About this guide
I decided to write this guide in order to help people considering making white mage their main job, or those wanting to make it a sub-job. I also hope it will provide tips for more experienced white mages. Please keep in mind that this entire guide is made up through my own experiences and opinions, so what you take to heart and ignore is completely up to you. It's my first guide, and I'm really scatter-brained, so I hope that it helps you and you can make some sense out of it.

White Mage basics
For race, I suggest either being Taru or Elvaan. The choice you are making is between MP and HP. As a Taru you will have over twice the MP than an Elvaan would at later levels, and vice versa. The easiest way to make the decision is to decide whether or not you will be a mage your entire life. If you plan on becoming a bard or beast master, I strongly suggest Elvaan. For MP-reliant classes like straight white mage or summoner, I would suggest Taru Taru. Either way you will still make a good white mage. It's all up to you!!

I have seen a lot of white mages who feel that using smaller cures is a good thing. Through my own experience, this not only generates more hate but robs you of a good deal of MP.

Some warriors will start telling you to use smaller cures, because sometimes with the bigger cures you gain more instant-hate. Well, they're warriors! Just ask them to let you do your job, and usually they get the idea.

Now, first, let's take this simple. Cure I hits for a max of 30, that I have seen. Cure II will heal for up to 90. Cure III will, I assume, heal for up to 180. However at level 31 I haven't managed to do a maximum heal with it.

Cure I is 8 MP. In order to do as much as a full-strength Cure II, you need to cast it 3 times - for 24 MP. While the cost is the same, you are struggling to keep up with damage, and also missing out on some heal-time. Now, Cure II is 24 MP and Cure III is 46. While for awhile it will be more efficient to just use Cure II twice (especially when you first get the spell) - after about 3 or so levels, you should be moving up to the next biggest heal. Less, if you're playing a Taru.

In a recent group, I was with another white mage who was doing secondary healing, with Cure. She would use Cure 5 times in a battle, and I would just use Cure III twice. In every single battle, she would have been hit at least twice. So this not only proves that Cure III causes less overall agro, but it uses less MP and you don't have to stand an entire battle.

The most important thing to being a white mage is that you heal a lot. Stand up and use your cure, then sit right back down. Your MP will thank you!! Most of all please don't melee. This will not only add to the likelihood of your getting killed, but it will make for more downtime and less healing.

Advanced Tactics
Now, let's talk about the spell Regen. This spell will be such a huge help to you that you will never want to stop using it. And trust me, there's no reason to. Until around level 27, I never used this spell. I thought it was pretty useless. In most groups I couldn't really keep up with healing non-stop without a secondary healer, or without a good deal of downtime. When I started using Regen on the advice of a friend, I saw such a large difference in my MP that I was able to start using debuffs once in awhile because I was full MP.

The trick to Regen is to use it as soon as the battle starts, then just toss in a Cure III when your target's HP is getting low. Using this method requires good judgment and some practice, but you'll get the hang of it eventually. Not only does this save you MP, but it also makes for a good deal less hate.

Now with cures I say sit down between casts, but with Regen if you need to cast it on more than one person in a row, don't bother. By the time you've cast your spell and sit down, it will be time to cast Regen again before you actually get any healing done.

Divine Seal is something that is really more of a judgment thing. Personally, I don't use it all that often. I only use it when either the tank is about to die, or during down-time when the group was hit with a lot of area attacks and everyone is suffering (I'll explain more about the second option in a bit).

Divine Seal is best used in macros. Going into the ability menu takes too long, and by the time you've got it activated you're going to be SoL.

An example:
ja "Divine Seal" Kiranth
wait 1
ma "Cure III"

If you don't want to make a macro for every cure, you can just macro Divine Seal (remove the second and third lines).

I came up with the idea the other day to make a sort of rip-off of my two hour. One that I could use to minimize downtime, but still have an instant full heal for the group when I needed it. The result was a macro that combined Divine Seal and Curaga. The only thing I have to say about this is one warning: this can and will get you killed if you are not careful when using it. Just like with your 2-hour ability, mobs do not like it when you heal the entire group for 180 points. Please, please try not to use this during battle if you can avoid it.

Example:
p I call upon The Divine Healing Winds!
ja "Divine Seal" Kiranth
wait 1
ma "Curaga" Kiranth
wait 1
p Incoming group heal! Don't move!

On the 2-hour ability Benediction
I have seen some white mages use this only when nobody is fighting. All I have to say to that is - Are you crazy?!? Yes, your 2hr may often save the entire group except you, but you won't have it for that critical moment when it may have just saved the ENTIRE party, including yourself. The best thing to do is make a macro like this:

ja "Benediction" Kiranth
wait 1
p May the gods save us! PROVOKE THE MONSTER!

As soon as you hit that button, RUN LIKE CRAZY! Don't stop until your party tells you it's safe! Often using this ability can take 4 or 5 provokes to get the agro off you, but if you use the ability and run you'll almost always make it out alive. Besides, where's the fun if you don't have to run for your life once a night?

On Macros
Macros are essential to the White Mage class. You simply do not have the time to go into your job ability menu every time you need to cast a spell. That being said, I use more macros than are strictly needed because I'm lazy.

You will want to create a macro for at the very least your two biggest cures. The macro I use:

ja "Cure III"
wait 6

The echo command displays a line of yellowish text that is only visible to you. I did this so that I didn't have to keep mashing my cure macro. It doesn't need to be nearly as spam-ish as I made it, but you'll find that to catch it in the battle-spam (even if you have text damage turned off, all the abilities, spells, and chat text can make this scroll amazingly fast) you will want it to be visible.

Also a similar macro is made for Regen:

p May the Gods heal your wounds, !
wait 1
ma "Regen"
wait 18

The problem with Regen is because of the recast time you may need to cast a cure before you can recast Regen, which will end the macro and you won't get the echo text. In the case, I just open up my magic menu (ctrl+m I think) and wait for the timer to run out, and then use my macro. Tedious I know, but it all becomes second nature.

I've also made a macro for all of my offensive spells. This isn't important, because they aren't "live or die" sorts of spells, but for a lazy White Mage like me, they help.

I also created a macro for shell and protect - at first I didn't have one, but people kept running off when I was casting them so they wouldn't get buffed, and I would have to recast. Of course that's just a waste of MP.

p ***Protectra II & Shellra*** Group buffs don't move!
ma "Protectra II" Kiranth
wait 6
ma "Shellra" Kiranth

Now, this next macro is a real lifesaver. It's the "Cure yourself you're about to die" macro. It will save your life, believe me! In the time it'll take you to target yourself and use your usual cure macro, you could be dead.

ma "Cure III" Kiranth
wait 6

The problem with this macro is; if you're getting hit already, often the instant-hate it generates is enough to pull the monster back on you if it was pulled off. The best thing to do is to only use this macro if you know you're going to die, and not if you just think you will. If you aren't careful, healing yourself after the monster has been provoked could be just enough to get you killed. If there's another healer in the group, it's best to let them heal you.

Advanced and Sub jobs

Being a Pure white mage
Now, if you want to be a straight white mage, you really only have two choices. The first is Black Mage. This will not only add to your MP, but also will give you the Conserve MP (reduces spell cost) trait and a second Clean Mind trait at later levels and give you Bind and Warp. Bind is a very useful spell when you're under attack, and can save your life.

The other choice you have is Summoner. While your summons will be completely useless, this will give you the largest mind MP boost. At level 50 you'll also get innate MP regeneration, which helps a good deal. However, I really suggest going black mage, because of conserve MP and the offensive spells.

Subbing white mage
For most, white mage never remains the main focus. Let's face it. A lot think being a white mage (even white mages) is boring! I do. So you get to level 30, pick an advanced job, and sub white mage. This not only allows you to concentrate on your new main job for 62 levels if you so desire, but it also lets you get away from the drab old class of white mage, while still being able to heal well. The best of both worlds! There are several choices you have as a white mage, but some are better than others.

Bard is my personal favorite. I've always loved playing bards, and this game is no exception. Being a Bard White Mage is arguably the single strongest support combination available. You'll be able to be a decent backup healer as you progress in levels, but you'll get all those nifty group buffs. It's a shame that bard seems to be the most under-played job.

Summoner isn't a great choice, if you ask me. Not only is it the most common adv. job for white mages to play, it's a real pain to get. You'll end up spending a good 10 hours on this quest unless you manage to get the help of someone extremely high (think 65 - 70 high). Once you manage to get this job, you will be nothing more than a cure-tank (opposite of a paladin). While once you get to high levels (50 or so) you will become much more useful, I find that being a worthwhile class high-end to be unappealing.

Beast Master is probably the best choice if you want to go solo. You get the ability to charm certain kinds of monsters, as well as increased damage against various monsters as you progress in levels. However, as both Summoner and Beast Master, you will lose a small amount of XP per kill if your pet is out.

Black Mage is the most typical thing to sub White Mage to at the lower levels. Even in the higher levels a lot of black mages use White Mage as their sub. This is because not only do you get a decent MP boost, but you also have the added status cures and towards the higher levels you'll be able to Raise when needed.

Red Mage is also a popular main class for White Mage at lower levels. This will give you a good boost to MP, and will strengthen your curing abilities, which adds to the red mage class as a whole. However, if you're going to do this you'll most likely end up being a healer, at which point you have to ask yourself - why didn't I just go white mage?

Subbing white mage to melee-based classes is a horrible idea. I cannot stress this enough. While this might help you solo, in-group situations you only hurt yourself, and your group. I can't count the number of Warrior White Mage I have seen recently, and please trust me it is just not worth your time. You'll have at best enough for 3 Cure Is (or one Cure II).

The end
Well, that's everything. I really hope that you found this guide useful. Thanks for reading, and have fun playing!