Originally Posted by
Yeargdribble
1) Curing - Use smaller cures to keep on the hate line. Also using big cures can be overkill and waste MP. In a good PT your tank will have pretty solid hate so you can focus your cures there almost exclusively. With a PLD tank, do not try to keep them topped off all the time. PLDs can cure themselves to help hold hate, but they can't do so if they are at 100% all the time. Use your discretion about how low you think is reasonable for your PLD to get (depending on the mobs being fought).
Use Curaga almost never and sparingly at best. It is an immense amount of hate when you get it and for many levels to come. Use it only for emergencies or after the mob is dead. By the time you're in the Jungles you should be able to safely fix Dream Flower with Curaga without too much of a hate problem.
2) Regen - Try to keep your tank Regen'd all the time. Also slapping Regen on the puller can be good when they take hits. In a good PT where the tank keeps hate most of the time you will be able to use Regen on all other PTs members intead of cure. Cure can waste time, MP and hate when used on people that don't get hit often. Just use Regen and they will probably fill up before they get hit again.
3) Gear - MP is your first concern. hMP I would say is second. There aren't many options for hMP at lower levels. Pilgrim's Wand at 10, Baron's Slops at 20 and Seer's Tunic at 29. MND is good, but far less important than the others. You may be expected to enfeeble in lower level PTs (and even if you're not it's a good idea when a RDM isn't present). MND will help yo land enfeebles, but by the 50s and 60s your enfeebling magic skill falls behind so much (compared to RDM) that it's almost pointless to try to enfeeble even with a pimp MND set.
4) Enfeebling - This isn't really your job, but you will be in a position to do it a lot at lower levels. Keep Dia on the mob and try to convince people that cast Bio that Dia > Bio. Dia lowers defense and allows everyone to do more damage. Bio lowers attack and only benefits the PLD. I've heard Bio for PLD and Dia for NIN, but I think it's BS. Unless your PLD sucks and can't take the hits it's Dia all the way for maximum efficiency.
Slow and Paralyze are the other two important enfeebles. You cannot even begin to imagine the importance of these unless you've tanked for a while. Try to keep these on at all times. If there is a RDM in your PT and he's not doing this... he's a bad RDM (it's his job).
5) Status ailments - This is really the meat of WHM. Almost anyone can cure spam. A huge part of being a good WHM is to learn enemy moves and what satuses they inflict. Some are obvious like poison breath and you can easily see the effect. Others can be more difficult. Not sure if you'll take WHM this high, but when PTs XP on Coeurls it's important to know that Blaster = Paralyze and Chaotic Eye = Silence.
It may help to adjust your chat filters. Try to be quick to remove any status ailments.
6) Food - I'd stay away from max MP foods. You will so rarely be sitting near your max that they are a waste. Aim at hMP foods (like Ginger Cookies) to help you restore MP faster. Foods like Roast Mushroom add MND as well as hMP (and last 30 minutes compared to the 5 minutes of NQ cookies), but can be pricier.
7) Macros - About the only thing you'll want to say in a macro is {Gather Together} before casting Protectra and Shellra. Adding that you're curing a person just adds to chat clutter. Nobody really needs to know much of what you're doing. If you're doing your job well you won't even be noticed much. If you're using a keyboard it's usually fastest to use F1-F6 to target PT members for cures. If you aren't using a keyboard < stpc > can be a lifesaver.
8) General - Remeber to throw up Protectra and Shellra every 30 minutes. Barspells can be very helpful and are often under-rated. Things like Cursed Sphere are Water based and having Barwatera up can reduce damage slightly. Many things in the dunes (pugils and crab) have Water based damage abilities so Barwatera is made of win there.
Status barspells are less useful. They may minimize the duration of an effect (like the hated sleepga from mandies), but usually they aren't worth the MP or effort to cast as you will rectify status problems before they would naturally wear off.
Keep your distance from battle. This is something mages don't do very well at lower levels. Staying far from the battle will allow you to avoid the AoE abilities (like Bomb Toss and Dream Flower) of mobs. This not only keeps your alive but saves your resources (MP) for healing up the PT and in the case of Dream Flower, allows you to Curaga the PT as you may be the only one awake.
If you aren't curing and things are going smoothly you should be on your ass resting. The first tic of MP restoration comes at 20 seconds and then every 10 afterward. Try to begin resting before the mob is dead so that you'll get at least 1 or 2 tics before the next pull. When you can, rest during battle.
I'd go into Haste cycles and all that, but I assume you aren't planning on taking WHM that high so it's likely unneccessary.
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