Party building strategies

[Citizen Bleys]

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.

[Ichy]

If you're taking care of all the healing then there really isn't a need for a secondary healy (although it is nice)... unless some idiot pulls somehting too strong for the PT. Having a Bard in the group, however, should ideally come before a secondary healer, they are so very versatile. They can give you regen, debuff mobs, buff party members, and while their physical attacks tend to stink they can still get a bit of TP here and there and pull off the occasional skill chain with the more dedicated damage dealers.

BLM... You can't substitute more melees to take the place of one BLM, there simply isn't enough room in your PT to make up for the damage they do. See, while their regular spells do some alright damage that, while significantly noticeable, you may think you can do without, the fact remains that it is still more and it is terribly consistent --> Nukes don't miss. Now, throw in the greatest factor of all: Noone can magic burst like a BLM. In the 30-40s I've seen myself and fellow PT members doing 20-30 damage on ITs... whip out a skillchain and here comes the Burst... BAM! 200, 300, once even 400 Damage, all for the cost of one spell of the appropriate element and one Voke to keep the mob off the BLM after it hits. This is simply irreplaceable.

SAM... Want skillchains and bursts? Get a SAM (who keeps up his EQ) and you will always be sure to have someone with TP ready when someone else is ready, too. SAM also makes a somewhat decent secondary tank to hold hate for a couple of hits, but don't rely on him as a main unless you want a dead SAM.

THF is *always* welcome in my PT once they have Trick Attack, but not more than one. If your thieves outnumber your tanks there's something wrong. THF can use a quick boomerang to pull, run back to the PT and let a secondary tank Voke. Then he stands behind the primary tank, loads up Sneak and Trick, throw up a Weaponskill if he's got one and BAM! -> Instant aggro on the main tank that's *hard* to break.

As for tanks, take a PLD when you can, or a WAR if you're stuck, but don't ask other melee classes with WAR subbed to Tank unless it's a NIN since they can pull it off by spamming Utsemi and having their high Agi and all. As for the rest of us WAR subbing melees, we find it outright rude, we're not built for tanking at all in the higher levels (is a career SAM ;) ).

So, what's it all boil down to? My ideally balanced PT roster:

WHM/SMN - Curez kthx. Massive MP with /SMN -> can also use Avatar Buffs.
BLM/SMN - Burn them all. Burst is *divine*. Again... Massive MP with /SMN -> can also use Avatar Buffs.
BRD/WHM - Musically regen PT members for less downtime, debuff mob and increase accuracy during fights. Can secondary heal in a real tight spot, even if it's not much.
THF/NIN - Aggro management and BIG sneaky tricky hits. /NIN for better Dex and Agi. Can dual wield stat boosting daggers. Has some Ninjitsu for debuffing mob elemental defenses.
SAM/WAR - Step right up, get your weapon skills, all chains delivered faster than ever. /WAR for HP, STR, Double Attack, and all around secondary Tanking abilities.
PLD/WAR - Mr. Aggro Man. Can heal himself (and should to help hold hate), has stun attack as an ability (Shield Bash doesn't use TP :) ) to stop mob weapon skills, best Defense in the game, Voke, ect.... you know what I mean here ;)
That's about it, hope it helps.

[Garland]

My biggest concern when forming a party is the puller. I'm a white mage, so the hardest to find class is already available in any party I make. Pullers make or break a party in my experience. A trained chimp can hit the appropriate function key when a character is low on hp. Pullers have to know what the party can take on, and when it's safe to pull. If a party is bad, it's almost always because the puller is overzealous, or overrates the pt's abilities. If a puller is good, the exp rolls in like crazy. As a result, I spend the majority of my party building looking for a puller with playing experience. Whilst I don't care too much if my other teammates are optimum equip, and have levelled subs, I usually make sure the person in charge of picking battles knows what s/he's doing. A levelled sub and decent equips might not make a difference in battle, but they show that the player cares about his/her job. Those types tend not to pull the IT linking goblin hoards while the mages are begging for an mp rest.

[Lionx]

At a reletively high lvl, the MOST important thing is to find a BRD or RDM, beceause exp needed tnl is really high, and going out to party without a refresher is a no no and generally isnt done, so RDM or BRD that has the appropiate stuff is needed first. Then i look for a PLD or NIN, if none are found i find WAR. Tanks are important to snag as they are rare at high lvls. Then i usually find a BLM for busrting and a melee that fits the current mobs we are facing. Like DRG vs flies or MNKs vs bones. Then prolly a SAM to create renkei prowess. Pullers generally know what they are doing at this lvl so its not usually an issue.

I first look for if i know you before and if you are a good player

then i look for your main job and your sub job, whate type and is it lvled.

Then your Search Comment in Green, putting something like:

<Gustav Tunnel> PT +15VIT @3000/7000
<food>: Fish Mithkabobs ENG/JPN PT OK!
PlayTime: 4-5 Hours HeaterSheild ^^b

i dunno but something like that to show me that you are more likable and exceptional out of the other bunch of people i wanna invite.

Then prolly race, and then Rank, the higher the Rank, generally means you are better and more experienced. Not always, but in general it does.

Of course your location matters too, if your in jeuno, then definetly, if not..there has to be a good Search Comment to warrant me to /tell you.

[Roogle]

Ichy's ideal party sounds great. I have never had the opportunity to sub SMN, but I have always wanted to; it's fun to help out on the healing from time to time, but that's what the Red Mage is for. I would rather have two hundred more MP than I do now. :p

[Lionx]

I still think a /WHM is better..because the higher lvl you go, the more you know that your not going to blow your entire MP tank if you use it wisely, and thats not nuking all the time, extra MP with no good use for it is useless...healing is best attributed to the extra MP you have...but i assume that the WHM/SMN and BRD/WHM have enough MP at that lvl to help..

But seeing that you have like 150 MP and everyone else is dying with no mp becuase of link/spawn/whatever...and you cant do much of a thing about it really doesnt warrant much use..

[VDeity]

I made up a little list of what I think is an ideal party, but I don't know..

Galka Pld/War - Main tank, medium damage dealer
Elvaan Drk/War - Heavy Damage, backup tank
Tarutaru Whm/Brd - Main healer, main buffer
Tarutaru Blm/Smn - Nuker, summons, extra MP
Mithra Rng/Thf - Heavy ranged damage, sneak attack + sidewinder
Hume Rdm/Blm - Backup healer, main enfeebler, backup nuker.

What do you think?

[Lionx]

All of them you need here :D

http://www.vgcats.com/vgc_comics/images/040513.jpg