grow as a CONJ to be a White Mage

[Urthdigger]

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.

[Giit]

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!

[Kinseykinz]

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?

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.

[Urthdigger]

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

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.

[Giit]

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!)

[Alucielyse]

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.