Quote Originally Posted by tdb View Post

My brain handles Thin Air a bit differently because its benefit depends on what you do while the buff is active. In an attempt to optimize it I often end up not using it at all, which is certainly not optimal. Unlearning bad habits takes a lot of effort.


I get skittish if the entire party has taken a significant amount of damage. If Medica II is about to end or already ended I use that; if not then Assize if it's available or will be in a couple of seconds; otherwise Medica. In many cases such damage occurs in situation where the party will be grouped up so Cure III would be a better choice, but I haven't quite finished wiring my brain to properly recognize those situations yet.
I could be misunderstanding and if I am I apologize - you mention if Medica II is ending or has just ended you will use it but if not you use Assize/Medica. While I would never fault anyone for overhealing via Assize if you have a Medica II ticking you don't then cast Medica, do you? It's not super clear, as I said I could just be misunderstanding.

As for Thin Air you're right to prioritize it for times where you need to spend a lot of MP quickly. I rarely use it during boss fights in dungeons for this very reason, preferring to save it for trash packs and Holy. Holy is by far the best bang for your buck that you're going to get out of Thin Air in a dungeon situation unless you find yourself chain raising and even then it's debatable.

I think what you do with Thin Air is exactly my own problem with Largesse - I tell myself I might get more bang for my buck later with it but then later never comes and I've just wasted an entire use of it or more. It's definitely a hard mindset to leave behind.

As for being skittish when people have taken damage I use an 'innocent until proven guilty' philosophy with pugs - I trust them to not eat avoidable damage until I see them do so more than once. At that point I then weigh my options as to how much extra effort I will have to spend keeping them alive instead of just swiftcasting a raise after they die to teach them a lesson. I know it's optimistic and not for everyone, just offering my take on it.