Guide to Conserving MP: Y/N?

[Sur Realis]

I was thinking a few days back that people don't know how to conserve MP - specifically, not people that lack Enlightened characters. Even by Rouze, most mages just blow all their MP and meditate for multiple cruciatingly slow turns. When I party with people that knows their way around mages, or characters period, there is no particular need for harvesting, certainly not for multiple boring turns.

I thought that it would be useful for the long-term mage to know when to cast and what not to cast and when to meditate. Especially so for Whitemages. Though, would the people that could use this actually read it?

Also, if I am to make this guide, (as well as the Ultimate Spreadsheet, which has been taken to home to finish because I didn't realize my school would go nutsoid over finals) then I will CERTAINLY need feedback from people who have used mages for longer than I have, and particularly people that know more about Whitemages than I.

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Queries? Tips? Insert sixty billion other words that can be used as questions?

[lordphoenix]

Let my vote speak for itself. As you already sort of realized, the folks who could benefit of this sort of guide are the folks who wouldn't read a fucking resource to save their life. Classes are very easy to master and use properly, just takes some homework that people aren't doing in the first place, and adding more homework to the list won't fix that laziness.

[FenrirXIII]

I'd read it atleast once or twice over. I can manage my MP on redmage somewhat decently without the need for extra turns at the end of a fight, but my bluemage always has troubles with it. Although you can put some good tips into a guide, much of the conservation process such as what enemies remain(type, number, resistances, hp#) and how many party members/estimated turns it will take to kill all of the enemies stuff like that is something you could end up writing a small book about to cover each situation. All depends on what you plan to cover in the guide, i guess.

[Sur Realis]

May 19, 2008 22:12:32 GMT -6 FenrirXIII said:

I'd read it atleast once or twice over. I can manage my MP on redmage somewhat decently without the need for extra turns at the end of a fight, but my bluemage always has troubles with it. Although you can put some good tips into a guide, much of the conservation process such as what enemies remain(type, number, resistances, hp#) and how many party members/estimated turns it will take to kill all of the enemies stuff like that is something you could end up writing a small book about to cover each situation. All depends on what you plan to cover in the guide, i guess.

Yeah, a lot of the mages abilities depends on the melee's cooperation. That was one of the things I -would- cover, though LP has a specific point that the people that could use this guide wouldn't even read it.

Plus, there would be something dedicated to the melee classes, since most of them blow all their MP away at once.

[kaliesto]

I think this is a good idea, go for it.

[Takahashi]

It's a situational thing too. In my case, the amount of MP I spend before thinking about Meditating depends largely on what kind of fight it is. I tend to use more MP before Meditating in ambushes, usually because it's necessary due to the amount of incoming damage during the first few rounds. In less hectic fights (non-ambushes), I have less of a need to focus on constant spellcasting and thus spend less time throwing out magic at the start of a battle.

In general though, the model I stick to places an emphasis on casting over regeneration early in a fight, a mix of the two in the middle, then a focus on regeneration over casting at the end. With ambushes, slide everything towards spellcasting a bit. Being able to 'sense' whereabouts the party is in a fight helps too; it's no good going heavy on spellcasting if the fight is only a round or two away from ending, nor is it good to be conservative with your MP when the fight is still in the earliest of stages. Similarly, you don't want to find yourself strapped for MP when it's still needed and you don't want to find yourself practically at full MP as a mage with a few rounds left to go in the fight.

Ideally you should always be at or near full HP and MP at the end of the fight, and it shouldn't come about due to several rounds of Defend/Rest and/or Meditate. That is, completely full HP and MP are OK, but being at ~95% your max is fine as well. It's impossible to avoid harvesting altogether, but it can be kept to a minimum with the right types of battle strategy.

[Sur Realis]

Yeah, but there are normal, sensical things to throw in as details that it seems NO ONE understands.

As a guide-line of my own, in normal battles with melee characters is to do no more than 1/3 of my max MP. However, I've seen Dragoons wasting all their MP on jumps in midget-battles that doesn't need MP PERIOD and then never defend and rest for it back.

Even with all the approval, I'm still fighting with myself of whether or not to do this. After all, would people that need this guide READ it? Most likely not if they couldn't figure out these small tricks in the first place, right?

[lordphoenix]

May 20, 2008 16:41:42 GMT -6 Sur Realis said:

Yeah, but there are normal, sensical things to throw in as details that it seems NO ONE understands.

As a guide-line of my own, in normal battles with melee characters is to do no more than 1/3 of my max MP. However, I've seen Dragoons wasting all their MP on jumps in midget-battles that doesn't need MP PERIOD and then never defend and rest for it back.

Even with all the approval, I'm still fighting with myself of whether or not to do this. After all, would people that need this guide READ it? Most likely not if they couldn't figure out these small tricks in the first place, right?

You seem to already know the answer here, listen to that nagging doubt.

[Sur Realis]

May 20, 2008 20:13:59 GMT -6 lordphoenix said:

May 20, 2008 16:41:42 GMT -6 Sur Realis said:

Yeah, but there are normal, sensical things to throw in as details that it seems NO ONE understands.

As a guide-line of my own, in normal battles with melee characters is to do no more than 1/3 of my max MP. However, I've seen Dragoons wasting all their MP on jumps in midget-battles that doesn't need MP PERIOD and then never defend and rest for it back.

Even with all the approval, I'm still fighting with myself of whether or not to do this. After all, would people that need this guide READ it? Most likely not if they couldn't figure out these small tricks in the first place, right?

You seem to already know the answer here, listen to that nagging doubt.

Which one? =P

Alright. I've decided I'm not doing it -now-. I may in the summer after I finish the Spreadsheet, cause I'd have nothing better to do.