Continued... (FFXI)

[thistlechaser]

So how did I leave the last post? 'I don't like being main healer... oops, got an invite!'? Well ha ha ha, there I was main healer again. Sheesh. :P At first it was a pain since we had a "normal" party, but after the first wave of replacing people it rocked, one of the best random parties I was in. We varied from 5 WAR/NINs or NIN/WARs and me to 3 NIN/WARs 1 RNG/NIN and me. Basically everyone had shadows other than me, so healing was pretty darned easy. We were hitting 200+ XP every kill, easy chain 5s. At the end we got down to a five member (for about an hour) and then a four member (for nearly an hour) and were hitting 200-300 per kill, easy fast chain 5 kills. Amazing. All of these figures were of course without the XP band, that thing wore off way way early on. Hit RDM 34!

The other good/odd/annoying (depending on my mood at the time) thing about NINs is that they cover so much of my own job. The party kept the dhalmels/beetles blind, paralyzed, slowed, etc... so all I needed to watch was HPs and dispel now and then.

Screenshot time~!

Oh boy, did I look ugly yesterday! For more than 300,000 gil, armor should NOT be that ugly. Luckily I got to sell it back today. Yay RSE! Yay cheap (free!) armor!

Those in our LS Escort static group know I have a very special relationship with lizards. And no, I didn't find what I was looking for...

Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to single out a very special player, a fellow who personifies the typical bad BLM stereotype.

I partied with him twice, both last night and today. Last night in the Jungles he first showed his true BLM colors: When he got hate, did he stop nuking? No, he nuked harder. In areas with multiple mobs, did he avoid AoE spells? Nope, because they do more damage! But that's just typical bad BLM stuff and wouldn't make him worthy of mention.

In the Jungles we battled Mandies. Mandies have AoE sleep moves. To wake someone up, you toss a cure onto them. Because he was BLM/SMN, he was useless and could not help wake anyone up. (Okay, we'll ignore the fact that he couldn't figure out how to stand out of range of sleep...) I suspected his subjob choice was because he didn't want to be called upon to cure (was lazy and selfish) but I didn't ask because perhaps he was doing it for more MP or something... (Does /SMN give you a deeper MP pool than /WHM? Yes?) Today he mentioned the real reason, with no prompting from me. Names not blurred because no one this selfish should be protected:



He stopped talking to me after that, which was a bonus because before that he had been just bragging and asking to buy stuff I was wearing...

Comments

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Well... /pulls out calculator/
At level 34, a hume SMN with both /whm and /blm fully leveled will find 9 more MP with /smn. Score!
At level 75 SMN, the difference is a whopping 19 MP!
Note these are base values and does not take into consideration subjob activated latent effects.

What else do you get at level 34SMN/17BLM? The almighty Warp spell just in case your PT gets sicked of our gimpage and kicks you from their camp outside of Ifrit's Cauldron.

There are good (but usually weak) arguments for /blm with smn, some suggest, for example, that a higher INT boost will increase avatar damage. In most cases however, I've found most people who do smn/blm are either a: taking the easy way out of healing (period), or b: too lazy to level WHM as a subjob (kicks a certain 70+BLM/SMN who routinely wasts 100+ MP on blinkga for people who shouldn't get hit/have the blink spell)

Anyways, GG on shutting that idiot up. /cheer Thistle

[draymor.livejournal.com]

That first "/smn" should be "/blm".

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Woo, thanks for the info! :)

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

I actually like the Baron's Saio, and I'm looking forward to wearing it for my RDM. It... just doesn't really go all that well with the rest of your outfit. ^_~

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Maybe it looks better on female models? I hated every part of it: Hat, body, pants, boots... too frilly!

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Maybe. I don't really like overly frilly things IRL, but I have fun dressing up Cydori. ;p

[weap332.livejournal.com]

/SMN might give a couple of more INT points. In my opinion BLMs who want to do more damage should just sub RDM, the magic attack bonuses are better then the extra couple of INT points, and you have cure spells at your disposal.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but he just wanted to avoid having to cure. *rolls eyes*

Thanks for the info!

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Lol, I'm such a dork. I mis-read your post and took the numbers/argument for a SMN main, here are the ones for BLM main:

BLM/WHM @ 34: 326 MP 38 INT
BLM/SMN @ 34: 354 MP 40 INT
Difference: + 28 MP 2 INT

BLM/WHM @ 75: 686 MP 69 INT
BLM/SMN @ 75: 744 MP 73 INT
Difference: + 58 MP 4 INT

Which make /smn a bit better based on stats alone, although one can argue the importance of added MP/INT compared to the added versitlity of having a WHM sub (-nas, heals when you need it). IMO any party that requires its BLM to heal outside of dire emergencies needs to seriously reconsider its strategy, but the ability to help out should be there.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You're not a dork, no worries! :P

IMO any party that requires its BLM to heal outside of dire emergencies needs to seriously reconsider its strategy, but the ability to help out should be there.

Totally agreed.

[phoenix-leandra.livejournal.com]

Just because I love playing Devil's advocate, in his defense there's a surprising number of people who think you can main heal as blm/whm. Of course anyone with common sense knows they can't, but on my 30 blm I get tricked or forced into main healing about 1 out of 3 parties. Of course I promptly say my goodbyes and disband, but that's just how many idiots there are on my server. I mean, 1/3 of the time! Assuming the idiots per server is about the same, I wouldn't be surprised if that blm has had the exact same experience. Thus /smn eliminates the possibility of main healing. One could even argue that if really necessary, you can heal with Carb's Ruby. Given summoning time, mana drain, blood pact delay, and how little Ruby 1 heals, it really is impractical, but can be argued as a backup heal nonetheless.

Now about his selfishness, is it really selfish to try and avoid something for which you're not meant to do? Again I'm assuming here that he's afraid of being put in a position to main heal. I've heard people call summoners who don't want to heal selfish, which is a debate in and of itself, but summoners DO have the capacity to main heal (which isn't a debate. I've done it straight from level 10 to 67). But is it selfish to not want to do something you really can't do? I equate asking a blm to main heal on par with asking a drk to tank. They're just not meant to do it. So is it selfish of a dark knight to sub thief or sam instead of war for a backup provoke? And yes I'm deliberately picking on your main. Curious to see if/how it changes your perspective. Should drk's have to sub warrior to have the ability to voke and backup tank?

I love being evil... =^.^=

/end Devil's advocate

But yeah, if he's afraid of getting asked to main heal, subbing rdm would be a better idea. Though he should probably look into a different job altogether since he sucks at blm so much. Nuke happy AoE freak at 34? Pfft... no excuse for that. Shoulda learned his lesson back in the dunes or qufim...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

but on my 30 blm I get tricked or forced into main healing about 1 out of 3 parties. ... Thus /smn eliminates the possibility of main healing.

That's assuming that people stupid enough to think a BLM could main heal would be smart enough to know that a SMN gets no healing spells.

Now about his selfishness, is it really selfish to try and avoid something for which you're not meant to do?

If your assumption were correct (which it is not, in my opinion), he is still in the wrong. Even if not a main healer, by being able to use cure spells he would be able to help the party: Heal in an emergency, wake sleeping people up, etc. To put yourself ahead of the party's needs is not a very nice thing.

I equate asking a blm to main heal on par with asking a drk to tank. They're just not meant to do it. So is it selfish of a dark knight to sub thief or sam instead of war for a backup provoke?

I don't see your point. I am not arguing that a BLM should main heal, I never once said that in my post or in any of the following comments.