Originally Posted by
Mokeil
In general, a shorter timer will allow for more flexibility in action choice. Thanks to our avatar casting times and the time it takes for an avatar to get into position for whatever BP we need, we've already got to be thinking 10 seconds into the future at the best of times. It's even worse when you have to consider each action knowing you can't do another for 45 seconds more.
Do you use a Rage to finish a fight, knowing it means you probably won't be able to contribute to the next kill in any appreciable way? Do you toss out that tasty Enfire to increase party kill speed, knowing that the mob is getting low on HP and is likely to toss out a debilitating TP move any second?
A shorter timer eases up on the needed prediction.
In specific, On Rages:
While it's true that on boss type mobs there won't be much difference between a BP every 30 seconds and proportionally stronger one every 45 seconds... The difference will be on the smaller mobs - mobs that typically only last about 30 seconds or so once the Melee Hoard of Doom descends upon it. A shorter timer will let us contribute to more individual fights, while also helping our overall public image of being just too slow to be useful.
On buff Wards:
Setting aside questions of effect potency, it takes us a long time to get our range of buffs up. Thirty seconds after the call to buff goes out will see that everyone else already has their whole range of party effects up and rolling. We won't have even hit our second one. Shorter timers let us get our support side up and going faster.
On curative Wards:
We have some pretty fantastic healing wards that don't see anywhere near as much use as they should. Think about that. Whitemages would kill for spells that do what Spring Water and Soothing Ruby do, so why aren't we called on to use them more? Easy. Because when your front lineers are suffering from para/blind/slow/etc and are in red HP, they need to be taken care of right then - not 30 seconds later. Sure, a shorter timer still means we're on a timer, and that means this will still be an issue... but it's a lot less of an issue with a shorter timer than a longer one.