2 whm's almost seem essential to a good party and fast exp...

[Lenous]

So I just recently started to get into partying out in the Valkrum Dunes and have noticed a couple of things. I'm currently level 15, and when I'm the only healer of any kind in a party, we level fairly slowly, obviously because there's only one healer and, as much as people like to think I do, I don't have infinite amounts of MP... However for the past two levels, I've been mostly partying with one other healer in the group (sometimes a whm, other times a rdm, or someone with a whm subbed) and obviously it goes by much quicker...

I guess before I started partying I was always under the assumption that 1 whm would suffice for pt'ing however the more I play, the more I realize that having 1 whm isn't extremely beneficial if you're trying to pull the hardest enemies and want to level up quickly and sometimes almost doesn't cut it at all... Does this ever change as you get later into the game, or is it common place for there to be a healer and then a supporting healer (or possibly two main healers?) in a group?

[Murphie]

At the lower levels, you'll be hard pressed to handle all of the healing on your own. A second WHM, or a RDM, or even a SMN or BLM with a WHM sub can be a huge help. Later on you'll have more MP and other spells to help lighten the load, but you'll still generally want to have someone else who can backup heal.

So, like, WHM (you), RDM (or BRD), Tank, DDx3 is a pretty common setup. But really there are a lot of variations.

[Irisjir Callard]

Backup healers are beautiful things. At endgame, they're not exactly essential, especially not with some of the fabulous new ToAU camps.

However, I remember going to bibki bay on terragopans (bird type monster) (also, I forget the level I was there...) and I could not absolutely could NOT handle all the healing on my own. My casting speed was simply not fast enough, and at the time about the only serious casting reduction gear was cure clogs, which WERE omfgbbqbilliongil (ergo I didn't have them.)

I didn't exactly need the backup healer OFTEN, but sometimes I simply needed one more cure to be cast than I could do within a certain time period. It was more of a casting time issue than a MP pool issue or even a cure potency issue.

In really hard-core endgame, I've seen parties get by just fine and make mad crazy legendary exp without a dedicated healer of any kind, just one rdm or brd or smn (never a blm, oddly enough). MNK's charkra, and DRG's healing-breath themselves, and don't even seem to need these jobs very often.

Unfortunately, seeing as how I am gimp melee at best currently, I"m not invited to these crazy meleeburns.

[IfritnoItazura]

There are three main issues to single person main healing:
1. Able to toss out large enough cures fast enough. (WHM has almost no trouble doing this for most of the exp partying, even in Valkrum Dunes.)
2. Enough MP pool to get through the typical battle and the occasional emergency.
3. Recover enough MP during and between fights to sustain the pace of MP usage.

In Valkrum Dunes, #2 was a big limitation for me. This is exasperated by tanks without defense food while wearing poor armor, and the tendency of parties to go for IT instead of VT monsters. ("MP sinks") This was alleviated pretty fast as I leveled; the MP pool gets larger, and more MP+ equipment become available, and mostly within budget.

#3 is solved more slowly; more hMP equipment slowly become available (Dark Staff at Lv.51?! Arg! I could've used it in Qufim Island!), and BRD, COR, RDM won't get Refresh type spells until Lv.25-41.

So, things will get better, but only if you keep an eye out for the MP and hMP equipment you need, and making sure you have capable support to provide Refresh/Ballad/Evoker's Roll for you.

In Lv.50's and 60's, whenever my RDM had a good WHM in party, I rarely needed to toss out cures--mostly an occasional Cure III to make sure the tank won't die if critter spams supper attacks, and a rare Curaga to top off front line if there's no time to regen them after an AoE attack if WHM's Curaga II didn't quite get everyone back to safe and comfy amount of HP.

* * *

Come to think of it, I haven't came across a single bad WHM since Lv.50's... o_O; I can't even remember one bad one in the last year, playing at any level. (Why can't that happen for tanks?!)

[DieselBoy09]

Yeah, its hard with one healer in Valkurm, equipment, bad tanks, and low mp pool really drag them down. Later on however, one whm is typically sufficient enough to heal given a brd, cor, blm, rdm, or even a blu are in pt. I rarely need help healing at 56.

[Olorin401]

Even a Blue Mage can make a fantastic backup healer in the Dunes, as I've learned through my own experience.

At least.. as long as they have WHM sub.

[IfritnoItazura]

My DRK/WHM was a terrific backup healer/enfeebler in Valkrum Dunes. =b

[Saren]

You can solo heal a party (i.e with no back up) at certain levels, depending on the mob, mob level and the make up of the rest of your party but a back up healer tends to be nice for safty most of the time. Early on in the dunes is just not one of those times you can solo heal: the tanks/dds don't have terribly good gear available to them, you tend to be taking ITs, a lot of people are learning their jobs, you don't have some of the oh so helpful trademark whm spells and you don't have that much mp, so sometimes you just run out of either mp or casting time or both because people are just taking too much damage. I had a lot of two whm parties until about 15-16 (I think) in the dunes and it was definitely faster.

When you hit the later dunes it gets a little less mp tight (you get curaga which is great with divine seal at the end of a fight after a particularly horrible bomb toss) and once you hit 21 you should start to find casting time and mp less of an issue. You get a some cheaper hmp+ and mp+ gear starting at 20 and regen at 21. For a long time Regen 1 is your best friend, once you adjust to the longer casting time on it, it's increadibly mp efficient and lets you rest more during fights. Plus the gear choices for everyone get a bit better in the 20s so you should find that there are fewer tanks who need you to be constantly hitting your cure macros to keep them alive and 2 whms in a party gets to be overkill.

[Ziero]

In the dunes, back up healing is always great. Though I personally avoid getting two whm, would prefer whm+(Smn/Rdm/Brd/Blm) for more spell choices, having a back up healer helps makes things run much smoother.

Another thing that helps parties run smooth in the dunes is attacking the right mobs. In other words, avoiding ANYTHING IT++ to the main melee of the group. T and VT mobs are golden in the dunes if you can find a decent supply of them, and being that they die so fast a Whm will still have plenty of MP to spare after the fight. Of all the times I suggested going after 'weaker' prey in the dunes, not once has it slowed down exp.

So long story short, Whm work best when they have some backup.

Edit: Also, learn to <3 the Pilgrims Wand. It's like a mini-Darkstaff for the dunes.

[nazlfrag]

For your healing mp ginger cookies are great, and you can craft or buy juices to use in emergencies. Really though, like everyone said a backup healer is essential early on as you don't have the abilities or gear to do it alone, especially if it is your first job ie. no subjob.

[thakandar]

As was said above, going to fight just T's is the main thing. If your party goes after Pugils at lvl 16, then forget about it. Snippers for a long time is the best bet, with the occasional goblin (not Gamblers, with their blaze spikes) thrown in.
I was in some good Tahrongi Canyon parties where there is less of a problem of there being a huge level difference in the monsters, (at least, standing right next to eachother) so healing is easier because you know what to expect. But finding a party that will go with you there is the hard part.

[Lenous]

Excellent, thanks everyone for responding, I feel better knowing that it's not something I'm doing wrong but more so just how the game is. IfritnoItazura, you made a vlaid case with the 3 issues you described. I've noticed personally that #2 and #3 are what kill me (and the party's ability to chain together kills) - I just don't have a large enough MP pool which extremely limits how quickly we can fight monsters (and for that matter which ones, dameflies drain nearly all of my MP; that AoE skill they have is a killer) and inbetween fights I just can't rest up quick enough.

nazlfrag, you said ginger cookies and juices are good to have? I'm not on right now (or else I'd look myself) but does anyone know off the top of their heads how much such items cost at the AH (don't know how to craft them, I'll have to look that up later)?

[SeventyEight]

Juices are not worth buying imo for exp parties. Best thing is to take your cooking level high enough to make apple juices so you can just purchase the ingredients and make them while camping.

The cookies are great and fairly inexpensive. You can purchase them from the vendor who is part of the "troop" that is stationed in the conquest leading nation. Cookies are pretty cheap of the AH as well.

[Mhurron]

nazlfrag, you said ginger cookies and juices are good to have? I'm not on right now (or else I'd look myself) but does anyone know off the top of their heads how much such items cost at the AH (don't know how to craft them, I'll have to look that up later)?

Juice depends, and personally can't remember ever seeing anyone ever use them. However Ginger Cookies shouldn't be bought from the AH. They can be bought from Valeriano (with the traveling troop) for something like 7gil each. That troop will be in whatever city is currently in 1st place in conquest standings.

[Tsrwedge]

I feel a little differently on juices - I usually carry 2-5 Yagudo Drinks with me at all times just in case something links, aggroes, or just gets real lucky and I start to run dry on MP before the fight is close to being over. It's meant the difference between having to use Benediction and/or death and everyone surviving more than a couple times.

However, using drinks does come with an asterisk - using them while you are being Refreshed by a red mage will actually hurt, as you'll get three MP per tick back from a red mage's Refresh and only two back from the best juices. Using a drink while a bard has Mage's Ballad II active will be a push. Evoker's Roll depends on the Corsair's rolls.

Getting your cooking skill up there is not a bad idea, but as with leveling any skill, it can be expensive and time-consuming.

Hope this helps a little.