Quote Originally Posted by Miriel
Once you get to the dunes, the Bar-spells (Barwatera, Barfira, etc) will come in really helpful. This is where the dintinction will be drawn, between a great BLM and a mediocre BLM. A great BLM will know when and against which mob to use a certain bar spell again. Barfira should be used against the gobs since it'll really help against Bomb toss. Barwatera should be used when fighting the pugils, or against the flies since Barwatera also helps against poison as well as water attacks.
It's WHM's that get the bara spells, isn't it?

Quote Originally Posted by Miriel
As a BLM, your main priority in terms of gear should be MP+ gear. BUt if you're a taru, I would recommend against you getting things that take away too much from your HP, since if you do, you might find yourself getting KOed quite a bit since your HP is really feeble compared to your MP. Plus, as a taru, you have a large enough MP pool that you don't need to get hopped up on a lot of MP+ things like other races have to do.
Probably not at early levels, but higher levels - more MP, the better. ^^ I think the main focus is MP+, INT+ and Magic Attack+.

Anyways, all that's been said, is good. I think you'll also want to not focus on chain nuking (casting too many offensive spells in a short period of time) and learning to conserve your MP. Also learn about Magic Bursts. (Of course I'm talking about these things in party situations)

Enjoy FFXI. =D