Help me decide on gear please

[Retsujo]

Wouldn't the cure potency from the Serpentes set be a little more beneficial to throw in there? Sure, Augur's gloves gives 4% potency - which is only 1% below the Serpentes set - and some extra healing magic and MND, but the Serpentes set also gives a constant regen and refresh effect. Also, isn't the stoneskin from Solace only measured by a percentage of HP healed? I don't remember anything else being put into the equation, so maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like more cure potency for Solaceskin and a refresh effect would be more beneficial for casting cure spells than the MND on the +2 boots.

[Lordscyon]

Just buy the Cruor Gear Next too the NPC where you get Time too enter Abyssea.
^^ Best idea ^^ Save money

[InsideOut]

Cure Potency is overrated- especially in Abyssea.
In Abyssea I mainly focus on -cure casting & magic reduction gear.

[Economizer]

Wouldn't the cure potency from the Serpentes set be a little more beneficial to throw in there? Sure, Augur's gloves gives 4% potency - which is only 1% below the Serpentes set - and some extra healing magic and MND, but the Serpentes set also gives a constant regen and refresh effect.

Cure potency caps at 50%, and it isn't hard to cap it with Augur's. The shear amount of Mind that you can get from Augur's and even a pair of Blessed Pumps is quite large, to the point that you will be able to cure more between capped cure potency and other stats. Refresh is the only reason you'd have to chose the set over Augur's, but I can imagine situations it might be helpful.

All that said, possession is 9/10ths the law. If you have one and not the other, the choice is much, much easier.

-

For everyone still arguing for cure cast time over all else in Abyssea, I cannot disagree more. I can count on one hand the number of times people have died due to a cure casting too slowly, but the number of times things have gone poorly to a recast timer still ticking down I cannot.

[Retsujo]

I guess there are plenty of ways to look at it. I like to get the most out of my cures, and I believe making sure Solace is at its best takes a huge part in combination with cure potency. With EA body +1/2 You lose about 10~14% depending on your preference, And making up for that to cap isn't hard, but you sacrifice quite a few equip slots for it. Of course when you have 100% of the extra potency and the solace bonus, it doesn't really matter how much MND you have, but I can see sacrificing slots that can have recast time reduction on them a hinderance.

[InsideOut]

For everyone still arguing for cure cast time over all else in Abyssea, I cannot disagree more. I can count on one hand the number of times people have died due to a cure casting too slowly, but the number of times things have gone poorly to a recast timer still ticking down I cannot.

-50%+ casting reduction from gear
-20% casting reduction from merits
-10% casting reduction from light arts or -35% from /redmage fastcast1 & 2.

My cure6's go off at the speed of quickcast.
My curaga4's breeze through like a Cure 5.
I can cast both Cure 5 & 6 in the amount of time it takes a lesser WHM to finish casting just one of those spells.
I don't know why a WHM would sit there waiting on Cure5 and 6's recast timer when Cure4 and Curga4 are viable, but you can keep on wearing those blessed pumps.

[Economizer]

-10% casting reduction from light arts or -35% from /redmage fastcast1 & 2.

Fast Cast job traits do not stack, unless you mean to tell me that Red Mages insta-cast spells 100% of the time. Sub Red Mage gives a -15% effect.

-

Before I even go on, I really hope that the following reference to Curaga IV was referring to curing at least two people. Even contemplating a situation where you are so desperate for cures that you need to Curaga a single person is just painful. If it is being used as a multitarget cure, extra kudos for making use of it, the spell has great potential in the rare cases it can be used effectively.

I can cast both Cure 5 & 6 in the amount of time it takes a lesser WHM to finish casting just one of those spells.
I don't know why a WHM would sit there waiting on Cure5 and 6's recast timer when Cure4 and Curga4 are viable, but you can keep on wearing those blessed pumps.

I don't wait on Cure VI's recast timer, because I avoid using it. Usage of Cure VI is a mark of something horribly wrong going on, whether it is being lazy, or the group failing in some way.

If you want to be a poor White Mage, routinely get into situations where you need Cure VI. Maybe you can afford throwing away your MP and good habits away in Abyssea, but this class is the MP efficiency master at cures. Throwing that away should only happen when bad things are happening.

Seriously, I don't think I would miss the spell if it disappeared tomorrow. Cure VI is utter crap.

Again, Cure Cast Time gear is certainly nice, but anyone trying to sell you on it as anywhere near necessary to even be the best White Mage in the game, let alone a barely competent one (not hard to do on the cheap) is trying to sell you snake oil and the sixth pair they just farmed from Bonnacon.

If it fits your play style, by all means use it, but don't be fooled that you need Cure Clogs any more then you need Cure VI. If cure cast time was a big an issue as some people make it, Red Mage, not Scholar, would be known as the better sub for White Mage, as it gets a 5% boost in that area.

For absolutely full disclosure for anyone trying to make this decision, I will admit I have a pair of Cure Clogs rotting away in my Mog Sack. I couldn't count on one hand how many times I've needed to use them, because there has never been a situation where Cure Clogs would matter more then bigger cures coming in more often at cheaper MP cost, nor a situation where even macroing them in precast would be worth the extra effort, for me.

[InsideOut]

Fast Cast job traits do not stack, unless you mean to tell me that Red Mages insta-cast spells 100% of the time. Sub Red Mage gives a -15% effect.

-

Before I even go on, I really hope that the following reference to Curaga IV was referring to curing at least two people. Even contemplating a situation where you are so desperate for cures that you need to Curaga a single person is just painful. If it is being used as a multitarget cure, extra kudos for making use of it, the spell has great potential in the rare cases it can be used effectively.



I don't wait on Cure VI's recast timer, because I avoid using it. Usage of Cure VI is a mark of something horribly wrong going on, whether it is being lazy, or the group failing in some way.

If you want to be a poor White Mage, routinely get into situations where you need Cure VI. Maybe you can afford throwing away your MP and good habits away in Abyssea, but this class is the MP efficiency master at cures. Throwing that away should only happen when bad things are happening.

Seriously, I don't think I would miss the spell if it disappeared tomorrow. Cure VI is utter crap.

Again, Cure Cast Time gear is certainly nice, but anyone trying to sell you on it as anywhere near necessary to even be the best White Mage in the game, let alone a barely competent one (not hard to do on the cheap) is trying to sell you snake oil and the sixth pair they just farmed from Bonnacon.

If it fits your play style, by all means use it, but don't be fooled that you need Cure Clogs any more then you need Cure VI. If cure cast time was a big an issue as some people make it, Red Mage, not Scholar, would be known as the better sub for White Mage, as it gets a 5% boost in that area.

For absolutely full disclosure for anyone trying to make this decision, I will admit I have a pair of Cure Clogs rotting away in my Mog Sack. I couldn't count on one hand how many times I've needed to use them, because there has never been a situation where Cure Clogs would matter more then bigger cures coming in more often at cheaper MP cost, nor a situation where even macroing them in precast would be worth the extra effort, for me.

You speak about MP cost and efficiency as if that is really an issue for a WHM using refresh atmas in Abyssea. Spamming cures of any tier should not be a problem unless your party is destined to fail anyway. Cure 6 is quick and powerful. If you stopped using it for emergency cases only then maybe you would have a lesser DBR rate (death by recast). This is not a cure clog argument, we're talking about -casting reduction. Getting up to -50% in cure casting reduction gear makes a big difference than walking around curing in just AF3 pants and cure clogs. Aceso's choker(-10% ), the Surya's Staff ( -12%), Marduks body ( -5%).
I'm now starting to believe that you want recast reductions so you can sit around casting CureV all day and use the timer excuse when someone dies. Vanadiel is filled with many WHMs like you so we invite backup healers solely for your recasting convenience.
I'm not against curing in recast gear but the swap between -casting reduction to a recast setup is noticeable. Switching from Cure5 to Cure6 is the only time I have a recast problem. Other than that, never.

What I am against are WHMs gearing up in nothing but potency and MND gear as if that means much in abyssea.

[Bubeeky]

You speak about MP cost and efficiency as if that is really an issue for a WHM using refresh atmas in Abyssea. Spamming cures of any tier should not be a problem unless your party is destined to fail anyway. Cure 6 is quick and powerful. If you stopped using it for emergency cases only then maybe you would have a lesser DBR rate (death by recast). This is not a cure clog argument, we're talking about -casting reduction. Getting up to -50% in cure casting reduction gear makes a big difference than walking around curing in just AF3 pants and cure clogs. Aceso's choker(-10% ), the Surya's Staff ( -12%), Marduks body ( -5%).
I'm now starting to believe that you want recast reductions so you can sit around casting CureV all day and use the timer excuse when someone dies. Vanadiel is filled with many WHMs like you so we invite backup healers solely for your recasting convenience.
I'm not against curing in recast gear but the swap between -casting reduction to a recast setup is noticeable. Switching from Cure5 to Cure6 is the only time I have a recast problem. Other than that, never.

What I am against are WHMs gearing up in nothing but potency and MND gear as if that means much in abyssea.

You're trying to argue with Econ about playstyles of whm when clearly all you know is whm in Aby, and even then, just from what you've said, I'd be willing to bet that you aren't familiar with actual whm skill, since your solution is to just spam your strongest cures...you're destroying your own credibility here.

[InsideOut]

You're trying to argue with Econ about playstyles of whm when clearly all you know is whm in Aby, and even then, just from what you've said, I'd be willing to bet that you aren't familiar with actual whm skill, since your solution is to just spam your strongest cures...you're destroying your own credibility here.

womp! I have been a WHM for years and we are specifically talking about Abyssea ->
...as if I only did both light affinity trials for my nonexistent blue-mage triggers...
Careful, you're destroying your sense of comprehension.

In abyssea you do not sit around waiting on your Cure5 timer,toss cure3's like you're healing a tank, and then(after someone dies) use the excuse that your timer wasn't ready. Sorry, that doesn't work. If I was on anything but WHM and I saw someone healing like that, I would change jobs immediately.