Race help

[LeFaye]

I'm still torn between taru - cute little guys , and humes. I think overall the Taru will make the better whitemage but in the beginning it will be ruff. Hume gets more HP but I usually end up in good parties. Also I'm thinking of going red mage for a sub job for survivability issues, I can always add blackmage later if I don't like it.

Icemage I know your well respected here , how well do you survive as a whitemage/red mage currently and since level 18 ?
Also anyone else who can help me choose a race , please reply. All help is needed.

[Pilsbane]

My girlfriend, Nylia, has a 30 WHM/15 BLM and is a hume. She does just fine. She has about 300 MP. A taru would have more, but she also has about 400 HP which has saved her life many times when a Taru would have died taking the same beating. You can say a whitemage shouldn't get hit, but it's bound to happen eventually. Personally I'd rather have my healer be able to take a hit or 2 in an emergency and have a little bit less MP than go down in 1-2 hits with a full MP bar.

My vote is Hume.

[LeFaye]

Yea, I'm leaning towards hume also ...

[Brayden]

Though Ive never played as a taru taru, my Hume has never let me or my PT down yet. Playing as a wise whm means more than just having mp to burn.

[Icemage]

Surviving as a Taru WHM is tricky. You have to learn how to manage your hate levels. Use enfeeble spells (Paralyze, Slow, Dia, and if you have a RDM or BLM sub, Blind) to reduce the amount of damage that the enemy deals so that you can cut down on the healing MP (and thus, your own hate).

Take control of the groups you join - if you feel rushed, force them to slow down, because the main reason Taru WHM die is usually because the group attacks something too hard, or attacks something when you don't have enough power left to handle it - those are the situations where you are forced to use Curaga or Benediction, which greatly increase your risk of dying.

Overall, a Tarutaru WHM will outperform a Hume WHM by about 15-20% overall, if played with the same level of skill. As a rule, when things are going well, the Taru WHM can maintain safety for 1 additional kill per XP chain, which nets better XP for everyone overall.

At level 19, make use of the Blink spell. It is the KEY to safe XPing after level 18. A lot of white mages think this spell is a waste of MP because they don't understand how to use it correctly. When used properly, Blink and proper hate control can net you even more performance.

One last piece of advice - if you can, do a small amount of SAFE soloing in your off mments to bring up your Shield skill. The shield skill is one of your best friends, and you should never be without a shield in a group.


Icemage

[Coinspinner]

What's the proper way to use Blink? I'm leveling WHM soon, and would like to know.

[kumaeru]

I only use blink when my mp is relativly high 80-100%, Cast it on yourself when the puller goes to pull something else, and rest and regain your mp while until the puller returns with the monster.


Blink is a very useful spell, more so for tarus I would say, due to the complete damage reduction of two attacks.


As any race, I would say if whm you should always know the hate lvls. You can generally know hate lvls after playing for a bit. If tank/provokers are having hard times provoking and keeping it off you, then take a break and dont "nuke" your cures.. use smaller spells, and use Regen.


Regen is a staple spell for all whms, it is VERY important when keeping mp loss down and chains going.

[Icemage]

There many situations where I use Blink.

(1) Everyone is resting to full, cast Blink before you sit. That buys you some extra insurance in the first fight.

(2) Enemies with nasty area effect attacks (Damselflies, whatever). Cast Blink, cast Curaga, recast Blink while monster has to deal with your Blink.

(3) Fight is getting close to over(monster has less than 3 combat rounds to live), 3 players are yellow in party. Cast Blink, cast Curaga and tank the last couple seconds of the fight.

(4) Emergency Benediction. If the fight is obviously lost but you have a bit of time to spare... Cast Blink, cast Bind(if you have it), activate Benediction, and run.

(5) Tank is losing HP fast due to special attack and/or Crits. Cast Blink, activate Divine Seal, cast Cure II/III, recast Blink while monster aggros on you.

All of the above tactics work very well for me - once you understand that you have time to recast Blink while the monster aggros you, it makes the high-powered healing spells much more effective because you can use them with a lot less fear.


Icemage

[LeFaye]

Hmm, damn decisions. Taru's are so cute too....

What would red mage sub do to make a Taru a little more surivivable ?

[Brayden]

most likely give your more HP than the blm sub would.

[Icemage]

RDM gives More HP, and access to the Parry skill, which, while it doesn't kick in very often, acts like a "second shield skill" for you. Overall, I think it's a better defensive choice as a subjob until at least WHM20, if not WHM30.


Icemage

[FF Fan]

Icemage, I seldom cast blink in battles but do it a lot in preparation of one as the casting time for blink is like forever. In emergency, i would not spend the time casting blink. I think using my cures on my members would be a better option.

As for blink, bind and benediction, I will have to judge quite early that is before any real threat has ocurred.

How do you go about doing it?

[Icemage]

In order to use Blink effectively, you MUST stay aware of battle conditions and stay on top of healing. It is always a judgement call to see how much time you have before something disastrous happens, but I find that in most situations, there is a lot more time than you might think.

If you are diligent about keeping people healed properly, there should be plenty of time to cast Blink in preparation of casting Curaga. The moment I see 3 bars go yellow I make a snap decision about whether I'll need to cast Curaga to keep up, based on the monster's current health. If the monster is at 25% or less life, that's usually when I'll pull the trigger and start casting Blink.

With regard to Benediciton, there are two situations where I use Benediction:

- When I'm in the middle of casting a long spell like Regen and someone gets hit by an outrageous amount of damage. If I don't think I can successfully cast a Cure II or III before they get hit again and die, I activate Benediction to get them out of trouble. In this situation, there is no time to cast Blink.

- The other time I use Benediction is when I am out of MP. Playing as a Tarutaru, I have a very large MP pool to work with (382MP at level 33). This lets me see bad battle conditions coming a mile away, as I have a lot of time to make a decision before I run out of MP. I usually think about using Blink + Benediction is when I drop below 100MP. If it looks like the battle can be won within a short timespan (5-6 combat rounds), I will reserve my last 40 MP for using this trick. I cast Blink, let as many tanks go red as is safe, activate Benediction, and start recasting Blink immediately. Doesn't aways work, but it gives you a fighting chance in those situations, and it works surprisingly often.

The important thing to know about Blink is that it almost always costs less to cast Blink (20MP) to stop 2 attacks on you than casting Cure II (24MP) on your tank (who will more often than not take more than 90HP of damage from two hits after level 20). By wisely managing your hate levels, and occasionally drawing aggro deliberately, you can save yourself a lot of MP in fights, which in turn gives you the opportunity to be a better healer.


Icemage

[Frarinalga]

If you plan on sticking with mage only jobs, play as a taru. If you plan switching around jobs and such, hume.
I'm doing elvaan, since (IMO) they're the best bard.

[Icemage]

Actually, Tarutaru make the best bards, too. Tarutaru, Hume and Elvaan all have the same CHR, so the main differences are in the other stats. Since most bards sub WHM, Tarutaru are better because of their larger MP pool.

HP, VIT, DEX, STR, AGI don't matter much to a bard. They almost never draw aggro, and they almost never melee beyond level 25.


Icemage