Best Party Set-UpFollow

This will most likely be a heavily debated thread due to the fact that everyone believes there job is the best in its class. I am throwing this out there to get some opinions other than my own about what is the best party set-up.

I have been in many parties and I have found the ones that have worked best for lvl 40+, given you have players that know thier jobs, and have good equipment on would be:

1. Whitemage - Your direct Healer, all the best "Ra" spells. Yes a RDM can replace a WHM lvl 40+, but for an RDM to be at thier best, they cannot be the main healer. A SMN can also replace a WHM, but they do not have all the best "Ra" spells. @nd to WHM in healing for a party though would definetly be SMN if you cannot find an available WHM. SMN's also have very nice effects from thier Avatars to help a party be at its best.

2. Red Mage - DeBuff, Convert, Refresh, Melee, Back up Healer. RDM's are the Jack of all trades and one of the most difficult jobs in the game. I hear how BRD's are just as good as RDM's, and given I dont know much about the job, I cannot say that they aren't, but I do know BRD's do not make good Back up healers and lack the job ability of convert.

3. Black mage - Debuffs,Escape,Warp2, a cure here and there when much needed, and they deal the most damage of any job. MB Freeze, need I say more?. There is no other job comparable to what a BLM can do for a party.

4. Paladin - Your much needed Tank, no party is complete without a Tank and PLD is the best at it. Keeping the Hate with Flash and Curing themselves and good PLD's all help cure other when needed. Theres no such thing as a party with too many back up healers. I also must include that a Very Good NIN/WAR can compete with a PLD at keeping the hate and even though they dont have MP to back up heal they save so much MP from mages by Blink Tanking that they more than make up for it. I have only seen a couple NIN's that compare to a PLD though, for the most part your avereage NIN doesnt have the skill or the gil to keep the hate like a PLD.

5. Dark Knight - Asorb spells, MB's, The consistent Damage output they provide from their Great Job Abilities. A Dark Knight to be good must, for one know thier job well, and for 2 must have all the plus acc they possibly can have. This is a low acc job with a large weapon delay, and if your missing frequently it will hurt your party in a big way. SAM,DRG,MNK,WAR these jobs are better than a bad DRK in a party, but cannot match a DRK that has all the equipment needed and one who knows their job. This decision will proably be the most debated, but all those other jobs lack the MP abilities of a DRK.

6. Ranger - The most efficent puller in the game due to thier massive damage output from thier ranged attacks, and thier damage output through the fight. THF is also a very good alternative to a RNG. THF's can be very good pullers, and their SATA does crazy Damage to the mob, plus when your looking for help from a THF with TH2 and wonder why there arent enough, just remember that when you are forming your party, keep the THF's happy with invites and they will be more likely to help us out when we need them.

I have put myself out on the limb here, I know alot of people are going to be pissed and other will agree. I have not seen a thread like this in the forum yet so I decided to throw it out there. I would also be interested in hearing peoples ideas on the best sub's for these jobs seeing I chose not to post those as well. This is just my opinion on the optimal party. Please post your thoughts on this subject as well!

I must agree with LionsFan. This is by far my favorite set-up. Although you could substitute brd and nin and do as well if not better. It's rare that i am invited into this party set-up(not that many rng's) but when i am, it's chain 5 easily.
"Skillchain- Light: The Steelshell takes 1400 damage."

Sometimes though, you can have the most awesome set up and be like yeah this party is going to rock... and then it totally sucks for some reason... but then you get like the strangest set up and for some reason it works great... take for instance,
it was.... Devildawg (thf) Grimshady (thf) Raystlin (drg) me (Norrain whm) Iyojimbol (rdm) and um one other person cant remember who it was but he was a Pally (Grim can you help me on that ?) anyway... it was an awesome party totally kicked *** and everyone was chatty and fun to hang out with to boot. There was even one moment when someone pulled one of those big Scorpions... he hit the pally a few times then nailed his *** HARD with a special move of some kind and the pally died. Well he came after me for aminute then Raystlin got his attention. We fought him for a while like that but the same critical strike got Rayst and I was next on his menu... being a whm I sorta died pretty fast but thankfully I had reraise on(little did I know this would NOT be thankfully). Now... this is when it got hilarious.. Iyoljimbol gets aggro and starts running around the strange machine (we were in the secret room) and the scorpion is chasing his *** OMG it was funny... now and then Grim and Devil would get his aggro and allow Iyol to stop running. Well I popped back up as I still had about a 1/3 of my mp and I cast one cure2 yep that ******* aggroed me and I died faster than the speed of light. Eventually they killed it but not before being severely pummeled. Nobody was upset nobody threw a fit everyone just thought it was funny and laughed and had a good time with it. So maybe party formations on paper look good... but its really about the skill and personality of the players that really makes a party go. Besides you meet some pretty dang funny people when you throw together some weird combinations for pts 8)

Edited, Tue Oct 19 13:31:50 2004 by Gravymonkey

PLD, RNG, WAR, THF, WHM, BRD

Seemingly gimped, but I made the fastest 10,000 EXP with this make up so far.

White Mage, Bard, Black Mage, (2 Other Damage Dealers), Paladin (tank)

White Mage, IMHO but no job can serve as a better main healer than a whm. One can comment on what ifs like spells and equipment but in the end? White Mages are left after the dust settles.

Bard can be exchanged with Redmage but a good bard can heal just as much as a red mage if they know what to play. If a bard knows 'when' to play what he has? then they are better than red mage IMHO. Though Red Mage is kewl they aren't main healers IMHO. I am sure many dissagree though. I personally have lvled bard to lvl 25 so far and personally seen what a bard 'can' do at their best. That is not to say that I am the best ^^ lol but everyone knows when they have their 'good' moments. Taking on 3 Goblins simultaneously in Delkfutt's tower at lvl 24ish qualifies afaik. ^^ heh... oh! no deaths btw.

(2 other damage dealers) By this I mean the following, rng, blm, drk, mnk, + drg. IMHO but equipment, job, and equipment matters little when compared to the players ability to play the game. no amount of acc boost is going to make a dmg dlr any better if they act like they just had a brain transplant. That being said I still think that 'require'ing players to sink millions into Emperor's Hairpin and Leaping Boots is crazy talk imho. I have heard that at higher lvls it is easier to generate gil but until then an average player has to little resources to sink 400k into a pair of boots. Bad Parties I have been in always suck cause the players are retarded. Good Parties I have been in are good because the players know how to play their job. I've never encountered a situation wherea good party would have been bad if not for their equipment.

(Paladin) I recognize that Ninja's can tank but they were never designed to be. Though pre lvl 37? they aren't that good at much else but something about the concept just rubs me the wrong way. Ninja's are damage dealers and enfeeblers (by concept). Only in FFXI would someone eagerly want a ninja to tank. So I ask, am I the only one that has a problem with this concept?

blm blm blm blm smn brd

http://img75.exs.cx/img75/1268/bahamut111.jpg

other variations of BLM's RNG's BRD's and RDM's work as well.

10k+ exp per hour

Edited, Tue Oct 19 22:47:40 2004 by NikkoShiva

Your mage setup will be different depending on talk.

Nin tank best mage setup is: rdm, blm, brd
Pld tank best mage setup is: whm, rdm or blm, brd

A pld tank sorta needs that whm as they will take a lot of damage at higher levels.

And which melee depends on the mob. If the mob is of flying type, rng + thf is the best melee combo. If it's a shelled mob drk + rng best. If it's bones, 2x monk is best.

So :-P

I've been a part of a static for quite a while, and our setup is:

Rdm/Whm
Rdm/Smn
Blm/Whm
Pld/War
Drk/War
Thf/Nin

It works out great for us. There's never been a point where we've felt like not having a Whm was hindering us. Don't get me wrong, Whm are great, but we're able to do fine without one. And having two refreshers/hasters ensures everyones always refreshed/hasted.