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mage comparsion to FFXIFollow

#1 Dec 04 2004 at 2:38 PM Rating: Decent
aaas you can see, i play FFXI atm, but i really think i'm going to switch to WoW.

Could someone please give me some comparisons between the roles and responsibilitys of FFXI's White, Black and Red mage and Summoner, and WoW's Shaman, Druid, Warlock, Priest and Mage?

It would be a great help; i plan to continue playing as magey things if i do switch
#2 Dec 05 2004 at 11:06 PM Rating: Decent
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87 posts
let me start off with saying this: this is not Final Fantasy, don't think it is, or you will be disapointed. WoW is a unique, innovative game that, IMO, blows FFXI out of the water in all aspects.

So, let's answer this with that fact in mind. In FFXI:
WHMs were straight healing, little bit of group buffing ability, but not up to bard level. they were also the people movers of the game.
BLMs were straight damage. no tricks, just blasting, and were the parties ride home after a hard grind.
RDMs were first and foremost enfeeblers, with a bit of buffing on the side, excluding refresh. They were also walking mana batteries should the WHM or PLD not be able to heal for some reason.
SMNs were gimped. they whipped out a pet for about 10 seconds, and were laughed at if they didn't sub WHM.

In WoW:
OK, I don't know how Shaman and druid work, as i have not played them first hand, so please correct me if i am wrong on them.
Shamans are very close to bards in that they use AoE effects for most all of their actions, and serve well as a groups healer should a priest not be available.
Druids are what most similar to early level RDMs, in that they do a bit of everything, but they can't do everything at once (no healing in bear form, no tanking in cat form, ect.) They heal as well, but i'm not sure which is the dominant healer between Druids and Shamans, my guess would be shaman, though.
Warlocks are what summoners should have been in FFXI. They summon pets, their pets do their bidding. having a pet doesn't drain mana. The pet is used to fit the situation, such as using your voidwalker to tank, or your succubus for damage. The warlock themselves focus almost entirely on DoT, having very few direct damage spells (get used to shadow bolt for direct damage, cuz that's all you got for the first 20 levels). They are also walking mana batteries, but they can only use thier mana regen powers on themselves.
Priests are the ultimate healers in this game, similar in a fashion to WHMs. Main difference is that a priest is by no means helpless, as opposed to a WHM who can't do anything offensively. Priests have nice shadow nukes, though i haven't played priest enough to accurately portay them. So again, feel free to correct my mistakes.
Mage is close enough to BLM to call them a parallel of each other, both focus on doing lots of damage in a short amount of time. Mages have much more crowd control and effective status changing spells than BLM.
Both warlocks and mages can move people. Warlocks summon others to them, mages send people away from them.

hope that helped a bit
#3 Dec 06 2004 at 8:52 AM Rating: Default
Yeah, FFXI is a pathetic piece of ****. WoW is on a completely different plane.

FFXI is probably the worst MMORPG in existance, and one of the worst games too.
#4 Dec 06 2004 at 1:21 PM Rating: Decent
thanks very much, rabidmollusk, i'll look into being a mage!

i can't wait to start in the european open beta, i'm going to keep my FFXI account until thats over to see which one i prefer better. I just wanted some ground to stand on so i can transfer what i've learned from FFXI.
#5 Dec 06 2004 at 6:58 PM Rating: Decent
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87 posts
glad I was able to help, but honestly, forget everything you learned in FFXI. As i said before, this isn't FF, don't think you can pull knowledge from one to the other^^
#6 Dec 06 2004 at 8:13 PM Rating: Decent
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149 posts
No need to be calling names. FFXI is a unique game just like WoW.
#7 Dec 10 2004 at 10:56 AM Rating: Default
If by unique you mean the most easily exploited, poorly designed , unbalanced , bland piece of crap game, then yeah, I'd say it's a one in a million.
#8 Dec 10 2004 at 6:31 PM Rating: Decent
I used to play FF XI also, and now I too play WoW. (On a side note, they're right. WoW does seem to be the better game.) Right now, I play a level 22 mage. It really a close parallel to black mages in FF XI. Only, you won't be aiming for magic bursts, and you'll be expected to polymorph links, and sometimes keep them polymorphed if they shake the spell too soon.

I also understand that later in the game, you will be counted on for doing DoT to multiple enemies at once via spells like Flamestrike, blizzard, and maybe cone of cold and blast wave (if you have it.)
The catch? As you expect, you're fragile. Very fragile. And getting agro is Very Easy with all the firepower you pack. A good wand is a great investment. It will save you on mana, and will allow you to look like you're doing something while the tank establishes hate. You can also use your mana as your health when things get messy, but the spell to do so has to be renewed very frequently when you're in a bind.

Keep in mind, this is just what I've gathered from my time playing a mage. Other people may, and some certainly will, disagree.
#9 Dec 10 2004 at 10:33 PM Rating: Decent
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87 posts
eh, since i'm here, and it looks like the board hasn't been active lately, i'll fix up some info on my first post.

I have recently started a druid, which i'm loving (have yet to play a class i haven't enjoyed, though warlock is still my favorite), and have played with a Shaman guild member, so let me add some more info to those.

Druids, as i have said before, are the "jack of all trades" class of this game. with their forms, they actually become good replicas of other classes (bear form = Warrior, right down to the rage and abilities, cat form = rogue). When in bear, they have more hp than a warrior of comparable level and stat bonuses, but less over all AC. They have arguably the best class in the game in Mark of the Wild, giving insane bonuses to AC and stats. Lastly, they are in the top 3 healing classes with Preist and Paladin, where they fall being based on how you are comparing them (currently there is a nice debate going on about it on the WoW forums as worldsofwarcraft.com) Basically, the only thing they really fall behing in is Raising abilities, only having one that has a 30 minute cooldown. Still, from my understanding, if you join pick up groups as a Druid, expect to be a healer...

Shamans, on the other hand, seem to be one of the best class in the games, for all intents and purposes, being incredibly adapt at most all roles in the game, healing, damaging, and support. They are NOT as good at straight healing as Druids are, but they have a nice raise that druids lack, which i believe they get around level 10 or 12. The shamans, as i said, are very close to bards in thier execution, though with much more survivability and effectiveness as a main healer and a damage dealer.
#10 Dec 11 2004 at 4:00 PM Rating: Default
You basically nailed it Vurik, Mages are more independent than they were in FFXI and have lots of crowd control abilities similar to ones in EQ. Good idea posting the use of Wands, I can't tell you how many times tanks lose hate to overzealous mages I party with.

I think eventually mages can make their spells generate less threat, not entirely sure, someone check this and confirm it perhaps, my mage isn't level 10 yet, becuase my main is a warlock XD
#11 Dec 11 2004 at 5:52 PM Rating: Decent
I beleive there is a talent called ARcane Subtelty that reduces the threat generated, and also a Frost talent that does this.

Thankyou all for your helpfull repsonses, I'm proud to have injected my own little piece of life into the mage forum ^_^
#12 Dec 13 2004 at 5:22 PM Rating: Decent
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2,918 posts
Man... I've invested so much time in FFXI and now that WOW has come out... :( it makes me cry. When I first saw WOW I was like "Its like FFXI only with better quests..emotes..exp...ways of getting items and a bunch of otherstuff." You heal automatically! Its like FFXI with CHEATS! SOB... wanna switch...but I've invested a lot of time in my char. See my dilema?


Like my Signature?
#13 Dec 14 2004 at 3:40 PM Rating: Decent
i like the sig, i do...

...reminds me of a piece in PCFormat called "Everything i know i learnt from videogames"

# 5. boshing thousands of rats over the head with a wooden stick gives you the necessary skills to bosh huge demons over the head with a sparring stave.

edit: I didn't take english at college.

Edited, Tue Dec 14 15:46:02 2004 by aloysiusprime
#14 Dec 21 2004 at 4:56 PM Rating: Decent
I do agree WoW is better than FFXI. I haven't quit FFXI yet, but I switch between games (just selling my stuff mostly to give to me friends) and I often finding myself compairing the games and how FFXI sucks.

Examples:
Friend trying to level summoner "I can't get a party"
Me "To bad you can't solo like in WoW"

And just moving around, I love using my mouse in WoW, so easy than having to tab throw every god damn thing you see. And if you miss your thing, you go through EVERYTHING again. XD Although I think shift tab went in reverse order... but thats besides the point!

Oooh and about investing so much time into FFXI. Stop now. Your wasting your time with FFXI. The economy is ******* so many people are biased,racist, etc... If you switch to WoW Im sure youll begin to believe what a MMORPG can be!


Okay on with the actual subject...

Yes its true that WoW isnt FFXI, but Mage is similar to BLM.
You sit in the back and use your spells to kill the mob. But as said above, you dont aim for magic bursts, but you make sure another mob don't run up to your party and start swining.

If you love BLM in FFXI, youll probably like Mage in WoW
#15 Dec 23 2004 at 5:13 PM Rating: Decent
27 posts
yea i got rdm to 48, whm to about 39, blm and smn in the 20s but just picture yourself logging on and starting to play right away for the 12 bucks a month u pay instead of logging on, /invite, go eat, watch some tv, come back and still not getting invites yet and then when u get one, they are in jeuno shopping while u wait outside crawlers for another half hour, find a non-overcamped spot, then the whm says 'sorry gtg' or the pally DC and everyone starts dropping and ur back to square one...

instead just imagine jumping on and u can have fun right away regardless of party or no, if ur party or buddy logs or disbands... bam! you are on a bat in some other area doing something you can enjoy alone or with others in the same area doing the same quest in about 10 minutes;

and as everyone else has said the game is way better, so i havent looked back even once... while im not "high" level on ffxi just ask yourself... ultimately, is it more important to have your rare items and high levels or is it more important to have fun?
#16 Dec 23 2004 at 6:39 PM Rating: Decent
noo, please dont corrupt the thread into WoW Vs FFXI.
While i do think it's important that the wider comparison be made, that is what the main forum is for. This thread is to talk about the comparative roles of magic users. here is a summary of what has been said:

Druid ~= Red Mage
Preist ~= White Mage
Warlock ~= Summoner
Mage ~= Black Mage
#17 Dec 24 2004 at 10:40 AM Rating: Decent
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128 posts
I think more like
Paladin/Shaman ~= Red Mage
Preist ~= White Mage
Warlock ~= Summoner
Mage ~= Black Mage

Paladin and Shaman are both hybrids much more like redmage, druid is more like...a taste of all the classes in one. I don't think FFXI had anything like that.

Btw -- Hey Vurik! It's cheesy~ from yer LS...what server you on now?~
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