are WHMs hard to come by?

Funny you mention that... I'm a WHM because I always play MMOs with the "bread & butter" healer (as in: the most traditional class for the role, e.g. WoW Priest, TERA Priest, RIFT Sentinel + Warden, Aion Cleric), so, being a WHM in FFXIV was the default choice for me. Now, altough a combo of WHM + SCH is much more efficient than double WHMs, this is the configuration I see the most in the DF. It's somewhat rare for me to be paired with a SCH, and when I do the healing is, indeed, much better managed.

So, my question for you is... why do you have the impression that there are not enough WHMs? I keep wishing there are MORE SCHs and less WHMs...

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

I am WHM main and I just can't get into SCH at all. I am used to my slower heals and I adore my Stoneskin :D. WHM is a dexterous healer, but you sound like a SCH to a WHM Lyrica :p.

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I'm a main white mage that's a part-time scholar. I can play both classes adequately for endgame content - Although I haven't played scholar for FCOB yet. White Mage in no case requires more dexterity than playing Scholar. Prime example would be the fact Scholars have a fairy to manage. A decent scholar worth their salt can and will micro their fairy. Fairy micro involves manually (pre-)casting embraces, managing buffs, placement and location awareness. Side note: There are plenty of scholars who simply don't place their fairy or forget all about it and don't notice when it gets knocked out of position.

A white mage bread&butter skill set doesn't involve a lot of multi-tasking: You either cast X spell for Y moment or prepare A player for B damage. Simply because the class itself doesn't allow you to multi-task while casting spells. I specifically mentioned "class itself" here. Playing White Mage requires a completely different mindset than Scholars. Playing a White Mage means maintaining vigilance, have awareness and be able to anticipate. A good healer does all that on either class, but it's more punishing on a White Mage than on a Scholar. Even if your mistakes do not directly lead to deaths, party members might find it to be uncomfortable to have you as a healer if they're not healed up within a certain time frame*. Tanks and DPS players don't care about how healing works as long their HP bars get filled in time.

So aside from White Mage being a bland class for the majority of the player base, I'll add in the following: White mages are highly under appreciated and is not a class fit for those who seek fame and glory**. I mean, ever seen someone praise your incredible HPS vs overheal% ratio or your pinpoint pre-casting?

* Assuming the meta where the scholar babysits the tanks mainly and the white mage takes care of the group as well as contributing to tank healing.
** Good scholars get a bit more recognition if they manage to dish out a respectable amount of damage while keeping the tanks/party healthy. They also get less "bard-aggro" if there's a situation where you run out of MP.

Also: This definitely deserves a quote simply because it deserves it!

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Originally Posted by Cynfael

Slower heals, yet dexterous? SCH is definitely the faster-paced, "dexterous" class, being able to effectively juggle more tasks simultaneously. I'd probably describe WHM as being more about flow and pacing; SCH gets billed as the strategist, but I find that WHM benefits even more from planning several steps ahead in a fight.

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I'm a proud day1 sch rider that on occasions plays whm as well.
I was laughing my ass off when the community thought sch was weake compared to whm.
I have both leveled and I enjoy play scholar more. You can tell the difference on having a better scholar more than a better whm because its more noticable. As a sch myself I notice when the whm is lacking.

I see a few more WHM's than I do Scholars, but both are pretty frequent in PUG's (at least for me)

Honestly, I don't get all this arguing about healing classes, both are good for what they do, both in the same fight with proper synergy is a sight to see.

I always thought of Scholar as a bit more technical due to the fairy and its status as a class branched from a DPS, though I haven't played much of Scholar (don't like levelling Arcanist too much and I only played a little with my sisters character) I main WHM, but I totally want to try out Scholar some time.

As a SCH main who also plays WHM, I think all WHMs owe it to themselves to level SCH if for no other reason than to be able to stay awake during low-level duties.

I can't think of a more boring class for entry-level group content than WHM except maybe BLM. Both classes are huge fun starting closer to 50, but good lord are they bland as unsalted crackers when lowbie.

Srry didn't read the thread, question probably answered to dead horse status by now

Are WHMs hard to come by? No

Are GOOD WHMs hard to come by? YES!

Very, very rarely I come across who know how to play the class.

I started as CNJ in August 2013. Stopped WHM at Lv42 in favor of ARC. BRD hit 50, then I finished WHM. Played WHM until about Feb 2014 when a static wanted me BRD.

I attempted to leave the game, but wanted to meddle as WHM first. I did well with iLv. I just came back, having built my WHM to iLv100 and find I'm a better at keeping people alive rather than sucking as a DPS. Been doing WHM for close to two weeks now that I resubbed (cancelled on 10/4/14).

I didn't really pay attention if Malboro is short on WHMs or not, but I know I make a lot of ROGs and NINs happy since I spam roulette. Many PF groups would be short on healers as well, so I've been happy with my return (although I shy away from Coil T8 and above lol).

I love both SCH and WHM and frequently use both, but I started as a SCH back in 2.0. As mentioned earlier, a good WHM is able to keep the party's HP healthy, manage their MP, as well as manage their cooldowns (and maybe throw some damage).

I assume that the whole concept of "Infinite MP" on the SCH probably entices them to switch due to not being able to manage their MP well. Heck, both can practically recover their MP after death even without a Bard, just that it's a little more strict for the WHM! One of the differences between the two is definitely the margin of error that each job allows. A WHM has a smaller margin as compared to a SCH. Should you flub a fight mechanic and so say get petrified, in the place of a SCH; the fairy is still able to heal others while you recover. WHMs don't have this luxury.

In the end, I equally see SCHs who aren't as effective (I'm looking at you SCHs that spam Succor as an AoE heal instead of using it to mitigate damage, and keeping your fairy on Sic), just as there are inefficient WHMs.

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Originally Posted by Tranquil

On my data center, it seems like there are more WHMs. Whenever I do a ST run - I always pay attention to the raid comp and giggle to myself if we have like 7 Bards on the raid (not a single Foe Requiem was seen on that day) and such things, in addition to looking at the healer job distribution. More than often I've been having runs with 4-6 WHMs, rather than having a 3-3 setup or more SCHs.

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That might have something to do with the fact that a WHM can solo heal ST simply by occasionally casting medica 2 in most cases. You barely have to pay attention to heal that place on WHM. I prefer SCH to WHM, because I find it more fun to play, but I always run ST as WHM because it's so much easier to toss out the occasional AoE cure and pay more attention to netflix than to FFXIV.

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

I agree on the points you made that a white mage learning curve is steeper, it's also less forgiving for dropping the ball in situations.

If a white mage is reactive, however, the heals may be late and someone dies for it - Remember I mentioned it's less forgiving?

White Mages just have to be a bit more vigilant than scholars when it comes to healing.

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This. I main WHM, my bf mains SCH. I can let one person die in a run and suddenly, I'm the most horrible WHM in the game who needs to be taught how to play, despite clearing a lot more content than my bf. However, he can let 3 people die in a run and gets all of the commendations. It drives me insane how hard people push WHMs.