Arcanist-->Summoner-->Black Mage Possible??

[Bixby]

have you used it as a arcanist? thats my only purpose of using it

Not all skills are available as cross-class skills. Have a look at the in-game tooltip. Or right here. See how it says "THM BLM" at the bottom? Those are the only classes/jobs that can use that skill; in other words, Blizzard II can't be cross-classed at all. Compare, for example, to Thunder, which you'll see is available to all the DoM classes.

[jcw005]

If you could cross-class any skill you wanted, it'd really destroy the class balances =) If you're considering leveling a Thaumaturge, however, you should strongly consider leveling up to 26 to get Swiftcast. That's pretty much a goto skill for any caster, and especially so as an Arcanist. (Swiftcast+Raise is an essential combo for WHM/SCH/SMN. Even as a summoner, you'll want to have it, since given the high MP cost of Raise, in endgame content, you'll want to be the one using Raise as a summoner to spare the healers the wasted mana.)

[seekerofpower]

Even as a summoner, you'll want to have it, since given the high MP cost of Raise, in endgame content, you'll want to be the one using Raise as a summoner to spare the healers the wasted mana.)

This depends. If the healer is a WHM, then yes, as they have almost no MP regen during fights. If your healer is a SCH, you will want to let the SCH rez, as SCH have almost unlimited MP when played correctly, and you will need your MP for damage.

[OrganizationXIll]

Bliz 2 works well for groups of critters, you do more dps than casting fire I's and your tank can easily hold agro on it enough that they die before you get agro enough to die. IE Fire I will do 120 per hit, at the same time bliz 2 would do 60 per critter it hits.

Just have to know when you can and cant use it.

Yes it is useful against multiple mobs. Such as the Spriggans boss in Copperbell. But when you have 3 mobs in a typical pull? No. Most tanks, especially paladins, like to focus on single targets. Taking them out methodically.

Healers love it as well, because it clears the trash pronto-quick, saving them a bunch of heal-casts.

I can't help it that the animation is mind-boggling.

As a healer myself I disagree. It doesn't kill the trash quick enough to balance with the lack of targets attacking the tank when you take them out 1 by 1. I much prefer to heal a paladin for this reason. Marauders take a lot of damage quickly that needs nearly twice as many heals and it doesn't cut the fight time in half. Maybe cuts a third off. Ergo: It doesn't balance out unless the mobs die in 6-7 casts of AoE. Fire 2 does quite well in AoE, enough so that it may come close to balancing. But I don't think Blizzard 2 should be used much, if ever. IMO.

[Shuon]

Whether or not to AoE depends largely on the party dynamics. If the tank could hold hate / everyone is ok with just zerging through the pulls / healer is able to keep up with the pace, there is aboslutely nothing wrong with spamming AoE to take down trash asap, and I believe in the lvl50 dungeons, that's exactly what people do.

However, in most situations especially PUGs / early dungeons, the most conservative and safest course of action is always Sleep Adds > kill one by one.