The most annoying thing in dungeons.

[Skivvy]

Most annoying thing for me is when no one can be assed to say a simple hello at the start of a run! :X C'mon, it's not hard. It's the most basic level of civility, and yet most people skip it.

[VanilleFang]

Most annoying thing for me is when no one can be assed to say a simple hello at the start of a run! :X C'mon, it's not hard. It's the most basic level of civility, and yet most people skip it.

Sometimes I just wave. I'm too lazy to reach over to my keyboard sometimes, and it's a pain typing messages with a controller. D: I'm sorry!

[Skivvy]

Sometimes I just wave. I'm too lazy to reach over to my keyboard sometimes, and it's a pain typing messages with a controller. D: I'm sorry!

lol, I'm good with waving! Honestly, anything that acknowledges the group makes me happy

[AskaRay]

Sometimes I just wave. I'm too lazy to reach over to my keyboard sometimes, and it's a pain typing messages with a controller. D: I'm sorry!

Select (activate chat)
A (set cursor)
LeftButton (auto translate )
Scroll down twice
Hit A ttree times

Selects and shows (Hello!) In auto translate in the chat...easy peasy

[Kaurie]

So I finished leveling another tank and the worst thing was not to struggle through dozens of bad healers (don't heal me in Cleric Stance for god's sake) and dps (why would that BLM single target attack in 5 mob pulls...).

No, more annoying was to pull 5 mobs, getting bashed by them, literally buring our defensive and healing cooldowns just to watch some bard running away for a side chest.

Dudes and dudettes, that treasure chest with Grade 2 Clear Prism will not disappear, you can always open it after we finish killing all these mobs. Don't be so impatient and greedy.

Attack first, open later.

Hard to believe that one finds a bad healer and a single target BLM less bothersome than someone picking up a chest.

On that note, to anyone who does this, you picking up a chest doesn't bother me.

[SahreeYurblu]

As a THM, there are times when single target is a better choice.

1. Large trash pulls that are going down easy. Fire I uses far less Mp, and by the time Fire I I casts whatever I targeted may be down and I'll have to retarget and cast again. I can single shot what's still alive faster in some cases.

2. Same situation as above, if I feel having every mob come after me will end badly.

3. Small spaces where I'm likely to pull something the tank hasn't.

4. I may take the kill shot on something with Fire I if Mp is getting low before I transpose and resume aoe.

Those are the reasons aside from a crappy healer or a tank that can't keep aggro.

[Kaurie]

As a THM, there are times when single target is a better choice.

1. Large trash pulls that are going down easy. Fire I uses far less Mp, and by the time Fire I I casts whatever I targeted may be down and I'll have to retarget and cast again. I can single shot what's still alive faster in some cases.

BLM has infinite MP.

2. Same situation as above, if I feel having every mob come after me will end badly.

Well that is a fault of your tank, not you. However, when I SMN, I just run and stand next to the tank as I AoE so he can grab them back, as I've never run a dungeon and not stole agro from the tank as I was AoEing. I also run up for Blizz II spam, but that's more of a SMN thing.

3. Small spaces where I'm likely to pull something the tank hasn't.

Same as above. However, that said, you should AoE first and if the tank is not keeping things, switch to single.

4. I may take the kill shot on something with Fire I if Mp is getting low before I transpose and resume aoe.

Could do that, but that implies you are AoEing which goes against what was being said. Also, killing one off is a waste of DPS, but can be good if your tank is dying.

Those are the reasons aside from a crappy healer or a tank that can't keep aggro.

But like, all of points 2 and 3 were about tanks not keeping agro, and point 4 was about either a crappy healer or crappy tank (or both)?


All of that said, there are situations when single target is better. I am not sure what the rule of thumb is now, but I believe in ARR it was 3+ mobs = AoE, 1-2 = Single target. In HW, BLM got a lot more heavy single target spells and a nerf to their aoe, so it may be more like 4+ or 5+ = AoE?

[enthauptet]

Incompetent tanks is why people that know what they are doing single target. The other ones just suck so meh.

Those are the reasons aside from a crappy healer or a tank that can't keep aggro.

yep

[SahreeYurblu]

Fire i is faster so if it's a quick kill trash pull, it can be faster to single shot. Let's say I target something and cast fire ii.... and now it's dead before the casting finishes. I tab to the next target and fire ii... and that one's dead before it finishes. In those cases, I single shot those.

Adds on a boss, sometimes that's single shot because I'm low on mp and don't have the time to transpose and blizzard but I can land a single shot.

I'd be all aoe all the time on 3 or more if I could, but there are times singles are more effective.

[Kaurie]

Fire i is faster so if it's a quick kill trash pull, it can be faster to single shot. Let's say I target something and cast fire ii.... and now it's dead before the casting finishes. I tab to the next target and fire ii... and that one's dead before it finishes. In those cases, I single shot those.

Adds on a boss, sometimes that's single shot because I'm low on mp and don't have the time to transpose and blizzard but I can land a single shot.

I'd be all aoe all the time on 3 or more if I could, but there are times singles are more effective.

Best tip for you is to target either a) the biggest mob with the biggest HP pool or b) whatever the melee dps is not focusing to start your AoE.
As for MP effectiveness it's generally more effective for damage per MP to AoE, despite that you lose more MP per spell and faster. Further to this idea, it's more time efficient to AoE despite your running out of MP faster and the first mob takes longer to die - as the DPS is higher and thus the mob pack dies faster. This is evidenced by basic math where DPS = damage / second, and the mobs have a set health. Thus, increased damaged / second decreases total time.

I am not suggesting a BLM should never single target, as it has it's times when it's better (i.e. a boss fight, no doubt), but I was simply countering your points as to when it's useful to single target. Mostly, I was just trying to provide tips as it appears you're still learning your job as a lvl 16 THM.