[Trei Shouri]

Hullo all,

I have recently begun the chaotic task of organizing a static with some of my friends from Bahamut; seeing as we are all fairly new to the game (beginning this July or later,) it has been a bit like the castles in the swamp. It goes up... it sinks. Goes up again... sinks again. etc. (bonus points to those who get the reference.)

Anyways, the long and short of it is that we are not exactly sure where and how to take our group setup. Our current grouping is

SMN/WHM (25)
BLM/WHM (50)
and myself, bouncing between
BLU/THF (40) and BST/??? [possibly RDM? currently WHM] (15).

The trouble comes in when I try to figure out the rest of the slots, and who to invite. We had a more experienced paladin, but said paladin withdrew from the static after two unsuccessful attempts to meet, and another one of our members quit playing. Looking at this build, and thinking in terms of a group that will hopefully be doing everything from straight levelling to promies to whatever else together (knock on wood), is there any advice people have for the remaining three slots? My questions on the topice are myriad, to say the least, so I will stop on this note and ask more as they become relevant.

Thank you for your input,
-Trei

[Vyuru]

If you're in the static as Bst then you will most likely not be needing a Rdm or Whm sub. If you want healing power then /Dnc will most likely be better since you won't have to rest for mp, and for DD power, well I'm no Bst but I'd imagine that you'd want to consider /nin or /war instead. Hit up the Bst forums, in particular Omgwtfbbqkitten for professional Bst info. You might also want to talk to them about jug pets 'cause some of them are freaking awesome in certain aspects of the game.

If I were to make a party that had Smn, Blm, and either Blu or Bst for DD power, hmm, this is already a little unconventional for myself. There are three party slots left, and you need a tank, a puller, I'd prefer a full time healer although Smn and Blu can do that later on, and ideally a refresher.

Making a little list so I can kinda think about this.

NEEDED:

Tank: Pld or Nin or eventually Sam/Dnc

When I think tank, I automatically think Pld. I hear good things about lvl 50+ Soboro wielding sam/dnc, but that's a ways off for you.

Healer: Whm, Sch, Dnc, Rdm

Dnc can mainheal and provide Aspir Samba, which would help the Pld and Blu. Whm and Sch can also main heal, but then you'll need/want a refresher. Since I feel that you need to combine a role, I'd be looking at either a Dnc or Rdm main healer. If you do that however, I'd have the Smn mostly backup heal, and possibly use Hastega as their primary buff bloodpact, which may not be ideal, but it does give the melee haste and saves the Rdm or other main healer quite a bit of mp.

Puller: Thf, Rng, Sam (pretty much anything with a ranged weapon and subbing Utsu can work) Cor, Brd

I favor Thfs for pulling and hate control, seconded by Rngs, however I have met plenty of other people who could pull well on any job they played. Brd can pull, not ideal in lower level parties IMO, but it can work and it does get you a support job which is quite nice. I don't think you can get a good combination of jobs that would really provide a benefit to a Corsair's rolls, so I would be hesitant to invite one.

Ok, so summary of thoughts is as follows:

You're coming Blu, so you will need some form of Refresh to keep on dealing damage. Since you need Refresh, I'd go ahead and snag a Pld tank since they would need Refresh as well, and I just favor Pld tanks over Nin tanks. Now since you have 1-2 frontline melee jobs that need Refresh, I'd be looking at either a Dnc or Rdm main healer. Nice thing about Dnc is that Aspir Samba is pretty decent and you fight alot of mobs with mp, crabs, beetles, colibri, worms, mage mobs, etc. The bad thing is that this closes off some camps that could be otherwise attractive, such as bats, crawlers, etc. Between a Dnc mainhealer and a Rdm mainhealer, I don't know which I would pick. Both have advantages.

So now you are at Smn, Blm, and Blu/Bst, with let's say Pld, and Rdm or Dnc. This leaves the puller position open. I really like Thieves for this, but with a good Pld tank you may not need one especially since I do not believe that there will be someone that the Thf could SC Viper Bite with very well. So I might look more towards a Rng instead. However I don't know if Rngs typically sub Nin these days or not, which can be a consideration. You don't need shadows to pull, but they do help alot.

Final ideal party choice given your base 3 setup for me:

Smn/Sch, Blm/Rdm, Blu/???/Bst/???, Pld/War, Rng/???, Dnc/Nin

Why Dnc? Partly because it's a bit novel for me and a bit of why not? Plus I have seen some very talented dancers in my LS, both in LS exp parties and in my CoP static. I don't know if it'd solve your Pld's and Blu's mana problems, but I think it could work. If you wanted an absolute mana solution then I'd go Rdm/Sch instead.

It's kinda late, so I'll have to post more about my choices a bit later,

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Trei Shouri

it has been a bit like the castles in the swamp. It goes up... it sinks. Goes up again... sinks again. etc. (bonus points to those who get the reference.)

Monty Python.

As for your static, as far as leveling goes, you will want to have the basics:

Tank
Whm (for exp till the later levels I prefer whm as they get the spells you need before a rdm does)
Backup healer (rdm would be ideal especially after 41)
DD's

When you start talking missions, especially CoP, then things may need to be changed. Each mission can have an optimal setup so having a range of jobs leveled REALLY helps.

Keeping a static together, well there's just no magic wand that you can wave. LOL I've been in plenty of them and I've had 70% fall apart but the 30% that stayed together were SWEET! And you don't have to have a full static either. I would say have at the minimum, 3 core members. It's much easier to pick up the last 3 members from the FFXI population whenever you party than trying to find 5.

Good luck, I hope you finally have a stable static and can go out and have some fun!

[Trei Shouri]

@TheGrandMom:
Three core members is how we are running now, and given the flexibility recommended by Vyuru, we might be best keeping it that way, or recruiting a PLD and going from there, ya?

@Vyuru:
Wow. That may have hit a lot of questions without even slowing down. I did not even realize that DNC could main heal, for one. I guess I would have to ask, though, around what level an unconventional party build could take off? Our original PLD was not so enthused and insisted we wouldn't be able to do anything until at least Fifty, but I am not convinced.

Thanks to both of you for the help so far, by the way.
-Trei

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Trei Shouri

@TheGrandMom:
Three core members is how we are running now, and given the flexibility recommended by Vyuru, we might be best keeping it that way, or recruiting a PLD and going from there, ya?

Absolutely! That would work wonderfully. But I still stand by my statement that a whm is an absolute must for the majority of your leveling. The next closest would be sch but they still get their spells later than a whm just like rdm.

[Trei Shouri]

Hrmm.

In a conversation with my friend last night (the static's BLM), he was telling me that he was also considering picking up summoner main, seeing as he was doing the Prime Avatar fights over this past week anyway.

Should he decide to main SMN/SCH, and our other party member stick with SMN/WHM or SMN/SCH, will we still be able to form a workable group?
-Glad this thread is up,
Trei

[Feenicks]

Personally at lower levels I think SMN/WHM is better than SMN/SCH. For Summoner, /SCH doesn't really begin to shine until 70+, when you can use Sublimation, Drain and Aspir.

[Trei Shouri]

That is useful information, to be sure.

However, My worry is if SMN/SMN/BST or SMN/SMN/BLU will provide an adequate core around which to build a party, or if his changing his main job will drastically effect our workability.

-Trei

[Feenicks]

SMN SMN BST is a very strong trio group that won't really need anyone else in the party apart from someone who can Refresh. What level are you syncing to?

[Trei Shouri]

Currently my Friend's SMN is lowest at 13, and we're working from there.

[Feenicks]

For now just trio SMN SMN BST and bring juices for the SMNs. You can just keep throwing pets and Carbuncles at your targets until they die and you should be able to get some nice XP pretty quickly. Later on at 41 you'll want to get a RDM for refresh.