Citizen Bleys
05-13-2004, 05:27 PM
Now that I've played in a few parties, I'm thinking it's time to start creating some of my own rather than waiting for an invite.
That being said, what are the most important things to keep in mind while building parties, assuming I have people to choose from?
As a whm, I tend to find that the most important factor is having a good (preferably experienced) tank. Crappy tanks won't keep the Provoke up every 30 seconds, and that leads to me getting beat on by tough monsters, and ideally, I think it should never be necessary for me to heal myself--I should recover all of my HP in the time it takes to restore MP (Especially as an Elvaan, where I don't have a whole hell of a lot of MP to start with)
A good tank vokes every 30 seconds, meaning that I can heal him and only him, breaking very rarely to heal up a secondary damage dealer. With a secondary healer (rdm), I might not even have to do that. Although whms are very sought after, being a healer is easy as pie, and a mediocre one would do almost as good as a good one. Tanks are every bit as important, harder to play, and underappreciated.
Unless I can get a ranger, I don't think a puller is very important. The tank could easily fill in. And a blm, while nice, could be easily substituted by a mnk or secondary war for damage-dealing purposes. (Preferably a mnk, since wars are mostly for def rather than atk. A mnk's def might be low, but they make up for it by dealing more dmg than a war)
What have you to say especially about a secondary healer? I usually don't need one, and can cast group buffs while the puller's out, recovering my MP while waiting. (Protect on a returning puller seems pretty light on MP and cast time to me)
I also have no idea what to look for in a subjob. I'm only lv 16 at this point, so I don't think someone without a subjob will be a great handicap, but it will be later on. Thoughts?
I realize that most times, I'll be severely limited in my choices by who is available, but it never hurts to be educated beforehand. Often, it can make the choice between life and death.
I've been getting good parties lately, so I'm getting spoiled and don't want to build a bad one :p I used Benediction twice last night, and both times, the party was able to kill the beast before it toasted me. I always thought of Bene as a suicide tactic, but with a good party, it doesn't need to be.
Tanks, of course, should be war or pld, but is there any preferred non-rng class for pullers, etc.? What's the best niche for a smn, nin, or sam?
EDIT: I'm not too concerned about what to look for in a whm, since a) my main char is a whm, and b) I highly doubt I'll ever get my pick, since there's usually not more than one appropriately-levelled whm to choose from.
That being said, what are the most important things to keep in mind while building parties, assuming I have people to choose from?
As a whm, I tend to find that the most important factor is having a good (preferably experienced) tank. Crappy tanks won't keep the Provoke up every 30 seconds, and that leads to me getting beat on by tough monsters, and ideally, I think it should never be necessary for me to heal myself--I should recover all of my HP in the time it takes to restore MP (Especially as an Elvaan, where I don't have a whole hell of a lot of MP to start with)
A good tank vokes every 30 seconds, meaning that I can heal him and only him, breaking very rarely to heal up a secondary damage dealer. With a secondary healer (rdm), I might not even have to do that. Although whms are very sought after, being a healer is easy as pie, and a mediocre one would do almost as good as a good one. Tanks are every bit as important, harder to play, and underappreciated.
Unless I can get a ranger, I don't think a puller is very important. The tank could easily fill in. And a blm, while nice, could be easily substituted by a mnk or secondary war for damage-dealing purposes. (Preferably a mnk, since wars are mostly for def rather than atk. A mnk's def might be low, but they make up for it by dealing more dmg than a war)
What have you to say especially about a secondary healer? I usually don't need one, and can cast group buffs while the puller's out, recovering my MP while waiting. (Protect on a returning puller seems pretty light on MP and cast time to me)
I also have no idea what to look for in a subjob. I'm only lv 16 at this point, so I don't think someone without a subjob will be a great handicap, but it will be later on. Thoughts?
I realize that most times, I'll be severely limited in my choices by who is available, but it never hurts to be educated beforehand. Often, it can make the choice between life and death.
I've been getting good parties lately, so I'm getting spoiled and don't want to build a bad one :p I used Benediction twice last night, and both times, the party was able to kill the beast before it toasted me. I always thought of Bene as a suicide tactic, but with a good party, it doesn't need to be.
Tanks, of course, should be war or pld, but is there any preferred non-rng class for pullers, etc.? What's the best niche for a smn, nin, or sam?
EDIT: I'm not too concerned about what to look for in a whm, since a) my main char is a whm, and b) I highly doubt I'll ever get my pick, since there's usually not more than one appropriately-levelled whm to choose from.