Afflatus Solace vs Afflatus Misery

[Orison]

Which do you find yourself using more often? I see a lot of White Mages keeping up Solace full time. I really like the MP efficiency (Cura) and Esuna bonuses of Misery, though.

[Dazusu]

It's entirely situational.

If you're going to be taking damage - then you should use Misery and Cura if you're in range of the tanks. This is the Abyssea era, you should never be having MP problems to even contemplate MP efficiency being a factor.

The stoneskin effect from Solace is nice.

The only time I find myself using Misery is to cast a quick Esuna when we do some of the older events like Einherjar. It's nice on Tiamat for Cura too.

I guess I switch in and out; but I agree too many White Mages are lazy and just use Solace full time; but then most White Mages these days are bots.

[Charismatic]

I full-time Solace myself... there's really not too many scenarios where I find Misery to be all that useful in comparison to Solace. Perhaps if the game changes enough I might finally bust it out which would be nice since I have an Ethereal Earring. I would imagine swapping that in and switching to Misery in situations where I'd want to use Cura would be fairly nice. I just don't know exactly when I'd want to do that.

[Aaralyn]

Solace if there is nothing to esuna, or if I shouldn't be in range of the mob. Misery otherwise.

Derp all over.

[Ninian]

Honestly the only time I use Misery is if I need Esuna to take off more than just the standard debuffs. Solace's cure-skin combined with AF3 body is just too awesome to pass up~

[Byohtsemoh]

I full time solace!!

[Kari]

I nearly full-time Solace.
Misery hardly has any use outside of Esuna.

[PandyTwi]

I find myself using Solace almost fulltime myself, stoneskin and whatnot is nice, but when I was working on seals from Berstuk, I came to realize just how ungodly useful Sacrifice is with the multiple absorbs, beats casting erase like 5 times, and I think sacrifice can get rid of more status's then esuna can, although I've not played with misery much to really know for sure.

[Classikal]

I find myself using Solace almost fulltime myself, stoneskin and whatnot is nice, but when I was working on seals from Berstuk, I came to realize just how ungodly useful Sacrifice is with the multiple absorbs, beats casting erase like 5 times, and I think sacrifice can get rid of more status's then esuna can, although I've not played with misery much to really know for sure.

Yeah, Esuna can remove a maximum of 2 debuffs from everyone in your PT within range when you have Misery up. Sacrifice removes up to 7 debuffs from 1 player with Solace up.

[Firebert_Lakshmi]

I find myself using Solace full time. Most of the time when I join a pick up for atmas or abyssea wins, they ask me to come WHM to help with healing.

[Aaralyn]

Yeah, Esuna can remove a maximum of 2 debuffs from everyone in your PT within range when you have Misery up. Sacrifice removes up to 7 debuffs from 1 player with Solace up.

If I remember right, though, they don't stack. So lets say you cast Sacrifice on one person, and then wait on cool down, and then cast it on another person while the same status effects are still on you from the first person. I don't think they get transferred, but I can't remember.

^Strike that.

"Sacrifice can absorb ailments already afflicting its caster, the ailment(s) will still be removed from the target, however, the caster's affliction will not change. "

But still.

If you're going to do that, may as well just use Misery and run in and Esuna, figuring it's safe, and then toss a few erases on other people if Esuna didn't get them all.


I find myself using Solace full time. Most of the time when I join a pick up for atmas or abyssea wins, they ask me to come WHM to help with healing.

Removing status effects is part of healing, no?

[Hiroshiko]

As many people said before, it's very situational. I personally start out in Afflatus Solace since it provides the most benefits initially. Not only does it apply a Stoneskin effect to cures and increase Sacrifice's effect, but it also adds a bonus MDB to Barspells. However, when I know my group will be taking moderate AoE damage that won't kill me (Salvage gears come to mind), I usually switch to Afflatus Misery, and with enough haste gear I can keep everyone healthy with Cura II and Esuna when applicable. It really just depends on what my group is fighting, since debuffs like Paralyze love to proc when I'm trying to Esuna.

[kizaza]

I'm a full time Solace user. I sometimes will use MIsery if im in a solo or duo situation but since reacing 90 those very rare occasions.

[Wenceslao]

I use solacwe almost all the time except when i use Esuna.

[Lithera]

I mostly use solace but for older events I will pop on misery if like my divine seal is down and I'm not wanting to hope that my /random aoeing of a na spell or erase is going to happen.

[Simian]

Most times I am a Solace kind of guy, the cure-skin but also the boost to Holy as a Magic burst. Misery on the other hand for the Esuna and if in a confined area getting hit with AoE's from mobs. Banish III boost is not as great as I would expect it to be.

[Ariane]

As has been mentioned already, it is very situational. For events like Einherjar - with mobs like Bats and Leeches that do Attack Down moves to the melee, I generally use Misery and stay in close range so I can Esuna them. The low MP use and low hate generated by Curas when you are in this situation can come in handy too. Even in Abyssea, some situations like when fighting Amphitrite with melee jobs as your main DD, the ability to Esuna that Virulent Haze move and then Cura can prove useful depending on your party setup. The same applies to some situations like the Urganites Poison in Dynamis Buburimu too - it's not just the removal of the status effect, but the ability to do low hate/low MP AoE cures that can really shine.

For the most part though, other than in specific situations like those described above, Solace with it's Sacrifice, CureSkin and Bar-Spell bonuses is generally the more useful of the two.

Ultimately, in my opinion, any good White Mage will gauge what makes the most sense and swap them on the fly as needed.

[Nezea]

With a one minute recast on these abilities there is no reason other than laziness not to use both. With that said, most of the time you should use Afflatus Solace for the added Stoneskin effect on your cures. You can switch into Afflatus Misery for the boost to Esuna whenever you need it (or for the accuracy bonus on Auspice if you're being lolmeleeWHM) and then switch back; it's typically very rare that you'll need to use these boosts more frequently than once per minute anyway. Subbing /SCH can be quite helpful in this regard, as using Accession can alleviate some of the need to utilize Esuna in conjunction Afflatus Misery. If you do find yourself in a situation where you need to spam Esuna more than once per minute, you can consider staying in Misery for as long as you feel is necessary, but otherwise go back to Solace except for in very specific situations, where the curing benefits of Misery may outweigh those of Solace.

Situations such as these do exist, although you'll rarely if ever find them in Abyssea. One example that comes to mind is the Battleclad Chariot in Zhayolm Remnants. Most people position themselves in such a way that everyone in the party is in range of Discoid, but also in range of Cura. Consequently, keeping Afflatus Misery up and using Cura II following Discoid is very powerful; you get a fully charged cure on your entire party at the expense of only 45 MP, which is incredibly valuable in a place like Salvage where MP is not so readily available. It should be noted that even a completely uncharged Cura II is just as strong as Curaga, and it costs 3/4 of the MP. The only drawback is that it is self-target only.

Finally, always use barspells in Afflatus Solace. It makes them much, much stronger - especially with the Orison Bliaud +2 - and I reiterate that with a recast of only one minute on these abilities, you should not hesitate to switch between them whenever one is more appropriate than the other for your next couple of spells.

[Zidian]

Misery is pretty rare is abyssea, and therefore the game.

[Jamesruglia]

I almost always use Afflatus Solace; generally if I'm taking damage on Whm, I didn't anticipate it and may just be toast anyway. Besides, I've found a particular liking to Cure-Cure-Cure-Cure-Holy.

[Alkimi]

Misery can be useful in certain situations, on Tiamat and other wyrms for example where there's a lot of unavoidable 30' AoE I prefer just to stay close to the melees and stick to misery, using Cura and Cura II to heal after Wing or Blast moves.

[Gadwin]

Full-time Solace, unless I need to use Misery/Cura spam via Misery. It's not like switching between them is a huge inconvenience or aynthing.

[cealia]

:3 i use them both depending on the situation. if i'm in a besieged party i keep misery up for cura/esuna purposes. i've gotten some pretty high curas off. :D

[Naria]

I use both. Mostly I use Afflatus Solace and will switch to Misery when I need to aoe stats removals and Divine Seal is down. The exception is in status-heavy fights such as flayers and some abyssea fights where I tend to full time Misery and move into aoe range, unless they have a crazy strong paralyze or a tendency to stun etc.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

Full time solace, no cura because it's too weak.

[Ariane]

Full time solace, no cura because it's too weak.
I respectfully beg to differ. These are some values from almost a year ago in Einherjar - before my current increased cure potency that push the numbers even higher etc.

Click below for picture:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/arionne/FFXI-4/cura.jpg

Potentially 190+ HP returns to all 6 party members - without Divine Seal etc -and all for 30 MP each cast with low hate generation. When used in the right situation and in the right way, cura is impossible to gauge.

[Aleste]

I'd full-time solace for pretty much everything (with a few minor exceptions) as more often than not I'm taking advantage of cureskins and enhanced barspells (rather than of a boosted holy). The boost to holy isn't enticing enough for me as I'd rather keep the 90 mp and spend it on 1 1/2 cure5's than on the chance at 700 damage...

I'd only really use misery (these days) for esuna, and under a handful of select (rare) situations (bats, flayers, chariots and ghosts come to mind) where I'd toggle into misery, cast esuna and toggle back. On a different note, I find more use out of cura when sleepga goes off (9 times out of 10, I'll be using sublimation, and the immunity to sleep is nice) because its cheap and relatively quick casting rather than via it's original intended purpose. Auspice's enhancement (via misery) is situationally useful, but it isn't worthwhile enough to warrant putting a whitemage up close and into the fray in my opinion.

As much as I'm a fan of front lining and using misery more often, it's just not worthwhile running the risk of getting silenced or para'd (arguably worse than silence)...

[Eldelphia]

You don't fulltime anything. Solace is on most of the time but there are lots of spammy mobs in Abyssea where you're taking small amounts of damage or AoE debuffs constantly. For example, Adumbla. Especially if you're helping to proc Blue.

Einherjar was also the most amazing use of Misery. It's far more efficient and to an extent quicker just to get hit with the debuffs yourself and remove them from everyone at once.

I don't like Cura most of the time because of the fact its centred on you but when you can use it, it's remarkably efficient. Solace of course for barspells.

I also like Misery for WHM melee. Not that its what I'm doing 90% of the time but in Campaign or on WHM/NIN I like it coupled with Auspice.