Useless Update (AKA: Update Fail)

[Economizer]

Since I'm still grabbing the update, I'll point out some of the stuff you said that was blatantly wrong. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to help you learn more about the game. I promise that it will help you be a better player.

What is the point of letting WHM merit Regen if you are just going to GIVE that ability to SCH?

Admittedly, the merit category sucks, but if anything, this update did good for White Mage. SE had no intention of giving us Regen V at any point, but due to this update, Regen now has the cast time it should have years ago. I still would tell you that Regen boosting gear and merits for White Mage suck, but at least now you can cast it from time to time without having your entire party die of old age.

That's just as bad as letting WHM merit Protectra & Shellra V, but GIVING SCH Accession and Protect & Shell V. WHM merits are now completely useless unless you merit Cure Casting time, which you can now achieve maximum cure casting time down with equipment.

Not true, I'll get to this later as I reply to the rest, but lets just say that Shell V will never match up to Shellra V.

Rapture + Cure IV

Curaga IV. Or if you can afford it, Curaga V. Add AF3+2 pants and profit from the occasional free Curaga. Or better yet, equip said pants with a party of six and fight Emperador de Altepa then tell me that a Scholar can pull that off.

SCH may not have the same potent cures as a WHM

I'm not sure if you'd have a heart attack, but Scholars actually get better cure potency because they can pop light weather. Not that this makes them better or worse then any job.

Plus, if you drop a Perpetuance Regen V on the target with Light Arts up, do you really think you are going to have to Rapture Cure IV very often?

I hope the Regen change helps Scholars out. They still won't be main healing during events, but it is always nice when you can rely on some healing backup, especially if that backup can contribute to damage when the backup isn't needed.

Hopefully SE makes weather spells alliance castable along with some other Scholar specific spells.

Again, here is a job that you can have geared pretty gimp, and still drop massive damage.

Getting spells is part of "gearing" BLU.

Tell me one thing that has been done to the job that has made it worse off. Just one.

Ob went on a rampage for a month or two due to one of the updates, making getting attachments harder for PUP for some time.

So, where are those promised level 99 exclusive merits we got so excited about?

Due time. Would you rather they held this update for when they did have those ready? They've already said this is most certainly not the last update to jobs, so don't worry.

Oh, look, Paladin can use Holy II! Because, you know, there were so many PLD that cast Holy, now they can cast Holy II as well and kiss 250 of their already tiny MP pool goodbye! Yay.

Holy II costs 150 MP. Also, Divine Emblem, which makes the spell more useful to them then for White Mage (I'm a little jealous, but due to White Mage's kinship with Paladin, and White Mage's historically bad nuking, I'll let it go for now).

Obsolete WHM

There is no longer any point to meriting WHM, let alone even playing it.

... ha?

Bar Spell Effect (+2 potency of Bar spells, +2 Magic Defense Bonus per upgrade)
You can get higher than this by equipping gear and reaching the cap.

If you aren't meriting this 5/5 on White Mage, I think you need help on setting priorities. If you really want to learn about how to play White Mage, just ask, I will gladly help.

Regen Spell Effect (+1 HP/tick recovered per upgrade)
SCH now gets this NATURALLY, without merits.

Admittedly, this does, and always has sucked, like most of White Mage's Group 1 merits. I personally do Barspells and Cure Cast Time, although I understand not every White Mage will do Cure Cast Time (but every White Mage should have 5/5 Barspell).

Devotion (-2 minutes 30 seconds recast per upgrade)
Might as well merit this too since the other three groups are no longer useful exclusives.

I 5/5 this from preference. Being able to restore a party member's MP more efficiently then any other tool you have never gets old.

Protectra V (+2 defense per upgrade)
SCH now gets this NATURALLY, without merits. Just use Accession and Perpetuance and your Protect V lasts twice ass long.

I understand that this sucks compared to other choices in the category. Personally, I don't have a single merit in this because Protectra IV is something like only 5 defense less over a 1/5, and the DEF stat is somewhat useless. White Mages have been asking for this to be more useful for years, but honestly, I don't care too much.

Shellra V (~-0.8% Magic Damage Taken per upgrade)
SCH now gets this NATURALLY, without merits. Just use Accession and Perpetuance and your Shell V lasts twice ass long.

Again, if you aren't meriting this 5/5, you are doing it wrong. Meriting this to full gives you a ~3% advantage over Shell V in terms of reducing magic damage.

I also mentioned earlier how a SCH can out cure a WHM.

Again... ha?