[aegina]

I haste myself because it reduces the recast time on refres, making it a little easier to juggle refreshing multiple people at once.

That, of course, wasn't an issue in your pt.

I have never had any pt that had myself as the sole healer go well. A few of them who had Pld tanks managed to get by, but Red Mage was NOT designed to solo heal.

And, with reguards to Haste priority, in my book, it's yourself (if you want it) > tank > whatever melee's you think you can handle. I usually haste 1 or 2, depending on how many refreshes I need to cast. On rare occasion, I'll try to haste 3+, but not unless there's somebody else to main heal (Which basically leaves me as a haste/refresh bot anyways.)

Once I actually tried to haste everybody. It burned me out in about an hour.

[Auro]

I haven't played in like a week *twitch*

My withdraw symptoms seem to only be intensifying over time ><

I stopped hasting myself after considering advice from this thread. It's much, much better. It's just 1 less haste to deal with, and I would have never believed it, but managing the haste/refresh cycle becomes like 2nd nature after a certain point, so not having my haste wearing as an indicator is not an issue at all.

Burn parties are still the norm. A friend who used to always invite me to her sam burn pts (with all these "big deal" friends of hers from the server's "top LS's") stopped inviting me after I left in a huff twice ><. They invite nin tanks, but then don't even try to let them tank, pull with tachi: jinpu, blood tank every mob, but when I get hate for cure spamming, they refuse to provoke, I'm always on the brink of no mp for the same reason. They sub war, but don't provoke when their one mage is in trouble. that's a double FU.

On the other hand, you know who always subs /nin? The damn brd. which has become another peeve of mine.

If you're the only brd in a pt <74, SUB WHM!!!!!!!!!! You want to know what's a lot more helpful than your 3 measly shadows that don't even prevent you frrom taking damage because the mobs swing more than 3 times when you're pulling? FUCKING CURAGA II! Stoneskin and Cure3. omg, it drives me INSANE. You're a brd, you're supposed to SUPPORT, utsusemi: ichi IS NOT SUPPORTING ANYTHING!! AT ALL!!!! /selfcompose

Excuse me for that... So yeah, I've gotten a little annoyed in those PTs since the exp is mediocre and they're the only PTs where I find myself in any danger.

Strangely, JP parties tend to be burn style, but the brds and cors always sub whm and wars, sams sub nin and use polearms on birds and imps so it's actually worth it to burn and I actually get the support that keeps my stress level down.

randomnesses while I'm bored and ffxi-less...

[Icemage]

Taru RDM can start a full 4xHaste 2xRefresh cycle somewhere around level 70 with properly set up parties. For lower MP races (read: just about everyone else unless you have simply godly gear/merits), it's likely not possible before level 74+.

The way to avoid stupid situations like this is to not join parties that have give-away warning signs like DDx4 with one or more being /WAR (unless it's a NIN/WAR).

As for JP players, the reason their parties are less stressful is because they're not (typically) as much into e-peen and therefore have a tendency to make sensible choices about gear and subs (not to mention that JRPGs are like a national passtime in Japan, so they get a lot of subliminal training about party optimization that way).


Icemage

[MrMageo]

Subliminal training, I could have swore It was a mandatory course at the university of Tokyo.

But it is true Epeen syndrome seems to be a NA/EU thing ive been in groups with JP players who go /DNC on jobs such as SAM to assist in the healing department.

Which is why I perfer
3xDD, 2xSupport (take your pick many jobs fit here BRD/WHM, RDM/BLU,/DNC/NIN, SAM/DNC, PLD/NIN, BLU/NIN,/WHM, DRG/Mage, DNC etc etc), 1x healer, less stressful on everyone, and often times /NIN is not required.

[Auro]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Taru RDM can start a full 4xHaste 2xRefresh cycle somewhere around level 70 with properly set up parties. For lower MP races (read: just about everyone else unless you have simply godly gear/merits), it's likely not possible before level 74+.

I wasn't aware Tarus refresh MP x% faster... Oh wait, they don't. Please don't perpetuate the myth that having 100 more mp somehow makes things requiring a lot of mp management vastly easier...

..or I'll cut joo... with my 150 sword skill and my level 40 sword... (watch the f out)

On the other hand, I was in an LS level 53 sync party last week and ended up with just that; refresh x2 (me and pld) and haste x 4 (drg mnk pld thf). But I think it had much more to do with the pld and brd being good, and pretty much nothing to do with the fact that I'm a taru.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Auro

I wasn't aware Tarus refresh MP x% faster... Oh wait, they don't. Please don't perpetuate the myth that having 100 more mp somehow makes things requiring a lot of mp management vastly easier...

..or I'll cut joo... with my 150 sword skill and my level 40 sword... (watch the f out)

/em waits for the show.

/em pops some popcorn.

/em brings extra bowls in case anyone else is waiting.

[Yellow Mage]

Ooh, popcorn, I love popcorn.

/em grabs a bowl from Grandma.

[MrMageo]

I have to agree with Auro, the MP difference is rather minimal, it is really 2 more hastes in a cycle. Which is nothing. Anyone should be able to maintain a proper cycle(meaning not hasting a job who keeps pulling hate from the tank unless they have mitigation).

MP management > everything else.

Ive seen galkas rock cycles when I leveled my dancer, its just knowing who needs what and when. Not every job needs haste, and not every job needs constant refresh. The only reason we are told we can do full cycles on everyone is because in meripos, where everyone is /nin and we have 1 BRD + 1BRD or COR (or another support). Try doing it on mamools, with no help and no no /nin and you will be in the same boat. This is why I don't view RDM as a main healer class, I view it as a situational healer, that can do the job superbly, if the stars align.