an unenviable position

[secunia]

just got my account back after around 18 months of not playing. now i'm a level 41 rdm thats completely clueless! hmm you may say thats never stopped anyone before, what can I say, I dont like to suck and I dont have any confidence in main healing at all. I used to think I was pretty good at rdm but that was then this is now

Im doing general questing to get the hang of the controls and starting to write macros; they all disappeared.
I figure I'll go to valkurm and do some healing/powerlevelling to get used to healing and having to switch between targets.

It would be ideal to take a mage class to valkurm or qufim to level but I was terribly efficient and whm and blm are both low forties.

Other than that Im not certain of any party type activities I could do that I could get away with being a bit useless in to start with.

any tips on getting back into rdm after a long absence?

[Feba]

Take up another job. If you left before TAU, BLU might be a good option. It's more combat oriented than RDM, but it seems like your problem is more becoming familiar with the game period than just RDM.

[Nuriko]

For becoming familiar with a mage job, Scholar might work nicely if you have WoG ... or even SMN at 22+.

[Ellipses]

Questing and farming are a good start. Concentrate on mobs' TP moves while you're fighting them. Learn what they do, and build reactions to them. You see Leaf Dagger, you cast Poisona. You see Cocoon, you cast Dispel. Get that reaction time back.

Leveling one of the jobs mentioned would be a good idea, too. And you can always tell parties that you've been gone a while and you're working to get the hang of things again. Especially at the lower levels, people can be pretty reasonable about that. There are a lot of returning players these days.

[secunia]

I dont have wog, I was thinking about BLU too, depends how soloable the quest is, all my LSs were broke and I have no friends :-( lol

that was another thing I was going to do, see what other jobs I can get hold of by myself.

[Ellipses]

The BLU quest is cake to solo. Just make sure you gather the three items it might take (Dangruf Stone, Sunsand, Siren's Tear) before you head to Al Zahbi. All it takes past that is Sneak/Invis, and not very much of that.

[Spinnthrift]

If you tell your mages that you're rusty, and so long as they're ok with asking for Refresh, and that you'll not take it personally when they shout for stuff like Dispel, you'll find yourself back into the swing of things within a level or two.

[eticket109]

What server are you on?

[Satori]

What I did after taking a break from Whm was I played Whm on my mule using the gear from my main until i felt good enough to play whm again on my main.
After a few levels you should feel ok.

learn where you are going to be levelling in a party and make a list of the mobs Tp moves and their remedies so you can prepare it just as it goes off. As a lvl 40+ Rdm after a few levels you'll find most of it is second nature and will come back to you quickly.

[LilithAngel]

The three ToAU jobs (Blue Mage, Puppetmaster, and Corsair) are actually soloable, just takes liberal use of Sneak/Invis for all of them. The two WotG jobs (Dancer and Scholar) are also soloable. When you get the expansion (and it would be recommended if you did), just be sure to be aware that it might be cheaper to go to M&P Market and get Rolanberries from them to do a little side quest when getting the Vellum to unlock Scholar. Vellum on the AH may be rather expensive still, depending on what server you're on.

For RotZ, if you haven't done so already, Dragoon, Samurai, and Ninja all require one or more fights at one point or another, but are otherwise soloable. As a 41 RDM, you may or may not be able to handle these fights alone.

For the core game, the rest of the Advanced Jobs are mostly all melee-oriented in nature, with the exception of Bard, which is easily soloable. Depending on whether or not you wanna look into trying your hand on the frontlines or not is up to you, but if you already have most of your mage jobs leveled, and are firmly a mage, then yeah, you're probably looking at getting Wings and questing Scholar (that job will definately put your rdm, whm, and blm to use as subs).

Blue Mage is a frontline meleer that happens to use mp, a lot like what a lot of rdms want to do, but have a hard time pulling off for one reason or another. It can make liberal use of the "mage" part of its name, but that takes way more preperation and a completely different mindset than melee blu.

Oh, and don't pass up any spell. Period. Get every single last one of them. The benefits are tremendous, and not just for Blue Mage alone. By the time you finish a Blue Spell list, you'll have fought every single mob family in the game (or damn near close to it). The first hand knowledge of what every family in the game is capable of is invaluable.

[Yellow Mage]

Blue Mage is a frontline meleer that happens to use mp, a lot like what a lot of rdms should be able to do, but have a hard time pulling off for one reason or another. It can make liberal use of the "mage" part of its name, but that takes way more preperation and a completely different mindset than melee blu.

FTFY

[secunia]

I've managed to do the BLU flag, although forgotting to move home point was a bit of a hiccup when i died in the subterranean caves about 10 seconds away from the pool when sneak wore off near slimes and they "heard" me recast it and I found myself back in Jeuno lol but i did then remember to sub blm for warp in case i needed to get back under my own steam. Its all the little things one forget.
I think I prefer the idea of mage blu over melee blu. never having partied any melee classes ever before. I'll read the blu forums :-)

What I did after taking a break from Whm was I played Whm on my mule using the gear from my main until i felt good enough to play whm again on my main.
After a few levels you should feel ok.

I think i'd sub blm to start with so ppl dont expect me to main heal, or maybe just play blm/rdm for a bit cos i recall that being easiest job.

What server are you on?

Remora

If you tell your mages that you're rusty, and so long as they're ok with asking for Refresh, and that you'll not take it personally when they shout for stuff like Dispel, you'll find yourself back into the swing of things within a level or two.

Its not necessarily not knowing what to do thats the problem but things like tweaking the chat filters adequately so I see whats going on properly and getting used to using macros and targeting and timing. starting blu is a much to deal with these things as anything else.

[IfritnoItazura]

I think I prefer the idea of mage blu over melee blu. never having partied any melee classes ever before. I'll read the blu forums :-)

As far as I can tell, it's not advisable to play BLU like a BLM; the "physical" Blue Magic spells are far more MP efficient than the "magic" ones for damage.

While it can play a very good healer if you're into traditional mage roles, its best cure--the AoE Healing Breeze--is centered on self, so you'd have to be in the front line to use it anyway. Coupled with the current overpopulation of healers (DNC and SCH), playing BLU as back line mage may not be a viable option.

That said, BLU has some unique debuffs and a few interesting buffs, plus some MP efficient curative spells. It should not be all DD all the time--it can do much better than that, from the front line.

I think i'd sub blm to start with so ppl dont expect me to main heal, or maybe just play blm/rdm for a bit cos i recall that being easiest job.

I'd go with BLM/WHM, just to be more versatile.

[Ellipses]

Its not necessarily not knowing what to do thats the problem but things like tweaking the chat filters adequately so I see whats going on properly and getting used to using macros and targeting and timing. starting blu is a much to deal with these things as anything else.

There are a handful of Remorans around here, I think. Maybe you can find someone to duo with, outside of serious XP, to help you find the right mix of chat filters and remember how to macro. Or just shout or something.

[Yellow Mage]

There are a handful of Remorans around here, I think.

Actually, I prefer to call them Remoraid: