This has been bothering me for a while.
I'm pretty disgusted when any party I'm in can't get to at least chain #4. Sometimes, it's a combination of bad players, bad equipment, or mobs being too hard. But sometimes, it's due to pulling strategy.
View this website: http://www.geocities.com/bside_ffxi/
Here are the time limits for making chains for levels 50-60:
Chain # Time Limit 1 5 mins 2 4 mins 3 3 mins 4 2 mins 5+ 1 min
Please please please PLEASE don't go pulling 5 seconds after you finish the first mob. Wait about 60 seconds for mages to recover MP.
This will create the domino effect of your mages having more MP for each subsequent chain. Between chains #1 and #2 you can get a bit of resting in too.
Too many times, I see chains end because the Paladin generally wants ~100 MP to start a fight, and the chain timer runs out while we're waiting for it.
So pullers, do us a favor and let mages rest longer on the early chains, thus enabling you to do that fast pulling for the later chains.
cheers