What white mage materia should i be using?

[Magnedeus]

I mostly play tank/dps and i want to take a break and work on my white mage. I'm only lvl 52 right now, but I'd like to know what materia i should be melding on my way to 70.

[RubyScarlett]

Depends on your playstyle and the kind of content you'll be doing with the class. Let's take a look at the options.

Crit - Will effect both heals and dps, giving an increase to both. Can cause a bit of overheal, but not the end of the world if it does. Besides, seeing a Cure 2 turn into a Bene is
Det - Flat baseline increase to both heals and dps, though you need a lot to see a little difference.
Spell Speed - Will give increase to hots, and if you play a reactive healer, it makes your casts faster. However, it will cause you to run out of MP faster and since you should be precasting anyways for outgoing damage, it's not as valuable as many think.
Direct Hit - Increase to DPS only. If you're going for those orange parses, this will help.
Piety - Can be helpful for progging fights since you're casting / ressing more but WHM also has strong MP regen and you need a LOT of piety to make a difference.
Vitality - Right Side only. Can be helpful for prog and gives a bit of wiggle room when learning on mechanics.

Personally, I have over 2700 on my WHM with raid food on and I'd stack more if I could.
Crit > Det > DH for me and I avoid SS like the plague on gear and melds. Pie to a comfort level, though you can get enough on gear that you shouldn't have to meld. Vit melds on right side for early Savage prog.

But ultimately, any melds are viable if they work for you.

[Risvertasashi]

I mostly play tank/dps and i want to take a break and work on my white mage. I'm only lvl 52 right now, but I'd like to know what materia i should be melding on my way to 70.

I generally prefer crit/det/pie. The first two benefit both DPS and heals, the latter is nice if you decide to help someone's prog party and they don't have a brd/mch.

I really hate SPS, as too much means you'll clip when double-weaving, and with only 1 instant DPS spell, WHM clips a lot as it is.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

As people already said, it's best to stay away from Sps.
I personally focus primarily on Crit, det then it's a toss up between DH and Pie depending if you're the type to DPS more or more conservative.

It's a good idea to at least put a little in DH though, just to have the option open for you.

[miraidensetsu]

I would prefer crit > det > vit on right side. Yes, vit.

That's because Vit gives me that needed wiggle room to survive some mechanic when the situation becomes ugly. And my choice is that way because I don't have a static, so all my group content is done at pugs (PF or even DF).

Edit: About SpS, in my case this stat is somewhat useful. That can be used to make up for the high lag connection I have, allowing me to cast a spell on time and letting it fall on the right time, despite the lag (where cast time + average lag = 2.5s). The cast time reduction covers the lag. On practice, I use crit > sps > det and vit on right side, since I need that wiggle room.

[Mansion]

I'd say the tricky part is that both Det and SpS need a lot of melding before you can actually see some kind of difference when you play. So you have to choose, because having Crit main, then a mixture of SpS/Det won't show much and you will lose more than if you had chosen to max SpS or Det.
And as said above, SpS build require a good mana management, but yet Piety is not worth melding if you don't max it...

I think that's why Crit > Det is the best option when you don't want to think about it too much. You will have strong heals, good DPS, and no mana problems. Just agro problems ;D

[ArumatKelewae]

Seeing as you are still in levelling phase I advise to meld some Vit in jewelry, then Crit > Det.

Upon reaching level 70 and having your end game gear, I'll go Crit > Det > SpS.

I think that White Mage has the tools to never run out of MP so I think the whole "SpS will make you run out of MP faster" is moot AND no need for piety ^^

My two cents ...

[Exiled_Tonberry]

I think that White Mage has the tools to never run out of MP so I think the whole "SpS will make you run out of MP faster" is moot AND no need for piety ^^

My two cents ...

You can definitely run out of MP as a WHM if you're the type to DPS constantly while tossing in Cure IIIs and Medica IIs.

While I don't think it's necessary to really build into Piety, it's wrong to assume that your MP is infinite.

[Mirch]

INT on all green slots.
Determination as advanced meld if allowed.

you need to be both smart and determined to support your team you can do it!

[ArumatKelewae]

You can definitely run out of MP as a WHM if you're the type to DPS constantly while tossing in Cure IIIs and Medica IIs.

While I don't think it's necessary to really build into Piety, it's wrong to assume that your MP is infinite.

During the fights that require Cure III, if you do not have Thin Air + Assize + Lucid Dreaming yet, OK you can probably run out of mana. Once you get these 3 abilities (and you ask for Refresh + Mana Shift if available depending of the party comp), you're safe.

Granted I only went till Suzaku EX in term of difficulty (no Omega Savage yet).

EDIT : I play WHM of course, almost exclusively :3