#“hard raising . on cooldown for [time]”

[osterby]

It *really* depends on the skill and the text itself (I play with UI sound effects off, so that doesn't come into it). Incomprehensible uwu speak that's only tangentially related to the skill on your entire DPS rotation? Please just stop pressing buttons, it's not worth it, I'd rather just carry you. An insulting raise macro about how you're a waste of their mana? Yeah, I'm blocking them and considering a report if it's really bad. A joke I don't think is funny that informs me that an actually relevant thing, like an invuln or a raise, is happening? It's your hydaelyn-given right to make unfunny jokes!

Basically a macro needs to do three things: 1.) Inform the group of something that at least one person might benefit from knowing (raise and invuln definitely, dragooon eyeball tether maybe, your 123 rotation absolutely not). 2.) Be comprehensible. Ideally it should use the actual name of the skill. It MUST use a commonly understood term for the skill. If it can only be understood by people who have seen a certain anime or who can translate uwuspeak on the fly, it's a bad macro. Much of the incomprehensibility can be remedied by simply including the skill name in autotext somewhere in there. (autotext makes it comprehensible to players who speak a different language, too) 3.) Not be insulting, meanspirited, or otherwise inappropriate to say to a complete stranger

My rez macros (I have a collection of them) are things like "meow meow! <raising> <target>". If someone thinks my meowing is cringy, they can cringe. But the macro clearly tells people that I've got that raise handled, and does so without insulting anyone.

Poll for fellow FFXIV players:

What are your thoughts on people who have macro texts with their actions in battle? Things like a WHM having a Raise macro like "Now raising <target name>!"

If I miss an option, feel free to speak your piece in the post's comments.

(Ay it's my first poll!)

[fleurarmor]

Raise and Other Job Action Macros for FFXIV

If you play FFXIV long enough you'll end up seeing a message in chat while running a duty letting folks know someone is getting raised. These are usually done via macro.

Why Do People Use Raise and Other Job Action Macros?

Raise messages basically boil down to "Other healers and raise capable members of the party, I am raising this person so don't waste your Swiftcast."

They can also communicate if this is a hard rez (no Swiftcast) and will therefore take time.

They tell you who scraped you off the floor so you have a suggestion of who to give your commendation. (This is why I appreciate others using them, personally).

They communicate part of a mechanic that another player might not know. The classic example was Paladin's Divine Veil, where they needed to be healed for the action to be completed. Although Divine Veil no longer requires it.

Creating and Editing Macros

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. Or, use /micon in the macro itself to use the icon for the action.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Sage Hard Rez.

In the main body of the macro, you will enter the code of the macro, making sure each line is its own line.

Macro Components

/ac tells the system you are starting a command about an action.

"Action Name" says which action you want to use. This is job specific so you will need to make a rez macro for each job as it is Egeiro vs Raise vs Resurrection vs Ascend etc.

<wait.#> is telling the system to wait before executing the next line. The number tells the system how many seconds to wait. How long you need depends on your computer, internet connection and how congested the immediate area in game is. 2 seconds works for my current machine very well, 3 seconds worked better for my old laptop and if I'm at a world boss Fate or hunt train I don't even try to use the macro due to the long wait time needed.

/party tells the system to send the text that follows to the party chat.

<t> tells the system to substitute the name of who you are currently targeting in whatever message you are sending in chat.

<#> The number will tell the system who to target based on the position in the party list. So a 3 will target the 3rd person on the party list.

/micon "Action Name" will tell the system to give the macro the same icon as the named action.

Optimizing Rez Macro Placement on Your Hotbar

To get the most bang for your buck on your rez macro, I recommend the following order on your hotbar:

[Swiftcast] [Quick Raise Macro] [Raise] [Full Heal Action]

This set up will let you see if Swiftcast is still on cooldown. If it is you can skip your Quick Raise macro and either just click Raise directly or a Long Raise macro (which in that image is the X icon below my Quick Raise macro's icon).

Example Macros

These can all be directly copy and pasted into the body section of the macro editor.

Basic Rez Macro (RDM)

/ac "Swiftcast" <wait.2> /ac "Verraise" <wait.2> /party Raising <t>! Get back in the fight!

Hard (Long) Rez Macro (SGE)

/party Swiftcast is down! Hard rez-ing <t>! <wait.3> /ac "Egeiro"

Rez Macro with Swiftcast and Thin Air (WHM)

This is specific to WHM level 58+ and will allow you to instantly cast Raise with no MP cost to help make the most of your resources.

/ac "Swiftcast" <wait.2> /ac "Thin Air" <wait.2> /ac "Raise" <wait.2> /party Raising <t>! Get back in the fight!

Improvisation Macro (DNC)

Unless your team has played a lot of Dancer themselves they likely won't understand how Improv works. Macro messages are great for telling other people in your party what they need to do to benefit from things like DNC's Improvisation or PLD's Passage of Arms.

/micon "Improvisation" /ac "Improvisation" /party Stand near me until you hear the bongos for healing!

Aetherial Manipulation (for the BLM Who Can't Target Party Members to Literally Save Their Own Lives)

Its me, I'm that black mage. This automatically targets the third person in the party's list which will be the healer in a Light Party or the second tank in a Full Party. You will aether skate over to whoever that is.

/ac "Aetherial Manipulation" <3>

Living Dead Macro (DRK)

This is no longer required as Living Dead has been updated. But it is a good example of making a macro message fun while giving a needed instruction.

/micon "Living Dead" /ac "Living Dead" <wait.2> /party Whether by accident or purpose, I have used Living Dead. Please heal me to full or else I will soon be Dead Dead. :')

[destiny-islanders]

I finally met G'hara in game last night! I was so excited I shrieked a little! Also, any advice for playing a black mage? It's my main class but I still feel like I'm doing it wrong 😅

Aww yay!! Enjoy your adventures with best boy! :>

As for Black Mage-- practice really does make perfect! Black Mage is a job that gets easier if you know your rotation really well... not just so you can maximize the amount of damage you can do in a short time, but also so you don’t lose your cool when you have to switch your focus from your spells to doing mechanics.

Unlike other casters, your first priority with equipment stat boosts and materia should be Spell Speed!!! Followed by Critical Hit, then Direct Hit. Eating food that raises these stats will help you even more! :>

Be aware of when it’s best to use your AOE spells vs. single-target. If you’re fighting a group of 3 or more, use AOEs. If you’re fighting 2 or less, focus down one enemy and then the other.

You probably already know this, but you should be casting Fire-type spells as much as possible. (For AOEs, as soon as you get Flare, that spell will also become an essential part of your rotation.)

Blizzard spells are useful for a lot of reasons, but they are not your best spells. Use them to regain MP (and other benefits at higher levels), then switch to your Fire spells.

Thunder spells are a Damage Over Time (DOT) spell that are only as effective as you let them last. You’ll notice that, when you cast Thunder on an enemy, they get a little icon with a number counting down below it. Do not cast another Thunder spell on this enemy until it runs out, or the spell is effectively a “waste” of damage and MP.

Addle is a very useful ability on bosses, especially if they’re about to unleash an attack that you know hits hard. Don’t count it out!

Using Transpose to keep your astral fire / umbral ice up is essential for always having access to your most powerful spells. Use it if you’re about to run the timer out while you’re doing mechanics in a boss fight, and use it between fights in dungeons, too. Think of it like juggling. The challenge of Black Mage is to start juggling at the start of a dungeon, and never, ever stop. This concept is crucial for Black Mages to master, since it kind of makes or breaks the class at higher levels, when you can be blocked from using your most powerful spells if you let that little timer run out.

Near the very end of a spell, you can start to move right before you’re about to cast if you need to get out of the way of something. This is called slidecasting. I think I read somewhere that you can slidecast about .5 seconds before a spell finishes casting? You sort of just get an intuitive feel for it after a while. Practice will help you master this.

Basic Rotations at level 50 

(I’m going to assume that’s around your level cap if you’re doing the Crystal Tower raids. I would recommend looking up rotation guides on YouTube for higher levels because Black Mage legit has like 5 or 6 rotations depending on your level bracket.)

Single-Target

-Blizzard 3, Thunder 3, Fire 3, Fire 1 until you’re low on MP, then repeat. (But, again, do not cast Thunder 3 again if the initial spell is still in effect, even if you have a proc for it.)

AOE (Groups of 3 enemies or more)

-Freeze, Thunder 2, Fire 3, Fire 2, Fire 2, Flare, Transpose, then repeat. (Again, without wasting Thunder 3 DOT.)

Swiftcast has a 60-second cooldown, so I understand the urge to save it for mechanic-heavy parts of bosses. But you also don’t want to leave it sitting unused for half a fight when it could be used to help increase your damage output. It’s especially useful for mob packs between bosses in dungeons-- since Flare has a really long cast time.

P.S. This is kind of a more advanced tip, but it’s worth getting used to now. I’ll try to explain it in a way that’s easily understood.

You know how when you cast a spell, all of your other spells gray out for a second before popping back up? That’s the global cooldown. For Black Mage, the time that the global cooldown has your abilities grayed out is often shorter than your spell casting time. This means that, even while you’re in the middle of casting a spell, you can hit the button of your next spell, that way there’s no interruption between one spell and the next. This is different with instant-cast spells like leylines and sharpcast, but if you’re casting, say, three Fire 1 spells in a row, you should definitely take advantage of lining your spells up!

Hope this helps!

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Some Upper-Level Red Mage Stuff

Moulinet: Your AOE game is so strong when you get this that it’s useless. Ignore until level 68, no joke. It’s not useless forever, though! (See below!)

Vercure: Use this to take a little pressure off the healer. If you can see a healer hard-casting Resurrection or Ascend or Raise - a seven-second cast - maybe throw a Vercure or two on whoever’s below 70%. Don’t try to replace the healer unless he’s dead and the enemy’s low. The party needs your DPS more than your heals, and you are WAY better at DPS than at healing.

Contre Sixte: If you’re on PS4 put this in a macro with Fleche. The only danger of this is losing a few seconds of cast time by not realizing it’s off cooldown, which for me at least is a greater risk if it’s on its own button. Same as Fleche, this should be thrown off every time it’s off cooldown, during the GCD for your other buttons so that its animation doesn’t interrupt other skills/spells.

Embolden: Unless you’re against an enemy with specific invulnerable phases you want to use this on cooldown. It’s 20 seconds of bonus damage for the whole party every 120 seconds.

Manafication: When you first get this one it’s not that complicated. Use it whenever you’re about 40+ on both colors. But you’ll want to start practicing using it right, as soon as you get it. The ideal is 40+ on both colors, two different numbers, and at least one of them below 50. This can be trickier to pull off, but it’s worth it.

Verraise: This is a spell, so you can use it with Dualcast. Seeing the healer go down, and throwing off Vercure on the Tank and then Verraise on the healer instead of, y’know, just accepting a party wipe? It feels REAL GOOD. Honestly if you’re in a Full Party and you see two people go down, you should try to Verraise one, maybe both of them. A Red Mage can raise two KO’d targets in about 7 seconds. If your healer had to blow Swiftcast on keeping the tank up recently, they’re looking at 7 seconds to raise one.

Verflare: So. About what I said about Moulinet and Manafication. To get Verflare to ready, you have to use the combo of Riposte-Zwercchau-Redoublement entirely Enchanted. This costs 80 mana (30 for Riposte, 25 each for the others). So using Manafication when both numbers are 40+ gets you into the sweet spot to do the full combo and ready a Verflare. Verflare also gives a bonus of auto-readying Verfire if you have more white mana than black when you cast it. Trick is, if you have 50+ of both and then Manafication you have 100 in both and suddenly can’t get that bonus. So let’s say you’re at 60 & 75 and Manafication’s up. You could wait until you just get the two up to 80 without Manafication, but then you’re not using Manafication. You could use it right away, but you’ll lose out on mana AND you’ll lose out on the bonus Verfire.

One option is to Corps-a-Corps in and Moulinet and THEN Manafication. The Moulinet spends 20, so you get to 40 & 50 - right in the sweet spot.

Another is to adjust AFTER you do the melee combo that transforms Verthunder into Verflare. You have 30 seconds after the combo to cast Verflare, if you had 100 of both colors you could do the combo, then do Veraero II, leaving you with 27 white and 20 black, giving you the bonus Verfire.

Verholy: This works exactly like Verflare but with the colors reversed. While they both ready at once, it’s actually better not to use these spells back-to-back, because they both have a cast time of Instant, so you’d be wasting the Dualcast bonus. Better DPS is one, then a slow spell, then the other, then a slow spell. As an added bonus that’s about 10 seconds where you’re doing maximum DPS without ever having to stop moving.

[bride-and-bride]

Am I a Shitty Healer?

A Very Basic Guide To When You Will Feel Like You Suck But It’s Actually Just Hard

The first job I ever picked up when I started playing FFXIV was White Mage. And I loved healing in this game enough to keep at it, but I found that there were a lot of places where I found myself struggling and really questioning if I was any good.

AS IT TURNS OUT... that’s pretty normal! So lest you find yourself questioning if you’re fit for healing when you’re getting into it for the first time, here’s a bunch of points at which you’ll probably find you’re having trouble. Don’t panic and think you suck... you’ll get through it with a lil perseverance and practice!

In ARR:

Stone Vigil

Aurum Vale

Dzemael Darkhold

The very first time you end up in these dungeons as an at-level healer, you might find yourself thinking you’re in hell. That’s normal. Focus on making sure you have properly upgraded gear, particularly for your main-hand and body slot! Don’t skip your class quests, either... they offer skills that you’ll definitely need.

Specifically, Stone Vigil has difficult AoEs, Aurum Vale’s got a difficult second Boss, and both Aurum Vale and Dzemael Darkhold have rooms where it’s easy to aggro a LOT of mobs while also having hazards that can deal damage. It’s good to focus on where you stand and how you move!

(Keeper of the Lake also sucks at level, and is tricky even when you get it in roulettes later... again, focus on having up to date gear, and try to read up on the boss mechanics before you head in for the first time!)

In HW:

The Vault

Final Steps of Faith

One of these is a dungeon, the other is a trail, but both are places at which you’ll find the difficulty of healing jumping a bit higher than you might expect. For the Vault, it’s extremely vital to make sure you have properly upgraded gear... the 130 ironworks gear won’t be enough anymore! For Final Steps, it’s quite helpful to read about the fight ahead of time, and really make sure you’re familiar with your aoe healing spells. It’s easier now, but it can be intimidating on your first time none the less... luckily, you have a co-healer to help out!

In SB:

The Pool of Tribute

Bardam’s Mettle

Castrum Abania

The Royal Menagerie

The Pool of Tribute is a trial, and an early one which can be difficult in part because it USUALLY TAKES... quite a while to finish. The attack patterns are rather predictable but because it goes on and on, people tend to get a bit messier in the later stages. Keep an eye on your MP!

Bardam’s Mettle and Castrum Abania are notable because the trash pulls in them hit like a truck. This is pretty common in stormblood dungeons, but don’t be afraid to ask your tank to take one pull at a time, because some of the more innocuous looking pulls can be surprisingly vicious.

The Royal Menagerie.... well, just don’t get discouraged if you find it difficult, try to practice not getting too focused on healing to the point of losing track of the fight around you, and having sprint on your bars will prove a useful tool.

So How Do I Get Better?

I couldn’t say too much... I know I’m definitely always improving in my own healing, too, and I’m still realizing things that make my life easier. However, I think there’s some basic things you can do as a healer to help yourself improve!

Read your Action Descriptions Carefully!

It’s easy to miss details unless you actually take a good look at what your actions do, and it’s always embarrassing to realize you were missing something. For example, WHM’s Assize also restores an amount of MP when you use it... AST’s Essential Dignity does MORE Healing if it’s used on a target with lower HP, and SCH’s Rouse makes your Fairy immune to some status ailments (useful if they’re in the path of a Morbol’s Breath!) You should have an idea of what your stances do as an Astrologian or what Fairy Actions Scholar’s have access to!

In addition, several times you’ll get ‘2′ versions of your existing healing spells... and it’s important to take a look at how they all function, since it’s not a simple case of always using the highest numbered heal you have! Benefic I and Cure I both save you a certain amount of MP and can proc special effects on Benefic II and Cure II, and Medica I and Helios do more raw healing than Medica II or Aspected Helios.

Consider your Role Actions according to what you do!

Some of the Healer skills are extremely vital, and you’ll want to have on your bars most of the time... others are very situational, and can depend on what you’re going to be running and what your style of healing is! For example, most groups will expect Protect at the start of runs, and Swiftcast is an absolute must-have for quick raises in battles... 

But Esuna is also an extremely useful tool, and having it quick at hand when someone’s paralyzed or slowed is a great help, and getting in the habit of looking for esuna-able Debuffs is a good one to have.

As for other role actions, it’s great to know that SCH’s Deployment Tactics also spreads Eye for an Eye, Lucid Dreaming gives you increased MP regeneration while it’s active, and Surecast actually prevents knockback and draw-in effects--all tools which can be very valuable in specific cases!

Know your Tank and Co-Healers

Being able to understand how best to work with different classes can make all kinds of runs a lot easier... and particularly in 8-man and raid content, knowing your fellow healers is vital! For example, any character can only have ONE shield effect on them at a time... AST’s Nocturnal Shields overwrite each other and SCH shields and vice-versa... if you’re an AST with a SCH, using Nocturnal Sect will give them a migraine and waste a lot of good healing, and if you have two AST’s the most effective way to go is to have one Nocturnal and one Diurnal healer!

For your tank, each one has a specific ‘last chance cooldown’ that acts differently. Paladin’s Hallowed Ground, for example, prevents ALL damage during it’s duration, meaning you can focus healing elsewhere... while Warrior’s Holmgang doesn’t prevent damage, meaning you need to try and get them back up before it ends and they’re in a bad place! Dark Knight is unusual... their Living Dead makes it so that if they would be killed, they’re instead put in a ‘Walking Dead’ state during which they can’t drop below 1 hp... but they MUST be healed for an amount equaling their full hp before the buff ends, or they’ll die, regardless of if they have hp remaining.

There’s other quirks and benefits you can find with all kinds of classes... from Monk’s Mantra which buffs healing, to Bard’s Warden’s Paean, which can esuna a debuff OR put up a ward to prevent one, to Bard and Machinist’s ability to help regenerate MP, to the different DPS casters being able to transfer a portion of their own MP to you. The more you learn about other classes, the more you can work in cooperation with them!

Know your Limit Break!

Before you hit 50, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll never end up using a Limit Break in a dungeon or trial. Afterwards, however... there will be times when the Healer Limit Break can be the difference between victory and defeat, and having it on your bar saves a lot of heartache.

The Healer LB 1 and 2 are unlikely to get used... but restore 25 and 60% of the entire party’s HP and MP, respectively. Healer LB3 on the other hand... restores full HP and MP to all party members and instantly revives any who are dead at the time! It’s important to note there IS a range on this... people who are VERY far away might miss out, and it locks you in place until the animation ends, meaning it’s possible to bring everyone back only to get caught in an AoE and fall yourself.

This got a lot longer than I meant to, and I’m definitely not any kind of expert... just a bug who really likes to ramble and sometimes gets the burning urge to write guides for things. Still... I think healing in FFXIV is fun as heck, and I can’t help but want more people to feel confident that they can do it, even if they find it tough here and there!

THANKS FOR READING THIS FAR, WOW!