Dancer revisited

So, with Dancer at 73 and closing in rapidly to 75 thanks to near-continous campaigns in Rolanberry Fields, I'm closing in on finishing up this job. The last time I wrote specifically about how Dancer played, I was in my 40s, so things are a little different now.

DDing
After getting Dancing Edge, it becomes possible for DNC to actually do some decent damage... we're not talking anywhere near a regular DD's level of damage, or a THF, but at least it contributes. Together with Reverse Flourish, a Dancer can heal a party and still WS, as long as you plan things out right (i.e. get 4 finishing moves before doing a WS, making sure Sambas will not wear right after you WS) Staying at 300% is not necessary at all, and is in fact, quite wasteful. Using Reverse Flourish and the TP return from Dancing Edge, I can pretty much spam Curing Waltz IV as soon as the timer is up, even including WSing.

Timers >.<
The ability for DNC to cure continously is what makes it such a good job for long-term fights. Red Mage is about the only other job that has native curing abilities that can keep up with Dancer for super-long fights due to Refresh & Convert. However, the biggest limitation in Dancer is the Waltz timers. This really doesn't show up until Curing Waltz IV at level 70.

For any mage, you can spam cures pretty much at will, as long as you have MP. The cure timers don't affect you because you can switch between casting Cure IV & Cure III to keep someone's HP up in the event that you're taking a pounding. For Dancer, the recast timer on Curing Waltz IV is 17 seconds -.-;; This is almost double the 10 second recast of Curing Waltz III, making it very annoying when you're being beat up by a campaign mob and when you could really use another boost of HP to stay alive. Nothing like getting mobbed to death at 200%+ TP just cos you're waiting for a timer. It's nearly as effective to just spam Curing Waltz III instead, even though you end up using more TP/HP cured.

Usability in events
So far, my experience is Dancer trives on long, low-man events where you're dealing with a long fight where a mage may run out of MP. If the battle is short, then a Dancer won't be able to build up TP in the first couple of minutes to be effective. If it requires more than a party, then not only will a Dancer not be able to heal others, but having that many people around would virtually ensure that there will be enough mage healers around... RDMs, WHMs, etc.

I'd like to use Dancer on more mission battles, but right now, the stun capabilities of my Blue Mage, and the flexibility of switching roles is too valuable to give up, especially in the ToAU battles we're coming up on.
(Side note... Nain & I, together with Ashle, Utaru, Flayer & Calix are scheduled to finish the last two ToAU fights this Friday night after the Static PT... we might want to cut that night a little short ^^;)

Hopefully SE will add some improvements to high level DNC to make it more viable for other events in the future. Right now, I'd say... merit parties and various farming activities (testimonies, coffer key drops?) are where I'd take Dancer of Blue Mage...

SAM/DNC - Overpowered?
Thanks to Zurar, I'm also noticing something interesting about SAM/DNC. This job combination has a higher TP gain compared to DNC main, especially with a Soboro, and you get most of the key Dancer job abilities... You get Healing Waltz, and Curing Waltz II which can pretty much be spammed. Add in the job ability to ensure that you always have TP, and SAM's native damage mitigation abilities, I'm thinking that this may be the next super job combination! Great for DDing, backup, maybe even main healing!

Maybe I'll have to level SAM up next and put that Soboro to good use! :)