What should WHM 4.0 have been?

1. What, exactly are the problems that WHM 3.x faces?

2. How could these be fixed in 4.0?

3. How could these fixes create a cohesive and entertaining version of the job?

Your cents.

Reserved for example.

1. We don't bring anything to the party besides over-healing. The closest we get to any form of utility is stoneskin and a stun that costs an arm and a leg in a game where everything outside of dungeons is immune to stun. Related: our mp management is significantly weaker than other healers.

2. MP management has been dealt with adequately from initial impressions. "Shroud" has been buffed for WHM, although at a cost of a cross-role slot. Our 'Thin Air' also massively helps, by the looks of it. As for utility, first: keep stoneskin. There is literally no reason to remove it, and it's not like they want to remove WHM shielding, as they gave us SS back with a different, shoddier coat of paint. Keep SCH and AST as the shield healers, sure, but at least some decent form of mitigation would be great. Then provide a party buff of some kind. Anything. Like, make it wind based and say there's a tailwind increasing action speed. Or cast Enstone on the party for a mild damage buff. Maybe if the confessional stacks actually did something natively that would be a step in the right direction. AST can still be the big buffs on RNG, while WHM is more consistent but only throwing out 15% buffs or so.

3. It will be more or less the same as what we have with a couple of oGCDs thrown in. Nobody is complaining about the 3.0 WHM playstyle, just the toolkit it has. Instead of popping Shroud between those Stone IV casts you would pop Tailwind, for example. If you need a gimmick then go with what I initially thought the lily system would be and have it be more like the arrow rather than the spear so the job itself speeds up rather than just a couple of oGCDs. Just literally ANYTHING.

Simply giving WHM a trait to make Presence of Mind apply to the whole party would give WHM at least some party-wide utility that isn't just "moar healz!". That alone would be something. Maybe not as nice as 20% more damage to party or 20% more crit to the party vs a boss, but it would still be seen as some way a WHM can benefit their group that isn't just another way to restore hp.

1. Zero ability to contribute to the group beyond healing, and healing is limited in it's usefulness (i.e. to the amount of damage a boss puts out), and to a lesser extent, MP issues and a lack of mitigation (even Benediction does nothing against a 1-shot).

2. Any sort of utility would help, the more unique the better, but even a straight up 'Balance' clone on a longer CD would be something. Also, WHM do NOT need gimmicky mechanics, and should remain the 'simple healer'.

3. Personally I would love to see WHM synergise with the other healers a lot more effectively (i.e. stronger as combo than solo / two of the same healers). Two ideas would be:

- The ability to share their current buffs among the party; e.g. share Divine Seal when heavy healing is required, share Presence of Mind for a nice caster / healer boost, share Adloquium (cast on them by a SCH) for a nice party shield, share Extended Balance (cast on them by an AST) for an awesome party DPS boost, share the new PLD mitigation ability FTW, etc. Balance for this would be achieved by a long cooldown, prossibly linked to the cooldown of the buff(s) shared (e.g. share DS = 60s CD, share Adlo = 120s CD, share Adlo+DS = 120+(60/2) = 150s CD, share PoM+Adlo+DS = 150+(120/2)+(60/3) = 230s CD).

- An ability that makes the WHMs next heal temporarily increase the targets hit-points based on the amount over-healed (thinking somewhere around 70%, but numbers are easy to adjust later). This is kind of like a shield, but broken into 2 steps (buff+heal), a bit more versatile (works with any healing spell), and on 30-45 second cooldown. It would also stack with shields, and it's main use, like a shield, would be as a pro-active heal vs. hard hitting abilities and / or to buy the WHM a bit more time before needing to cast the next heal.

Edit: Better clarity.
Edit2: Adjusted 'share buffs' cooldown calculation so that sharing multiple buffs isn't quite as savage, but still a long CD for powerful buffs.

If they want WHM to be the "pure healer" then it would be nice to not lock our abilities behind RNG. But I think giving the party RNG bonuses based on overhealing would both give us more utility and keep our core identity. Maybe an HP extension based on a percentage of our overheal, or a damage modifier. We have more healing than we need, so turn that extra healing into something that benefits the party as a whole, rather than just wasted potential and extra hate generation.

I'd also love more abilities that follow the Assize model of healing + damage. In the older games, WHM always used a hammer. I like the idea of us just healing so hard we punch the mobs at the same time. If nothing else, it would give us a bit more personal DPS to bring to the group.

Or, you know, just give us Reraise.

Honestly, they shouldn't have taken away Divine Seal and "given it back" to us in the form of a cross class ability. No. If anything they should've cross classed light speed from AST and should've buffed divine seal to really boost our heals compared to AST which would've put us in a much, much better position than we're about to be in for Stormblood..

I always thought we would get good utility things like:
reraise - target is revived without weakness (as long as the whm isn't dead? to prevent too much cheese)
aoe esuna - just add raid content that throws out a lot of party wide bleeds which would only make our regens more desirable
stone apply vuln up - 1% on first hit, 3% on second consecutive hit, stacks up to 5% and lasts say 12s before the enemy gains resistance for a period of time
faith/bravery - targets physical/magic damage gets a big boost

We definitely got excellent mp management.

I didn't expect RNG procs reliant on conservatively used heal spells so that you can maybe have slightly quicker usage of OGCDs OR so you can apply graniteskin. The Lily system is painfully underwhelming.
I kind of did expect moar healz but confession stacks has to be the worst way to possibly implement this.

It should have been thought out a little better in the grand scheme of things.

In the context of early progression the job is absolutely fine and personally I think these 'I'm quitting WHM' threads over it are pretty funny.

However, in fairness, if your not throwing HPS at a tank, the bulk of the SB kit simply isn't going to amount to anything, the lily mechanic is shortsighted and PI isn't going to be dependable. RNG ontop of RNG to reduce Assize? Yeah ok thanks for that SE.

The way SCH's gameplay got absolutely axed coupled with WHM's narrowly focused kit reinforces my views that SE's class design team really don't understand or actively play healers. Other than Earthly Star's strange 1 yalm radius, AST looks absolutely sweet though =(

Someone already previous stated it, but temporary HP would be a perfectly elegant solution.

Overheal converts into temporary hit points. Have it a Job trait called Bubble that replaces a job skill that's now cross role. The amount allowed is either HP bases or potency based (I prefer the latter. The former could get a little crazy with War), with each lily added raising the ceiling on temporary HP allowed. Have Crits proc lilys as well as random Cures. PI should be based on percentage of health healed (That is including overheal and temp HP) and last the duration of a fight.

There. WHM HoT and mega heals (Leading to overcure) isn't such a burden, but actually a benefit. This effectively makes the "pure healer" so much of a healer, it turns overheal into real healing. Perhaps Medica 2 would be a bit too strong, but if it's identity is supposed to be the pure healer, then so be it. Let it be strong as hell.

They need to focus on what makes each healer unique:

Ast is in a good spot already, with focus on cards. The new cards and the lvl 70 ability are excellent and fun. There should be more "time manipulation" moves, etc: time dilation

SCH is also in a pretty good spot. The focus on the fairy is good, and the trope that sch has better tactics or has planned ahead is well done. Future cures (that new move), shields (adlo/sacred soil) and positional play (deployment/soil) feed this idea. SCH should get a fairy swap ability though.

WHM however got a bunch of skills that don't really fit well with the job. You're encoraged to overcure, or fish for procs. WHM should not be rng heals. Instead, WHM should be party defensive buffs, HoTs, and big fast bursts of powerful heals (ie: give whm lightspeed and allow it to be paired with Thin Air). WHM should fit the trope of the safety healer, maybe give it no-weakness raise, or an ability that prevents someone from dying for a short time like Holmgang, or maybe shorten the other healer's range and have WHM be the long range healer which it does well with medica 2 currently. Or maybe even an ability that allows the WHM to raise itself from dead.

I feel like they could make the WHM system work if they let Regen ticks accumulate Lilies and completely rework/remove Plenary Indulgence in favor of a party-wide buff that requires Lilies to cast.

Basically,
Casting Cure, Cure II, and Regen ticks accumulate Lilies.
Lilies correspond to a (weaker) passive CD reduction on healing oGCDs. Maybe 5% per Lily for a max 15% reduction?
Use 3 Lilies to cast party-wide buff of some kind (sacrificing CD Reduction for party utility).

Can't get into this because on mobile, but just to sum it up.

Utility. EVERY. HEALER. HAS. UTILITY. Except WHM.
WHM is going to stick out like a sore thumb without anything unique to offer other than more healing.

Ditch the pure healer concept, IT'S NOT WORKING. You don't make your freaking game hard enough for a pure healer to be desirable, so stop trying.

Honestly lilies aren't all that bad. Randomly procing off Cure spam is bad. Is that what you think a pure healer is? Spam healing like idiots for even more heals to overhealing with?
You want a pure healer? Give them high damage, give them high healing. Crank the potency up to 11 like you did with SAM. Boom, viable. To heck the RNG procs Yoshi.
You want pure healer? Keep them strong, keep them straightforward.
And while you're doing this, don't turn around and give AST 900 potency heals. That's a no no when you're trying to distinguish WHM as a healing specialist Yoshi!

When an AST that specializes in buffs is more of a direct and stronger healer than WHM, that's a no-no Yoshi!

Too late now really, it's probably just getting slight potency tweaks for the next two years...

Still if a decent rework were possible.
Lilies cap at 99, cures give you 3, regen ticks give you 1, every 33 causes a lily to light up.
Having more lit up reduces cooldowns.
Can spend them on stuff like a reworked stoneskin II & new abilities.
You know, pretty anything but random procs from spamming cure. That just sounds a bit naff...

I'd say work the Lillies some more. The idea behind em is nice enough and can work if they just flesh it out a lot more, and perchance give us a Lillie on every crit for every healing skill.
Like for example :
PoM - when u have 3 lillies it becomes a partywide buff - removes Lillies afterwards
Divine Benison - 10/20/30 % Shield or raise Hp Pool of target over Max for a Duration (more preferred since we are all about healing)
plenary indulgence - ditch the confession back to the ishgardian church it came from and use the lillies for the stacks; since its centered around us anyway

You could even weave it in with some old skills and give us utility with it:

Assize - 1 Lillie + x potency ; 2 Lillies +xx petency ; 3 Lillies dmg buff 5-10 percent for 10 secs on party
asylum - 1 Lillie + x duration or potency ; 2 lillies +xx dur or potency ; 3 Lillies + 10% dmg resist (why shouldnt we get to steal from anothers kit ;) )

Let me fix it for SE:

Divine Benison has been removed.

Plenary Indulgence has been reworked:

- Cooldown increased to 120 seconds.
- It is now affected by "Lillies" cooldown reduction.
- Cure, Cure II, Cure III, Assize, Medica and Medica II now apply a stack of confession.
- Tetragrammaton and Benediction now apply 3 stacks of confession.
- Regen apply a stack of confession when it expires. Casting Regen on a target already affected will apply one stack of confession.
- Casting Plenary Indulgence will remove all confession stacks from targets standing in the ability range and grant Absolution to them, which has the following effects:

* 10/15/20% temporary maximum hp, while restoring the amount increased, for 5/10/15 seconds, varying upon stacks consumed.
* 5/7/10% haste for 5/10/15 seconds, varying upon stacks consumed.
* 5/10/15% increase to HP recovery via healing magic cast by the WHM for 5/10/15 seconds, varying upon stacks consumed.
* No effects without stacks.

1. What, exactly are the problems that WHM 3.x faces?
The problem most people have with WHM is its lack of (raid) utility in comparison to its competitors SCH and AST. With the description of the 4.0 changes we have seen, the potencies of the "pure healer's" heals is also called into question. Personally, I also feel as if losing 7 whole skills/spells that, come to find out, are not being replaced--and which is more than any other class--is a careless detriment as WHM could instead fill these missing slots with some new utility.

2. How could these be fixed in 4.0?
Add utility in some unique form. All sorts of options are still available. Prior to the release of AST/DRK/MCH in 3.0, I'd begun writing several job concepts that I'd posted, two of which were healers with their own unique utility: one had abilities and spells that controlled, rerouted, dismissed or nullified enmity (before that was gifted to the NIN) while the other buffed attributes (VIT, STR, DEX, etc).

The best way to fix a problem is to give a solution, so I sat down for a few minutes today and I developed an example of "pure healer"-focused raid utility that I find is balanced and well-suited for WHM:

Key:
My Changes.*
4.0 Style.*
3.0 style/unchanged.

===Spells/Abilities===
1 Stone - unchanged
2 Cure - unchanged
4 Aero - 4.0 way - potency up to 30 from 25
6 Used to be Cleric Stance, now:
Shroud of Saints - (name kept, but since the effect was given to cross role, skill reworked) - Self target only - ABILITY - 150s cooldown - Allows the casting of weapon skills, spells and abilities while moving which would otherwise not be permitted. Weaponskills, spells and abilities that may be interrupted through taking damage may still be interrupted this way. Duration: 12s
8 Used to be Protect, now:
Plenary Indulgence - Single Target - ABILITY - 25y range - 15s cooldown - Instantly heals a target. Potency depends on stacks of Confession.
1 stack: 200 potency.
2 stacks: 300 potency.
3 stacks: 400 potency.
Does not heal party members who do not have stacks of Confession.
-The thought here is an early level free heal since WHM's MP refresh is now cross role and therefore won't necessarily be in a player's toolkit at even its earliest available level.
10 Medica ` unchanged
12 Raise - 4.0 way - now Raises in battle, no trait required
15 Fluid Aura - 3.0 way - still deals damage of 150 potency with a knock back and 6s bind
18 Used to be Esuna, now:
Barcurse - Single target - ?MP COST - SPELL - 90s cooldown - Prevents most incoming status ailments. Does not prevent damage over time effects. Duration: 10s. Offsets and is offset by The Warden's Paean.
22 Stone II - 3.0 way - still level 22, still 170 potency
26 Repose - unchanged
30 Cure II - 3.0 way - still 650 potency
30 Presence of Mind - SE's 4.0 way - Reduces weaponskill cast time and recast time, spell cast time and recast time and auto-attacks delay by 20%. Duration: 15s.
34 Stoneskin - skill reworked since SE deleted it and must not want us to have it anymore; also it was not very useful anymore - Single ally target - ?MP COST - SPELL - 90s cooldown - Increases the duration of abilities that raise defense or lower damage taken by 20s. Affects only the oldest ability in effect. Does not affect Bole, Nocturnal, Galvanize, Halloween Ground, Holmganf or Living Dead effects.
35 Regen - unchanged
38 Used to be Shroud of Saints, now:
Reverse - Self and allies nearby - ABILITY - 25y radius - 150s cooldown - Reverts higher level weaponskills and spells to their lowest form. Each time a weaponskill or spell is used in lower form, the weaponskill or spell changes to the next level in the sequence. The duration ends whenever a weaponskill reaches the highest useable level in its sequence. Duration: 20s
*The ability above may may more sense on a SMN or SCH* but the thought is to be able to cast previous levels of spells that are forgotten by Mastery, such as Aero, Bio and Miasma, in order to return some amount of DPS loss due Mastery type skills and spells (especially from old DOTs)
40 Divine Seal - name kept, but since it was given to cross role, skill reworked - Single ally target - ABILITY - 30y range - 15y radius - 150s cooldown - Extends the most recent effect of Largesse, Lucid Dreaming, Shroud of Saints or Convalescence on the target to all party members within range with full duration.
42 Cure III - still level 42, potency the same, range, radius and trait the same added effect - Radius increases by 2y with each stack of Confession on the target and consumes all stacks..
45 Holy - unchanged
46 Aero II - unchanged
50 Medica II - unchanged
50 Stoneskin II - reworked - Single ally target - ?MP COST - SPELL - 150s cooldown - Increases the potency or damage reduction of the oldest defensive ability in effect on the target*by 10%. Duration is equivalent to the remaining time of the targeted cooldown. Does not affect Bole, Nocturnal, Galvanize, Halloween Ground, Holmganf or Living Dead effects.
50 Benediction - 3.0 way - still 300s cooldown, but now its cooldown is effected by Healing Lily mechanic
52 Asylum - unchanged
54 Stone III - unchanged
56 Assize - additional effect - Restores 10% of own MP and refreshes MP with a potency of 5 for each stack of Confession held by party members effected by the heal over 15s. Does not consume Confessions stacks
58 Aero III - unchanged
60 Tetragrammaton - unchanged
62 Thin Air - unchanged
64 Stone IV - unchanged
66 Divine Benison - unchanged
68 Aero IV - Single target - ?MP COST - SPELL - Deals wind damage of 90 potency. Deals Wind damage over time of 55 potency, Duration: 15s
70 Used to be Plenary Indulgence, now:
Cure IV - Single target - ?MP COST - SPELL - 50s cooldown - Heals the target for an amount equal to the caster's current HP. Only useable on targets with stacks of Confession. Consumes all stacks of Confession upon use. Additional effect: increases target's maximum HP by 20% whenever Cure IV over-heals the target by at least 15% of the intended heal.
I really like the idea of this spell; not overpowering with low healer HP and strong enough in itself to keep up with new AST healing potencies. At level 60 currently, Cure IV can expect to heal 22k when the healer is at max HP -- more than Tetra and Cure II, less than Benediction to most targets.

===Traits===
8 Used to be Enhanced Mind, now:
Confession - Grants a 20% chance to grant stacks of Confession to ally party members whenever they are the target of your Cure. Confession stacks up to 3 times and each new stack resets the duration. Duration: 30s.
14 Used to be Enhanced Mind II, now:
Enhanced Mind - Increases Mind by 8 (this is the potency increase it has already been given in 4.0)
16 Enhanced Medica - unchanged
20 Maim and Mend - unchanged
22 Stone Mastery - upgrades Stone to Stone II (I only kept these Mastery traits because I don't know how keeping all the DPS spells effects the balance, just know I am not a fan)
24 Used to be Enhanced Mind III, now:
Enhanced Mind II - increases Mind by 16 (4.0 potency increase)
28 Used to be Enhanced Raise, now:
Enhanced Plenary Indulgence I - increases the potency of Plenary Indulgence to 300, 400 and 500 for 1, 2 and 3 stacks of Confession respectively.
32 Freecure - works the same but also adds Cure II to the effect of the Confession trait
36 Used to be Quick Stoneskin, now:
Enhanced Repose - Adds an additional effect that deals 200 potency unaspected damage to targets who are immune to sleep, placing Repose on a 30s cooldown.
40 Maim and Mend II - unchanged
44 Overcure - unchanged
46 Aero Mastery - upgrades Aero to Aero II
48 Used to be Enhanced Shroud of Saints, now:
Enhanced Plenary Indulgence II - increases the potency of Plenary Indulgence to 400, 500 and 600 for 1, 2 and 3 stacks of Confession respectively
52 Secret of the Lily the effects of both Secrets of the Lily I and II
54 Stone Mastery II - upgrades Stone II to Stone III
60 Enhanced Mind III - increases Mind by 24
64 Stone Mastery III - upgrades Stone III to Stone IV
68 Aero Mastery III - upgrades Aero II to Aero IV
70 Enhanced Divine Seal - Extends Divine Seal's effect to include Thin Air

Synergy/Raid Utility:
My design incorporates synergy with tanks, healers and other caster DPS.

With tanks, WHM synergizes and brings its own unique form of damage mitigation throughout a Stoneskin and Stoneskin II which will allow WHM to strengthen or extend the duration of cooldowns like Rampart, Sentinel or Shadowskin.

With healers and casters, WHM can use Reverse to allow access to previous spell grades, allowing increases DPS from accessing old DOTs or the use of previously accessible effects such as Heavy front Stone I. The new Divine Seal would be a heavensend to WHM utility. It can extend Convalescence from thw tank onto nearby party members to help all healers keep the party alive---or maybe extend Largesse or Lucid Dreaming on the target to the healers nearby who may need it--even extending the new Shroud of Saints which allows moving while casting or Thin Air to SMN or BLM can potentially increase their DPS by allowing an evasion of an AOE that does not interrupt the cast, or the spamming of Fire IV for a few seconds without having to enter Astral Ice for the MP replenish. (I can just imagine the BLM macros begging for a Mage'sBallad/Thin Air combo.)

WHM stays a pure healer with a niche for superior Raises. Already having Thin Air, Presence of Mind and Swiftcast, Raises will be no issue to the WHM, but adding in Shroud of Saints and Surecast could easily be the difference between a wipe and a WHM saving the party.

Lillies also affect Benediction and Confessions also affect more spells which make the mechanics more useful.

3. How could these fixes create a cohesive and entertaining version of the job?
I feel the concept I've added stays true to SE's vision of a "pure healer," remains balanced and adds synergy. The synergy it adds could be entertaining--especially in that WHM may be wanted in raids where it will still be the healer for choice of learning, but will synergizes well with other casters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ayleth_Sunshard

- Casting Plenary Indulgence will remove all confession stacks from targets standing in the ability range and grant Absolution to them, which has the following effects:

* 10/15/20% temporary maximum hp, while restoring the amount increased, for 5/10/15 seconds, varying upon stacks consumed.
* 5/7/10% haste for 5/10/15 seconds, varying upon stacks consumed.
* 5/10/15% increase to HP recovery via healing magic cast by the WHM for 5/10/15 seconds, varying upon stacks consumed.
* No effects without stacks.

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I really like this idea. I would actually combine it with my "Bubble" trait idea earlier. Have Overheal be potency based for temp HP, and PI be max HP based.

The more I think about it, the more temporary HP makes sense. Regen, Tetra, Assize, Benediction, Medica 2, hell just plain old Crits. WHM is constantly overhealing. It becoming a protective and preemptive mechanic would be perfect for the closing the skill gap SE seeks to lessen. From newbs spamming cure to vets cushioning tanks for busters (This would be great given Whm needs more ways to preempt big damage), in dungeons and raids, and in any part comp.

It would serve as a great balancing factor for the healers as well. WHM + Ast/Sch would provide ample "shielding" and superior safety, but less DPS. In this sense Whm would become what I feel Pld is gonna be. The obvious choice for progression and learning, but not meant for a farm, which I'm actually okay with, because that still means regular, wanted and appreciated use.