Insight You've Gained by Playing Different Jobs

oh and also...if you got SMN/SCH/NIN/BRD, casting their DOT AOEs...as a tank...pls pull mobs into them, instead of standing around outside, or pulling mobs OUT of them....

if you get aggro, dont run around like a headless chicken, go to the tank, so they can get hate off you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrystalRainbow

You never need to mark mobs if you understand how the pulls work..

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Marking mobs is not only useful for tanks, you know. As an example, when I play MNK and the tank is marking, I can put up a ToD on number 3 knowing that the mob won't be killed before the attack wears off, that way not being a DPS loss. This also works with Mutilate, and also lets BLMs know which level of Thunder is the most efficient to apply on mobs.

The only jobs I have yet to reach 50 with are SCH/SMN, but playing all the other jobs has taught me a lot of things, like knowing how crucial positioning is when I tank and I have melee dps in the group, and knowing to bring mobs to tank when I play BLM or BRD and rip agro, because trying to take agro from a BRD running all over the place can get annoying. The importance of songs as a BRD, because when I play BLM and see 2+ BRDs in a group and not a single Foe's, I wanna burst into tears. Same goes for Ballad when healers fall below 50% mp, because the MP struggle as a WHM when you keep having to raise the same people and Shroud is still on CD is very real.

At the same time, getting jobs to 50 makes it so you can't ignore when other people are playing their jobs really badly because it's just glaringly obvious and you want to interfere. I try to mind my own business, but sometimes when you see BLMs spamming Fire 3, Blizzard 3, hardcasting Flare under Umbral Ice, tanks not mitigating, DRGs not keeping up Chaos Thrust or Heavy, MNKS not keeping up DK, WHM's using Medica 2 back to back, spamming Cure 2 when the tank falls below 70% HP, BRDs not singing with full MP, WARs with 5 stacks of Wrath just sitting there, NINs using Doton on single target fights, it really, really hurts and I wish I could go back and not notice any of that.

It's also really cool how playing some jobs can make you much better at other jobs. DRG was my second level 50 (BLM being my first), and I remember being overwhelmed for the first few hours of hitting 50 with the DRG rotation, especially after maining the easiest DPS job in this game. I don't feel like I could call myself proficient at DRG until I got MNK to 50 and played it exclusively for a while. When I went back to DRG, the slowness of the job compared to MNK made it a very relaxing experience and I felt like I always had more than ample time to decide which combo/attack needed to be applied next in order to maximize DPS.

Haven't 50'd everything (only 3 classes across/combined from two of my four alts) but I have poked around at several classes across them all and picked up a few points of view.

-Tank holding mob positioning in the same direction as much as possible and running back into place after escaping an AoE to be sure the monster stays in mainly the same position.... because poor monks with their positional-everything ;-; *been there, wanted to slap tanks*
-MP songs for healers (I do have my barding off days, though >_<)
-Mob bunching for overpower
-Running to the tank when stuff is slapping me (because when I tanked, I was hesitant to move everything on me because of my first point)
-Switching targets on DPS to avoid pulling hate from the tank
-Attacking the same thing as the tank (this stresses me out when I tank, when people are hitting 564359843 different things and I'm forced to flash + mp gather my life away to hold hate on everything at once)
-Forgetting to heel my faerie after placement >.>;; (oh well. *SC*)
-Fluid Aura... *Twitch* -_- (never really used it in dungeon instances, luckily, but I didn't understand how annoying it was till I had a WHM spam it)
-Waiting to heal tank life bars when they hit a certain amount (50%-ish) is really scary for a tank. Also watching that on a tank as a DPS *has to keep self from hitting the physick or cross-skilled cure as a DPS to keep from insulting the healer*
-Mantra-ing for anticipated large AoE blasts, mass mob pull or continous AoE stomps *Slaps titan*. Any added healing/buffing for that is welcome
-Not to use shoulder tackle at start on bosses/trials that need stunning/multiple stuns later (Ifrit, etc)
-It is really annoying to try to stun some things (ifrit, etc again for example... only tanking experience is Ifrit NM though) on glad with a gcd stun when you're also trying to keep hate from overgeared NINs and BLMs (always starts his eruptions right as I use a gcd =_=)
-As DPS; acting as the OT when an add spawns straight for healers
-Marking frozen people in Scylla and Ramuh.... (as a victim of being forgotten to be unfrozen and HP ticked down to 0 or just forced to stand there in Ramuh for majority of the fight - and who's party had long-time double frozen healers)

SMN
- Do not set Garuda to attack stance. You need to micromanage her because you will just be wasting Contagion if you don't.
- I know you want to use Ruin II because it's faster, but it's just going to waste your MP.
- Don't be afraid to use Tri-Disaster if a group suddenly starts to attack you if a tank loses hate. It will give you some space.

BRD
- Dear all Bards: USE QUELLING STRIKES IF IT'S AVAILABLE.
- Don't be afraid to be selfish and use Army's Paeon for yourself.
- Stop moving around so much. I see Bards running around and constantly moving all of the time. Stop it. Just move if you have to because you'll find yourself too far away from a WHM/SCH.
- Don't worry about using Mage's Ballad so much for BLM. They have their own MP recovery tricks. Just focus on helping the WHM/SCH.
- Remember to stop using the songs as soon as you don't need them. They are crippling your DPS, so don't just leave them on constantly.

That's about all I can say for now.

Just a few things that come to mind:

I always thought healers had it easy, then I tried playing healer and realized, it's hard work. As a result I now appreciate my healers way more.

Greased Lightning III huh? I wonder what all the fuss is abou- *insert punching a garlean through a mountain here* BLAZING FISTS OF FURY AWWYEEEEEAAAAAH

What's this "animation lock" thing people are talking about with dragoons? I don't see any-*dead*

And of course, my original "holy crap" moment- the first time I used Meteor with my BLM. Words actually fail me here, I was actually laughing like a madman. If only there was some way I could do that in real life... maybe with the moon... heheh....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eisen-Zorn

BRD
- Dear all Bards: USE QUELLING STRIKES IF IT'S AVAILABLE.

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for quelling strikes, it's best to use it before you start DPS. it will minimize your aggro build, when you do your burst rotation, and you'll be on the bottom of the hate bar.
using it after burst, won't do much. it only reduce the aggro you make, it doesn't lower your actual hate. So use it at the beginning, and it's unlikely that you'll overaggro; same for BLM, since they can use quelling strikes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eisen-Zorn

SMN

- Remember to stop using the songs as soon as you don't need them. They are crippling your DPS, so don't just leave them on constantly.

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This is only valid for Paeon and Ballad.
Foe's Requiem doesn't ding damage output and in fact helps it. If there's any song to keep until you run out of MP, it's that one.

I'd add a few others that apply to more than one class:
For certain fights (namely, most EX primals and most of coil) you are not a "ranged DPS". You are a melee dps. You will stack on the mob's ass/flank with everyone else. This makes dodging cone AOEs easier.
Another general rule for everyone is to MOVE IN STRAIGHT LINES. Don't wiggly woggly wobbly wibbly left and right. Straight lines. This is especially important for anything with an AOE, like T11, all forms of titan, Ifrit, and Shiva.
Mechanics also take priority over your rotation. If you can't handle mechanics and your rotation at the same time, practice your rotation until you can do it in your sleep, so you can focus on learning mechanics.
Don't. Panic. I would conjecture that 90% of wipes are because people move in multiple directions before the right one. STRAIGHT LINES.
Coinciding with that, know which skills cause animation lock and learn to time them correctly. Using Assassinate during a landslide will likely get you killed.
Also, tank positioning is unbelievably important. The safest method is to face the mob(s) away from the party.
Positioning is very important, and also remember to KEEP THEM STILL. Going along with the straight lines thing I mentioned, do not move unless it's absolutely necessary. Keeping your feet planted is important.

I'm still climbing the "level 50 hill" with all classes/jobs, but playing with different jobs helped me a lot to understand how a party works and playing better.

For example, my main job is White Mage and when I played with Lancer I understood why spamming Fluid Aura is so annoying...

After I leveled SCH I was so much more sympathetic towards healers whose tanks start the pull in middle of Stoneskin/Adlo/Succor being cast.

To my healers before then: I'M SO SORRY. /grovel

Applying Heavy Thrust is extremely hard, even nowadays, so I can understand why 9 out of 10 duty finder dragoons will never use it.


.../s