The ironic part about being so busy is... that... sometimes I just get into a mood of not really wanting to do anything, and that tends to be when I update my blog ^^; I'm really busy this week, with deadlines on Thursday, plus lots of other things going on that I'm in no mood to really do, sooooooooooo... here's another blog post!
Yet another poll is up, this time focusing on the possible {Support Role Job}s that I might possibly pick up next. My exploration into PLD as voted did not end well. I ended up being super-bored with the job, partially because tanking at lower levels mainly consists of letting the PL take hate, partially because trying to cast spells while being hit is an exercise of frustration when your spell is interrupted. At least with NIN you know that if you're being hit, it's your fault for not counting shadows correctly!
So, going back to the jobs that seem enjoyable, at least to me...
Scholar
Ok, the main reason why I'm leaning towards this job is... it's brand new, seems really flexible and... it's not BRD4life or RDM4life >.> From what I've seen, it seems to be a weaker combination of both a WHM & BLM combined into one. You get all the -na spells, along with Raise II & Reraise II, but you can also switch to BLM mode and nuke to a reasonable degree, even Dispel. Just about the only utility spell you can't get at all is Haste.
Other considerations... how useful would it be as a compliment to my existing jobs? Considering that I can do a good portion of "Back Line Job" roles as BLU/WHM including -na spells, Diamondhide, and even an occassional Haste via Diffusion-Refueling, the WHM side of things wouldn't be too big of a deal. Dancer is of course, a frontline healer, so if it were a situation where I'd be main healing, I'd much rather take Dancer out. The other side is the nuking side, and I'm not certain how well SCH would hold out when it comes to nuking big things such as Proto-Omega. Anyone with any experience with this?
Red Mage
The big reason why I'm hesitant to level this, or BRD is... the attitude of RDM/BRD4life that seems to be around. I'd be really annoyed that... if after I leveled up RDM, that people would expect or demand that I play RDM only instead of BLU or DNC. The sad part is that I actually like RDM. It's a flexible job, capable of doing a lot of things both in a group and solo, and most importantly, is not dependent on /heal to get MP back.
The last time I leveled RDM was... during an age where WHM was the preferred healer, BLMs were the core of a party with skillchains & magic bursts, and a RDM was a last pick after you got the tank(PLD) and other melees. I was a frontline RDM that would keep up a haste/refresh cycle while fully enfeebling the mob, backup healing and magic bursting together with a BLM. That was also a time when I experimented with RDM/BRD for even more MP regen, even though it nearly drove me crazy xD
Leveling RDM again would have some other challenges. For starters, from what I understand, a full array of elemetal staves is now expected past level 50? I'd also probably want to pick up various +MND or +INT accessories for the job, which would represent quite bit of gil. Time for more NM camping? Moldy earring, Joy-toy... not sure what else I'd need for a RDM equipment wise. Oh, and finally I'd want to go unlock and level up a DRK sub o.o; That's a large investment of gil & inventory slots...
Bard
So, BRD seems to be an interesting job, if only for my recent interest in pulling. It's a great supporting job, and getting positioning right for the mages and melees is a headache at any level past 25. Being able to go out, pull a few mobs and sleep them without any concern about MP usage makes it seem like fun in a merit party situation. BRD equipment is mainly CHR based, so some of it would overlap with what DNC uses. I intend to pick up a Delta Earring from Einherjar just for the +2 Chr at some point.
My only concern about BRD is that it seems that it would get too boring under other circumstances. In emergency situations, there's not much a Bard can do to turn things around in a pinch. The nature of the job and the songs mean that the abilities take time to show effectiveness. Also, the job is basically performing the same 4 songs over and over again. It's busy, but it seems highly repetitive...
Conclusion
In any case, I won't be leveling anything seriously at least until December when this quarter of school is finally over @.@ Currently, the jobs sit at SCH12, RDM18 and BRD16, so they're all pretty low at the moment and really need some fun lowbie parties to get up to the levels which they start showing their own job traits... BRD25, RDM41, and... I have no idea when SCH starts becoming unique.
If you vote on the poll, put a comment in this post on why you voted for the job and try to convince me why I should level it :)
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6 comments:
Well, Rdm you pretty much know about... Brd is actually pretty fun, and not too hard if you have the distance plugin for windower since songs have a set distance. With a wind instrument (or at least the one I use [coronette +1]) the song radius for buff songs is 10 yards. Oh, and bard does more than just 4 songs by lvl 25 mind you. My 29 bard was singing minuet, madrigal, ballad, requiem, and etudes for each job I could as well as elemental debuff songs on the mobs depending on songs or spells it might be resisting. I also had time to help heal with /whm a lot too. So really, bard is about as active if not more so than dancer really. And that isn't even including speed pulling and sleeping the mobs ^^;
Far as scholar goes... I've come to like the job a LOT! Only reason I haven't been playing it much on Yasunami is cause a) no time, homework's a bitch atm and b) I need to level whm more for sub... something I dread doing atm. Other than that, it is quite fun. I've found myself doing more nuking though than healing even at 36; mostly because there's already another healer in party (whm or rdm). Other than that, sublimation is pretty nice to have, and would compliment blu nicely... though I doubt blu would get any benefit from light or dark arts, such as reduced MP cost. It does get conserve MP job trait though at, I believe it was 25, as well as max mp boost. Can't really think of anything else that would benefit a blu that subbed sch though.
As a main job though, sch is pretty fun. Especially when you get those parties that only need occasional heals, dispels, and allow for the occasional nuke.
Anyway, this post is already a mile long, so I'll stop there for now. Hope that helps you decide.
You'll probably find my opinions heavily biased =x
SCH: I would say they are a rounded support job, but I can't think of a situation where I explicitly would want a SCH. I would liken SCH to your thoughts on when you used to level RDM: Other mage jobs would be preferred and SCH is a 'last pick' job.
Maybe it is a fun job to play, I don't know. I played 37 levels worth, and to me it was painful. I always felt like it was a gimp healer (get access to healing spells slower than WHM and RDM) or a gimp nuker (get spells slower than blm but faster than rdm). I guess I can see how it can potentially be fun in that you get a variety of spells at your disposal and wouldn't be as monotonous as say hasting and refresh, or singing.
RDM:
RDM onry...muwahaha. Yeah, super-useful in almost all situations. And that is it's own downfall, so useful that you're almost required to play it if you have it, unless there are already an abundance of RDM's. No need to go into detail what they can do, since you already know!
Just some things to consider: -Getting parties is usually pretty painless which means quick road to 75
-Easy job to get merit parties (if that's you're thing... 15k/hour vs. capaign's 4k?)
-If you're considering leveling SCH, they need full set of elemental staves too. I doubt -inventory would be a dealbreaker preventing you from leveling the job, but just pointing out it should affect your SCH too =D
BRD:
Hmmm... I can pretty much recite verbatim what I said about RDM XD
The things that differ:
-Even easier to get to 75 than RDM
-Even easier getting merit parties
-No matter what the party is like you know at least you have a BRD in it to make it better =D!
-Become the primary puller at later levels, which means you control the flow of xp!(may or may not be your thing but I find pulling fun). And it breaks the monotony of just singing.
When it comes down to it, it's a matter of how you value endgame usefulness and what you personally find more fun. RDM and BRD just have so much more uses over SCH in my opinion. But that may be enough to scare you away XD. As far as what's fun goes, I would personally not like to level RDM, but you apparently like it D:
Just level them all!
sch is really good in salvage... lately we've unlocked sch as first mage instead of rdm. phalanxga, stoneskinga, protectra4 is great for the weak mobs on lower floors. i've never tried sch in nyzul, but i imagine that's a pretty good mage job to have in your party. nyzul mobs arn't very hard and take tons of damage from nukes, and sch's can fastcast. meriting elemental magic (and enfeeble?) can increase nuking dmg and acc! (i guess rdm could too). sch af is new and cute!
I usually end up on rdm for events :D! i would say this would be the worst job for that. moreso than brd...simply because more people in ap (maybe in general too?) have brd lvl'd. i like being rdm...being a good rdm makes a huge difference in a party (not saying i'm a good rdm!). rdm/dnc would be fun to solo harder mobs with. i solo stuff on rdm as much as i do thf....and rdm is definately my preferred campaign job atm.
brd....meh...i don't really care for brd. Probably because i don't like pulling like vanh...as i'm too lazy...so the job's monotonous! vargy brd pulls our salvage runs for the most part. it looks really fun... you are always in the lead, always in a hurry since you're on the clock. pulling gears on the sixth floor (or fourth or something) can be really hard and stressful! (gears link from pretty far away, link distance doubles when there's weather. (linking one means u can't fight the nm that floor for skadi body / marduk legs ).
Hmm... right now I'm leaning towards SCH or BRD, leaving RDM out cos... well, I've done it before once, and it really is too similar to BLU. I'd static RDM with anyone if they wanted to put together a static party though!
For SCH, I think I have to at least take it to subjob level now! Zuzu pointed out that SCH would actually go nicely as a sub to BLU. I forgot completely about that possibility... BLU/SCH for Sublimation, Regen II, Aspir, Dispel, Sleep... though I'm not sure how well the last 3 would work subbed, even with Dark Arts up. I'd lose access to Viruna, Reraise, Erase and Shell II compared to /WHM, but Sublimation alone might be worth it. Also, Kurai has been kicking butt in Nyzul as SCH, so that's another vote in that camp.
BRD I'm mainly attracted to... ironically, because of the pulling capability ^^; I've gotten really addicted to that lately, pulling for merit parties on DNC, even pulling in Nyzul on BLU (since the mobs are Too Weak to bother spending MP on) The best I've done on DNC is chain #18 before I screw up by hitting my ranged attack macro before i stop moving, losing 4-5 seconds and breaking a chain. I'd really like to see if I can hit an infinite chain merit party ^^;
I voted for brd, cause I think the world needs more bards! Sing me some sweet sweet songs!!!
omg... i just checked... Bard is expensive >.> wtf is up with scrolls like Ballad being 70k+!
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