galka mage at endgame

[TybudX]

I disagree. If some can do it, others can do it. The question was not "is it as good," we all know the answer to that. Question was "is it functional," examples are good proof that it is, in this case.

I'm not referring to how functional it is. Every time somebody posts something like this:

We have a galka mage or 2 who I trust a hell of a lot more on rdm than some non-galkas.

... they imply that playing as a Galka somehow makes you better at playing mage jobs than if they had used a different race. By that same logic, Taru should be at the top of the DD chain, seeing as how they have to work so hard to get around the STR limitations of their race, and Elvaan should out-nuke every other BLM, seeing as how they have to work so hard to get around the INT limitation of their race.

Can your buddy race his '83 Toyota hatchback in the Indy 500? Sure, just don't tell him he's going to win.

[evilpaul]

You must not do ZNMs. or Ouryu/Bahamut/Tiamat. or whatever other things I don't feel like thinking of atm.

for...D2s?

[Cymmina]

A Galka RDM and SCH is looking at 350 or so base mp (ffxigear.com is down so I can't get you the exact number).

For a RDM, that leaves you at a non-optimal hp/mp ratio for convert. You can wear hp->mp gear to offset this, I guess... but that's not particularly helpful if you need the stat boosts instead.

A Hume SCH has 563 base MP (~213 MP more than what a Galka has). My SCH nuking gear only offers me +70 or so MP and I have 4 MP merits giving me about ~670 MP. My unmerited Sublimation gives me ~260 MP (MaxHP / 4). Even if a Galka SCH had 1200 HP, they're only getting 300 MP from their Sublimation. SCH cannot wear Zenith like RDM and BLM can, and Stratagems don't last forever.

Like it or not, having a small MP pool leaves you little room to make use of an Uggalepih Pendant, no matter what your job is.

I'm not trying to discourage you. I live with a Galka BLM. He has just a little bit more MP than I do on SCH, but his is unmerited. He does good damage because he took the time to get good gear, but he is handicapped by is low MP. We duo a lot, which makes the handicap a lot more noticable. A full alliance? Won't be as noticable since someone is always going to be resting for MP. Just invest in a good dark magic set for times when you can Aspir.

[dejet]

lets see auto fresh from body 1
fresh from rdm 3
bard fresh 3(5)

7(9)mp/tick when not nuking and a Hmp Set that can net you around 22(easy)

Like anything else its more about gear/skill then race. I out DD most the DDs in my LS as a hume(we have a lot of elfs >.>) The reason. Im geared/merited better then them.

will you ever hit the DMG of someone with equal skill and gear if they are a tar? no but nothing should stop you. End game is 80%(skill and gear) Ya you have a limit on MP but that wont matter for the most part after your exp lvls.

i never use all my mp on blm. (well we dont use blms anymore >.> mostly a smn burn LS now lol) Id try sch as a galka if you care about MP that much.

[GuntarHolyFlame]

My Galka BLM is at 58 right now and I have 1000 hp and 450 mp, and that's with pretty good gear including desert stone, astral ring, etc...

Just be prepared.

Good point Tagus. I'm reminded now that the trip to 75 was challenging, since I didn't have access to the sheer amount of MP gear that mages do at 75. Eat pies, and invest in as much +hMP as possible, no matter which job you choose.

The road to 75 for a Galka mage is a road fraught with learning how to optimize MP use over time.

I'm not referring to how functional it is. Every time somebody posts something like this:

We have a galka mage or 2 who I trust a hell of a lot more on rdm than some non-galkas.

... they imply that playing as a Galka somehow makes you better at playing mage jobs than if they had used a different race. By that same logic, Taru should be at the top of the DD chain, seeing as how they have to work so hard to get around the STR limitations of their race, and Elvaan should out-nuke every other BLM, seeing as how they have to work so hard to get around the INT limitation of their race.

Can your buddy race his '83 Toyota hatchback in the Indy 500? Sure, just don't tell him he's going to win.

True story, but you fail to take into account so many other non-parsable things that make a good mage or DD. Enmity is everyone's concern, not just the tank's. If you had to ask me what the biggest issue BLM faces in the current metagame, I'd tell you it's enmity generation.

If a BLM generates X enmity and a DD generates the same X enmity, the BLM is going to find he can only handle attention from the mob for a very limited amount of time before eating dirt. The DD, on the other hand, is far more likely to have the HP and defensive spells/JAs to survive the encounter for a long time. Also, the DD is more likely to be in the mob's face, so pulling hate causes less chaos than when a BLM pulls hate and the mob goes racing over to him. Chaos will effectively end the usefulness of any inexperienced/inattentive/slow-to-react player until someone else gets the situation under control or otherwise (this usually means a wipe).

Also, your metaphor, while humorous, doesn't really represent the whole situation. As you approach level 75, the gaps are narrowed (obviously not closed) between races due to access to the same merit options, the same gear (mostly), and most importantly, the same in-game experiences that offer the opportunity for a player to learn and increase his skill.

If you compared my RDM in its entirety to a taru RDM who has recently hit RDM75 as his first job, has similar merits and gear, and the same subjobs, I would still have far more experience, and would thus be more useful in a tight situation since I have been there before and I know what to expect.

However, if you compared me to a legendary RDM such as Johyo of Odin, his gear aside he is still miles ahead of me in terms of RDM experience, so of course he will be the RDM you want with you when the shit hits the fan.

True skill will usually only shine when things get tough. If everything is going easy, there is barely a noticable difference between Mr. Half-ass RDM and the most all-around skilled RDM across any server.

[Nerull]

for...D2s?

Some of us like doing 3-4 runs in a night.

[Hoshiku]

If the OP doesn't like to cast cure, I'd highly recommend NOT leveling RDM. In most situations, even if you're in the BLM party people are going to be pissed when you don't help cure when shit hits the fan. The only limitation that comes to mind for galka blm is you're not going to be able to cast AM2 in salvage unless you get spissatus cell (whereas all other jobs can iirc).

[Nerull]

If you don't like to cure, don't level a mage period. Or hell, don't play FFXI.
If you have cure spells, you should be prepared to use them if needed, I don't care what job you're on.

[Arew]

Some of us like doing 3-4 runs in a night.

So have the BLM's come COR?

[Yugl]

Like it or not, having a small MP pool leaves you little room to make use of an Uggalepih Pendant, no matter what your job is.

I'm not trying to discourage you. I live with a Galka BLM. He has just a little bit more MP than I do on SCH, but his is unmerited. He does good damage because he took the time to get good gear, but he is handicapped by is low MP. We duo a lot, which makes the handicap a lot more noticable. A full alliance? Won't be as noticable since someone is always going to be resting for MP. Just invest in a good dark magic set for times when you can Aspir.

This is so true. I've even considered selling my Uggy pendant since it replaces w/e gear I'm wearing before the 50% MP mark (Using a gear change macro midcast would interrupt my blink casting), and rarely gets the chance to activate. Another advantage of BLM is that it operates in a group setting much more efficiently than SCH. If you have a 6x BLM PT, you can utilize agas and stun rotations. If you have 6x SCH, there's not much that goes on.

[TybudX]

If you compared my RDM in its entirety to a taru RDM who has recently hit RDM75 as his first job, has similar merits and gear, and the same subjobs, I would still have far more experience, and would thus be more useful in a tight situation since I have been there before and I know what to expect.

You missed my point so completely that I'm fairly certain it's impossible for you to ever understand.

[azagarth]

I dont mind healing at all... but I dont want it to be my jobs main focus. Thats why I have stayed away from whm, all it does is curebot which would put me to sleep fast. I know on all 3 jobs I will have to heal at somepoint and I do not mind that. Heck on my taru blm I use to mainheal merit ptys in KRT back when people knew what it was haha. So It not like I would be some lazy player who just hits a macro and afks 30 sec till its needed again.

Sch is sounding the best... but the only issue I can see is that they do not have much +mp gear you would wear. Meaning id be stuck at like 450 mp nearly always.... thats pretty low haha.

I been lving rdm, its at 34 now and i have 380mp... so 450 does not seem like it do much. I know i can wear more mp gear and be fine, but then my overall performance goes down a bit. I will probably make a max mp build and cast till its below my macro lv. But seems kind of a waste to spend time casting in gear which you will probably see resists in, since you will be building hate off it all. So many options and problems! ugh!

[Yugl]

I dont mind healing at all... but I dont want it to be my jobs main focus. Thats why I have stayed away from whm, all it does is curebot which would put me to sleep fast. I know on all 3 jobs I will have to heal at somepoint and I do not mind that. Heck on my taru blm I use to mainheal merit ptys in KRT back when people knew what it was haha. So It not like I would be some lazy player who just hits a macro and afks 30 sec till its needed again.

Sch is sounding the best... but the only issue I can see is that they do not have much +mp gear you would wear. Meaning id be stuck at like 450 mp nearly always.... thats pretty low haha.

I been lving rdm, its at 34 now and i have 380mp... so 450 does not seem like it do much. I know i can wear more mp gear and be fine, but then my overall performance goes down a bit. I will probably make a max mp build and cast till its below my macro lv. But seems kind of a waste to spend time casting in gear which you will probably see resists in, since you will be building hate off it all. So many options and problems! ugh!

Even on BLM, you wouldn't want the MP gear unless using it for a starting nuke set. Most gear choices is about Skill/INT/MAB. Even with that base MP (Though it would be higher since my Elvaan has about 100 more MP), the effects of Parsimony + Sublimation will make it more beneficial than a higher MP base. Four Parsimony TIV nukes = [300MP/600MP] saved if being lenient towards BLM and assuming that TIV nukes are 150MP each (Blizzard + Thunder are higher than that, so you save MORE MP). If the BLM you had 1k MP (Very unlikely), your SCH would be at 150MP and your BLM at 400MP. Add in a 300HP Sublimation (Roughly what my Elvaan SCH returns) and it's 450MP v 400MP. The rest of the SCH's spells will gain 10% Reduction due to Dark Arts and Parsimony would probably be ready again by this point. This is all just a theoretical model in a solo setting though (Not even including the MP saved on sleeps).

Having said that, BLM does shine in group settings (As mentioned before), so if you don't plan on doing many solos/trios as opposed to group events, then go with BLM.

[Nevex]

The argument that "the fewer MP you have the less useful Uggalepih Pendant is" doesn't work.

From a BLM point of view, Manafont alone makes great use of said piece because you're obviously going to use it at low MP.

Nearly anything you solo/kite as RDM/NIN usually involves blowing all your MP while waiting for Convert to be up, and have just enough for spells such as Bio, Gravity and Bind. If you ever happen to reach the 120 MP mark from refresh gear and spell, you usually toss a nuke. If m.acc isn't an issue you take advantage of pendant in this case too.

SCH has access to Parsimony, effectively extending the range pendant is active. Indeed you get to trigger the latent before other races thanks to the smaller MP pool.

Generally speaking, every time MP recovered via refresh matters more than MP recovered via resting, pendant will work better.
And usually the only time where MP resting is that critical is when soloing Puddings, Limbus, and little else.

[evilpaul]

Just curious as to the overall consensus of galka mages at endgame. I am well aware that all races can do any job. However Out of blm sch and rdm which would a galka be best at? All 3 interest me and I have experience on them from a taru char. My galka needs get a backline job badly. I have heard a lot of galka mage bashing but I do need to level a mage job for my shell.

Three pages and nobody suggested to ask the LS leaders which of the three jobs they prefer he level?

You can be an asset to your LS as a Galkan BLM, SCH, or RDM. See which they'd prefer to have another person available as and go with that one.

Or pick the one you like.

[Severance]

RDM? Seems less to lose overall in terms of gear (mp would lose INT and vice versa etc) and I knew a great RDM Galka on our server who did well

you do not mention tylerz!

[Corrderio]

It shouldn't matter too much I'd think. I have seen some great galka mages in the past.

As for the MP issue, I can see it being a problem on lowman events but with Pro Ether that can be good/quick fix. Though it will leave you medicated....

[Yugl]

SCH has access to Parsimony, effectively extending the range pendant is active. Indeed you get to trigger the latent before other races thanks to the smaller MP pool.

You'll typically use most of your charges (3) before hitting Uggy range anyways. That and using Sublimation (300ishMP) is likely to knock you out of Uggy range.

Edit: Not wrong, but misleading.

[DAKPluto]

Galka mages are shit! Especially the SMNs!

[Gunslinger]

Is there a reason you're not considering BLU?

The reason I picked BLU to level as my ‘backline job’:

-In the majority of situations you can get a native 2-3mp refresh at 75, which really helps offset low mp (I know the other jobs get refresh gear, and sch gets sublimation, but the auto-refresh trait is a pretty nice perk)
-Geared correctly you can do decent magic damage (just remember it's no blm, but it's good enough for what it brings to events if you don't already have 1-2 going)
-Very good AOE sleeps, can help tank/kite to keep BLMs safe
-Great for spike damage
-Capable of healing with the right sub
-Very good low-man job
-Takes advantage of your combat merits depending on other jobs
-More HP = better breaths!

It's very gear dependent, but I considered it my best choice as a galka. I don’t expect a taru to be ‘the best’ paladin (although let’s not start that argument here…), I wouldn’t expect a galka to be ‘the best’ mage. I feel that BLU is a better middle-of-the road job that is extremely flexible depending on the work you’re willing to put in.

Just my 2 cents. As a tank/melee with full enmity merits, etc, etc, I wouldn’t want to level any other mage job.