Afania has next to zero experience leading VW runs. To even suggest not having a WHM in your primary DD parties... that's like suggesting not doing BRD swaps. Procs are not instant, especially if you get WS procs instead of BLM nuke procs / JA procs, there will be times when the NM isn't proced and spamming their aoes of death and woe. When that happens you absolutely want WHMs for Curaga III~IV spam. NMs light off aoe spells, you want Curaga for that.

6 heavy DD's, double BRD swaps with a COR for each PT and a WHM to keep em alive. That's the standard setup with minor tweaks based on the NM and specific strategy's. Stuff like bringing a SCH for embrava, or extra BLMs for magic damage / stuns. We try to bring a DRK in each PT to give Chaos a 10% boost. At no time does a BLU compete with a heavy DD for a pt slot, BLUs are in the proc party, heavy DD's are in one of the DD parties. Without those double BRD + COR buffs a heavy DD won't be doing sh!t for damage in the BLM party. There is a reason it's called the "mage" or "proc" party.