I will admit that having most of the "proper" cross-class skills help a lot. I had Gogon at 20 for basically all his combat classes within the two week trial - something I've mentioned often enough, I'm sure - and having access to all those abilities was really handy. Even just having Cure/Physick unlocked is a great way to reduce downtime when leveling a fresh combat class or help turn a death into a victory.
It also helped when I started getting the classes to 50 one by one. I got the casting classes topped first, with ACN being the one in front followed by WHM. May not sound like much, but I had Protect and Stoneskin available for EVERYONE, especially for when I leveled PLD. And as I move through the combat classes now, Blood for Blood and such have proven vital in making sure I feel like I'm not slacking on the DPS front, and I sorely missed all of that when leveling Chachan - not having Mercy Stroke along was annoying, and I just recently made the effort to pick it up.
On the other side of the coin, though, you really don't NEED them except in specific situations (i.e. Flash and Provoke). I got Chachan to PLD and NIN 50 without all the skills you "should" have. Heck, I don't even really need Stoneskin on PLD if I have a healer that has it covered. And the damage boosts for NIN I do have (i.e. just Internal Release), I often just completely forget about because I'm focused more on my rotation and mudras. Hasn't been a problem.
Swiftcast on a healer, however, is an oddball. It's really nice to have, but think of the situations it's used for mainly, besides summoning/buffing to avoid cast times - rezzing and panic heals. In other words, recovery. That's what you need Swiftcast for, when something goes wrong. If there isn't, then it most likely be left unused. Heck, more often than not I just use it to drop Shadow Nova as a SCH to add to the DPS... not entirely sure what a WHM would use it for when everything's going okay.
Thus, I see it as mainly a panic button at its worst and just a minor life improvement at best. Nice to have, but not nearly as vital as people seem to make it out to be if you have a good group. Emphasis on the good group. People who PUG regularly (like Gogon) will most likely want Swiftcast ASAP... or leave the dummies dead and hope they learn.
(Though, to be fair, I will probably still try and nab it at some point while leveling Chachan's CNJ for Stoneskin...)
It also helped when I started getting the classes to 50 one by one. I got the casting classes topped first, with ACN being the one in front followed by WHM. May not sound like much, but I had Protect and Stoneskin available for EVERYONE, especially for when I leveled PLD. And as I move through the combat classes now, Blood for Blood and such have proven vital in making sure I feel like I'm not slacking on the DPS front, and I sorely missed all of that when leveling Chachan - not having Mercy Stroke along was annoying, and I just recently made the effort to pick it up.
On the other side of the coin, though, you really don't NEED them except in specific situations (i.e. Flash and Provoke). I got Chachan to PLD and NIN 50 without all the skills you "should" have. Heck, I don't even really need Stoneskin on PLD if I have a healer that has it covered. And the damage boosts for NIN I do have (i.e. just Internal Release), I often just completely forget about because I'm focused more on my rotation and mudras. Hasn't been a problem.
Swiftcast on a healer, however, is an oddball. It's really nice to have, but think of the situations it's used for mainly, besides summoning/buffing to avoid cast times - rezzing and panic heals. In other words, recovery. That's what you need Swiftcast for, when something goes wrong. If there isn't, then it most likely be left unused. Heck, more often than not I just use it to drop Shadow Nova as a SCH to add to the DPS... not entirely sure what a WHM would use it for when everything's going okay.
Thus, I see it as mainly a panic button at its worst and just a minor life improvement at best. Nice to have, but not nearly as vital as people seem to make it out to be if you have a good group. Emphasis on the good group. People who PUG regularly (like Gogon) will most likely want Swiftcast ASAP... or leave the dummies dead and hope they learn.
(Though, to be fair, I will probably still try and nab it at some point while leveling Chachan's CNJ for Stoneskin...)
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