[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

The style of healing WHM has taken on since the update is appealing to me and I'm considering adding WHM to Kitten's repitore. While Foobar would be better prepared to continue WHM, I feel SCH is sufficient for when I'm needed as a healer on that character, plus I'd prefer to merit him in favor of RDM and SCH in terms of magic skill. Kitten has no magical merits to speak of, so she's an open book.

So that leaves Kitten with some subjob work and I know SCH would be the biggest part of that work, I'm just curious if SMN is still used as a sub. As of this update, though, that might not be needed since solaced cures add stoneskin briefly. Just looking for a little input.

[Omniblast]

I don't see anything that would be useful for /smn vs. /blm or /sch or /rdm. Honestly the only real benefit for that lies at level 25 for auto-refresh & Aerial Armor (92 mp), but even still that brings very little if you are able to balance your mp cost useage as a whm. (don't over cure, don't waste your mp).
You can't use Earthen Ward as a sub summoner because it's a Level 46 spell.

I think that if I were to do whm all over again, I'd have sch or blm leveled first before summoner.

[Aksannyi]

I never use SMN sub anymore. The only two I use are SCH and BLM. SCH really when I'm actually doing stuff, and BLM for traveling, and sometimes (rarely) if I think we are going to be lowmanning an HNM. (ES Sleep - though that's been nerfed now). I don't think I really see anyone subbing SMN on WHM, except for one specialized thing, which is pulling out Carby and assaulting the Mega Boss in Dynamis - Beaucedine, so that when it warps, everyone can follow the Carby. Really though, I can't remember the last time I did the Beau Mega Boss and it's not that big of a deal that you'd actually need to level SMN sub just for that.

The new changes to WHM are good, I'm still fiddling about with them, trying to determine where they are most useful. I will say that in Einherjar the other day, Auspice was rather nice, and if I had been in a DD party in Dynamis, I would have kept it up full time (was in the tank party yesterday). It is also very useful for Salvage boss fights. I'm disappointed with Cura honestly, but really, the new stuff is win and definitely added some new flavor to a job I already loved. And I also like that more people seem to be interested in it now! Gives us a bit more variety in what we do, though really, I've never considered WHM boring, unless there's like 3 healers in one party.

I know you said you like the "stances" thing, so the new changes would be right up your alley. I've always felt that with SCH sub I could change up reasonably well if I wanted, though I really only enter Dark Arts on WHM for Drain and Aspir purposes. I probably still could go into Dark Arts and see what kind of fun I could have with WHM, but I never tried it, lol. Now this "change mode" deal is enhanced a little.

As for magic skills ... there really aren't any necessary for WHM. Healing magic skill merits won't affect your cures that much, if at all, Divine is meh. I have capped Enfeebling and Elemental from RDM and BLM, and those Enfeebling merits have come in handy more than a few times on WHM, so if you're going to merit magic skills, at least do Enfeebling. You could possibly throw some into Enhancing, but you should be able to cap stuff that requires Enhancing skill reasonably fine without merits. I haven't looked at that recently so I may not be 100% correct there, but I've personally always felt that Enhancing merits were a waste unless you are capping Phalanx 2 on RDM.

Also, Mithra WHMs are cute! <3 Hope I was helpful.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Well, its not just the merits, but adding a little versatility to kitten at high level. I'm all guns and bows right now and if I really am needed to /WHM at an event, I'd rather just WHM or SCH main it. I hate going COR/WHM that much - /DNC and /RNG or GTFO, lol.

Plus this way if I'm needed as a healer, I don't have the fuss of logging out and gearing up another character, just gear up the one I'm logged into. The mog satchel will only make this easier.

[L boogie]

Well i was really considering retiring WHM before SCH was released since i figured SCH or SMN would be more or just as capable of main healing as well as a WHM back in the day when we had to /BLM or /SMN, and even recently until the epic April Update really putting WHM back on top in terms of "main healers". SE really made us more versatile, now with /SCH (Sublimation, Light Arts, Penury, Celerity) now more with Afflatus Solace/Afflatus Misery, and spells like Esuna which should have been added since the begginning really breaks the WHM barrier of being notorious for being a repetative and tough job. I say go for it, i am enjoying WHM so much more now and i am sure you will enjoy it as well. As a whole, we can hold our own very well now in my experience. I dont know about other WHMs, but if i didnt see spells like Refresh/Ballad/Evokers on me full time pre-SCH, i would freak out. Now its merely a bonus..do i need it.. No not really, but its still nice to have lol. Go for it.

[Malacite]

Healing Magic will affect your cures lol. Dinged 43 yesterday and I still can't always cap Cure 3 >.< (86 healing skill, way off from my current cap) and it impacts Cure V the most.

But ya SCH and BLM sub ftw (maybe RDM on occasion? idk) Had the most ridiculous argument in my Dyna shell months ago with 1 of our WHM's who was still arguing that SMN sub gives better MP management than /SCH....

[Aksannyi]

Yes, healing magic skill will affect cures but it's not noticeable enough to spend merits on it, when there plenty of gear options that do far more to maximize them.

[Malacite]

Yes that much is true ^^

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Aksannyi

Yes, healing magic skill will affect cures but it's not noticeable enough to spend merits on it, when there plenty of gear options that do far more to maximize them.

I recently had a "discussion" about that extra 5 hp you might get. That could save your life! The mob could hit you for 400 and if I had cured you to 398 hp then you're a dead cookie! If I had that extra curing power and had cured you to 403, your ass would still be alive! So don't diss the extra curing power!




*please note this is all said with a tone of sarcasm and disgust as, imo, using merits like that is a waste*

[Akashimo]

Furen's FFXI Cure Calculator

Using what I currently do for gear, with 92mnd, 306 skill 67 vit, nobles and templar mace:
Cure: 39, Cure II: 112, Cure III: 236, Cure IV 474, Cure V 807.

If I swaped my cleric's pants for blessed:
Results would be the same say for Cure V which is seldom used, only a difference of 5 hp.
Sure haste would be best to use in results like that, but if I need to cure 3/5 where I'd absolutely need the haste from gear, something isn't going right, even more so with the update.

So as for skill vs mnd, if its not +15 don't bother with more skill over 6+mnd.
And before anyone cracks a whip at my use of clerics over blessed, my defense is; It looks better with nobles on me

On to SJ: smn is more like to be used when I get new mp gear, lets see how high my max would be! /sch its at 11.... <_<... No comment on it other than I should finish it. /blm <3 Warp, ES, Escape. If you really want to test your mp management skills later on, /nin and see how far you can be effective with mystic boon dding

Pre-update view to whm: Its fun at some times but boring with lack of multiple things I could keep track of, probally cause of being on rdm in tank parties, but my prefered job due to usually end up spending majority of my mp curing.

Post update: Love it. Still toying around when to use misery and solace, but I'm getting in the hang of it. Plus getting beaten on cures by the tank themselves or by the rdms doesn't bother me as much(still wasted mp) but stoneskin on tanks, yay! Though I'm already starting to hold back from barking at other whms not having solace up. Still haven't found the best mob/fights for misery outside of dding or soloing <3 auspice.

[Aksannyi]

Problem is when I need Esuna for something which requires Erase, I often forget to switch to Misery. That, or I think I'm already on Misery because the icons are nearly the same. :/

[Akashimo]

Originally Posted by Aksannyi

Problem is when I need Esuna for something which requires Erase, I often forget to switch to Misery. That, or I think I'm already on Misery because the icons are nearly the same. :/

True, then when i realize it, i don't wanna cause of all the cure'd hp I've built up =/

[Firewind]

With the new update the only real uses I see for /SMN is stacking Shining Ruby on top of Shellra V (it adds a flat 10% Magic Def on top of what you already have from Shellra) and maybe exp parties from 50-70 of there is no refresh (increasingly common these days).

/SCH gets you Light Arts, Penury, Celerity and Sublimation and Dark Arts gives you an essentially full powered Aspir and Drain and access to Dispel (which a depressingly small number of WHMs actually use).

/BLM to be honest is only good for one spell: Warp. The only reason I'll ever sub this in a party is if I want epeen super Holy MB damage or nobody else has escape.

/COR and /BRD are actually very useful and underrated considering that WHMs don't get anything useful from their main subs until high levels (Except L. Arts) so they are viable subjobs in the early levels.

[Nuriko]

Doing Nyzul, I've been going a lot as WHM/SMN and sometimes as BLM/WHM (the boss runs, having somebody to nuke things to bits can sometimes be VERY handy). One of the things I miss when I'm on BLM that people hardly think of is the mini-radar ... it makes hunting for lamps MUCH easier, and it's nice to know there's a pair of mobs to pull on the other side of the wall for the 'all' floors. For that matter, I even ended up carby-pulling once when we were up against Racing Chariots, there were 3 all in a cluster. They may not be huge bonuses, but every job can add something if you're aware of it, and the auto-refresh (especially since we usually go WHM and RDM) was no small thing when always on the move.

[anaxamandra]

I always felt /SMN was good during the sky and Fafnir era of the game. Had /SCH been around back then I would have done that one first.

Nuriko brings up some good points though about unusual situations you may find yourself in.