RDM Merits?

[Mortikhan]

If you rely on Divine Seal to Convert, then you don't know how to Convert properly. If you're blowing a noticeable chunk of the MP you just regained back on cure-bombing yourself, you really don't know what you're doing. Make a decent convert gear setup, and don't just throw on a ton of zenith and call it a day. The best pieces will have +HP and +MP gear and those are the ones you should be using. Even if you do find it necessary to cure yourself back up to full HP right away, you should have the extra MP to do so. If you're a merit level rdm and you still die from Converts then...just wow. Hang up your chapeau, you need to find a new job.



When do rdms ever sub smn? You can make perfect use of Convert and all its possible recasts with any practical sub job.

First off, no one said anything about NEEDING Divine Seal for any reason. Don't need it to Cure pt members or yourself. Divine Seal is an efficient way of getting your hp back in a position to convert again when the time comes. Why do I say this...because if you do it before ever touching anyone else with cure or the monster with any debuffs of any kind then you gain exactly 0% hate. Just being in a party does not qualify you for hate when a fight starts.

Secondly, rest?...when do you get to rest in a good merit party? I know you are aware of Fire Spit, Rushing Drub, Pecking Fury and the host of other nasty little powers mobs have that either bypass defense and strip and/or bypass shadows. Your front liners are still going to need to be healed...and cure bombing them is absolutely the worst thing you can do so Divine Seal really hurts you more if you use it on your pt unless you are saving a group from a Thundaga III that got through which you can very easily slap a Curaga II on them and heal up the person with hate afterward. Either option nets you massive hate. However there is one thing that the hate will help with in a -ga spell scenario and thats bringing hate to you so front liners can get shadows back up. Again I will say either way hate is coming to you so you BETTER have the HP to take a hit. Stoneskin is not gonna save your butt from Fire Spit if you happen to get a heavy one for 700+ which I have seen plenty of times on front liners and Pecking Fury wrecks stoneskin also and a fast attacking bird (no brd pts) is not something you want on you with stoneskin down and low hp.

Lastly, the way I work my equip is not to max out hp or mp but to equalize them. I don't own a single stitch of Zenith gear. With my current gear and a Maron Glace (cheap and good mp bonus as well as a 3 hour timer that I use for non bard parties or mamool ja parties), I have 1032 hp and 967 mp. I equalize them to make my converts more efficient rather than stacking more hp on lopsiding my character and wasting my HP for no reason with a convert. depending on your race its harder to do. Don't get me wrong I agree that if your mp is not close to your hp total then you should not use more than Cure IV more than once and should probably if anything slap a Regen on yourself. However, one Cure 4 is not going to cut it getting back to max by resting or the +1 hp tick you get from subbing whm in a constantly moving party or a party that needs constant healing over the course of 10 minutes (or 8:20 if merited). Casting another cure just wastes more time that I could be resting and 88 mp is a far cry from tap myself for mp...but 2 Cure 4's means I am using 18% of my mp lost on convert recovery. In a solo healer/haster party you are for the most part only going to be able to rest for 1-2 ticks max before your cycle is done so I also stack out with mp recovery gear, getting a +41 on first tick...2 ticks with refresh up puts me at max mp after convert with 850-900 hp in my pocket and no hate whatsoever with Divine Seal. Do I rely on it...no...do I think its more practical in xp parties...absolutely. Outside XP parties doing missions or other group events you will have other purposes for Divine Seal...if you are rdm/whm at all which in most cases I am not.

P.S. I have seen a few people who use /smn for whatever reason I personally agree with you its a poor choice but to each their own...I made the point that Covert would work for them because of the mp bonus they get and the +1 tick for mp they get. They could use that extra mp for another Cure 4 or to slap up stoneskin or whatever they want without hurting their base mp they would get with one of the jobs normally played with rdm as main.

 

[Caerloc]

Lastly, the way I work my equip is not to max out hp or mp but to equalize them. I don't own a single stitch of Zenith gear. With my current gear and a Maron Glace (cheap and good mp bonus as well as a 3 hour timer that I use for non bard parties or mamool ja parties), I have 1032 hp and 967 mp. I equalize them to make my converts more efficient rather than stacking more hp on lopsiding my character and wasting my HP for no reason with a convert. depending on your race its harder to do. Don't get me wrong I agree that if your mp is not close to your hp total then you should not use more than Cure IV more than once and should probably if anything slap a Regen on yourself. However, one Cure 4 is not going to cut it getting back to max by resting or the +1 hp tick you get from subbing whm in a constantly moving party or a party that needs constant healing over the course of 10 minutes (or 8:20 if merited). Casting another cure just wastes more time that I could be resting and 88 mp is a far cry from tap myself for mp...but 2 Cure 4's means I am using 18% of my mp lost on convert recovery. In a solo healer/haster party you are for the most part only going to be able to rest for 1-2 ticks max before your cycle is done so I also stack out with mp recovery gear, getting a +41 on first tick...2 ticks with refresh up puts me at max mp after convert with 850-900 hp in my pocket and no hate whatsoever with Divine Seal. Do I rely on it...no...do I think its more practical in xp parties...absolutely. Outside XP parties doing missions or other group events you will have other purposes for Divine Seal...if you are rdm/whm at all which in most cases I am not.

P.S. I have seen a few people who use /smn for whatever reason I personally agree with you its a poor choice but to each their own...I made the point that Covert would work for them because of the mp bonus they get and the +1 tick for mp they get. They could use that extra mp for another Cure 4 or to slap up stoneskin or whatever they want without hurting their base mp they would get with one of the jobs normally played with rdm as main.

I'm close to 1100 1:1 ratio now as elvaan, and 5/5 on convert is schedueled.
(Restart haste/fresh-cycle after convert, then swap back to regular gear when I'm @ 800~ mp.)
As mentioned, divine seal is not necessary for convert, I rather use it for a cure on someone else.
Outside merit-pt's there's usally a tank or whm that fills up the hp-pool when I convert.

Noone is wasting 18% of their mp just cause they need to cast 2 CureIV's.
Besides, there are other things in the game besides merits. The OP clearly states he likes to solo stuff, for one.

 

[Tomasello]

(Not talking to anyone in particular here, just saying.)
The subjob has nothing to do with convert at all...
/whm makes it cheaper, sure, but it's not forcing you to use ds when converting.
Saying stuff like "I'm doing ok without convertmerits" is fine, I'm sure you are, doing just that; Fine. Not better then fine, and if fine is fine with you, fine.
But if you want to kick it up a notch and use rdm to it's fullest, well forget about divine seal, and get some propper gear for convert.
I'm not saying I never use ds when I convert, it's a neat combo, but only when it's really layback.


The subjobissue for rdm is always situational, and will always be.
(((No matter what kinda convertmerits you have...)))

Neither was I and I'm certainly not gonna critize anyone who does cause its really not that big a deal. It comes down to playstyle like you said and for me, I find DS > Convert too good and too efficient to pass up. Everyone plays differently I guess.

 

[Mortikhan]

Noone is wasting 18% of their mp just cause they need to cast 2 CureIV's.
Besides, there are other things in the game besides merits. The OP clearly states he likes to solo stuff, for one.

I was speaking about rdm/whm for the purposes of meriting. I normally play rdm/blm for almost everything else. There is plenty more to the game beside meriting. I was responding to a previous post ridiculing the use of DS/Convert being used together. The OP also mentioned that he was starting to merit so giving him a general idea what to merit and how I have applied it was my intention not to say meriting was the end of the game, far from it. Again, as I stated in my original response, experimenting and being comfortable with how you are using your rdm is the most important thing. Being told I should "hang up my chapeau" because someone disagrees with how I use rdm warranted a response for why I do it. So I responded with the "why".

 

[Calais]

K first off, not replying to everything you wrote because I'm lazy and I agree with you on half of it anyway.

First off, no one said anything about NEEDING Divine Seal for any reason. Don't need it to Cure pt members or yourself. Divine Seal is an efficient way of getting your hp back in a position to convert again when the time comes. Why do I say this...because if you do it before ever touching anyone else with cure or the monster with any debuffs of any kind then you gain exactly 0% hate. Just being in a party does not qualify you for hate when a fight starts.

I don't think you quite understood my entire post. Which is easily understandable as I have a habit of typing while half asleep, so I'm sure I'm not as clear as I could be on some points. Anywho, I was complaining about DS because some people mentioned that Convert recast merits will mean that Convert isnt in sync with Divine Seal anymore. It's something I've seen not just on this board, but across several forums. Dismissing what can be very well spent merits solely because you won't always have DS ready is seems rather ridiculous to me.

And before someone else tries to say I just said everyone needs Convert recast merits, that's not what I'm saying at all. You can be perfectly fine with zero.

Lastly, the way I work my equip is not to max out hp or mp but to equalize them. I don't own a single stitch of Zenith gear. With my current gear and a Maron Glace (cheap and good mp bonus as well as a 3 hour timer that I use for non bard parties or mamool ja parties), I have 1032 hp and 967 mp. I equalize them to make my converts more efficient rather than stacking more hp on lopsiding my character and wasting my HP for no reason with a convert. depending on your race its harder to do.

Again, my fault for not being specific. Most of the rdms I'm around are hume or mithra and I've noticed most of them Convert with around 1050 HP and 800 MP. They then toss a couple Cure 4's on themselves which leaves them with even less MP. As a hume rdm/whm with full MP merits and no food, I have just over 1k MP. Not even attempting to maximize your Convert seems like a waste to me, which is why I was going on about it before. (Not to say you yourself don't attempt to, the HP/MP ratio you mentioned is perfectly fine, I just wish more people would put forth atleast some of the effort.)

Being told I should "hang up my chapeau" because someone disagrees with how I use rdm warranted a response for why I do it. So I responded with the "why".

No, no, I said if you still die after Converting (at level 75) you need to quit rdm. That was not directed to anyone in particular, just a general statement. Nothing I typed was meant to say IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME YOU SUCK I AM ALL KNOWING QUEEN RDM OHOHOHOHO~

 

[Uzor]

Divine Seal + Convert is the fastest and most MP efficient way to get your MP back. Why? Because when you convert, you usually have more MP and HP then you need. If you're a RDM atleast worth its weight in salt, then you won't merit or do ANY end-game events in pure +MP gear. So you better switch atleast those +MP parts in to something better. Like, say, Nashira or Mahatma. Hence, you convert in max HP and MP, Divine Seal + Cure IV yourself, then switch an MP piece or two out so that your overall gear is better suited for the situation you're in.

If you need those extra 88 MP in order to keep your paty alive in a merit, there's one of two things wrong. It might be both.

1) You suck
2) Your melees suck

I can get upwards 1100 MP for convert if I want to. However, I hate meriting as RDM (and WHM for that matter) since its so god damn boring. So I don't bother using my RD to its fullest. And in most events you do, you simply do not need 1100 MP as a RDM, even with a 10 min convert timer. So I'll take my 1000 MP on RDM and play the job I prefer for end-game events. My WHM