MMORPG.com Final Fantasy XI Correspondent Herbie Grate writes this introduction to the White Mage healer class in Square Enix's MMO.

Advertised as the ‘premier healer’, White Mage (WHM) is everything you would imagine it to be; pure healing. White Mages are built only to heal, having no serious physical capabilities to speak of on their own, though White Mages do surprisingly have very good pieces of armor later on, and can equip themselves fairly well when it comes to taking a punch or two. Sadly, though jobs such as Scholar, Red Mage, and Dancer have eliminated much of the specific need for a White Mage, when it comes to a healing position, there is no job better in terms of potency and lucky for the healing-inclined, White Mage is one of the ‘Starting Six.’

Read the Introduction to the While Mage

Typo.

Didnt you mean Intro to the WHITE MAGE?

Overall a pretty good article. You missed that Summoner makes an excellent subjob as well, as the MP bonus is MASSIVE, as well as auto-refresh and some other goodies, as well as having avatars in a pinch (even at half level, some of their abilities are quite useful, like Garuda's blink-ga and Titan's stoneskin-ga).

The only BIG problem is the following:

"Lastly, DO NOT EVER USE BENEDICTION IN A PARTY! Benediction is White Mage’s two hour special ability, and immediately fully restores your party’s HP and relieves all status effects. Unfortunately, it also makes the enemy want to annihilate you immediately as well. Only a Paladin’s Invincible two hour ability can break the enmity it will generate towards you, and what good is a party with a dead healer, regardless of the circumstances?"

You, sir, have no clue what you're talking about.  First off, if things are critical near the end of a fight, benediction can be the difference between one or two (maybe even zero) deaths, and a wipe.  Secondly, a skilled tank can hold hate from benediction.  I've seen it done many times, both with me as the white mage and as other jobs in the party.  Finally, after you get Reraise (level 32, IIRC; it's been a LONG time since my WHM was that level), there is no excuse for it not to be up at all times.  Unless you have the misfortune of it wearing off mid-fight, the healer dying is NOT the end of the world, and even if you die after that benediction, that still leaves everyone else up, and at or near full health, to finish the fight.  You can always reraise during or after (preferably after, as the odds are good that if you needed to use bene, the mob is spamming AoEs) the fight.  Other classes have Raise, too (paladin, red mage, anyone subbing white mage or red mage at the higher levels), so you don't have the "who will raise" argument to work with, either.

Don't get me wrong, as a GENERAL rule, Benediction shouldn't be used (if you're in a good party, the only time you'll need it is if you have some seriously bad luck; bad pulls do happen).  But the fact remains that, when used properly and in the right situation, it can easily be one of the most important two-hour abilities in the game, and is preferable to Invinvibility, in some ways, since it will protect people OTHER than the tank (since it heals everyone), and it still leaves that paladin with his two-hour for if you get in a worse situation (healing the damage is one thing, a full 60 seconds of not taking any is much bigger) later.

Rather than saying to NEVER use it, you should be pointing out where it IS useful, the pros and cons, or at the very least just admitting that you lack the knowledge or skill to handle the ability, and so you simply don't use it.

I don't think the poster meant "NEVER"you have to read outside the box,he was merely exclamating ,just how dangerous it is ,casting it.

This game has so much diversity,so many players that once the NA got to 75,they became the know all of all and started a lot more l33t talk,than the early days.

Quick note,whm needs bene ,because the "SKILLED" tank can hold ,hate.Vague statement ,because if he was so skilled,why do they need bene?This also assumes higher levels,as low level tanks have VERY little tools to be anything close to skillful.I look at it this way,if the WHM needs BENE once ,they probably will need it more than once,so there goes the PLD ability until 2hrs is up,and bene is also a 2 hr wait.A good blm will understand the party is perhaps taking on too much and may save the mp for escape,especially on mobs that can use stoneskin[eats up mp,takes longer to kill].To make it simple,you have to weigh your options,is the mob doable ,using bene?if not ,you are just wasting effort,better off trying a tele,especially if no reraise.Pre tele or any other options to survive ?carry pots maybe even a warp scroll.

I know it is kind of expensive,but each player can help avoid disaster,by not relying on others.I know in the lower levels. I often carried a few pots ,just in case of emergency,that way the healer does not have to panic,trying to heal 4 players all red/yellow lined,from say a WORM AOE in dunes,CURAGA is a big hate grabber as well.

Quite often parties hang near exits,so in these cases,you can get away with things like over hitting or BENE,with never a worry why.

The WHM job can be hectic as a lot of pressure resides on them ,keeping the party alive.There is other cases like the "SAGA of ANNA"on GARUDA.I am not even going to get into the details of why a WHM/THF CAN work,all i can say is there were MASSIVE if not all the 75 level players telling her "SHE CAN'T".This just made me laugh,because it tells me the true reason why players speed off to level 75.So they can ACT like they all of a sudden KNOW ALL,but in reality this little saga told they know nothing.

I can give a little hint as to why they cannot think outside the box..think duo ninja tanks.....two tanks both with /nin....one ninja tank with NI and a SMN throwing in blink/stoneskin in between shadow resets.....all adding up to a whm NEVER stealing hate,NEVER doing much healing if any,only regens/enfeebs.Why not throw in a SA?you think there is ANY reason it will steal hate or hurt the party?of course you have to use diligence,like consider deadly AOES,should you be resting[not likely in these scenarios as MP barely used],of course you want reraise up at all times,the point is ,you know your job,the party lives,you have FUN,it is all good in my books.

In regard to "if the tank is skilled, why do you need bene?" I thought I had said it in my post: AoEs, links, pops, or even just a bad pull.  And, of course, bosses.

As to your duo-blink-tank (kinda drives me up a wall in the first place, since I've run into less than a dozen blink-tanks that can hold hate to save their lives, and this is over the course of PS2 beta until now) allowing for WHM/THF: sure, why not add an SA, but honestly, unless that WHM is somehow geared for pure melee damage, how is even that SA going to matter when something like Banish would likely be doing more damage AND wouldn't require handing the mob free TP by slapping it for crap damage if any?

I'm not trying to be confrontational here, just trying to address it from my perspective.  Also, I'm not familiar with your example, as it likely took place long after I was on Garuda (Garuda was my first server, took a break, and long story short, ended up needing a new account, and I ended up on Caitsith when I came back.)

I'll answer ,since you were nice about.Your response was un normal lol i applaud you sir.

Banish eats up MP,SA doesn't.A couple Sa will not matter even considering TP,because i was hinting at tanks that will take no damage,and there hate control would be SUPER easy,because under these conditions the WHM is NOT healing[very little] therefore drawing VERY little hate with regen and a dia or whatever.Sure a whm wont do alot of dmg but with Sa it is a cant miss,even the best of DD will miss,especially lower levels before they start getting massive accy stuff.

There is i know arguements like,if she had a better sub her enfeebs would stick better or whatever.Well think of it this way,not every player in the game will be or can afford to be maxxed out in gear,so think of her as playing like an average player that can't afford it all.If it was your wife or GF would you kick her out of the party or refuse to play with her,just because she wasn't pimped out in gear?Even better yet,i have eluded to MANY times,RMT can level up just fine and they wear NOOB gear and nothing to boost anything in the game,so if they can do it ANYONE can do it.My point is a WHM not properly subbed or pimped out can do a ffine job.

The thing is i have seen many times over ,players are so PROGRAMMED as to how everyone should play,they don't even stop to think anymore.That reminds me,watch that Zeitgeist [lol]it is all about americans DON'T think anymore,they are brainwashed into thinking what the govmnt wants them to think,it is a VERY good movie and may remind people to think instead of just walking around like zombies.I was not implying you don't think lol so don't /slap me with a trout plz[old IRC joke].

I've seen it too, I'm a DRG main that has no intention of going to extraodinary lengths to get "teh bestest" gear until I hit 75 on it.  Gear doesn't make nearly enough difference in this game to warrant it.  What DOES matter, is how well you play, and what you sub.  Enfeebling is a WHM skill, not just BLM, and assuming that it's not woefully underleveled, they will stick enough of the time.  As you said, they're not healing, so what ELSE do they need their MP for?  I still think that SA is going to do crap damage and give the mob free TP (even more, if the WHM is swinging to get TP to SAWS), and that the Banish is going to be much better in regard to damage, and since it's magic, the mob won't get TP.

I just don't see ANY benefit to the setup other than ***** and giggles.

"Lastly, DO NOT EVER USE BENEDICTION IN A PARTY!"

Yet another author in the news section who's completely clueless. For me, this is the final nail in the coffin when it comes to mmorpg.com's "news" - the whole section is a complete and utter joke, mostly written by noobs who have no idea what they're talking about.

Apparently you don't know the whole "Saga of Anna" as you put it.  Nor do I claim to, but I know enough.  Now, I'm the last person to tell anyone what they can and can't sub.  If you can do your main job successfully and well, then by all means, sub what's fun for you.  I've was in a party in CN, (33-37 area) and we had a JP galka whm/nin who did a far, far better job as a whm than a taru whm/smn.  As I'm sure you can guess, the taru whm/smn rarely did any whm stuff, he wanted to use his avatars all the time.

As for the... "hero" of the above-mentioned saga, this person rarely if ever did her (gender assumed) job as a whm.  She constantly melee'd, which is fine on some mobs, but not on ones with dangerous AoE's, pretty much cured and buffed only herself, and has told other mage jobs (such as my friend, who was levelling blm and had the misfortune of being in PT with her) that they had to be main healer, "she was a DD".

I myself had the misfortune of grouping with her for Nyzul Isle.  We had a floor where we had to kill all  named mobs.  We were split up, 2 melees and a healer, down to the last two mobs on different parts of the floor, and someone calls out for someone to go to the rune of transfer and get ready to send us up.  Anna decides she'll be the one to go, leaving me and a THF fighting a mob that's still more than half health and with a soulflayer aggrod on us, with no healing.  Needless to say the two uf us died, the other group came over and finished the mob off, but by then we had no time left and lost the assault.

Also, as far as the benediction thing goes, it doesn't even have to be the tank who can get hate back from bene.  I've grabbed hate back from it with a well landed SA+Fast Blade in my thf at 25.  And for the record, Invincible isn't 100% hate either.  I've kept hate from it as an rdm/rng when me and a pld/thf friend of mine were farming and got an NM who hit me a little too hard.  My friend finished off the NM, but couldn't do it before I went down, even though she'd popped invincible to try and save me..

In regard to Invince not pulling aggro 100%: in a party setup, it's about 99.999999%, assuming the PLD is a PLD/WAR like he should be (sorry, but this is one occasion where there really is only one right answer, and that's PLD in an XP party is the tank, and he's going to be a PLD/WAR).

I think the main reason his invince didn't pull hate as expected is because, unlike in a party environment, he didn't have provoke available.  In FFXI, Provoke adds a value of hate to you, like most games (WoW is the exception to this rule, where their taunts don't actually add any hate, they simply make the mob focus on you for a short period of time, hopefully giving you enough time TO get hate), and as such is normally (and in most cases should be, since that emergency provoke is what an off-tank is for, that other job that has /war sub) being used as soon as the cooldown has worn off.  Doing this, and when combined with all their other hate-adding abilities of a PLD, as well as self-curing as much as possible (to help relieve the white mage from earning hate, as well as the PLD building more hate on himself), the likielihood that Invincible won't pull a mob is effectively nil in a party setup.

It's honestly extremely hard NOT to do your job as a PLD/WAR in FFXI, and it doesn't complicate things any seeing as it's the easiest game to manage aggro in that I've ever played (one of the reasons I find Black Mage so boring: unless your tank sucks, or you're completely braindead, it's WAY too easy to do a TON of damage, and yet not even have to WORRY about pulling hate, let alone actually getting the aggro.)

I can honestly say that, having played from the PS2 Beta and still playing off and on now as I have the time to, I've seen a PLD's invince not pull the mob MAYBE once or twice, in that entire time.

Originally posted by Netspook

"Lastly, DO NOT EVER USE BENEDICTION IN A PARTY!"

Yet another author in the news section who's completely clueless. For me, this is the final nail in the coffin when it comes to mmorpg.com's "news" - the whole section is a complete and utter joke, mostly written by noobs who have no idea what they're talking about.

I'm fairly sure I do know what I'm talking about on this one.

As someone already said before, this wasn't a definitive "never ever ever" use remark, but generally it's good practice to not use Benediction in an experience party situation, as you're almost always targeted and unless it's near death or you're near a zone line, you're almost always assured a death of your own.

It's generally considered bad form to use it was my intent here, as it's basically the enmity generating equivalent of an atom-bomb.

“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”

The article had some good points, but honestly... I felt it very misleading overall. It left out a lot of important aspects to WHM and was hypocritical at some points. Not to mention some of the grammar almost made me kill myself...

If you are doing an article on WhiTe Mage, you'd think you would double-check the title, you know, the thing that gives the first impression people get from the article.

Orz

Originally posted by Marokii

Originally posted by Netspook

"Lastly, DO NOT EVER USE BENEDICTION IN A PARTY!"

Yet another author in the news section who's completely clueless. For me, this is the final nail in the coffin when it comes to mmorpg.com's "news" - the whole section is a complete and utter joke, mostly written by noobs who have no idea what they're talking about.

I'm fairly sure I do know what I'm talking about on this one.

As someone already said before, this wasn't a definitive "never ever ever" use remark, but generally it's good practice to not use Benediction in an experience party situation, as you're almost always targeted and unless it's near death or you're near a zone line, you're almost always assured a death of your own.

It's generally considered bad form to use it was my intent here, as it's basically the enmity generating equivalent of an atom-bomb.

“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”

If SHOUTING (using caps) "DO NOT EVER" really doesn't mean "never ever ever", then it's impossible to read anything you write, because there's no way for us to understand what you really mean.

"I'm fairly sure I do know what I'm talking about on this one."

No, you don't. In your reply to me, you state what's correct: "generally it's good practice to not use Benediction in an exp party". But that's not what you first said. I mean SHOUTED. Your last and correct statement doesn't seem to be related to what you "know", but to the replies you got in this thread.

I was actually being "nice" to you in my first post, since I didn't comment on other things. For example:

In fact, Red Mages are preferable over White Mages in the higher level areas because of their incredible MP regeneration (Convert) and wide array of spells and abilities.

"In fact"?? In my 2.5 years as a lvl 75 WHM, I have NEVER heard about any party preferring RM over a WHM because of their MP regen! Having both jobs in a party, that's great, but a RM is NOT a better healer than a WHM.

A minor one: There's only ONE type of Light Staff in the entire game. Same with Dark Staff. Nothing more. So don't talk about Light StaVES, etc. Feel free to ask if you want me to rip apart more of your "facts" - trust me, I can.

My initial comment stands: You're completely clueless. You belong with the rest of us, just a regular forum troll. You do not deserve the "Final Fantasy Correspondent" title at all.

Originally posted by Netspook

A minor one: There's only ONE type of Light Staff in the entire game. Same with Dark Staff. Nothing more. So don't talk about Light StaVES, etc. Feel free to ask if you want me to rip apart more of your "facts" - trust me, I can.

While I agree that the OP posted several incorrect "facts", you're mistaken on this point.  There are indeed 2 of each type of staff, Light and Dark, and their HQ versions.  This is obviously what the OP was referring to with "staves".