grow as a CONJ to be a White Mage

Hello,

Got PUG to 6 and GLAD to 22
now finally starting the biggest part of being a White Mage starting Conj and I have some questions

1/ How should I allocate points? I want to be as useful as healer as possible for teams later on so I understand not putting anything in strength or vit but how should I spread over the other stats? I don't mind if it makes it more complicated now, I just want to think about end-game usefulness

2/ I find leaves to be a bit tricky sometimes as a conj when monster call for help or too many monsters as MP drop fast... so should I invest on elixir or should I start being a Alchemist to make my own? I have not started any of those side-jobs yet...

3/ Any tips that you found useful when you raised your conjurer job? may it be good place to level up, macros, items... whatever could be useful.

4/ If somebody on Masamune with a lvl 50 CONJ have time, I am looking for a mentor to do things well :)

Thanks ^^

1) General consensus is to pick 2-3 of VIT, MND, INT, and PIE. White mage is very versatile in this game and all 4 of those stats will help you out in different fights. You can make up any "lost" stats through gear so it's not too big a deal where you put your points as long as its in those 4. the stats you want to avoid are STR and DEX. VIT is still useful for White Mage despite what you may think, because it boosts max HP, reduces damage taken, and most importantly, boosts Enhancing magic which means better protect/stoneskin/Regen.

2) You don't need to worry about buying medicines for leves (Elixirs are terrible at low levels, too). If you are having trouble with large groups of enemies in leves, you can try getting level 10 in Thaumaturge for Fire, since it hits groups instead of a single target. You get Stonera at level 22 which is AOE if you don't combo it which does some really nice damage. Make sure to always have Cleric Stance up if you are soloing.

Another thing to remember while soloing leves is that if you take out an enemy if you run away the enemies will eventually stop chasing you and you can recover with one less enemy to deal with when you go back to fighting.

3) Stoneskin and Regen are two of your most useful spells, use them extremely often as they give you very little hate and can negate or heal a lot of damage and are much more MP efficient than curing. Practice using Curaga once you get it, it is REALLY good once you get used to how the healing splits among targets. Practice using Blissful Mind and Shroud of Saints once you get them, your mp lasts a really long time if you get really good with timing them.

Thank you very much, I Can't wait to have StoneSkin, I see a HUGE difference when people put it or me or if I am on my own. Great spell

These are just some experiences I have had while playing.

I personally put points into Vitality (for more health and for the better stone skin) and Mind (for the better healing), but as Estellios said you can split and do two different types or just pour into one. I recommend playing a little bit before diving into it because once your points are assigned they cannot be redone till you complete the White Mage quest at 30, and even then it can only be done once. You won't be able to change them again until you obtain another tomb by completing another Soul quest. Leveling can be a pain because being a caster you're using MP and not generating TP, so expect a lot of down time until you get your lv.20 trait Auto-Refresh. Be careful of Stonera, sometimes it can pull things that should be too far away. Be sure to always keep Cleric Stance up when solo'ing and Blissful Mind always charged just in case you need the extra MP. Depending on how you allot your points depends on how hard gear might be to come across. You could be sitting in a pair of shoes for 15+levels (it happens -.-) Parsimony and Necrogenesis can also be useful from the Thaumaturge, until you get your gem. Leveling can be treacherous at times but it pays off in the end. Remember, everyone needs a White Mage, so you're always needed.

thanks!

other questions :)

1/ how/where can I level up? for the moment it's a lot of solo and lot of leves but it's a bit tiring for a on-line game...
2/ how hard is the quest to become White Mage? will I need people's help?
3/ once you become white mage and you equip it, does it still level up conj at the same time? are both jobs levelling up each other?

Thanks!

Thanalan is where I leveled only because Ul'dah is the staple city for Ragnarok. So shouting in town is always welcome. Other than that The Shroud isn't that bad. I leveled for a while outside of Camp Tranquil but always found myself back at Ul'dah (just follow your leve camps).

The quest to become a White Mage can be rough. You have to fight 5 enemies at once all around 35 so it's best to bring some warm bodies or just a 50.

It does level Conj. The only thing the gem does is it allows you to use White Mage specific abilities. Every 5 levels after 30 you return to Raya-O-Senna and do a quest for her to obtain the new ability. In doing so you can only use the specific cross class skills, using the White Mage gem means you can only use Gladiator and Monk abilities instead of all the other classes. A list of them can be found here: http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Disciplines

Also, to obtain the White Mage quest you get it at level 30 from Soileine (in the Conj guild in Gridania). After that, all White Mage specific quests at 35,40,45 and 50 are obtained by Raya-O-Senna in North Shroud 15-22 Emerald Moss.

1/ as a conjurer/WHM you have a great deal of soloability if you are on your toes. Try and find monsters 5-10 levels above you, preferably in packs which are weak to earth or wind (ex:wolves really weak to earth) and pick them off from a distance to avoid being overwhelmed. Lacking the nukes, you may become more dependant on party play, check around the 3 aetherites closest to each city for appropriate party sites. Most likely Black Brush, Dry Bone & Horizon since Ul'dah is the central hub on most servers.

2/ Like all of the job quests, the challenges are unlocked as you level, usually with the pattern of lvl 30-35-40-45-45-50, at least half of which will likely require the aid of 4-8 party members.

3/ If you become a 37 whm you are also automatically 37 conj. If you become a 38 conj you are also automatically a 38 whm.

Thank you both for your reply.
I know what I have to do now :)

Anytime, but, I would never pick on a pack of enemies 5 levels higher than me when solo'ing. From my experience it's quicker and easier to kill things your level or a few below you than spending time killing something higher than you. Just my experience though. Them Dodo's and Cactuar seen a lot of me.

True; at low ranks I enjoyed the cactuars SE of horizon.

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Originally Posted by Alucielyse

These are just some experiences I have had while playing.

I personally put points into Vitality (for more health and for the better stone skin) and Piety (for the better healing),

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Actually, MND increases healing magic potency. Piety increases maximum MP and magic evasion. So, it's not like PIE is a useless stat for WHM, but you'll probably get more mileage out of MND.

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Originally Posted by Urthdigger

Actually, MND increases healing magic potency. Piety increases maximum MP and magic evasion. So, it's not like PIE is a useless stat for WHM, but you'll probably get more mileage out of MND.

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You sir are absolutely correct! That's what happens when we get maintenance.

so how would you distribute points?
1 level > Pie, 1 level > Mind, 1 level > Vit
then rinse and repeat every 3 levels?

It depends on how you want to play. I have mine split between VIT and MND evenly. So I have a strong Skin and some nice heals. Run the AF set with the wand of tremors/gales it's not a bad little healer.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-Mage-A-Guide

Read on..

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Originally Posted by Urthdigger

Actually, MND increases healing magic potency. Piety increases maximum MP and magic evasion. So, it's not like PIE is a useless stat for WHM, but you'll probably get more mileage out of MND.

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Piety also makes your Aero DoT, Stone Magic Def Down, and Stonera Heavy effect land more often (and in Aero's case, increases the DoT potency). It has its uses, especially Stone and Stonera.

Edit: Regarding what order to put points in, if you have decided on VIT, MND, and PIE I would cap out VIT at 15 first, then MND to 15, then PIE last (at cap you have 45 points to evenly split among 3 stats). My reasoning being is that while XPing VIT will help with your survivability which will be extremely important while soloing or in low level parties when most classes/jobs have not gotten all of their best abilities yet, so you might pull hate or just have random things happen where you will take damage. PIE should be last because it won't really be useful until you have all your damage spells, which isn't until higher levels.

True, kinda falls into the types of White Mages to play. The power of forums, causing hard decisions to be even harder!

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Originally Posted by Alucielyse

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-Mage-A-Guide

Read on..

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I red it but to be honest, maybe it makes perfect sense for you but as new player it's very confusing...

I want to focus on being a party healer, even if mean that solo part gets more complicated

but if someone said we can change allocated points once we become white mage, maybe I should invest in offence for the moment and switch to a more healing/buffing mode once white mage no?

You can just wear gear with INT and Magic attack whenever you need to nuke. Don't stress about the stat points too much! Their influence is not terribly large, your gear is what will make most of the difference.

Keep in mind gear can compensate quite nicely for poor allocation to an extent, so there's a number of ways to go about doing it. I personally did MND and PIE, as this was before I knew how important enhancing magic potency is, but even then I'm only losing out on about 8 points. Meanwhile, I've got decent healing magic, MP, and enfeebling. It just means I have to focus a bit more on Vit/enhancing gear than other folks I suppose.

To a fresh CNJ starting out though? I'd recommend MND/VIT. You honestly don't need PIE that much, the extra HP from VIT will help you restore MP faster through Blissful Mind, and is thus probably more important.

from my exp. your best friend is HP. it gives you time to think, and react. when you solo, it's never about killing fast on whm, it's about MP management, and finding a groove in your ability rotations, regen, stone, cure, etc. I fully disagree that gear is all that important as far as teaming goes, whm AF is more than suitable, I've done Ifrit runs with zero gear on, and so have many others. like anything else, the best thing you can do is get to know the class. that doesn't mean, become a stat geek, and know everything about every nuke, that's all fine, (and I praise those that do this) it means putting priorities on who and when to heal, knowing what your range is, MP management (a big one), when to take a chance, when to do nothing, being prepared (MP stims, food) etc. etc. once you "feel" what needs to be done, instead of guessing, you're already better than most. THEN you can worry about gear.

points: it's been mentioned, but I'll say it anyway: MIND + VIT.

HP HP HP, nothing is sweeter than HP for WHM, i don't care what anyone says. when you need MP from blissful mind, you'll be damn happy you have HP. it gives you some breathing room, when you heal aggro from the tank. and don't let anyone fool you about healing, the best healers are not the ones that heal the most, the best healers heal when it's needed, getting the most out of every heal, and can "feel" the big hits coming on, and have their target prepared for them.

at an advanced stage, you can start looking out for your team in other ways, people often forget that YES you are a healer, you're there to take care of your team, that doesn't just mean heals. as well as keeping them refreshed with stoneskin, protect, and regen, there are other aspects. you can sleep targets, you can remove debuffs with Cure and Esuna (altho using Esuna might be great if it's changed, I don't recommend using it right now unless it's vital, or you have plenty of time) you can also help with damage under certain conditions. if you want to take it a step further, watch for the teams food timers, gear dmg, and learn when and how to use enfeebling stims. at any rate, it's damn fun imo :) and people really appreciate a good WHM, even other WHM's appreciate them :)

now that I smell like a mr. knowitall, let me tell you that I'm not, I'm still learning WHM myself after playing it as my primary for 4 months, but I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong on what I've told you. I think the fact that I never run out of offers to heal parties speaks for itself, I'm either REALLY funny, or I do an ok job at it ^^

o yeah, and if you screw up your point allocation, don't worry too much, there's a quest item to fix it that you'll probably have anyway by time you're 50.

have fun!

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Originally Posted by Hysterior

I red it but to be honest, maybe it makes perfect sense for you but as new player it's very confusing...

I want to focus on being a party healer, even if mean that solo part gets more complicated

but if someone said we can change allocated points once we become white mage, maybe I should invest in offence for the moment and switch to a more healing/buffing mode once white mage no?

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If you wanna be 'main' healer in a party, split your stat points between Vit and Mind. As Mind=Stronger Cures and Magic Acc. and Vit=Stonger Stoneskin/Regen/more Hp's, this is what a party needs from a healer the most. Also, getting into groups is VERY easy for leveling, so you're not loosing anything by cutting down on your 'attack' MP. I split my stats between VIT/MND and have no trouble soloing or main healing endgame. Keep in mind, you can buy INT/PIE gears for attacking if you need them.

Also, if you have them, leves are your most effective way to solo quickly. Not only do you get small rewards for doing leves, but the mobs tend to be easier, give good exp, and you get a modest exp reward at the end of each leve. As you do higher ranked leves, you can get more of an exp boost. For example, my level 45 MRD is currently getting just shy of 5k as an ending exp boost from leves...on top of what I get from killing the leve mobs. (At lower levels this is bonus exp is much lower, but typically 6-10 leves=new level) But really, if your goal is to be a main healer WHM in a party, then you should try to get into exp parties as a whm.

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Originally Posted by Kinseykinz

you're not loosing anything by cutting down on your 'attack' MP.

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Well, this isn't quite true. I'm firmly of the opinion that if you're twiddling your thumbs on WHM, and you're not out of MP, you're doing it wrong. While in either case MP isn't the big issue (Being better able to restore MP is more important... though more MP DOES seem to increase rate of MP return from Shroud of Saints and Auto-Refresh, as well as from ethers and elixirs, I'd like to say that just because you're partying, doesn't mean you won't be nuking.

Sure, there are most definitely times when you shouldn't be nuking. If it's a dangerous enough fight that you're spamming cures and regens, by all means stick nukes on the back burner. But in your average fight, a white mage should try to keep aero up on the mob, as well as magic defense down if there are black mages. If it's an AoE spamfest instead, go for Stonera and Aerora, though you might not want to ride your timers so hard on those since they eat MP like crazy. You'll also want to use Aerora if you're fighting enemies that put very nasty buffs on themselves, I don't think there's another form of dispel in the game.

if you're capable of nuking without taking risks on being locked when you need to heal, go for it. but regardless of what some people say, your priority is HEALING, and refreshing buffs. when I play WHM, it's to be a healer, not DD, if I ever cast a single nuke, it's because i feel like it's more productive and safe, not because a party requires it. if you choose to nuke, make sure its worth bothering with, and the mob isn't laughing at earth or wind elements. if you're just dinging it, don't bother to waste the MP. however, stone is a good one to throw in there now n then to help the other casters nukes land more efficiently. and don't forget to flip Cleric on and off in transition from spamming nukes to heals, 20% buff to one or the other is a big deal.

Urth has a good point tho. most whm's don't nuke, because they think they need to spam them back to back, this isn't true, just nuking enough to keep the nuke "effects" running is plenty.

also, just to add this...in my opinion WHM makes the best power leveler there is :P hehe (bite me wars, rawr!)

I don't see any real benefit for a WHM to even put status effects on enemies. Bosses, MAYBE, but only because it's one single enemy and a simple Stone or Aero would suffice. But any other time it's a waste to even look at the ability. Even with Shroud of Saints and Enmity - you're still going to be pretty high on the threat meter so if you just simply stone you can turn yellow, and if you need to heal the Tank, you'll pull. It's best to be safe and leave that to the BLM or the CNJ.