Holy moly this! The dunes are even more miserable since people only ever want to fight lizards at level 11 meaning its a gamble whether someone gets one-shot or not, so it's even more of trial by fire for newbies as their first party experience.


I only tentatively agree with this, 10-20 is generally a very bad time, 20-30 gets better, 30+ is pretty much fine. If I'm being powered leveled past the crappy levels I'm not too bothered, but with a competent party it's pretty much not needed as you can breeze past the levels.


I sometimes play with my partner who started as WHM and asked me "Am I really doing such a bad job being healer?" when a PL rocked up, it is kind of offensive in some regards since you pretty much lock out someone from playing.

If I ever saw you expin I'd stop and PL you just cuz

(maybe thats his plan, shit)

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I never liked pl'ing ever. It cheapens the experience of FFXI imo. A game with real risk that makes you work and think about each move is what FFXI always was. I don't quite begrudge others from doing it ,but it is/was never for me. The 'boring levels' are just as important in forming your play style as others.

I hate to say it after a while. WHM's just don't get invites unless there is no RDM's seeking. Once RDM gets refresh, parties would much rather have a healer with convert/refresh then a healer that has to rest all the time. I had to get with LS mates to get my WHM to 75. I hate to say it but take whatever parties you can as WHM. You are needed end game, you can learn a lot there. Also if you do have a PL work it out that they maybe just haste or heal when your low so the XP keeps flowing. That is what I did in the past.

I feel like half the problem with people feeling some weird way about this shit is that they think there's some kind of "skill" involved with most of this game.

It's healing at a lower level. there's no "skill". It's just resources. You don't have the resources, gear, or abilities at a lower level to keep the party fighting non-stop. Especially if the mobs decide to aoe every time.

Enjoy the free ride through the lame parts of the game. Don't try to make sense of it by saying weird shit like "forming a playstyle"

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this was funnier before everyone copied me

I don’t know if we should call it skill, but there is a lot of decision-making to learn in healing. I don’t want to go deeply into detail, but everything boils down to balancing efficiency versus safety.

I'd argue if you're learning the "decision making" that goes into WHM in the early levels, I probably don't want to party with you in the later levels. There's just not much to learn early. You don't have abilities, most of your spells, relevant gear for later. The entire play style should change as the game goes. As Wudgie said, you don't need to take it personal or look for a reason to be offended about everything (Not you Concep, OP).

6 people can get x XP per hour and let you "learn" your job at a point where there's nothing really to learn, or 6 people can get x*5 XP per hour and get to the point where they can all learn their jobs as well much faster.

Everyone hates the Dunes and Qufim, and even into early 30s. At a certain point having a PL doesn't really offer much, certainly after 40, where like 80% of the leveling takes place still and you'll learn plenty about your job. You can play like you otherwise would, without a PL, if you want. This generally doesn't usually happen in my parties, admittedly, because I wouldn't invite a WHM when I have a PL... but if I was leveling WHM, and I had a PL, I'd be pretty ecstatic about it.

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I had a party in the dunes a few weeks ago without a PL but with me on Ranger very well-geared. I dealt so much damage and the kills were so fast that the WHM didn't use many 'resources' to keep people alive. We fought non-stop.

You don't need a PL to fight non-stop, even in the dunes. You just need party members that try to go above and beyond. See my first post for me saying the same thing...

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The options are limited, but the decision making process starts very early. Like I said before, it is about Efficiency vs Safety. And it revolves around time management. Do you have time to cast the MP-efficient spells (Poisona, Slow, Paralyze) or do you need to cast a Cure right now? Do you have time to cast several Cure I or do you need to sacrifice MP-efficiency for the safety of a Cure II?

Regens, Haste, buffs and debuffs add additional options as you go and you have to learn when it is appropriate to use these efficient tools as opposed to firing off a Cure line spell.

I get the point you're trying to make, and I'm just saying... I don't think experiences in the teens-20s inform later decisions about whether you need to cure right now, because so much has been added into the party experience at that point that informs that decision. That's all. Either way, it's legit not going to change. Many people with access to PL are not going to choose to spend their time less efficiently for someone else.

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