Quote:
In your typical party setup, the RDM is Refreshing, Hasting, Enfeebling, MBing, backup healing, re-applying any enfeebles that have worn off, and in general staying as busy as any one job can be. In order to do all of this properly while keeping an exp chain, they'll have to use Convert, and oft-times in mid fight.
Haste? = WHM part of my buffing cycle should be same for most whm.
backup healing? = again so far in 90% of all pts i'm in i don't need a back up healer outside of a nin since they tend to get eaten pretty quick if shadows drop for too quick, with a PLD i don't need a back up even on chain 5s. If your enfeebs aren't sticking long enough to last 80% of the fight then there's something wrong there(be it the xp mob choice or a sub par skill). You may toss out an extra cure III on a
MBing? = So you spend MP on a Nuke 1-2 times per fight again shouldn't be an issue.
So now you're saying that a RDM that does all this should be blowing so much MP that they need to convert every 10min to do their job properly? At 55 if i remember right most RDMs i pted with had around 600-900mp depending on race and equip and without food. So lets have some fun with numbers:
Paralyze - 6mp (we'll say you do this 2x for whatever reason) 12mp
Slow - 15mp (we'll say you do this 2x for whatever reason) 30mp
Blind - 5mp (we'll say you do this 2x for whatever reason) 10mp
Dia II - 59mp (should last the fight normally since not many fight light mobs for xp)
Dispel - 25mp (lets say 5 times even though that seems a bit high for most xp mobs) 125mp
Refresh - 40mp (lets say RDM, WHM, BLM, PLD, and DRK just for a full load) 200mp
Blizzard II - 77mp (for those MBs so 2x) 154mp
Cure III - 46mp (i did say you may need a few so I'll say 3 per fight) 138mp
Ok so for 1 fight you are spending:
866mp - for all there extras and whatever else you may want to atribute this to. Seems insanely high but when you have to do your spells over and over it gets MP costly, note a good rdm usually doesn't get resists unless people are fighting a IT++ and up mobs which then you want a BRD since they will help the party more than a RDM would with spells that get resisted.
576mp - on most chain mobs that aren't IT++ and up. This is the number i'm used to seeing from most rdm who do a good/great job.
Now this doesn't include for when the WHM wants to help out on spell cuz they wanna keep their skill capped too.
Oops i forgot to take away your Refresh you'd have on ok so we'll say an average fight of 90sec so that's -30mp
New totals:
836mp
546mp
These numbers are on a given pt set up as well as a mob type(buffer trough abilities/TP moves). This is about the most MP heavy set up i could think of for a RDM to have to deal with during a XP session.
Toss in a NIN and say 2 RNG over the BLM and DRK for the damage and the RDM would save up about 156-200+ mp depending on how well set up the RNGs were(i.e. Status bolts to minimize buff ability). Oh and then toss in a SMN with the puppy, oh look now aside from stoneskin effect on crabs you don't have to dispel oh wait the RNG will rip trough that in 3-4hits ok so we don't really need that dispeled, so now i've just essentially turned a RDM into a Refresh ***** at which point i'd be looking for a BRD since they could do a lot more for the new set up of SMN, NIN, BLM, RNG, RNG, RDM/BRD. So ya as you can see i've taken a great RDM who would be doing a lot and helping the PT quite a bit into a pretty worthless PT member being that an item could replace you 90% of the way. You could agrgue that you can Haste but hey as a SMN i've been able to cycle Haste properly with another Pact per fight, now if only i had the puppy i could use me as an example lol.
Now in those first 20sec you probably are blowing the 250~ of that total, but you still have time to med up MP before blowing some more of that mp. I don't know many RDM's be it in xp or in events where they blow 836mp through a whole fight. I do however know RDMs who can do 80-90% of that list without Convert every 10 min so if you think they are bad then I'll just keep em for my pts and events i mean they only help contribute to the 5-9k xp pts that everyone wants.
Notice i didn't include /blm which 90% of the RDM's are at least the ones I've pted with since its impossible to accurately calculate Conserve MP. Also the other reason i didn't include /blm is because i've seen a hard core RDM/DRK who will never sub BLM for XP go numerous chains without needing to convert and still do her job.
Don't get me wrong I do love RDMs as they do enhance a pt to get that higher number of xp however there are set ups where a RDM would be a waste of a PT slot. A RDM serves a simple purpose they are there to make a PT function better. They will never make a PT uber at least not one who isn't scared of shelling out more than 5k gil per xp session.
As to BRDs since the OP included them they are the same they don't need to be in the PT if you have smart people willing to adapt and look up some alternative XP places. They are there to enhance a PT be it through Ballads, Buff songs, and/or Debuff songs.
Edit: some numbers where off. and somemore input
Edited, Thu Jul 14 11:10:48 2005 by shadowbuni