Fun With White Mage

Leveling White Mage has gone from being extremely painful to being what might even be called fun, which has surprised me. It was so hard getting out of Qufim, but I got lucky with pick-up parties and got from 25 to 37 in three separate leveling sessions.

I've been surprised at how few people seem to be leveling jobs through the 20s, and as a WHM have stood around with my flag up for a couple of hours at times. One Sunday in August, I was invited to a short-lived party in Qufim, then headed to Yuhtunga as a 24. We started out with a SAM, RNG, PLD, WHM, SMN, and WHM, which went pretty well for a brief time. The SAM was replaced by a MNK, then the SMN was replaced by a DRK with a Power Leveler. When the DRK leveled and left, we couldn't find enough people to keep the party going. The other WHM and I decided to try duoing mandies with our NPCs, which worked well enough for the first one, and then the second one was a bit too much for us. We survived, but Balu-Falu ended up dying from poison because I had no MP to cure or poisona him. It was a fun experiment though. I was only halfway through level 25 at this point, and had been such a chore to get there.

A month later, I headed to Kazham as a WHM25, and got a party with a NIN, WAR, BLM, RNG and COR. The WAR was replaced by a MNK, the NIN by another WAR, and the MNK by a PUP. At that point, probably when we first started hitting 28, we headed to Yhoator Jungle, and had a great time getting chain #4s on the IT mandies there. The exp just rolled in - 280 points on the chain #4s. And we didn't have to deal with deadly goblins like we'd been fighting occasionally in Yuhtunga. If it weren't for Dream Flower, we probably would have had chain #5s. I wasn't able to enfeeble those mandies as well as the lower leveled ones near Kazham, but I needed to have my MP a bit as it was. Our Japanese Ranger didn't pause much for MP breaks, but it was never an issue and we just kept on fighting. I hated leaving the party, but Dynamis was coming up, so the party broke up with my WHM at 29.

The following week, I had similar luck. I checked the people looking for parties around my level (WHM29), decided that I wouldn't get one, and headed to Qufim to solo with my NPC. Just after I had used my Signal Pearl to summon him, I got a /tell, "(Party) (Do you need it?)". It was from a RDM26 in Kazham, so I said sure and hopped on the airship. We started out in Yhoator, with a RDM, DRK, WAR, SAM, THF, and WHM. The mandies and goblins pretty much melted under the blows of the damage dealers, and the RDM and I switched off healing duties: one would rest while the other healed. The RDM and DRK had to leave about the time we out-grew the jungle, so we headed to Jeuno to regroup and go off to East Altepa with a PLD and BLM replacing out departing members. We started out fighting beetles. The PLD was very good, and we discussed how much I should heal, with me leaving him plenty of room for hate generation. I mostly just used regen on the beetles. When we moved on to the Dhalmels, things were a bit tougher, but we managed pretty well. They hit so much harder than the beetles, and I had to watch for silence and defense down. After awhile, the PLD and BLM had to leave. We replaced them with a NIN and DRG, but the party just wasn't the same any more. Hate was everywhere, and with everyone taking so much damage from the dhalmels, I could barely make it through two mobs before needing a full rest. The SAM had a RDM75 come out to "assist", and at that point, I just was doing enfeebles and erase. I had to head off to get ready for Dynamis soon after than, and I'm sure the party didn't miss me much. They broke up soon after, as people got their levels.

This past weekend, I was hoping to "finish" WHM, and put my flag up in Jeuno, as a level 34 WHM. After about 30 minutes, I head to Qufim, summoned Balu-Falu, fought one set of bats, and got an invite for a party. Poor Balu-Falu is probably tired of being dismissed so abruptly. Our party only had 5 people to start with, but we headed to Crawlers Nest anyway, as a PLD, WHM, RDM, SAM, and NIN. The SAM had her NPC out until a second NIN was added to the party. Things went fairly smoothly, though the RDM never used Dispel. Since the crawlers pretty much spammed Cocoon, the fights did drag out a bit. After the PLD hit 37, he left, replacing himself with a PUP. Things continued on fairly well, though the SAM died zoning a link at one point. Then one of the NINs DC'd, just as we finished fighting the crawler that got him to level 75. Seemed a tad suspicious. We waited for a bit, but Ryken sent me a tell asking if we could use a THF, and we could, so he came out to join us.

It took us a few fights to get coordinated, and things went fairly well until we got a link and two of us died (I had reraise up - I'm not quite to the point where I remember to keep it up at all times, since it was a new thing for me at WHM33). The second NIN DC'd right after that fight, and we replaced him with the same PLD I'd partied with the week before in the desert. The party became vastly improved at that point. It's amazing what a difference a good tank can make. The RDM replaced himself with another RDM when he hit 37, and the second RDM was a much better RDM, and the party became awesome. We plowed through the crawlers a bit too fast, but didn't want to change camps for the Nest Beetles, since we didn't have much longer to party. When I hit level 36, I had a fun time reading my three teleport scrolls. Ryken and I had to leave to get ready for Dynamis, and others were nearing the end of their partying time as well, so we broke up after the newest party additions got a level. I got to use a teleport spell for the first time, dropping Ryken off at the Holla crag.

I really did enjoy a lot of my WHM parties, so who knows, maybe I'll end up leveling it further, but in the meantime, I finally have my fully-leveled White Mage sub job for my Paladin. I wonder how much I'll actually end up using it.