White Mage is falling behind while Astro keeps getting buffs

[Bahati]

We are nearly at 5.0 and they are still buffing AST. I don't understand why AST has to be 100% efficient and keep getting tweaked constantly while WHM is certainly the worse off of the two and has been since 3.0.

The fact raids will not have more CC and that PVP has been nerfed into the ground to the point WHM is no longer a threat with all their CC utility... honestly what is the point of this job? Everything WHM can do AST and/or SCH can do better.

[NobleWinter]

SE seems to be trying to make every class "playable" and SCH and AST are extremely difficult to pick up in comparison to WHM. What I see in duty finder is healers struggling to get through trials and dungeons and WHM has every skill and trait necessary to ensure a clear while Ast and Sch leave you dry on MP or outta aetherflow stacks before you know it. Since the vast majority of people playing Healers will never be in a savage raid group this lends itself to the Devs tweaking the more difficult classes. White Mage has problems but these issues go completely unnoticed by most players. Making Scholar and Astro more accessible is important because it gives people who want to heal options for classes to try and enjoy. I don't think White Mage being ignored at the high end of play is okay but it functions well despite clipping and excessive aggro and SE appealing to the majority of its player base is only natural.

[Risvertasashi]

We are nearly at 5.0 and they are still buffing AST. I don't understand why AST has to be 100% efficient and keep getting tweaked constantly while WHM is certainly the worse off of the two and has been since 3.0.

Sorry to nitpick - but 3.0 AST was terribad and desperately needed buffs.

I do agree WHM needs help atm, and I do fear we're doomed to repeat this cycle if we can't convince SE to give WHM/AST their own identity, but AST hasn't always been viable.

[HyperiusUltima]

I’m starting to believe that the only place WHM has at this point in the tier is O10S and Akh Morns, because AST outplays it by a mile and a half on Diurnal. Based on what I’ve seen, there aren’t as many mechanics that require Cure 3 to power through that AST can already provide through cards and regens(40 pot).

I think that to fix WHM and give it a place to stand out would be to break the job itself, similarly to how they broke BRD and AST as a job back in Heavensward. It’ll give them time to understand what’s wrong with WHM, similarly as to how they figured out what was wrong with AST.

[IanFrench]

Maybe its not AST or WHM, maybe it's simply that the other job, all three healer roles should be equally viable.
It's unfair to have one job secure a place and the other two fight for the one left.

[LadyKairi]

I’m starting to believe that the only place WHM has at this point in the tier is O10S and Akh Morns, because AST outplays it by a mile and a half on Diurnal. Based on what I’ve seen, there aren’t as many mechanics that require Cure 3 to power through that AST can already provide through cards and regens(40 pot).

I think that to fix WHM and give it a place to stand out would be to break the job itself, similarly to how they broke BRD and AST as a job back in Heavensward. It’ll give them time to understand what’s wrong with WHM, similarly as to how they figured out what was wrong with AST.

To be honest, you don’t even need a whm for o10s. My static uses sch/ast and we don’t have any issues. A well timed ES and Indom pretty much accomplishes the same thing, then regens can top everyone off.

[HyperiusUltima]

Maybe its not AST or WHM, maybe it's simply that the other job, all three healer roles should be equally viable.
It's unfair to have one job secure a place and the other two fight for the one left.

Then it’s technically how they managed job design for the last 6 years. SCH has always had the niche of being a green DPS with supplementary shields to help support its heavier healing counterparts. The only gripe is that mitigation is king compared to everything else in a raid when it comes to saving healing GCDs.

If they’re to fix the problem, they’re going to have to devalue shielding a little bit and make healing needed a lot more similar to how they handled God Kefka.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

While the server tick on ground aoe changes definitely benefited AST the most, it's not fair to say that it's a buff specifically for them. More like it was a much needed change that unintentionally propelled them a bit too far. Kind of like how the Malefic changes now has them doing more damage than WHM.

It does get a bit annoying seeing this constantly happen though, AST and SCH is allowed to be fine-tuned and perfected while WHMs flaws are left alone for whatever reason.

[Risvertasashi]

Then it’s technically how they managed job design for the last 6 years. SCH has always had the niche of being a green DPS with supplementary shields to help support its heavier healing counterparts. The only gripe is that mitigation is king compared to everything else in a raid when it comes to saving healing GCDs.

Well, in order to see why Scholar's place is guaranteed, you have to go a tiny bit deeper than "it's a green DPS." What allows SCH to be a green DPS?

A big part of it is the fairy. SCH's 480 potency regen - compared to WHMs and ASTs around 150 potency - on the tank help enormously, and it can be rotated with the weaker but still significant 120-potency whispering dawn (the latter also being supplemented with Embraces). Essentially, a lot of healing is offloaded to the pet.

Then there's the number of oGCDs. WHM gets 1 charge on 60s (+bene on a much longer CD), AST gets 1 charge on 40s(+Lady if RNG plays out), SCH gets 3 charges on 45s (or 6 charges on 30s if they use a CD).

Now, SCH might be at a disadvantage in levelling dungeons where you might need to spam benefic 2/cure 2 to keep a tank up. But once you're past that, you never see this situation again - not in endgame dungeons, not even in extreme primals and savage raids. Having so many oGCDs means even when the fairy is not enough healing, there's very little to interrupt the flow of DPS.

Not even AST can compare to that.

That said, Godka was not a fix to this situation.

[IttyBitty]

Maybe its not AST or WHM, maybe it's simply that the other job, all three healer roles should be equally viable.
It's unfair to have one job secure a place and the other two fight for the one left.

WHM *can't* compete with SCH for that spot (since WHM isn't a mitigative healer), so we don't waste our time making a deal out of it.

Until mitigation is massively devalued in favour of raw healing, this will continue to be the case.