So what does it feel like, being a Galka BLU?

[Drutaru]

Hey guys. I was thinking of starting fresh on FFXI and possibly rolling from a Human to a Galka.

Now I know most of you want to give me the "it's all the same just play what you want to play" ordeal. However I know the extra 200-300 health and vit does make up for a lot..especially early game.

So I was wondering, how do Galka BLU's perform interms of being able to keep up with other races MP pool, Breath damage (because of higher HP), and overall sustainability?

...also, for any Galka BLU's out there, are you satisfied with GALKA-BLU? Or if you had the chance would you try for another race?

Thanks very much!
-Drutaru

[SpankWustler]

The racial effects will be very noticeable early on but not so much at 99 and beyond. Tarutaru HP and Galka MP are still pretty drastic at 99, compared to most racial statistics, it's just that they don't matter as much.

You can now get 150 Maximum MP from merits if Maximum MP is an issue, and the minimum amount of of Refresh that a Blue Mage can expect has increased several times over so it may never become an issue.

Don't get your hopes up about breath spells, though. Sadly, anything tough enough that you'd hesitate to just maul to death is likely to have built-in -% Breath Damage Taken or something akin to it. I have no idea why Breath Damage was considered an issue, since it's not amazing and the range is generally iffy, but some Development Bro felt that it was.

[Tohihroyu]

Well one of my Galka buddies says Galka blu are powerhouses, in fact he told me if I thought about leveling it I should do so on my Galka alt. ;p

And PLEASE try and avoid using lots of MP+ gear, though I think the RSEv2 is still useful for Galka blue mages for some levels

[Economizer]

Low MP pool doesn't matter half as much anymore since the amount of Refresh you can get is quite high. If anything Tarutaru are now the weakest race in the game due to accuracy and MP issues pretty much being gone while HP pools are still important.

Any race you choose for BLU should be find however, since it is a pretty balanced class (and for that matter any job you choose as a Hume, Galka, or Mithra should be fine).

[Tashan]

Welcome Back!

[Drutaru]

Hmm, see now im torn. I already have a BLU at 60 with full AF but I im kind of bored of being just another hume.. I was hoping the statistical difference would be large enough to break me away from the character, but after checking some calcs out it seems galka's only really get.. 200 HP more..? maybe? at 99..

/Sigh. ;-; what to do.. what to do..

[doctorugh]

Since you can play blue mage a variety of ways, you will get slight advantages for each race. Most notable is galka MP and taru HP. As a galka leveling blue the hard way long ago was frustrating at times, but at 99 (with available refresh) it makes less difference. I would say the ideal race is probably elvaan (high STR, good amount of HP and enough MP).

As a frame of reference, 99 Galka BLU/NIN with full MP merits 1563/568
99 Elvaan BLU/NIN with full HP merits 1584/588 (just more total stat overall)

[Economizer]

but I im kind of bored of being just another hume..

There is nothing wrong with it but if you want to stand out your best bet is to role play. I suggest roleplaying a soulflayer, I've never heard of anyone doing that before. :p

[Neisan_Quetz]

Low MP pool doesn't matter half as much anymore since the amount of Refresh you can get is quite high. If anything Tarutaru are now the weakest race in the game due to accuracy and MP issues pretty much being gone while HP pools are still important.

Any race you choose for BLU should be find however, since it is a pretty balanced class (and for that matter any job you choose as a Hume, Galka, or Mithra should be fine).

Aside from HP/MP pools the difference in overall damage is around ~1% or so. Unless you're getting one shot constantly and the extra hp would have saved you race is hardly an issue.

[Brocovich]

As Galka with PLD and BLU as mainjobs i can say MP pool isnt a problem these days. I even did 15/15 HP merits, sitting at 1792HP and 414MP as BLU99/WAR49. Sure 414MP is very very low but our emp body +2 (2MP refresh) is a very good idle piece and even good for TP sets. Makes 6MP/tic refresh with Auto-refrash and battery charge. Between fights you can switch to serpents hands/feet and refresh hairpin for more refresh.
When doing Dynamis on BLU i can sleep our pulls, buff myself and almost spam spells without going out of MP.

The only downside i have noticed so far is using magic trigger spells in VW during weakness. <,<

[Draylo]

Hmm, see now im torn. I already have a BLU at 60 with full AF but I im kind of bored of being just another hume.. I was hoping the statistical difference would be large enough to break me away from the character, but after checking some calcs out it seems galka's only really get.. 200 HP more..? maybe? at 99..

/Sigh. ;-; what to do.. what to do..

Hume is the best... sexy and awesome. Galka are smelly fat slaves. Oh, and there is that stereotype that most players who play galka are dumb (which is true like 90% of the time).

[Walldorc]

LOL. .. L of course am Elvan.

[doctorugh]

Hume is the best... sexy and awesome. Galka are smelly fat slaves. Oh, and there is that stereotype that most players who play galka are dumb (which is true like 90% of the time).

I Are the 90%.

[Scuro]

All I gotta say when it comes to Galka BLU:

I'M SEXY AND I KNOW IT *unce unce unce wub wub wub!*







.... And humes are cool.... I guess..... IF YOU WANT TO BE MEDIOCRE AT EVERYTHING!

[SpankWustler]

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/021/073/1254172884282.jpg?1254173845

I regret this image not being my first post in this topic, since it works on so many levels.

[ThaiChi]

There's is an element of planning out gear for when I play BLU. I'm 15/15 MP merits and I feel like the experience of playing BLU is different from my friends who play other races. First of all, I've become quite conscious of MP equipment and the MP loss from switching from say like Homam Legs to Mavi Tayt. I exclusively use RDM as a sub over NIN, THF or WAR not only for the MABII but also the boost you get to MP.

Just to give you an idea, I have around 660 MP in my TP set that includes Mavi Body and head, Homam Hands, Legs, and Feet. For me to switch to equipment with STR or DEX (Morrigan Body, Enkidu Hands, Mavi Tayt, Denali Feet, and Aias Bonnet), I would lose the ~90MP from Homam for my first spell cast from full MP. That's equal to about 1 Disseverment and then some lost to gear swapping. I'm not entirely sure if other BLUs concern themselves with the cost of MP during gear swapping but I'm just offering my experience with being Galka and BLU. I have a gear set that has a decent amount of spell modifiers and MP that I use for my first two or three offensive spells.

[Tashan]

I respect your dedication ThaiChi but the extra MP from /RDM does not outweigh the benefits of /NIN or /WAR to be used exclusively.

It's your game though, so feel free to play it as you want.

[Trisscar]

Having slightly less MP shouldn't be an issue. Considering that the spell cost of some of BLU higher tier spells an extra +x MP is probably not gonna help much if at all. And with all the refresh options BLU has these days if MP becomes a problem you probably need to throttle back on the spell spamming.

Other than that, there's no reason why a Galka shouldn't be able to be a fine BLU, and some of the strongest I've known were Galka (although they are a rarity).

[Scuro]

Dude I rock the sh*t out of my BLU as a Galka, and love it, the trade off is as follows
Other Races:
Cast more -----> damage less
Galkas:
Cast Less -----> Damage More

We have the highest balance of DD stats such as STR and DEX and can give quite a punishment of damage, there is no reason for a galka to b*tch that he is less than any other race, he just needs to know how to play it, because it is a different experience than any other job that has like 1.5k MP and Galkas are rocking 800+. As much refresh gear as you may have, it still is noticeable when you are 500MP less than another BLU, but you can feel relieved in knowing, you have the capability to do far more damage.

As for MP gear.... I find it useless, no point, now refresh gear such as the Mavi Body +2, sex! but other than that... hell no. For how much I macro back and forth between different nuking sets, DD sets tp and ws.... why have MP gear at all? All its going to do is be great for the one spell you cast (which will be gimped because your wearing MP gear) and when you macro for a different situation, all that bonus MP.... bye bye! Than when you macro back into the gimpy MP gear, your now missing like 50MP or w/e amount of MP bonus you get from your MP gear, you don't get it back just because your wearing it unfortunately.

Morale of the story: Therefore, if your wearing MP gear, it means your not macroing, and if your not macroing, your doing it wrong, simply put.

[Trisscar]

Morale of the story: Therefore, if your wearing MP gear, it means your not macroing, and if your not macroing, your doing it wrong, simply put.

I also play WHM, RDM and DNC, and have a different morale: If you feel that an extra 1% dmg is so worth it that you macro it in while someone is trying to keep you alive than you deserve to get your face raped.

[Neisan_Quetz]

If your healers aren't using Stpt and Stal they need to be fired. Seriously this is 2012 if gearswaps are making you lose target the problem is you not the people maximizing damage. You are bad and should feel bad for even making that statement.

[Trisscar]

If your healers aren't using Stpt and Stal they need to be fired. I subscribe to the McCoy school of Healing Magic. I'm not required to protect you from your stupidity. If it gets you killed I won't lose any sleep over it.


Seriously this is 2012 if gearswaps are making you lose target the problem is you not the people maximizing damage.

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/dont-get-stuck-in-cage-with-2.jpg?w=499&h=332
Let me ask you, when you invariably wind up like this guy... was an extra 500 HP of dmg really worth it?

[Neisan_Quetz]

Oh okay, so you're gimp and stupid, that's all you had to say. Be a shitty whm rdm and dnc all you want, I'll have nothing to do with the likes of you.

But I'm expecting too much from a brego helm drg in 15% haste.

[Trisscar]

Oh okay, so you're gimp and stupid, that's all you had to say.
You don't have to be 'gimp and stupid' to be considerate towards the person trying to keep you alive long enough for you to put the monster on the menu and not the other way around. In fact you'd have to be pretty gimp and stupid yourself not to be considerate of those very same people.

Take what you need to do what you need to do and don't try anything fancy. That's what I do when I DD and I never ever have problems landing large numbers. And it works because you never know if you get one of the many of today's WHM leveled it in Abyssea or someone who leveled their WHM primarilly in ye olde day style parties (like me) who like wise never used that many macros .

Edit: Finally gotten a respnose on this and turns out STPT and STAL is actually easy to deal with. Color me surprised, but I'm used to Square making a mess of things that I was expecting a lot worse.


Be a shitty whm rdm and dnc all you want, I'll have nothing to do with the likes of you.
Wonderful. Got anything constructive to say now?


But I'm expecting too much from a brego helm drg in 15% haste.

Not knowing another player's circumstances, I don't hold their gear against them. Getting help for better gear can be a bitch sometimes.

[Neisan_Quetz]

If you don't gearswap you are gimp plain and simple. If your healers are losing target they are terribad and should be replaced, suck up the princess attitude. You're not as good as you think you are, you are bad, you are/were giving out bad advice, and you shouldn't be taken seriously.

[Trisscar]

If you don't gearswap you are gimp plain and simple.
No, just no. If you don't have the gear to swap into then you you don't have the gear to swap into. That does not make you gimp, because you might not know what gear you should get, or you might not have the support you need to get the gear you should have, or you might not even know how to use the macros properly in which case you need to be helped not mocked.

So pull your head out your ass, redshirt.


If your healers are losing target they are terribad and should be replaced.
I'd rather have 5 decent healers than just 1 great healer.


suck up the princess attitude.
The exact opposite of useful, redshirt.


You're not as good as you think you are, you are bad
It's a lot better than the advice you give, redshirt. You don't know the circumstances behind each player and saying 'You fudging suck, sod off!' is hardly helpful.


you are/were giving out bad advice, and you shouldn't be taken seriously.

Halmark of an eliteist player. I'd settle for being a decent player than a great one any day of the week.

[Neisan_Quetz]

You aren't decent. You don't give good advice. You being a terrible player gives you no right to give others advice on being as terrible as you are.

[Trisscar]

You aren't decent.
Yeah I am. My skills are cap, I got all the spells I should, know how and when to use them and I'm not running in RSE2 gear, put forth the effort to at least be in position to get better gear, I listen to useful advice (pro tip: something that's lacking in your posts) and I deal consistantly high dmg/heals.

If your definition of 'decent' involves "Gearswap or GTFO" than the problem isn't with me.


You don't give good advice.
Seriously? My advice is sound, time tested and actually works.


You being a terrible player gives you no right to give others advice on being as terrible as you are.

Your advice seems to be "Gearswap and be a dick or GTFO!"

How does advising people to gearswap count as good advice? Do you also give them advice about diffent kinds of gear they could be swaping? Do you also advise them about what situations they should be swaping gear? Do you also help explain how to macro gear swaps (before you ask, yes I at least know that much) work? Because (in case it escaped your attention) that's what counts as good advice.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Not gear swapping is intentionality gimping your damage because you couldn't understand how to cure someone without losing target because of blinking. You have a princess attitude and feel entitled to letting people die because they gear swap. You are a bad player.

ITT: Capping skills is hard, your advice telling people to gimp themselves like you do is not good advice. Stop trying to defend being gimp.

Did you seriously try to defend being 90+ in a job and 'not knowing what gear to swap into'? Am I reading this right? Fucking lol

Nice mythril grip btw.

[Fyreus]

Not gear swapping could also save your life in many instances. When i'm the mob target i swap to -pdt or -mdt and i even cast phy/mag spells but not healing since it's auto swap. I don't think every healer has the same macro and plugins as the next. If your whm disconnects and your blm is left to heal or smn is left to heal, there's a chance they don't have a healing set or are probably specialized and just know that cure4 = healing = win.

I'd advise him to change races :P (lol i played an elvaan rdm healer and smn so i made a hume for blu and possibly sch xD) but in the end that doesn't really matter :)

[Neisan_Quetz]

You don't need anything special to use stpt or stal. Anyone with a half a brain on any system playing FFXI can make a macro using <stpt> or <stal> to heal others. It is not difficult. If your healers can't figure this out they should be educated if they haven't been already, if they still refuse they are terrible healers.

[Fyreus]

You missed the point man. Half the healers in this game aren't really healers. There are many sch you will run into that just have a light staff and manually cure because all they know how to do is NUKE and then there's non whm/sch/rdm/whatever that CAN heal but won't macro for it since that's not really their concern. My blu heals quite a bit (quite as in it heals more often than a blu should ever heal) and i use <st> because there are gear swaps that follow.

Should i be concerned with blinking people? Not really.. i know when people will swap because of the nature of their job and if they are the mob target or not. I play with a controller so healing is far from difficult even on super blinking targets unlike a keyboard which i used to play on.

[Neisan_Quetz]

That's a problem with who you play with, not with the lack of gear swapping saving you. If you are constantly surrounded by such healers I must question why you would subject yourself to such situations, constantly, without taking measures to keep yourself alive.

[Fyreus]

I'm starting to think stal and stpt might be a keyboard preference. I never have an issue when healing on my smn or blu/dnc who only has a healing swap macro. On a controller i just need to tilt the camera and hit left or right to land a heal. I won't say that those aren't bad ideas you present but people don't die on my watch unless i fall asleep or they start without me. Just a few mins ago i made the macros for healing on my dnc/war and i found it to be no different than camera tilting for heals which leads me to lean more towards sticking to camera healing (unless there's that odd situation where someone runs ooR but then again i pivot/move a lot).

So while i won't refute the usefulness of stpt and stal i will say that there seems to be a difference in healing and i don't think it would be any good to have 1 standard way of healing. In all the other MMOs i've played there were female healers that i knew who would often find TYPING the whole HEALING COMMAND to be faster/effiecient! Not to say that 1 gender is faster or anything but it's to say that there are different ways to get the job done. Yours is just one of few.

[Neisan_Quetz]

There are several ways to heal I will agree, but if losing target constantly is being an issue and you aren't taking a quick step to correct it you are being obstinate/stubborn. That is what I have a problem with, healers saying they feel 'entitled' to let people die because they consider it too difficult to perform their job and ensure heals are landing on others when they need it.

[Fyreus]

If i see those people in a party, i leave immediately.

[SpankWustler]

I also play WHM, RDM and DNC, and have a different morale: If you feel that an extra 1% dmg is so worth it that you macro it in while someone is trying to keep you alive than you deserve to get your face raped.

I play White Mage 90% of the time I play Final Fantasy XI and I have a different different morale: If anybody has a problem with losing target on folks, replace whatever is in your macros with <stal> (or <stpt> when applicable) right now and stop making other people have less fun.

Ultimately, the end goal of playing a support job is to make things more fun for the people hitting things with things. Keeping them alive, free from paralyze, and covered in Haste-goop or whatever are just means to this end. Adopting a disgusting attitude of entitlement and expecting everyone to reduce themselves to your level doesn't make things more fun for anybody.

Judging from the seething tone in your posts, it doesn't even make things more fun for you.

[Tashan]

Don't even understand what's going on here.

[Fyreus]

We're being err... informative :D or something.. but one thing i hate to say is that it seems as though SE FOOOOOLISHLY changed how breaths work (breath damage + healing would be an awesome build and i'd loose those int/mnd swaps ASAfreakingP) and didn't make the new ones scale following the pattern of the pre76 spells D:< imho those would dictate weather i would have chosen hume or galka for blu since a galka blu would do some amazing damage with a breath build vs a int/mnd build.

That being said... if they'd undo what ever they did to make breath spells suck against anything that's worthwhile then it would be pretty nice to see alternate damage builds. We see tons of magic/phy but not enough breath and non-element magic in this game and it could use a change.

[Doombringer]

who are these people that refuse to put <stal> in macros? seriously, how do they keep showing up on these forums, cuz i've never met one in game?

the closest i ever came was a poor lil' taru whm who was unaware. an hour or 2 into the xp pt he sends me a /tell like "oh man, your gear swaps have prolly killed like 100 of my cures"
to wich i replied "you know if you use <stal> as the target line of the macro, you can choose off the list and it won't shake you when i blink"
to wich he replied "really? *long pause* swap something for me? *cast spell* cool!"

then we danced on the corpse of the stupid bugard, and i carried him about on my shoulders so he could feel what it would be like to Gaxe the fuck out of things like a mighty giant.


notice how in no part of that story did a completely random underlvled aby burned whm.. think it was somehow MY fault for swapping gear... i dunno where the fuck those people come from but they are somehow even below sewper-newbs.

[Scuro]

I also play WHM, RDM and DNC, and have a different morale: If you feel that an extra 1% dmg is so worth it that you macro it in while someone is trying to keep you alive than you deserve to get your face raped.

I rage faced when I saw this


If your healers aren't using Stpt and Stal they need to be fired. Seriously this is 2012 if gearswaps are making you lose target the problem is you not the people maximizing damage. You are bad and should feel bad for even making that statement.

I me gust faced when I saw this, if you are that bad of a healer, trust me, its not even worth you keeping me alive lol, STPT and STAL or GTFO! And relearn your job outside of Abyssea burns bro! What your asking for Trisscar, is to pretty much gimp over all performance, which reduces efficiency of the party, which in turn leads to higher % error of failure, just so you can sit there and toggle around with your cursor, instead of using a simple 4 letter macro ending? LOL, hell I'm a SCH and I bet I heal better than you cuz I have the genius apparently to use such a macro. And furthermore, even my healer uses macros, if your main setting, please.... stay in abyssea burns cuz your clearly not end game material.

[Scuro]

No, just no. If you don't have the gear to swap into then you you don't have the gear to swap into. That does not make you gimp, because you might not know what gear you should get, or you might not have the support you need to get the gear you should have, or you might not even know how to use the macros properly in which case you need to be helped not mocked.

P.S
if you need to be "helped" than don't give advice, ask for help, you obviously don't know what your doing, so stop trying to act the prophet of falsehood, and actually learn something from those giving you advice how to do your job better.