (Ouryu) fight done in manaburn style. I think it went:

Ground it
Sleep it
Time-nuke it with Freeze
Repeat

Then there's something like Under Observation, where not casting at the same time can be a very bad thing for somebody...

[Mog]

Then there's something like Under Observation, where not casting at the same time can be a very bad thing for somebody...

Not really. The babies are easy enough to kill as long as you zerg them. They'll jump back and forth a lot a lot between two black mages until they're dead.

[Dim Mahk]

I party'd BLM from 10-19 and after that I Duo'd BLM till 38. Actually took out 3 BLM's to altep desert by OP and racked up xp for a full day. It was so dam fun I didnt want to stop. Once you get a taste of the crazy xp you get from doing it. No party setup is ever worth it. I mean 450-500xp with band/kill is nuckin futs. and 350-450 w/o band.We would kill all 3 BST gobs in under 45 sec, you do the math! Either way you slice it your in a win win situation with BLM as long has you keep your INT gear up and spells current. Solo when your waiting for a pty, should ezy pull in a average pty xp/hr rate. Sub /Nin when you can use :Ichi, then quickly move to /whm when you get Stoneskin. I see it time and time again when BLM solo and go /RDM for Fastcast. They experence a quick lesson. My rule is be patient and SS & Blink > fastcast & Blink.

I also agree with Andrinor. You must experence a regular pty set up and Mana burn set up so you can learn to control the mobs to your best ability. I played with this BLM lvl 58 that had sub'd /whm and didn't even own SS or Blink and wanted to Duo with me. In addition, only had Quake as his only AM. Bibiky Bay Death no thx.

[TheGrandMom]

I'm getting better at the whole hate control and elemental debuffs.. but what exactly is ":52"? Is it a recast timer or something?

(On an off topic note, got 40 BLM the other day. :))

Just a little piece of information for you. If you go /whm and the rest of the blms are /rdm, cast 1 tick sooner than they do. So if the time called out is :49, you go at :48.

[Cotners]

Just a little piece of information for you. If you go /whm and the rest of the blms are /rdm, cast 1 tick sooner than they do. So if the time called out is :49, you go at :48.

Or just go /Rdm yourself.

[Lunaryn]

BLMs are actually quite a valuable member for parties at lower levels (pre-55 or so), there are even camp descriptions for the dunes that say you need a BLM for the crabs. The problem is that few people realize it anymore. It's damned hard to talk about low-level xp anywhere because someone always interjects something about meripo, or at least higher-level partying. Many times WARs bring /NIN to the dunes because they are under the distinct impression that that's always the best sub for xp no matter what. Most of the people who have a clear idea of what can work at low levels have gotten so disgusted with the way such parties work that they have given up and just solo or static every job they use to 20 or higher.

Hence, your biggest problem in low level xp is a fantasy world where SC damage is laughable, MB damage is laughable, nukes are laughable, enfeebles are laughable, no one should stop to rest, you're wasting your MP if you're not curing with it, NINs are always the best tank (even pre-Utsusemi:Ichi; yes, I have had a party try to get a NIN11 to tank for them) or at least the second best tank after PLD (if you have a WAR and a NIN in a dunes party, the typical dunes party will expect the NIN to solo-tank and the WAR to focus on pure DD) and the best way to beat IT++ mobs is to throw as many melee DDers at it as possible. This doesn't have good results, but people keep stubbornly doing it because they're constantly told that's how xp is done, period. (Though more likely these days, the PL is the tank, and tossing a lot of DDs at an IT++ mob works and is safe in that context. :p )

[Andrinor]

Heh, hadn't checked back in a bit. Yeah the :52 is a call timer. Sometimes leader's won't even bother to put the ":" in front of the numbers, so you might just see digits that appear random like "09". Timed nukes are essential in several scenarios, so getting used to that and being ready for it is good.

Good call on the /RDM vs /WHM. That can muck up your timers a bit. I've done it enough I can compensate, but its a feel thing really...you have to DO it to learn it.

BLM is friggin awesome in low parties btw. The buffs crabs and beetles throw up (depending on where you are XPing) can be tough to deal with since a lot of low PTs won't have a dispeller. You can blow right through that, and then aspir back your MP adding insult to injury! Never underestimate the power of elemental debuffs like burn, shock, choke, etc too. Those are nice DoT and debuff the mob as well.

Man I miss old-school BLM ; ;

[Mog]

Man I miss old-school BLM ; ;

I miss magic bursts. > .>;

[Andrinor]

I miss magic bursts. > .>;

The first time I was in Kuftal and called a SC start time during my Freeze cast for the melee (does anyone even know how to do THAT anymore?), watched the Distortion land on a crab with 50% hp, and then watched the crab freaking DISAPPEAR when my Freeze MB landed? That was the day my <3 for BLM was sealed for good in the smoking crab guts splattered all over the wall. :evil:

[Mog]

The first time I was in Kuftal and called a SC start time during my Freeze cast for the melee (does anyone even know how to do THAT anymore?), watched the Distortion land on a crab with 50% hp, and then watched the crab freaking DISAPPEAR when my Freeze MB landed? That was the day my <3 for BLM was sealed for good in the smoking crab guts splattered all over the wall. :evil:

lol i remember that. Had to make a macro just right for casting freeze and calling when melee should skillchain. Good times.

[Lunaryn]

I actually remember being the skillchain closer for MBs like that, though in my case it was in the early ToAU days, we were fighting Lesser Colibri in Wajaom Woodlands, and we had two BLMs and an RDM in the party. We'd DoT the bird down to 50%-ish, and then it would die. This was before it was expected that BLMs should solo 50-75...

[Andrinor]

lol i remember that. Had to make a macro just right for casting freeze and calling when melee should skillchain. Good times.

btw, for those interested in doing this (and I recommend ANY BLM in the 50s try it when they get freeze and are in Kuftal) I used this macro (or close, don't recall the exact wording):

/p Freeze {Start Button}, Get ready to Skillchain!
/ma "Freeze" <t>
/wait 4
/p Start Skillchain NOW! <random annoying call #>

The wait 4 is a solid starting point, which you can increase or decrease a bit based on how quickly your PT executes the SC. Call this SC somewhere around 50% and you should one-shot whatever is left of the mob by the time your cast goes off. If you call it earlier....well, prepare to tank :thumbsup:. Now all you have to do is convince melee to make a distortion chain for you, and you're gold.