White Mages, scary?

[x1ang]

when you lag... it makes you and your party want to cry ^^a. as is my stupid wireless randomly turns off and on, so when i look at hp itll be full then magically drop down to red in a second... /sadface




oh for more experienced WHM out there, do you montior the HP bars and chatbox simultaneously? or just HP bar.. etc?

[sudo]

I started MMORPGs like 9 years ago with muds. I can read 50 lines of text in 3 seconds if that. (well I'm not really reading every single line but I learned to see patterns and disturbances in the pattern show up in my head like bright red flares.)

When I first started out. I religiously stared at the HP bar and color.

With a lot of practice, I can cast poisona, type /p wow cool did you see that magic burst damage?, and then follow up with regen and cure. (sometimes just by watching the fight, the HP's bar area is like peripheral vision and I can cure just from noticing a color change and looking at who got hit last from the attack animation)

So far, very few other players I know actually respond to me in the middle of the battle. A couple of very good drk's and rdm's sometimes respond....

But with practice, anyone can do it. A bit harder with a brd in the pt but it's all good >:D

and btw, I think it's a useful skill to learn. Helps in real life, and also makes game a lot cooler. Most whm I know have no clue what certain attack animations look like or what renki animation looks like. Shame that some even miss out on avatar 2hrs cause they were just staring at the HP bars all day. (I did this too when I first started >_<)

There's some cool grafix effects in the game. Don't miss out ^_^

[riceburner4540]

and btw, I think it's a useful skill to learn. Helps in real life, and also makes game a lot cooler. Most whm I know have no clue what certain attack animations look like or what renki animation looks like. Shame that some even miss out on avatar 2hrs cause they were just staring at the HP bars all day. (I did this too when I first started >_< )

haha...my group's whm stares at the hp bars all day...or at least i think she does cuz despite all this time we've been partied, she has no idea how to pull off an MB. i had to give her instructions...as far as playing whm goes though, she is the best there is

[RookeGoldenleaf]

oh for more experienced WHM out there, do you montior the HP bars and chatbox simultaneously? or just HP bar.. etc?

For now, just HP bars. If me could move Party windows to left side and move Chat/dialog window to right some, me could read messages and see HP bars on big monitor. For now, me settle with keepin them alive #1, curin ailments as me notice them/ them tell me #2.

[Dux]

Originally posted by x1ang
oh for more experienced WHM out there, do you montior the HP bars and chatbox simultaneously? or just HP bar.. etc?

I have been reading both since about lvl 35. I would say the attention is about 30-50% HP bars and 50-70% text window for me during a standard fight

The HP bars are very simple to monitor as you don't need to worry about the numbers when they are in good HP. When they drop into yellow / red then you need to start paying the full 50% to them. If you are fighting a HNM or some bad ass monster with a really nasty AOE / special however then it could go up to 75%.

The text window I spend lots of time looking at. I have a mental counter in my head for Haste wearing off and Regen II wearing off. I do my best to cast Haste the instant it wears off on my team and you can't do this without watching the text box. Spotting AOE poison / petrify / plague is also very very useful which you can't really do without looking at the text box either.

[Feenicks]

For me it's more to do with timing than watching the HP/chat log. When I cast a spell like Regen/Haste I can usually sense when it's about to expire, because I have a rough idea how long it lasts when I cast it on that character. Then I turn from the HP bars and wait for the worn off message so I can recast.

But these days I only glance at the HP bars from the side of my eye, and if I see yellow then I heal. I'm more worried about watching for messages now because if I miss the main tank getting Stoned or something then we can be in serious trouble. Generally, these are the key phrases that I've trained myself to look out for:

<main tank's> Regen effect wears off.
<skillchain participants'> Haste effect wears off.
<mob> readies Status-Inflicting WS.
<mob> readies incredibly hard-hitting WS.
<PT members> Protect effect wears off.
<PT members> Shell effect wears off.
<BLM> starts casting <ancient magic>.
<RDM> uses Convert.

There may be one or two more but that just about clenches it I think.

[forster]

17 WHM - yes Im a bit of an elitest too.

I agree with what others have said, find a meat-shield and make friends, theres one person so far that I would travel to the other side of the map for, basically because she knows how to handle a party and pull the hate when needed.

Random groups are just that for a WHM - yes a WHM can always get a group, but anyone who has only played melee classes would be in for a wakeup call as we have to deal with a lot of crap as well.

I call myself elitest because yes I'll bitch and whine if I feel that the tank isnt doing his job properly - Ive played warrior too, I know what provoke is, I dont know why other warriors dont. I also have no pity for groups that die who dont watch for my mana bar before pulling IT's. Yes I am resting, yes you are dying and shouting in CAPS 'HEAL ME' Im sorry that you didnt look at my mana bar - yes that's my ass wiggling away at full pelt zoning you.

The best groups are not those that kiss WHM ass - the best groups are those formed with a plan, and where the leader takes every member into consideration when in a fight and afterwards.

I chose WHM to help people, I dont think it is wrong to ask for a little respect (albeit no more than any other team member) when I am with your group.

Grrr - too many stupid deaths due to 'lack of a plan' /endrant

Oh yeah - never cast Curaga mid-battle :sweat:

[riceburner4540]

Oh yeah - never cast Curaga mid-battle

its sometimes ok to cast curaga during battle...just need to choose the right time. earlier on, its almost like benediction, but later on, when tanks have much more tools for controlling hate, curaga in battle is fine. just don't spam it . one good use for it is when you're fighting mandragoras, either in yuhtunga and yhoater when they AE sleep or in boyahda if its overcamped and people steal all the damn crabs.

[obsidian]

Originally posted by riceburner4540


its sometimes ok to cast curaga during battle...just need to choose the right time. earlier on, its almost like benediction, but later on, when tanks have much more tools for controlling hate, curaga in battle is fine. just don't spam it . one good use for it is when you're fighting mandragoras, either in yuhtunga and yhoater when they AE sleep or in boyahda if its overcamped and people steal all the damn crabs.

Protectra is a much mp cheaper way to remove aoe sleep affects from group members.

[neighbortaru]

huh? protectra removes sleep? I thought only hp affecting stuff can do that.

[Dux]

Protectra isn't such as good idea

1) Protectra doesn't give HP back so you are wasting mana that could be used healing everybody.
2) Most WHM have Protectra setup on a macro that casts Shellra at the same time. This means you have to screw around getting into the healing possition to stop it and causes lots of wasted time.
3) You can cast Curaga on somebody else.

I actually haven't checked if you can cast protectra on somebody else as this is a pointless thing to do anyway. If I was away from the main tank as I shold be I would miss the protectra myself and have to waste even more mana / time recasting it on me when my protectra ran out and theirs didn't.

[riceburner4540]

you can't cast protectra on anybody else

[Feenicks]

Most WHM have Protectra setup on a macro that casts Shellra at the same time.

I've often wondered why people do this, it just strikes me as being particularly pointless.

[Rones]

I do it, because I got tired of pushing two differnt macros and because it was taking up two macro slots. Also, at upper lvls you wouldn't have protectra macroed anyway with protectra II-IV available.

[Stormwalker]

I have my Protectra II and Shellra II on separate macros. Why? Because if Protect runs out for the party in the middle of battle and I need to recast it quick, I can't afford to have the delay of trying to pick the spell out of the menu or of waiting for Shellra II to cast also. In most cases, Shell can wait until after a battle to be recast, but failing to quickly recast Protect can end up with your tank taking too much damage too fast for you to heal. Likewise, casting both spells back-to-back in the middle of battle is going to result in your tank being at low HP and you having to bust out a high-end Cure spell (at my level, possibly DS+Cure III) just to catch up, and possibly drawing aggro...