BLM as a first

[Feba]

Re: BLM as a first

I only complain against the latter,

Why? Would you honestly rather sit around town with a nice green exclamation mark by your name than play healer? If you're role playing, good on you, but that has no basis on how people who don't RP play.

And honestly, if you don't want to play a healer that badly, don't. Just enjoy getting zero EXP instead of something that can actually be very decent.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: BLM as a first

There's a difference between being adaptable (BLM tossing out a few cures after a near wipe, to help the WHM out) and being desperate (asking a BLM to main heal at all, just because they're the only ones with MP and a /WHM subjob around).

I only complain against the latter, and greatly laud the former.

EDIT @ TGM:

Well the whm was off in la-la land and not doing his job.

Well, thar's yer problem.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: BLM as a first

Okay, I'll bite.

If a Black Mage wanted to be in to White Magical duties, don't you think, ya know, that they would have signed up for a little thing called White Mage?

Not that hard to figure out, people. The occasional backup cure I can understand, but -ra/-na spells? Regen? Why don't you have a White Mage, or at least a Scholar to handle those?

Everybody chooses their job for different reasons, but I'm pretty sure one who wanted to be a Black Mage expected to blow things up, not put the party back together.

With this "be ready to main heal or play solo" attitude of the community concerning anything with MP that isn't Blue Mage, Dark Knight or Paladin (though, a wise Paladin would still make good use of their cures, anyway, but to a different end), the whole "Black Mage solo" trend isn't that hard to figure out with a little common sense.

Ok here's an example. We are in sea trying to pop <insert swearing> ix'drg. Our ally is small (don't remember exactly), we had approx. a whm, rdm, 2 blm plus a couple dd and a tank. Well the whm was off in la-la land and not doing his job. The rdm was doing double duty but was being overwhelmed and didn't have erase, poisona, etc. One of the blms was with the whm in la-la land and I was the other blm. So, according to you, all I should have been doing is casting nukes, a dot here and there, and resting. Oh look the tank in my pt has defense down.....screw it. Oh look the tank is poisoned........screw it. Oh look the ally is going down the shitter cause we don't have enough healing....screw it. Oh yes, thats a team player right there! NOT!

Sorry but I play to make sure that my team wins. I will do whatever I can to assure that happens, even if it means my death........or main healing. Personally, I think that should be the attitude of every single person but as you've proved, it's not.

[Feba]

Re: BLM as a first

YM, honestly, I don't care what your job is. You should be prepared to play whatever role the party needs. That includes main healing on BLM. That also includes going DRG/mage and doing support. That includes pulling when you aren't in the best condition for it. I mean, ffs, I've tanked as a WHM.

If the party needs something done in order to function properly, you should do it. And yes, if you don't want to do what the party requires of you, you shouldn't be there.

[Mhurron]

Re: BLM as a first

If a Black Mage wanted to be in to White Magical duties, don't you think, ya know, that they would have signed up for a little thing called White Mage?

Pull your head out of your ass and realize that sometimes people have to pitch in and do things that are not strictly defined by their main job.

Yes, a SAM might have to pull
Yes, a MNK may have to provoke that mob off the tank for a moment
Yes, a RDM might have to be a main healer
Yes, a BLM might have to also support the party

BLM solo trend has nothing to do with this BTW.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: BLM as a first

Please do NOT be a blm that thinks nuking is all they do. It's not. You need to help in any form thats needed and sometimes that takes the form of cures, regen, protect/protectra, shell/shellra, paralyna/poisona/etc. It's part of the job and, imo, it makes it more fun and interesting.

Okay, I'll bite.

If a Black Mage wanted to be in to White Magical duties, don't you think, ya know, that they would have signed up for a little thing called White Mage?

Not that hard to figure out, people. The occasional backup cure I can understand, but -ra/-na spells? Regen? Why don't you have a White Mage, or at least a Scholar to handle those?

Everybody chooses their job for different reasons, but I'm pretty sure one who wanted to be a Black Mage expected to blow things up, not put the party back together.

With this "be ready to main heal or play solo" attitude of the community concerning anything with MP that isn't Blue Mage, Dark Knight or Paladin (though, a wise Paladin would still make good use of their cures, anyway, but to a different end), the whole "Black Mage solo" trend isn't that hard to figure out with a little common sense.

[Mhurron]

Re: BLM as a first

More soloing kicks in.

And for 37 levels you'll kinda have to put aside that aversion to healing, WHM will be one of your subjobs.

[Tinks]

Re: BLM as a first

So, in short my job in a PT as a BLM is Debuffs/Support coupled with DD...
But, in later levels, More support kicks in?

[Aksannyi]

Re: BLM as a first

I didn't think I would like healing that much, either, tbh, but I started leveling WHM and I really ended up liking it. So much, in fact, that it became my main.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: BLM as a first

Please do NOT be a blm that thinks nuking is all they do. It's not. You need to help in any form thats needed and sometimes that takes the form of cures, regen, protect/protectra, shell/shellra, paralyna/poisona/etc. It's part of the job and, imo, it makes it more fun and interesting. Usually the only people I know that are just nuking as blms, are the ones also watching tv, playing DS, etc instead of playing the game. They are a liability and not an asset.

[Ellipses]

Re: BLM as a first

I'm definitely not very interested in WHM and/or taking care of others.

If you're not interested in taking care of others, RDM is likely going to disappoint you as well. If you have a dedicated healer in the party with you, you'll get to debuff and nuke and back-up heal to varying degrees. But you're going to be playing a full support/healing role just as often, which is more true the farther you go.

There really isn't a viable subjob for BLM that keeps you from doing any support. At least, not before the extra jobs at 30. Once you get your subjob, you're going to have cures and buffs, and you're going to be called on to use them.

[Tinks]

Re: BLM as a first

It does make sense...
Maybe SMN isn't the way to go for me...
I'm definitely not very interested in WHM and/or taking care of others.
x3 . . . As bad as that might make me seem.

At any rate, I'm having alot of fun playing a BLM.
I was in my first PT last night ( until 4 am @_@ ) and had a blast...
Even met some people I can play with in the future.

And, I appreciate you taking the time to help me understand some of the mechanics.
: D

[Aksannyi]

Re: BLM as a first

Damage Over Time.

Just another way of saying "DD" which is Damage Dealing.

And the nerf is hard to explain, really, but every job has native skills. A BLM can get over 300 Elemental Magic skill with merits and gear, but using BLM as a subjob for a job with no native Ele. Skill, you get like ... 135 or something. I'd have to look it up. Skill doesn't necessarily weaken power, (other stats do) but skill determines your resist rate. The higher the skill, the lesser the chance for a resist. (Resist can mean that you put out half or a quarter of the damage you would have if you didn't resist.) So using SMN/BLM and casting Thunder on a mob would not only do poor damage if you weren't geared for nuking, but it would also potentially resist, making it not at all worth the MP used to cast it.

I hope all this makes sense, but that's how skills work in this game, in a nutshell.

[Tinks]

Re: BLM as a first

Ah. So, because SMN has no "Elemental" in the Magic Skill list the attack power of the BLM's Ele spells are nerfed? That's just plain silly.
o:

And, what exactly does DoT mean?
^.^

[Aksannyi]

Re: BLM as a first

Yes you'd have them, but subbed, not they're not really useful. You'd get heavy resists because SMN has no natural Elemental Magic skill. And if you're trying to DoT mobs with your avatars, MP usage is such that you wouldn't want to spend it on half-assed nukes anyway.

Cures, on the other hand, don't work that way. You don't have to have a high rated skill in curing for your cures to heal effectively. It's pretty stupid, to be honest, but SE has never nerfed cures and so a lot of jobs (like Summoner) are expected to sub WHM and main heal because it's almost as good, and almost = good enough in this case.