Most parties I've been in where I'm not the puller, the puller waits for the WHM to get a certain amount of MP and then pulls the toughest mob he thinks the party can handle. When I pull, I prefer "speed over greed" and I try to pull as soon after the kill as mob selection and party condition will allow. When the WHM is below 1/2 MP, I'll remove ITs from my list of potential mobs (sticking to VTs/Ts), and if he drops below 1/3 MP, I'll only pull Toughs.
It is the job, imo, of the back-up healer to buy the WHM time to heal. And, in the case of pulling Toughs, the melee's can generally take out the mob without anyone healing.
In inexperienced parties, I often get criticized for my pulling style, and I've even had people bail on my parties because they thought the xp was {Too Weak}, but most people realize (after checking their xp gain) this style of pulling gets more xp-per-hour than those (standard) parties that go for capped xp every time. This is not only because my pulling style gets chain 5 almost everytime, but also because it's constant xp flowing in.
Of course, my style of pulling isn't ideal for all parties. A mana-burn requires recoup time between kills. But they kill so fast that chains aren't threatened. Parties with bad WHMs, BLMs, tanks or hate control should also be treated with care. If the BLM is overnuking and taking damage, or the WHM is still draining his MP pool with excessive heals after I start looking for another mob, I'll need to slow down to avoid a wipe.
...'course I like trying different things. If it works and it's fast, I like it. From DRG level 14-18 I trio'd in the dunes with a MNK/war and a NIN/war. I was DRG/whm with pineapple juice and we chained T-IT snippers for a lotta xp. No chain 5s, but 3s and 4s were common enough to make the xp worth sticking with-- just running around the zone as opposed to actual pulling. It got us more xp per hour (and 0 deaths! most important) than we were getting with a bad WHM and BLM in our party (what we had before I suggested we trio). ps. DRG/whm is a great soloing class: highly recommended for those in need of beastmen seals.
Just do what you like, but the faster the xp is, the happier you'll be. It's like the difference between DRK and MNK, imo. DRKs peak damage looks really sweet, but a MNK does just as much (if not more) damage over time. The BLM -ga spells do impressive damage, but they aren't as MP-efficient as the single-target spells (assuming you're fighting one mob at a time). Same thing with xp, imo. Getting 200 xp looks nice, but if you can kill three mobs for 100 xp each in the same time, you're ahead of the curve (without even considering chain bonus xp).
/em casts silence on himself.
Edited, Thu Oct 13 21:27:58 2005 by Tadzio
Edited, Thu Oct 13 21:36:04 2005 by Tadzio