I ended up doing the crafting beast tribes in reverse since I joined during 2.5.
That is: I refused to craft until Heavensward, so I ended up doing crafting leves to level up my crafters + did GC turn-ins every day + used the manuals you get from GCs + put our crafting buffs up. They released Moogle crafting quests in... 3.3? I think? Those crafting quests are super-duper easy, and sometimes don't even require high quality. I didn't get the full benefits of them because by then I had almost every crafter to 60, but the XP is very good. I don't think anyone really /likes/ the Ixali quests, because they handicap you so if you're an omnicrafter you cry every time you have to do something in Mor Dhona.
It's too bad that I don't think you can use the xp from moogle quests for crafters under 50, though.
I dunno. I both love and dislike crafting in this game because I feel like the crafting/gathering systems get shafted. I can't bother to do everything there is to do with gathering because Timed Nodes Are A Thing, and it kind of feels like you're a little limited in terms of how you level them up or gear them up? At least it's going to get easier to get Crafting 5/Gathering 5 materia now with the new Zhloe quests? idk. I hope they focus a little more on crafting in Stormblood but I'm not holding my breath.
Oh and I did a dungeon today as healer and was with 3 first timers and the arcanist DPS decided they wanted to be THE HEALER and would keep healing the tank instead of dps-ing. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to be an ass but I was think STOP HEALING, DO DPS THAT IS YOUR JOB. So instead I went cleric mode and did nothing but DPS as Conjurer lol
Like, the arcanist seemed worried everytime the tank HP would drop down like 100HP and he'd instantly go into a heal. For me I don't worry about healing the tank until their down to about 30-40% HP unless they are constantly getting hit hard where I'll heal them non-stop. But if it's just some trash mobs, I don't see any problem in DPS-ing until the tank is down to 1/3rd HP and then healing the tank back up and going back to DPS-ing and repeat. But I can see how that might scare some people seeing the tank HP dropping down to 1/3rd.
I hate it when arcanists do that, so I end up being kind of passive-aggressive and go "ok you want to heal? Go ahead?"
I base when I start healing on the first pull, so I do a lot of observing and I guess I heal more depending on the tank and dungeon/pull made. When Sunblade tanks, I know that I can go into pulls with Cleric on because it gives me time to set up my debuffs and dots as scholar, or Holy + Regen + 2x Holy + Assize + Holy as White Mage.
If I heal a rando, I guess I do more observation. The first thing I do when I go into a leveling dungeon is I inspect everyone's equipment real quick before we start or as I'm casting protect so I can gauge how much I'm going to heal. It comes with some experience when you can gauge how fast the HP falls when the tank makes a big pull, but in earlier dungeons, if the tank's HP drops like a rock, I'll heal more. If the tank's HP is ok, then I heal less and go into Cleric more easily.
I don't like to start healing until the tank is 50-60% full because when they go down to less than that, a critical or multiple criticals from enemies will probably kill them if their CDs are down and sometimes you don't even know if they're up or not (especially in 40-60+ dungeons when enemies hit harder and they make bigger pulls -- good example is one of the endgame dungeons in 60 roulette where Sunblade made a huge pull, but ended up dying because he got like 5 crits in a row then died when he could usually handle not getting healed so I'd rather be safe than sorry). I usually stay in cleric until then. I think 60-70% full is ok to start healing DPS, but every healer is different and has a different criteria for when they start and stop healing.
The best advice that I can give, especially when you have a cohealer, is that you want to do everything 50-50 so that you aren't putting stress on anyone. Let your tank use his cooldowns, and you know DPS have Second Wind unless they're casters or Machinist. Just don't go into the role thinking you /need/ to dps because your priority is to keep everyone alive and to be super-observant. But that comes with a lot of practice and time.
Just don't be me and let the healer role make you be jaded towards every party you come into contact with lol.
I kinda thought healer was easy mode in MP since you just sit back and heal the tank or medica and get some dps in no worries. Then I did the Ifrit battle! Managing healing the tank, healing other members getting hit by AoE who might not be close enough for Medica to get everyone while dodging the AoE's directed at you..caught me by surprise and was a bit chaotic. Definitely broke a sweat.
What are some good tips for Conjurer/White Mage?
I only recently picked up WHM last patch, and Sunblade was the one who taught me how to WHM but...
-When you've got a good handle on how your tank in low level roulette, feel free to Aero everything in a group then hammer away with Stone/Stone II (whichever one is better depending on what you get in roulette) on the thing the dps are hitting.
-White Mage is considered the Reactive Healer. I main Scholar, which is the proactive healer (ie: I shield for incoming damage versus cleaning up the mess after), so it was a huge adjustment. You can cast a regen to make up for damage lost on the tank, though, but use it during a pull or after the tank has secured aggro.
-Cross-classing Blizzard II from Black Mage is the best thing you can do. You don't have an AoE early on, and 90% of the time everyone's going to be hitting everything (especially the tank to keep hate on every monster in a pack) so sleep is kinda useless. If you have Blizzard II, it's super useful for lower levels or if you don't want to burn too much MP using a Holy spam.
-At level 38 you get Shroud of Saints which restores MP to you gradually, AND decreases the amount of aggro you generate (kind of like Quelling or throwing a Smoke Screen at them). Best thing you can do is use this at 60% MP or use it when you notice that you're getting more aggro than the tank can generate.
-I've seen a lot of starter White Mages do this for some reason but... don't keep casting Medica in situations that don't need it. 1-2 people taking damage? Use Cure or Cure II on them. Casting Medica will generate more aggro on your part and you want to minimise how many times you use it based on that and based on your magic usage.
-Use Medica when you're in range of everyone. I've seen White Mages even in 60 content still use it when they're not standing close to ANYONE.
-Never cast regen on the tank before every pull. When the tank pulls, all the enemies will come to you instead because you're the one who generated aggro pre-pull. Cast Stoneskin (level 34) near the end of a pull.
-Use Fluid Aura on enemies when they're about to die (but we covered that the other night) so melee and tanks won't be caught off-guard.
-Swiftcast is life.
-Good Cross-Class skills are Blizzard II, Swiftcast, Virus, Eye for an Eye, and Surecast. Virus/E4E are untraited but they'll still work as intended at base level. Just make sure you cast Virus when you notice something big is coming and NOT at the start of a fight.
-I want to rip Medica II off of every White Mage's hotbar for life. It's a great skill but it's so often misused that it's frustrating to see White Mages use it as a crutch or when they want to be lazy and afk/watch netflix.
I'm not sure what else. I play all three healers to an extent so just ask.
