What are some things to avoid doing as a BLM?

New to MMOs, this is basically my first one. So obviously I want to play well with others and not have people hate me. Only at level 39 ATM, and I seem to have been doing alright while in parties. Had one guy said he hates casters, but didn't really give an explanation.
So yea, what are some do's and don't for a BLM?

Do:
-Something. All the time.

Don't:
-Just stand there.
-Spam Blizzard only.

Don't just spam fire 2 it will grab the hate off the tank, expecially more so if there a pld.

I've had people tell me only use sleep in emergency situations, it just slows down your dps, and makes the run take longer. So only use it when you half to.

Your rotation should be swift + fire 3, fire, untill you can't no more, transpose, blizzard, thunder 2, Fire 3.

Your rotation doesn't become fluid until 40(?). Its been a long time since I was blm below 50, so I don't remember when certain traits become available. But basically when Astral Fire III and Umbral Ice III overwrite eachother, you become the BLM that the game intended you to be. You'll get a speed boost when casting Bliz III from AFIII and vice versa for Fire III from UI3. At that point, you only use transpose when you are out of mana completely OR, to get into astral fire and use a firestarter proc.

Don't use firestarter procs while in umbral ice....if youre firestarter proc comes after u started casting bliz 3, then be sure to use transpose before casting that next fire 3 in the rotation. Saying this coz until recently, it kept slipping my mind and really hurts dps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dimitrias

Don't just spam fire 2 it will grab the hate off the tank, expecially more so if there a pld.

I've had people tell me only use sleep in emergency situations, it just slows down your dps, and makes the run take longer. So only use it when you half to..

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1. Don't spam fire 2 unless there are 4 enemies or more, otherwise you are probably quicker focussing down the mobs one by one. And if you do spam it watch agro like mentioned above.

2. That depends on the situation. If you are in a group that can't handle a lot of mobs (whether that is because of agro, healing, or other issues doesn't matter) it might help a lot, especially when you have deep sleep. Yes it will hurt your dps, but it can also make things a lot easier. You probably won't need it at 50, but before that it can be very useful.

dont move!!, or limit your movement as much as possible, use Scathe or Aetherial Manipulation to decrease the dps lose and down time

Just follow the ABCs: Always Be Casting (Flare)

I suggest leveling Archer up, if you haven't done so, to get Raging Strikes and Quelling Strikes. The former is a good buff to your damage whilst the latter is great to pop at the start of any skirmish to help ease on dealing with aggro. There's no real hurry to get them, but if you're planning on staying BLM for the long term, you will want to get them eventually. Sleep is very situational, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The main uses of it are if the tank or healer is down and you need to regroup or if you're speed running Wanderer's Palace which is endgame dungeon. As mentioned before, it can also be used if the tank or healers feel like they're being overwhelmed.