White Mage Guide, Zero

[Masterofshade]

Jerhyn said:

The Barspell merits also add MDB to the matching element...

4serious? Only adds MDB for that specific Element? I think I'm gonna test this.

[Khamsin]

I understand it's untouchable and I don't plan on touching it. Doesn't mean I have to like what it says ;/. I can only hope Zero improves it to the point that it does not cause controversy, then everyone goes home happy.

Don't worry, Zero's guide won't be the one that's chosen as the Official BG WHM Guide that's linked wherever that stuff will be linked.

The only way anyone will ever find Zero's WHM guide is if they specifically go to "White_Mage_Guide_by_ZeroSerenity" or whatever the article title is, or search for ZeroSerenity.

Everyone who wants or needs to see a WHM guide will see the official one only.

Therefore, there's no need to be anxious about pumping out future generations of shitty WHMs because the new WHMs will see the official guide, not Zero's.

[Ashira]

Jerhyn said:

The Barspell merits also add MDB to the matching element...

4serious? Only adds MDB for that specific Element? I think I'm gonna test this.

That much is listed in the description of the Barspell merits.

However, unlike Zero's guide said, fully merited barspell is not nearly enough bar- for elemental attacks to be resisted.



Kaeko has apparently decided to use the guide in his next blog update, I believe. He said he'll try his best to be polite and PC, Zero, and for the most part he is; I believe you'll find a good chunk of constructive criticism there when he's done.


My own little sticking points:
Protect Vx3 no no no no
Shell Vx3 yes yes yes
Martyr = fine for any race, esp if you know how to make a standing set that doesn't lower your HP. It's immediate use; I get an immediate 500 HP heal for a party member without having to wait on cure cast times, and I have yet to really come into a circumstance where I wanted to use it but was at half HP. I love it in Dynamis.

Standard gear should pretty much be, imo, mnd and haste/fast cast, mp and no -hp (ie, ditch the Blue Cape - gogo Intensifying). I suppose -Enmity too, but most of that is built into the above gear anyway. I used to be big on the max MP sets too, but after I'd end up with all this free MP I was scared to touch any macros cuz gear would change and I'd lose it, and I couldn't just stand around typing out commands for however long or casting completely pointless hastes for the hell of it. Carry a few slots but don't overdo it, max MP doesn't end up meaning a whole lot after a while. More about MP regen, with Refresh/Ballad and hMP.

It's rather funny, I remember being a total MND whore as I leveled WHM, even back at level 30-60+, and I got absolutely trashed listing my gear and opinions about it on KI WHM forums once. 'OMG IT'S ALL ABOUT MP MP MP'... I didn't even own Electrum Rings until like, level 72 when some friends continued to give me grief over my MND rings... and look at everyone now! HA. :D

[Genosync]

<Double Post>
Yeah, you're right. It is closer to 15%, give or take 1% or so.

On that note: My new crowning achivement has just been done. Time to get busy with other things now.

(If you can't tell, it's that all 18 jobs are 37+)

Cool, all of mine are at 66+ except PUP, and that's 44.

mada mada

[Zero Serenity]

Well, I may not be devoted enough for that, but I'm proud of myself enough with what I have.

Basicly, if you have the cap, all the more power to ya, but it's not for me.

A couple other points. Am I the only person here who's so in love with Devotion that nobody else has said a word about it? Also, how I wrote Protect V is that you should just get one level of it, not three. Perhaps I should reword that.

Finaly: Who's Kaeko?

[Apelila]

::Finaly: Who's Kaeko?

I believe she's the one who worked out a lot (and by lot, I mean pretty much all) of the white magic formulas.

Skimming this thread and the guide it looks like people have their main problems with Zero's opinions, and thats been addressed, but I feel necessary to add a couple other things since I'm tired and cranky and hell, its the internet. Ashira said some things I wanted to already.

What's the difference in total HP regen? It's 460 > 520 > 560 HP recovered in 1 minute, or less than a singe 24 MP Cure II between unmerited and fully merited. Remember, you're not arguing for the usefulness of the spell, you're arguing for the usefulness of the merits.

Someone gets yellow, slap the Regen III on, let it simmer and they're back in the white. No big deal.

Try that on Jailer of Prudence (or any other HNM for that matter) and you'll end up with a dead tank. Even meriting on mamools, one Rushing * / Vorpal Blade at yellow HP and your melee could be dead. Regen can be nice when in white HP > 75% < 100%, but it shouldn't be used as a crutch.

Your numbers are a bit wrong. Even if you meant cure IV, thats 88 MP. If you meant cure II, I think we need to know how your getting +300% Healing magic.

And bitching about how the tank is in the yellow? YELLOW? There's so many possible situations where a tank might be in the yellow that I wont list them all, but using situations where a tank is about to get face raped thanks to combined factors when bitching about Regen is a bit puckish don't you think?

And(using what people are griping about) I think his guide is more about how to have fun in merit parties since they're so god damn boring as WHM. I don't really think anyone goes /ma "Regen III" /h with a almost half dead tank @ any boss fight unless they've only got like 30 MP left.

That brings us to the next /sigh

In a merit pt (if there even IS a whm) your merits really don't mean much of anything. A decent WHM with no merits can be 100% as effective in a merit pt, as one that is fully merited (for the most part). A little slower on the cures, not as good a regen, people take a little more dmg... but really, not that big a deal. Merits for WHM revolve almost entirely around endgame.

You said so yourself, merits don't mean shit for a WHM in meripo. Remember kids: No one levels WHM for fun or other reasons, its all about end game uber crap, where you get to spam cure a tank who's already @ full health because all the RDM's are curing him too.

I would also say a WHM better fully merit Cure Cast Time as well. Your Cure 5 landing before my Cure 4 (as an RDM, I cast Cures on instinct) is a good thing for not only my own hate gain, but it makes it easier for your tank to hold hate.

I agree that cure casting time is a sexy thing. Past merit 4 I debate the use for a variety of reasons I won't go into here, but lets just say it makes it harder to spam Cure II and III without some serious haste setup. **
My own personal gripe: Attention Red Mages: Stop using cure IV. You have cure III, the tank is only in the Yellow and has Regen III on him. Thank you for using cure IV on the ninja @ byakko, that helped. Why are you using cure IV on the kiting Paladin when he has his own personal WHM? Are you that bored?

**In certain instances, (like multiple mages spaming cures), cure III spammed generates much less hate that Cure IV spam, keeping the tank alive better since the mob wont turn / move and you dont 'loose' as much MP to the tanks HP cap with the other cures hitting the tank as well. This however depends on if your mages are on the same page, and other factors.

[Xanthe]

What's the difference in total HP regen? It's 460 > 520 > 560 HP recovered in 1 minute, or less than a singe 24 MP Cure II between unmerited and fully merited. Remember, you're not arguing for the usefulness of the spell, you're arguing for the usefulness of the merits.

Your numbers are a bit wrong. Even if you meant cure IV, thats 88 MP. If you meant cure II, I think we need to know how your getting +300% Healing magic.

I wasn't comparing cure vs regen. I was comparing the difference between unmerited and fully merited regen, which as stated is 100 HP regen over one minute. This was explained in my text you quoted, bolded above for emphasis.

And bitching about how the tank is in the yellow? YELLOW? There's so many possible situations where a tank might be in the yellow that I wont list them all, but using situations where a tank is about to get face raped thanks to combined factors when bitching about Regen is a bit puckish don't you think?

You're right, my example was a bit extreme. I'll rephrase it: If you are in a situation where damage can add up fast, regen shouldn't be used in place of a cure. I guess I made it out that way before since those are most of the kind of situations I'm in when playing WHM.

[Jeryhn]

My own personal gripe: Attention Red Mages: Stop using cure IV. You have cure III, the tank is only in the Yellow and has Regen III on him. Thank you for using cure IV on the ninja @ byakko, that helped. Why are you using cure IV on the kiting Paladin when he has his own personal WHM? Are you that bored?

It comes from using RDM as a main meriting job. When you're a solo healer a majority of the time, dropping cure bombs soon becomes second nature. There's also the fact that we have higher HP, Stoneskin and Phalanx, so we can take a good hit or two.

I drop Cure 4's like they're nothing though, besides that and Stun, I won't be pulling much hate as an RDM unless I'm purposefully tanking anyway.

[Nikko]

I read in one of the first posts in this thread that the guide lists certain subs as bad for whm. Not sure if any one said anything about this but, BLU is actually a pretty pimp situational sub for WHM. Easiest example is KS99 Wyrm, wear all your +healing magic gear and get the most mp efficient curaga's ever.

[Kaeko]

I sent you a PM about your guide. I don't know how long it takes for PMs to go through tho. I'm not a WHM, but I have written a guide before.

Ashira will tell you that when I saw this guide for the first time, I actually thought it was a joke - as in someone wrote this to get laughs. Only after she told me did I realize this was actually someone's real attempt at a guide. I don't want to sound overly harsh, which is why I gave you advice via PM instead of openly. I do think you should thank the BG members in charge of the Wiki for being so PC towards you - we've all seen things like this get removed or locked near instantly on the forums; you should thank them for giving you a chance, even though I think they are required to b/c it's on Wiki.

[Khamsin]

I sent you a PM about your guide. I don't know how long it takes for PMs to go through tho.

It depends on the zip code of the recipient, but generally takes 1-3 business days.

[Zero Serenity]

Half a major update done. Lemmie know what you think sofar. *Passes out cold*

[Apelila]

What's the difference in total HP regen? It's 460 > 520 > 560 HP recovered in 1 minute, or less than a singe 24 MP Cure II between unmerited and fully merited. Remember, you're not arguing for the usefulness of the spell, you're arguing for the usefulness of the merits.

Your numbers are a bit wrong. Even if you meant cure IV, thats 88 MP. If you meant cure II, I think we need to know how your getting +300% Healing magic.

I wasn't comparing cure vs regen. I was comparing the difference between unmerited and fully merited regen, which as stated is 100 HP regen over one minute. This was explained in my text you quoted, bolded above for emphasis.

Oh I get it now. You're arguing that the difference Regen merits makes amounts to the same thing as a cure II; also that a cure II instant restores the HP, instead of over a minute. My only response is shit is situational, just like much of the other arguments here (though admittedly most of the shit made me giggle).

[Peucritond]

Blessed Briault adds MDB+5 to the bar-element you cast, no additional elemental resistance.

How did you come up with that? The only thing I've ever seen from Blessed Briault is a longer lasting bar spell.

[Amele]

I don't believe it increases the duration of the spell, but I'll check tonight.

the MDB+5 is fairly easy to check. just get hit with a spell with and without it >.>;

[Xanthe]

Bar-element spells last exactly 2:30 with and without Blessed Briault. Like Amele said, it's easy to test by getting hit by spells with and without the briault used for barspells. Just make sure to compensate for any traits, gear, and barspell merits you might have (2 MDB per merit) before you decide the final result.

[bercus]

I think my Blessed Briault is broken .
With and without BB i get the same resistance+ to any Barspell.
(Using WHM AF2 Legs and Feets and no Merits makes me get 108+)

So what´s the exact deal of BB?

[aceofspades]

Blessed Briault adds MDB+5 to the bar-element you cast, no additional elemental resistance.

[Rheya]

The only way anyone will ever find Zero's WHM guide is if they specifically go to "White_Mage_Guide_by_ZeroSerenity" or whatever the article title is, or search for ZeroSerenity.

Everyone who wants or needs to see a WHM guide will see the official one only.

Therefore, there's no need to be anxious about pumping out future generations of shitty WHMs because the new WHMs will see the official guide, not Zero's.

Will that be the case when the BG-approved guides are listed? As it is now, if you search for "white mage guide", Zero's is the 2nd one listed.

"White mage guide" seems like a plausible search string.Given that, it seems like it would be easier to find than you might think? /shrug

[Xanthe]

I believe what Khamsin meant was that it won't be linked to any other pages. Naturally you'd still be able to find it by using any appropriate search terms.