Which healer job are you? Why?

WHM.
Because in a masochist and hoping, one day, they'll feel unique and fun to play again.

WHM - the raw DPS and HPS output that WHM can output makes me smile a lot. Also because I mained and only played WHM back in XI and I lived and died on WHM - party, solo, didn't matter - I would be on WHM.

I enjoy the technicality of Scholar. It rewards you for being proactive and has just the right balance of mitigation and raw healing. I find White Mage very boring and Astro loses appeal because I don't like relying on random cards. Scholar is the class where you have a ton of options for how to deal with every moment in a fight and good choices let you shine brighter than Hydaelyn. Understanding how your fairy works can be challenging at first but once you realize the benefits of switching between making her Obey your commands or leaving her to her own devices depending on the content she really isn't all that difficult. You have to pre plan everything as a Scholar and efficient plans with strong emergency options let this class stand out very strongly.

White Mage, In every game I've ever healed in I've most enjoyed Regen based healing. Unfortunately, most of the time this is tied to 'druid' type classes that tend to lean into shapeshifting, which I don't particularly enjoy. So having a Regen based healer that doesn't shapeshift is right up my alley.
When I came back to FFXIV and saw the change to cleric stance, I was even happier that I wouldn't have to stance dance just to throw a stone or aero. While I was comfortable doing that before in ARR, It always felt like 'busy work' to me rather than a true mechanic design.

I like WHM the most, since that's the healer I like seeing the most in dungeons (my preferred content) when I tank.

I was die-hard AST, but lately I've been greatly favoring WHM, probably because I'm more of a dungeon crawler than a raider. I treat the lilies like a mini-game, am curiously in love with Divine Benison, and have a joygasm every time I use Assize - watching my butch highlander do the little twirl is SO satisfying. XD

I had played WHM since my gaming buddy (who was a WHM) quit after Twintania, but I tossed it for AST by the time I cleared O3S in SB. It's bland and boring and only really shines in dungeon content, which is a small portion of what I do. I've never really been interested in SCH because I like to be the "powerhouse healer" (you know how we boys are).

So now I play AST. It's more flexible, its toolkit is way more diversified, its VFX and animations are (mostly) much prettier, it has a higher skill ceiling, and it's just plain more fun to play.

Scholar. I started playing this game looking for a job just like it, and there it was!

I like feeling like I'm in control, and while it's true that all healers exercise this to a certain degree, the scholar playstyle just clicked with me the best. I enjoy micro-managing my fairies--both of them, now that switching back and forth between them mid-fight is pretty painless. The terse but still cool animations are my favorite among the healers. Combos like Fey Illumination/Largesse + Crit Adlo + Deployment Tactics are incredibly satisfying when they land in time. Above all, I love being able to insta-resolve a critical situation with an oGCD or two, which I've always got in my pocket, one way or another.

I can't believe I missed this thread o.o


I main WHM right now but when I dig deeper to think about why it wasn't readily apparent.

I suppose some of it is comfort. As someone who often pugs at least part of my group (and almost always has pug tanks, most of my friends heal or DPS and my tank boyfriend is taking a break) I feel like WHM requires the least out of their party right now.

In a dungeon I can do amazing AoE DPS and in a raid setting I can heal through most heal checks alone despite not being anything resembling hardcore. My MP sustain is undoubtably the strongest aside from a frequently self-Ewering AST and so I can consistantly DPS in almost any scenario without the fear of "what if things go bad? Do I have enough MP?" holding me back.

I definitely enjoy WHM lore as a whole across the FF universe (another FFT junkie here!) and that must come into play somewhere.

SCH was my life during HW, due in large part to my desire to see large DPS numbers in dungeons. Before the Bane nerf SCH was a real powerhouse for that and WHM had too many MP constraints.

I am the first to admit I haven't given AST a fair shot right now. I absolutely hated it back around 3.4 even though it was buffed into godhood. I hated feeling like I needed a Balance or I was somehow playing poorly. I still don't enjoy it's weak personal DPS even though I understand that cards can make a difference.

To me AST is in many ways the inverse to WHM - where as WHM seems able to shoulder the burden of a weak or learning party and still shine for an AST to be amazing they need a great group. An Extended Balance during a big pull doesn't mean much if it goes on a party member who doesn't AoE, an Expanded Spear during a DPS check also doesn't help much when your DPS are weak or dying to mechanics.

I'm sure in a static environment I could love AST, especially playing on Diurnal as HoTs are my style of choice. To pug my expert roulette though? I'd rather have the security that WHM brings to the table.

There are a lot of bads out there and if I can't avoid them I'd at least like to be able to carry them whether they like it or not.

I main WHM as my healer, RDM as my Caster...and eventually I'll have DRG as my Melee.

I like WHM...because...the iconicness of the class. much like my Love of Dragoon, it's iconic, beautiful...if a bit on the frustrating side from time to time. There's something about being quite as powerful as the WHM is. I've been able to turn around 8 and 24 man content (newest 24-man raid in particular) with little effort and it feels satisfying.

Yes, the animations aren't flashy...and there was a lot of gutting on most fronts in the healers...but...I stuck it out and now I feel confident as a healer enough that I will snipe back at people going "WHM SUCKS! AST is God!" with asking if they can pull a clutch heal save out of their arses. That normally gets plenty of silence.

I've tried to SCH, i'm not so good at the micromanging. I suck at it for some reason. too much going on maybe? I don't know, I just can't get into the hang of it.

AST...there are two reasons why i don't play it. One: the way it was overbuffed, it put a horrible taste into my mouth and when I (and others) playing WHM started getting kicked from content after being told "Roll an AST". Two: I used to read Tarot cards. I have a healthy respect for them and this feels...like it's trampling on them. i can't do it. i'll do low events that deal in fates, but...i don't actively play it.