Something else to discuss/speculate for fun: WHM utility that doesn't buff damage

CURRENT SITUATION WITH HEALER JOB CHANGE REVEALS

The recent media tour jobs reveal for 5.0 made a fault line in the healer community very clear. Some data points that help capture the general shape of the differences and the mood of the moment include:

1. Do you like to optimize your builds for power and efficiency? If so, SCH just got less interesting and WHM has failed yet again to become more interesting

2. Do you like managing things like rotations, mini-games, resources, etc., as a part of your job? If so, AST (simplified card system) and SCH (simplified pet and aether stack management) just got less interesting and WHM has failed yet again to become more interesting
3. Do want a job that can accommodate a range from a low high skill/knowledge ceiling to a high skill/knowledge ceiling? If so, SCH just got less interesting

4. Do you want a job that is simpler and easier to pick up? If so SCH and AST just got more interesting and WHM is still a good choice

5. Do you prefer not to deal damage or do it less while on a healer job? If so, healer jobs and the healing role are now more interesting

This intentionally broad and not intended as an accurate predictor for every single player – it simply tries illustrates some major differences between types of players and their reactions to healing jobs news. Note it doesn’t say jobs are uninteresting, just more or less so depending on what you want.

Some people previously intimidated by SCH and AST are considering trying it for ShB, while some of those who liked the 4.x versions of those jobs are let down. And WHM mains hoping for more optimization or management options are also a bummed. Or put another way, many SCH and AST mains were looking for adjustments but got reworks, while many WHM mains were looking for a rework but got an adjustment. The result is a lot of venting by those who feel their jobs didn’t move in the right direction.

DIFFERENT TOPIC TO PURSUE: SPECULATION AND WISH LIST FOR WHM GOING FORWARD

Yoshi P said he and the combat/job design team see no buffing damage, etc., as part of what sets WHM apart as a healer. So the suggestion people are floating for the new Bloody Lily to be the WHM version of Ninja's Trick Attack (10% bonus damage to a target) doesn't seem likely?

It's possible the same applies for *any* kind of utility feature. Especially since 3.0 and 4.0 saw no such utility added to WHM. At the very least I would expect that no damage buffs rule to apply to things like speeding up attacks or increased crit rate or crit damage.

So, for fun, and on the off chance that some non-damage increasing utility might eventually be considered for WHM, especially if you've made your position on the direction for healing super clear many times over before in other threads the last several days, what other type of utility would you want to see?

MY "OFF THE WALL" ENTRY: ELEMENTAL ASPECTS

This isn't some deeply researched thing, just a fun "What if?" :) I know WHM isn't emphasizing its elemental roots so another version of this with a different theme could also be used.

So, imagine that three buttons were added reflecting the elements CNJ/WHM have an affinity for in FFXIV based on their abilities. A water symbol, an air symbol, and an earth symbol. Similar to Ninjas, they could activate them in a sequence, but in this case in groups of two:

Air-Air

Air-Water

Air-Earth

Water-Water

Water-Earth

Earth-Earth

If you wanted to make the order matter significantly you could add more, but six is a nice number of options. It also allows for using the right element when it comes off of its cool-down, with each element having two charges before its button hits cool-down. Or you could just have all of them go on cool-down once two-are picked, leaving you the time until the reset to activate the combo that has been selected.

It isn't too complicated, very easy to use, and no real penalty for wasting a cool-down, so there is a low skill floor. Something for those who want some mini-game/something to manage that isn't onerous for those who want to play WHM casually.

Of course, deciding which things should be put in the slots can be tough since we need to avoid damage buffs. Some candidates include:

1) single-target snare/slow (high % movement speed reduction and/or longer duration)

2) AoE snare/slow (medium % movement speed reduction and/or shorter duration)

3) faster reset of remaining cool-down for a single target's primary defensive ability (high % reduction of remaining cool-down)

4) faster reset of multiple targets' primary defensive cool-down (medium % reduction of remaining cool-downs)

5) reduction of time remaining on detrimental status effects on a single target (high % reduction of duration)

6) reduction of time remaining on detrimental status effects on multiple targets (medium % reduction of duration)

So, two options good for dungeons, two options (situationally) good for raids, and two good for any situation where something like a poison DoT effect is on or more party members. But note:

And in case someone is skimming: these are just placeholder buffs/debuffs for the purpose of illustration, they don't have to be the actual outcomes.