MP management?

[Gwyn]

Hello.


I am currently sitting at 35 THM and I find myself running out of mp after chain 3/4. I am training on mad anglers and I am using featherfoot and parsimony (on thundara) whenever they are up. Convert takes simply too long to recast and I can rest for simply 30 seconds and be at full mp again. Sanguine rite is also not an option and while it's a very good skill it just doesn't fit in to my regime (as a nuker, not getting hit whilst leveling)


My spell sequence goes like this:


(featherfoot), Blizzard -> stone -> Thunder -> (parsimony) -> Thundara -> Thunder


This guarantees me a kill on them and I won't get hit. The last cast of 'thunder' is usually not needed, but on the level 39 anglers when my thundara simply gets resisted, it is necessary.


So what other ways are there to manage MP? Any gear or food I can use? Or is there simply nothing I can do to manage my mp better?


I personally think THM needs some kind of solo mp management or more tiers of auto-refresh. A Conserve MP trait would be a nice addition possibly (a trait from FFXI) Just something to help the base class out without having to spend a bunch on materia or high-level gear.

[zaviermhigo]

There's some food, but honestly at this level you shouldn't need to be casting this much to gain levels, the dps should be able to take over when you're out of mp. If you make it to 50, and have all your blm quests done, you rarely EVER run out of mp unless you're being a dick and stealing hate on purpose or something, so it might just be the level range, lower on mp until 40s. Then one you hit you will still need some gear with mp materia, and enmity minus on belt and brand.

[Mychael]

There's some food, but honestly at this level you shouldn't need to be casting this much to gain levels, the dps should be able to take over when you're out of mp. If you make it to 50, and have all your blm quests done, you rarely EVER run out of mp unless you're being a dick and stealing hate on purpose or something, so it might just be the level range, lower on mp until 40s. Then one you hit you will still need some gear with mp materia, and enmity minus on belt and brand.

I think he's soloing. ;o

[Estellios]

It might be a good idea to skip casting Stone, at least on Anglers. They are water-based and resist earth, but are weak to Thunder, so the magic evasion debuff isn't really necessary on them and the poor damage Stone will be doing is not worth the MP spent, which will add up over time. Even Blizzard's Gravity effect may not be necessary and will probably give you a reason to use Sanguine Rite, get hit, and recover MP which will also help in the long run.

I had a LS member that was soloing those recently on THM and getting Chain 5's so it might be that you may need better gear if you haven't upgraded recently, or maybe try eating either magic attack or magic accuracy food depending on how often you get resisted. Having unresisted combos goes a long way in MP conservation.

Also, take a moment to recover some HP/MP on chain 1 and 2, it will help out as well.

[VoltaAsura]

As thm /blm as my main since beta....i can understand ur frustrations with the new battle system and mp. Its a valid concern, however its not too hard to get accustomed to the new style so you have a decent mp pool. I think thm/blm was redone this way because the class/job specializes in BURST damage not just by spamming spells over and over. I remember before the battle reforms my thm never ran out of mp it seemed, especially with absorb mp. Just try and pace yourself and you should be ok. Spamming spells may do a great deal of dmg, but once you are completely out of mp you can be in trouble, so pacing yourself is key. Hope this helps^^

[Gwyn]

Right, I see what you are referring to Estellios.


My gear might not be the best. I'm using a Wind brand, ul'dah robe, silver spectacles, etc, stuff that's just around my level. I'm shooting for an Ul'dah brand at level 40 but for now, I wouldn't say my gear is gimp by any means.


My Thunder and thundara are very rarely resisted, and when they are, I simply use blizzara (which puts me down in mp) and then wait for recast on thundara. This means: less mp and less opportunity for a chain. However, even with my thunder spells being unresisted, there is a 10% HP gap I must shave off before the enemy is defeated, this is why I use blizzard and stone before my thunder chain because I won't get hit and I get a magic accuracy bonus on them. On a thunder -> thundara chain, there's a delay before recasting thunder, so I'm not just going to stand around and get hit 2-3 times.


Which ultimately brings me to this:I feel, that as a very offensive class with one of the lowest base HP and defense in the game that I should have more utility via mp or other abilities that give me ways to deal with damage mitigation while soloing. I feel that this is done by abilities like Blizzard, Blizzara and Sleep, but these abilities have long recast timers or cost high amounts(10%) of mp. If I spend 10% of my mp using abilities that help me mitigate damage and another 20% on using my offensive abilities, where are the abilities that help me get mp back?


It just feels like a problem in my level range (30-40) while soloing. It really feels satisfying being able to debuff and completely kill an enemy before they can touch me (which is what I wanted from the job (blm)) but only being able to do this a couple of times and then rest seems to degrade it to some effect.


That being said, I'll look in to the recovery during chain 1 and 2 trick and try and find some food and equipment and possibly some materia to help me out.


Thank you.

[Estellios]

Something else that might help, since you're soloing stay in active mode while fighting. Parries/shield blocks will help and your swings in-between casts might add up to do just enough damage to kill things without you needing to use MP. When you get higher level Sanguine Rite gains a damage-down effect on top of the no-interruption and MP recovery effect, so it will help your survivability.

That said, the mid-30s seems to be a hump in the leveling process for all classes, as it's before you get some of the really good abilities and I'm thinking that it might be when stats start gradually increasing much faster, so enemies that are slightly higher than you feel a bit more durable until you gain a few levels yourself.

[Asiaine]

Hello,

When I soloed THM in that range, I had also /WHM to help me. I would usually do the following:
Protect
Stoneskin
Resonance
Thunder
Thundara
Thunder
Parsimony
Dark Seal
Thundara
Thunder
Blizzard (Since Thundara would not be up yet)


If it was not dead by then, I would go find an easier mob ^.^;

Usually stoneskin would hold for most of this (if not, I could add a Necrogenesis somewhere in there).

In order to chain, I would have to master 'timing'.

Kill one mob.
Rest up a bit
Kill second mob: Chain #1
Rest up a little bit.
Kill third mob: Chain #2
Rush kill fourth mob: Chain #3
If possible, rush kill fifth mob: Chain #4

On a side note:
Solo THM is very good for killing things one at a time, but it is not very good for non-stop killing. Although to be honest, not sure any job is really good for non-stop killing (you will either run out of MP or HP). The 'trick' is to find an opponent that balances well with your regenerative capabilities.

[NationOfZealots]

Replace Stone with another Thunder, too bad THM BLM can't use Shroud Of Saints, it would otherwise make CNJ WHM useless past L38