4.3 Thought on 3 healers

White Mage (WHM)
Ah my first healer crush and also my go to healer before leveling both SCH & AST.
A reactive healer with very strong group and single target healer.
Its pretty much you lose hp, I will heal you up kind of class.
No issues with mana if you know how to manage your heals properly.
Also has many spells that regain mana or stop mana from being used.
A free instant cast shield every 30 seconds and free instant cast heal every 60 seconds is godlike powerful.
Out of the 3 healers WHM currently is the strongest healer in my own opinion.
Fun factor probably the least as i dont find it very challenging to play and very beginner friendly however it is not easy to master at the same time.
Also lilies mechanic is kind meh and can use some rework to be more interesting than what it is currently.


Scholar (SCH)
Another strong healer capable of putting out shields to mitigate damage, while doing other things like healing or dealing damage and a reliable healing fairy pet.
Being a SCH was an awesome experience due to the fact that when you or the party takes light damage, my pet can take care of the healing while I continue dealing damage. Waiting for that moment when my fairy cries for assistance then il become a true healer. In my case, my pet is the boss who tells me when to heal or shield.
In my opinion, it is in scholar's best interest to understand mechanics of boss fights as this will make your shielding life easier as you know when the next big attack is coming so you can start pre-shield the tank or your party.
Scholar in my opinion is more fun than white mage due to management of aetherflow stacks, deploying shields at critical moment and becomes a dps when no hp is loss.
Basically a 2 in 1 package role. Literally my go to healer when i secretly want short que as a DPS than can heal.
Mana management is not an issue for scholars as they can rely on free heals from aetherflow mechanic however they do need to pay a little attention at times when all 3 stacks are depleted and aetherflow is on cooldown. Anyway, having a pet fairy with infinite mana throwing out heals is pretty awesome.


Astrologian (AST)
My last healer and my biggest regret is to not learn AST first.
Although it was quite boring to start with but as you unlock the draw system, minor arcana and sleeve draw i must say i am having a blast with this healer.
Another unique feature about AST is by having 2 stances, which turns you into a mini white mage or mini scholar. So now you can place regen or shields and play yugioh / magic the gathering cards at the same.
To me, AST is literally a jack of all trades / utility healer who can fill most roles and most of time relying on heart of the cards for good draws to buff your party.
Mana management is pretty good. The Ewer mana regen is not overpowered and Celestial opposition extends Lucid dreaming which is sooo good.
I will until the day when Astrologians start wearing duel disks.

All in all, i love all 3 healers and their unique play style
However if i have to rank them from my favorite in order it will be : AST > SCH > WHM

Let me know which are you current favorite healer im looking forward to read everyone's comments.

WHM:
Strong, well rounded kit. Some call it too simple, but at worst I'd say it's a "less is more" class, and it still has enough complexity that I enjoy squeezing every last bit out of it.

SCH:
My favorite healer to play when I need a break from WHM, just because it's so different. And pet class. Always love pet classes.

AST:
Never got over my disappointment in SE for cloning WHM's core kit. But it's very pretty. I like playing this job just to enjoy the VFX sometimes. Also nice to be able to buff the good DPS even further, or DPS friends if buddying up.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

WHM:
Strong, well rounded kit. Some call it too simple, but at worst I'd say it's a "less is more" class, and it still has enough complexity that I enjoy squeezing every last bit out of it.

SCH:
My favorite healer to play when I need a break from WHM, just because it's so different. And pet class. Always love pet classes.

AST:
Never got over my disappointment in SE for cloning WHM's core kit. But it's very pretty. I like playing this job just to enjoy the VFX sometimes. Also nice to be able to buff the good DPS even further, or DPS friends if buddying up.

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My impressions are pretty similar, tbh, with a few modifications.

WHM: Throughput powerhouse, feels good to play if you need to put your carry pants on in Duty Finder. There's basically nothing that pug groups can stand in save one-shots that I feel like I can't heal through and that's great. Lily system and Confession system could use some slight tweaks (why are Confessions only like 10 second duration? Plenary is a 60-second CD so I feel like Confessions could at least last like 30). Asylum as an ability is a little uninspired and Benison is basically the Stoneskin WHM used to have just repurposed a little, so I can see where WHMs were disappointed with their 4.0 additions a bit. Thin Air despite having a stupid name is a great ability and easily the highlight of 4.0 WHM (like how Assize was the highlight of 3.x WHM). I don't get why people love Holy so much, I think the sound effect is extrememly obnoxious and the sparkles hurt my eyes, I wish I had a different AOE ability to spam.

SCH: Intricate and complex, probably the best-designed healer in this game thus far. You always have something to do on SCH and that's an extremely satisfying feeling for me. Excog after the changes still has instances of non-effect but is much better than it was at SB launch. Fey Union's cast/input lag, along with various other fairy input lags, are annoying and something I'd like to see the dev team look at moving forward. Reduce her casting animations if you have to, but it really should not take like a full 5 seconds for her to finish an Embrace and get Fey Union going; that's obnoxious. Other than that the class is great to play and probably my favorite healer not just in FFXIV, but in most MMOs I've played. I'd like to see less focus on reactive/Aetherflow ability instant healing and more focus on shields in the future, if I had to give feedback for the job moving forward. If they're afraid of shields outclassing Noct AST I'd rather just see Noct Sect dumpstered and AST being a regen competitor, with a new shield healer designed around that shielding in 5.0.

AST: Balancing nightmare with cloned abilities but very fun/engaging buff system and beautiful spell graphics. It's my main but I don't think it's well-designed and I'd love to see it reworked in the future. DiSect kit is very homogeneous with WHM, and Noct Sect is like half of SCH's kit with none of the other half that make it fun/actually work (Aetherstacks, pet management/interaction). The card buffs are in a decent spot now and aside from Minor Arcana I think have good abilities that interact with those buffs while not exactly guaranteeing favorable results. Earthly Star was the highlight of 4.0 AST; I actually think Minor Arcana and Sleeve Draw were both a bit underwhelming and I fear for the class's development going forward. There's very few future card choices the developers can add (if any), meaning the job will either get no upgrades to actual buff capabilities unless the devs think outside the box (and the DPS meta dies) or focus purely on card manipulation effects, or they'll only get more healing/damage abilities which dilutes the entire lure of the class IMO. My cohealer for raid will get dibs on first-swap to the 5.0 healer job, if one is introduced, but if she's not interested I'm looking to swap unless AST gets some serious design improvements with regards to their healing/damage kit.

My experience is less than many posters here but here are my thoughts.

White Mage: Easy to learn, hard to master. They have an ability for every situation. White mages are strong healers with good damage too. I feel every healer should start with a white mage first before branching out to the other healing jobs.

Scholar: Somewhat hard to play but no other healing class rewards good play like a scholar. Scholars are fun. You have to know fights ahead of time to make the best use of the kit. Fairy gives you plenty of opportunity to deal damage.

Astrologian: Easy to play once you get most of the card abilities. Card management is an interesting mechanic. It keeps you engaged. Diurnal sect plays a lot like a white mage. Nocturnal sect is more effective than a lot of players think. Astrologian spell graphics are amazing.

I cannot rank them yet since I don't have any at maximum level yet but I can say white mage is my go to healer. The toolkit is just too good to pass up when facing new content.

Pretty much agree with everyone yeh AST do lack their own identity.
Would like to see a mechanic revolving Constellation (connect stars on players) similar to Synastry maybe?
Also, outer space / stars / galaxy / planets and AST spells are all explosion just like our current (earthly star / malefic I II III / gravity) so maybe this can be what astrologian all about. Looking at Kuja from FF9

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Originally Posted by LachleinStratos

Pretty much agree with everyone yeh AST do lack their own identity.
Would like to see a mechanic revolving Constellation (connect stars on players) similar to Synastry maybe?
Also, outer space / stars / galaxy / planets and AST spells are all explosion just like our current (earthly star / malefic I II III / gravity) so maybe this can be what astrologian all about. Looking at Kuja from FF9

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I wouldn't say Astrologians lack an identity. It's more like that identity wasn't taken far enough.

It would be interesting if there were astrological effects which only affected the astrologian. Say, once per day, an astrologian could make a horoscope for themselves and that particular buff would last until a new horoscope was made.

That sounds pretty sick and maybe they can also associate your ingame god / horoscope for beneficial buff too !

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Originally Posted by LachleinStratos

Pretty much agree with everyone yeh AST do lack their own identity.

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I think the new stormblood abilities helped make AST a little more distinct.

But if when SE makes the fourth healer, it's "here have some reskinned WHM spells with a gimmick on top", I'm going to be pretty :| at them. Scholar feels more like an expac job than AST did in HW.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

I think the new stormblood abilities helped make AST a little more distinct.

But if when SE makes the fourth healer, it's "here have some reskinned WHM spells with a gimmick on top", I'm going to be pretty :| at them. Scholar feels more like an expac job than AST did in HW.

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4th healer has to be really different than what we have now. Yeh AST is really what you just said lol :(
SCH definitely feels fleshed out compared to AST

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

I think the new stormblood abilities helped make AST a little more distinct.

But if when SE makes the fourth healer, it's "here have some reskinned WHM spells with a gimmick on top", I'm going to be pretty :| at them. Scholar feels more like an expac job than AST did in HW.

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Well...yet again, I agree, but only kind of in half. Two of the three SB abilities we got were basically attempts at mitigating some more of our bad RNG gimmick (cards) and that doesn't feel good. Earthly Star is definitely a unique, powerful, and beautiful spell though. Compared to SCH, who got a brand new debuff, a new fairy ability and a...beefed Lustrate (a bit disappointing but okay in practice), it feels like both AST and WHM got lackluster additions in comparison. SCH has always been the best-designed healer in this game with the clearest niche/identity and while WHM has a solid design AST is just ugly and I'd really love for them to eye it for a rework moving forward.

WHM: God healer. Crushes foes with its massive healing power.

SCH: Wishes it healed as much as WHM.

AST: Wishes it was WHM.

Disclaimer for those who need one: This is a joke. I actually think all healers are fairly balanced. I do think WHM is really strong right now though, especially with the Divine Benison change.

So.. this thread: SCH is the premier undisputed definition of healer. WHM has big heals, but otherwise, kind of just there. AST = WHM ripoff.

Gotcha.

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Originally Posted by Kacho_Nacho

White Mage: Easy to learn, hard to master...

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Actually, the 3 healers jobs are hard to master, but WHM is way more easier than the 2 others.

I appreciate the opinions WHM is receiving. It used to definitely be a class many would refer to as "Baby's first healer" "Boring" "Zero difficulty".

I'm glad the perception has changed to one that's "easy to pick up, but difficult to master."

As a WHM main, I'd say that the class feels more powerful than ever in what it's capable of. To me, it feels like the traditional rules of healing don't apply to me anymore and I can bend situations to my will by using everything in my kit. Class definitely benefits from speedy fingers. With all of its oGCDs, you can pull some serious miracles out of your ass and still pump DPS.

Strategic use of HoTs and insta-heals gives you enormous DPS uptime. I've thought about recording myself doing a dungeon run to show some people what I mean about how much you can pull off with WHM. The class feels really solid and complete to me at the moment - barring a possible tweak to Confession stacks maybe... Only thing on my wishlist for the class is a new attack that isn't stone or wind. An insta-cast GCD Attack would be nice so I could spam something other than Aero 2 while running/dodging.

As for SCH and AST? Not as familiar... They don't speak to me in the same way, so my opinions are light. Pet and Card management is an extra layer of complexity to doing Heals and Damage that makes me (individually) feel less hands-on with the task, and less accomplished and confident in the results... Probably why I enjoy the straight forwardness of WHM so much.

As for who I prefer to partner with? SCH. Always feel like most AST are too distracted with their cards...

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Originally Posted by Coltvoyance

I appreciate the opinions WHM is receiving. It used to definitely be a class many would refer to as "Baby's first healer" "Boring" "Zero difficulty".

I'm glad the perception has changed to one that's "easy to pick up, but difficult to master."

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I think 2.0 WHM was really reliant on GCDs, which made it feel "slow". 3.x WHM actually received nothing BUT oGCDs (alongside upgrades to their damage spells), and while in 4.0 they kinda got some lackluster upgrades IMO Divine Benison after the change is now another powerful, short CD oGCD that really adds to WHM's engagement factor.

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Originally Posted by Coltvoyance

I appreciate the opinions WHM is receiving. It used to definitely be a class many would refer to as "Baby's first healer" "Boring" "Zero difficulty".

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Yeah, 2.0 WHM particularly got a lot of hate -- but I never agreed with it, it's always had nuances and things to master.

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Originally Posted by Coltvoyance

As for who I prefer to partner with? SCH. Always feel like most AST are too distracted with their cards...

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AST's always been a test of multitasking and yeah, a lot of players do get distracted... but there's no shortage of... less proficient WHMs and SCHs out there either.

While they are all pretty balanced overall at level 70, I tend to prefer different healers at different level caps snd content.

For dungeons: WHM and SCH have more fun AOE skills. Gravity comes later, and while very safe (being able to stay far away), it is pretty boring to use. Holy has stun, large radius, and looks sweet. Miasma 2 is instant cast so you can cast while staying mobile, dodging attacks, and using oGLDs for a more active playstyle. Also, AST has no AOE dots.

For Trials: AST is king. Your cards are more helpful expanded and your stances allow you to fill in the drawbacks of your co-healer perfectly. Trials often require heavily healing and AST has very high potency heals and lightspeed to power-heal through anything. Next is whm since regens stack with other healers and their heals are also very solid. SCH is worst because of the possibilty of double SCH being less than ideal.

For pre-50: AST can be super boring if you are level capped before cards at level 30. SCH always has the pet and whm has cool looking stone spells. AST is stuck with a basic, weak attack spell that sounds like you are attacking with a wet noodle. Only upside is the powerful essential dignity ability which makes it so you basically don’t have to heal at all in the beginner dungeons.

For level 50 cap: I like scholar best since the pet is as powerful as ever and they get their aetherpact early for the most off global cooldowns at this level. Also SCH MP management is great early, while WHM has the power-hungry holy without thin air or assize to help power it. AST is worst since they are missing AOE at this point and, since level 50 content is easy, it makes things boring.

For level 60 cap: SCH most situational abilities are between 50-60, but WHM gets their core, always helpful skills during these levels. As a result, I like WHM best.

After level 60, WHM is relatively less exciting with duds like secret of the lily 2. Divine Benison and Thin Air are nice, but it kind of feels like getting what the other healers already had. In the end, they are all quite balanced.

The fact that they managed to make all three of the healers at least somewhat distinct while still keeping a decent amount of parity makes me wonder how they manage to do the complete opposite with tanks. WHM is a "baby's first healer" with ultra straightforward mechanics and strong heals, but still manages to have plenty to offer to experienced players; SCH has the most interesting and (in my opinion) proactive gameplay of the three, and spends a lot less active time healing which is fairly unique; AST is a bit of an odd duck because it's mostly just borrowed mechanics, but the cards offer a unique niche and its spells are among the most visually spectacular.

It's not perfect, but if they stayed the way they are until the next expansion (where they completely butcher the job balance again) then I wouldn't be upset in the slightest.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

Yeah, 2.0 WHM particularly got a lot of hate -- but I never agreed with it, it's always had nuances and things to master.

AST's always been a test of multitasking and yeah, a lot of players do get distracted... but there's no shortage of... less proficient WHMs and SCHs out there either.

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For sure, I just ignored the haters. It was always a stupid argument.

You bring up a good point about astrologians. There are times when I blank on a card. But, I have to wonder, which healer demands the most multi-tasking, astrologians or scholars?

:confused:

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Originally Posted by Kacho_Nacho

You bring up a good point about astrologians. There are times when I blank on a card. But, I have to wonder, which healer demands the most multi-tasking, astrologians or scholars?

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IMHO they have rather different demands on the player.

SCH is more about mindless APM much of which can be done on autopilot. Embrace spam is the big one here of course, but working for that 45 second aetherflow is a pretty similar story.

AST has a much lower work rate but demands more mental agility of the player with the somewhat unpredictable nature of cards. You can streamline it somewhat with flowchart style prioritisation but on the flipside, Sleeve Draw can be an absolute pig at times.

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Originally Posted by Kacho_Nacho

You bring up a good point about astrologians. There are times when I blank on a card. But, I have to wonder, which healer demands the most multi-tasking, astrologians or scholars?

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Originally Posted by Sebazy

AST has a much lower work rate but demands more mental agility of the player with the somewhat unpredictable nature of cards. You can streamline it somewhat with flowchart style prioritisation but on the flipside, Sleeve Draw can be an absolute pig at times.

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The key technique here, IMO, is to do cards between GCDs, even if it's ones with a hard cast time. That way you have time while your next spell is casting to let the card animations play out, to see what you pulled up and decide what to do with it.

It sounds straightforward enough, but there's seriously tons of ASTs that will essentially stop all else to handle cards.

I'm not sure I would go so far as to call SCH 'mindless APM', but I think Sebazy was getting at is that SCH actions are pretty much predictable, and that's correct. Action sequences can be a bit complex but you know in advance what the outcome will be.

Still, there are hallmarks separating the skilled from less so. e.g., those that think "well SCH is the DPSy healer" and so don't even bother with lustrates a lot of the time, vs those that can pull 2k+ dps while still doing amazing healing (rare, but very nice SCHs to group with).

As someone who is an absolute disaster when it comes to multitasking, SCH feel more demanding. APM is a thing, but we're talking about stutter casting that make you lose some uptime type of issue but the real issue is the timing of everything.

SCH is basically a MCH but everything have a different timing. Cleric stance and eather flow are at each ends of your opener wich will them go two different 15 sec differed 45 sec cycle. There's something like 2sec unsynch with shadow flare and chain stratagem that you have to align yourself 2 minute in the fight. There's miasma en bio doing their lives on their own and this just cover the DPS part of the job. And while there's a general consensus for "healing is easy", a lot of SCH kit actually need different skills to be used in top of each other. And often they're different type of spells you use in different way and while it isn't critical to clearing a fight. There's a way to handle any of this individually, but doing everything while minding the fairy and bosses mechanics is a lot of things at the same time.

While AST involve a bit of RNG and a lot of on the flight decision making, the basic is to press draw and handle what comes out of it with experience alone. The fact that cards doesn't have such direct impact on the fight itself makes even tricky situation less taxing to handle. Maybe there was a better way to use those cards, but at least you know that it can happen now. I'm a pretty regular puzzle game and card gae player, so card handling feels at home but guess some people will have their brain melt over doing some logical gymnastic mid-fight the same way it does for me when I have to pay attention to more than three things at the same time.

So SCH is the number and AST the quality kind of thing, more or less.
But SCH is by far the most distracting, pet jobs kinda always are.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

The key technique here, IMO, is to do cards between GCDs, even if it's ones with a hard cast time.

That way you have time while your next spell is casting to let the card animations play out, to see what you pulled up and decide what to do with it.

It sounds straightforward enough, but there's seriously tons of ASTs that will essentially stop all else to handle cards.

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That's for sure. Sadly, humans tend to struggle with multi-tasking.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

I'm not sure I would go so far as to call SCH 'mindless APM', but I think Sebazy was getting at is that SCH actions are pretty much predictable, and that's correct. Action sequences can be a bit complex but you know in advance what the outcome will be.

Still, there are hallmarks separating the skilled from less so. e.g., those that think "well SCH is the DPSy healer" and so don't even bother with lustrates a lot of the time, vs those that can pull 2k+ dps while still doing amazing healing (rare, but very nice SCHs to group with).

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*nods enthusiastically*

There's just something about Scholars, isn't there? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE white mage, and I have made my fair share of saves with Kacho; but, no other class makes me shout "Holy Crow! Did I just see that?" like a scholar being played right. I have much respect for their good players.

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Originally Posted by Vyriah

As someone who is an absolute disaster when it comes to multitasking, SCH feel more demanding. APM is a thing, but we're talking about stutter casting that make you lose some uptime type of issue but the real issue is the timing of everything.

SCH is basically a MCH but everything have a different timing. Cleric stance and eather flow are at each ends of your opener wich whill them go two different 15 sec differed 45 sec cycle. There's something like 2sec unsynch with shadow flare and chain stratagem that you have to align yourself 2 minute in the fight. There's miasma en bio doing their lives on their own and this just cover the DPS part of the job. And while there's a general consensus for "healing is easy", a lot of SCH kit actually need different skills to be used in top of each other. And often they're different type of spells you use in different way and while it isn't critical to clearing a fight. There's a way to handle any of this individually, but doing everything while minding the fairy and bosses mechanics is a lot of things at the same time.

While AST involve a bit of RNG and a lot of on the flight decision making, the basic is to press draw and handle what comes out of it with experience alone. The fact that cards doesn't have such direct impact on the fight itself makes even tricky situation less taxing to handle. Maybe there was a better way to use those cards, but at least you know that it can happen now. I'm a pretty regular puzzle game and card gae player, so card handling feels at home but guess some people will have their brain melt over doing some logical gymnastic mid-fight the same way it does for me when I have to pay attention to more than three things at the same time.

So SCH is the number and AST the quality kind of thing, more or less.
But SCH is by far the most distracting, pet jobs kinda always are.

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That's an interesting take on the subject, Vyriah. :)

SCH has the most demanding Healing Skill Set to me. WHM can power through anything even with bad choices and AST is over tuned to compensate for it's simplicity. To me SCH is so much more rewarding because it takes so much thought to be efficient. You can't spam Succor and think you're going to survive everything like Medica or Helios. Nothing is better than throwing out Sacred Soil 10 sec in advance so that even the most lazy DPS has time to enter the effect and catch your Deployed Adlo and Fey Convenant for the next big Boss AoE. When your cohealer is rendered useless you know it was a job well done.

whm classic healer

scholar unique healer

astrologian a copy cat.

I still miss the days when sch was a god amongst men. playing a whm is such a bore. AST is interesting but doesn’t ‘wow’ you.

I wonder what content people are doing that WHM is boring them. If all you do is heal or all you do is DPS, maybe...?

SCH and AST are boring. They each have one of their two functions almost entirely off the GCD. But WHM has to balance their cast times, and indeed their relative viability (i.e., personal DPS) is predicated on doing so. This means there's always room for improvement, basically, so long as people still have more than 1 HP when they take damage.

"Boring" is matter of personnal opinion.
That's useless trying to find which one is the most.

What can be boring for one can fun for someone else.
Each players have their preference.

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Originally Posted by KDSilver

"Boring" is matter of personnal opinion.
That's useless trying to find which one is the most.

What can be boring for one can fun for someone else.
Each players have their preference.

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Right, well, thanks for that nugget. Not all opinions are equally valid or valuable. Reasoned ones provide the basis of most civil discussion; unreasoned ones provide the basis of most human conflict. What people proclaim to be "fun" and "boring" at least has some abstract influence on a medium which exists to bring us fun. Things which people say are "fun" can be incredibly destructive. Just ask Bambi.

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Originally Posted by Sciwolf

I still miss the days when sch was a god amongst men.

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Aside from the brief stint at SB's release, I wasn't aware this had ever stopped being a thing.

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Originally Posted by Trunks

Right, well, thanks for that nugget. Not all opinions are equally valid or valuable. Reasoned ones provide the basis of most civil discussion; unreasoned ones provide the basis of most human conflict. What people proclaim to be "fun" and "boring" at least has some abstract influence on a medium which exists to bring us fun. Things which people say are "fun" can be incredibly destructive. Just ask Bambi.

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Originally Posted by Trunks

SCH and AST are boring. They each have one of their two functions almost entirely off the GCD. But WHM has to balance their cast times, and indeed their relative viability (i.e., personal DPS) is predicated on doing so. This means there's always room for improvement, basically, so long as people still have more than 1 HP when they take damage.

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So... your "reasoned" opinion influences my "fun" how?

"unreasoned ones provide the basis of most human conflict."
I'd say asserted ones provide the basis of most human conflict.
You might have offered a rationale, but you still asserted it as if it was "more than just an opinion", and even claimed it was "more valuable" of an opinion.

Given "boring" is a very subjective term, I don't really see there being an opinion that's more valid or more valuable. Maybe if we were talking about opinions on the state of our economy, I might trust the opinion of an economist over Dave down the pub who thinks he knows what's what.

On the point whether something is boring. I can't see one opinion being more valuable than the next. You either do find it boring, or you don't.

I find trainspotting to be boring.
I find fishing to be boring.
If find football to be incredibly boring

Yet those hobbies have massive followings.

I enjoy SCH, I enjoy WHM. I find AST boring. I know people who love AST.
SCH has been my main since 2.0 and no job has hooked me long enough to replace it.

And if people finding what you find "boring" to be "fun" and if it is great enough to have influence over what the devs consider fun and the content they make, then surely it's not that destructive, because it'd be the developers reacting to what the player base likes? The fact that you find 1 out of the 3 healers fun should mean it's not so destructive for you, given the number of people who also enjoy WHM. So it means you still get the healer you like and everybody else who likes SCH and AST also get the healers they like. I think each of the jobs could do with their improvements and I suspect there's a lot of player feedback regarding that. It is the beauty of choice, you don't like one, play the other.

As for Bambi, that's a tad dramatic, I don't believe animals get harmed in the development process. Whilst it is true that what people find fun could be destructive, it is a non-sequitur. Unless there is evidence to show that it IS being destructive, IE: Yoshi-P kills an elephant for every SCH or AST player then it is a non-argument.

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Originally Posted by NobleWinter

When your cohealer is rendered useless you know it was a job well done.

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Obviously fun for most SCH with whom I've been paired recently. Not so much for me. While I search for a game where healing has meaning, I'll be dps with a raise.

WHM has (and will likely always be) my go-to. I see no reason to play the others when I'm perfectly happy being a big heal & big damage powerhouse (at least as big as Healers can be). Yes, Holy looks and sounds obnoxious, yet I love nothing more than diving into swarms with the tank and going ham, without any detrimental impact on my ability to heal if things go wrong. Throwing stones may be simple but I find them very satisfying, especially the explosive crunch of Stormbloods Stone IV. As it stands, 355il is ensuring they crit for 10-12k, so seeing chunks of health-bar disappear in a click (as a Healer) is always satisfying.

Levelling WHM was also a very relaxing experience. I mained Shadow Priest for 8-10 years in WoW, so even the old Cleric Stance mechanic was a non-issue to me given the only difference was that casting a heal didn't automatically cancel the effect. In short, the more I played Conj/WHM, the more it clicked and the more I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-WKMkzYgbE

I understand when people claim 'boring' or 'easy', but for me it is the blend of that ease/complexity. I may be DPS-centric but I'm also (when possible) highly proactive (when I feel like it) - such as above video where Zenos uses green-push attack for the first time, timing my Assize which, thanks to the inherent 'delay' in how the game works, heals everyone after the attack has happened. Sure, it's a weak-attack, but you know what I mean. Lately I'm working Cure III into my game a lot more (so it's no surprise to stack on marker-mechanics and have the damage not even register across anyone in the party because it has been instantly healed by a well-timed CIII), then there's OGCDs, the fact that WHM typically allows for bigger trash pulls due to the healing and AoE throughput - all manner of tiny little details that may be simple on paper but can otherwise ramp things up.

With that in mind, nothing annoys me more than seeing well geared tanks who decide to take the slow approach for no reason. Failing that, when I tank, seeing a passive healer who refuses to do damage. Despite them playing the 'watch the healthbar' game, I also notice said Healers almost exclusively play in a 'reactive' manner. If I had all that time to plot my heals, I'd be pre-casting - yet most just sit there waiting for damage to happen. I can see why someone like that would most definitely find WHM far more boring than I would (which isn't saying anyone who finds it boring plays or thinks in above manner).

We all have our reasons for liking/hating something - for me it is that WHM is a simple, powerful, well-rounded class with a bit of everything.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

I think the new stormblood abilities helped make AST a little more distinct.

But if when SE makes the fourth healer, it's "here have some reskinned WHM spells with a gimmick on top", I'm going to be pretty :| at them. Scholar feels more like an expac job than AST did in HW.

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I agree with this. It's why I'm so scared of a new healer coming in, it really feels like they don't know where to go with healers. I'd like them to sit down and really just work on the 3 healers they have. AST still needs a redesign so it doesn't play like a pseudo-WHM.

Eeeh... I feel healers are okay right now. If they just expand on what we have I don't see an issue in them trying to add a new healer. Granted AST could use something more "distinctive" but it's not in a very bad place as it is.

My preference over them has shifted over time. Also... my healer is an 'alt character' made so I could play different races... so I'm still leveling her, but she's presently my 'active character' while my "main" sits idle in her Apartment...

In ARR I went for SCH. I really liked it, but not enough to make this character my main.
In Heavansward I went for AST... but again kept my main as my Mi'Qote tank.

In Stormblood I just assumed I would not care about the healers that much... so kept to the tank... now I'm dusting off the healer... and I just finished forcing myself through Palace of the Dead so I could do Stormblood with the WHM...

I had always assumed I would dislike WHM... so I didn't even really try it beyond the 'level 15 Conjurer to unlock SCH' status... But I've been having a blast with it of late... and sprinkled in enough dungeons to be sure it wasn't just the 'quirks of Palace of the Dead where you can get away with stupid'...

WHM: solid healer kit and good reasons to stay in melee range (Holy, Assize, and I think one other, but I forget). Low skill floor (basics are easy), not sure how hight the ceiling is.

SCH: Seems like a go-to if you want to mostly ranged DPS, and set the fairy up to handle all but major spike healing. Seems like a Medium skill floor, but a lot skill ceiling. Once you know it, you know it...

AST: Dynamic and a little unpredictable. Can be a lot of fun but also can be confusing and tricky to learn. Higher skill floor. Maybe a medium skill ceiling. As in harder to learn, but once you do there is some mastery, but not a massive bag of things past 'competency'.

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Originally Posted by Exiled_Tonberry

I agree with this. It's why I'm so scared of a new healer coming in, it really feels like they don't know where to go with healers. I'd like them to sit down and really just work on the 3 healers they have. AST still needs a redesign so it doesn't play like a pseudo-WHM.

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Their best best would be a healer that works by using a melee weapon and attacking. Think of how the 'Fistweaver Monk' was in WoW: punching and kicking people healed your friends... (this healer got removed from the game - WoW monk had two kinds of healer, melee attacker and ranged channeler... and they cut it down to one in the next expansion; making Monk no longer feel unique. You can still punch things while healing, but it's just "something to do when nobody is taking damage" now...).

There are also models like the 'Fire Controller' of the old City of Villains MMO - you healed by lighting your allies and enemies on fire... and there was a 'dark energy' healer that healed by blowing up corpses, sucking the life energy out of enemies, and so on...
(Oddly, the Controller used a sort of 'holy fire' gimmick but was a villain, and the Dark energy healer was like a necromancer, but was a hero...)

Basically they need to 'break out of the stereotypes'... or there is just no need for another healer.

SCH: My 2.X main and original job. Currently probably my favorite healer to solo with. Haven't been a big fan of it since 3.X tho. Mostly use it now for content I find super easy or I'm helping a friend lvl up a job in lowbie content (Pretty much anything 3.3 and earlier). Lots of tools in the kit I like, not a huge fan of how the kit works with itself tho. I like it when I can run a dungeon with just Adloq heals and waiting for the shield to break to refresh.

WHM: Preferred job for old content I wanna rush through. Also my choice if I join a group where the other healer is also a diurnal preference AST. Being as I come from a healing background in older MMOs I've never experienced the MP starvation issues people used to complain about with WHM.

AST: Main preferred healer for new content I have to learn or legitimately try at. As a person who sucks at DPS in general AST feels the most forgiving of the 3 given that your use beyond healing and DPS is more profound than the other 2, and your personal DPS is lower. I'm rather fond of support/buffer classes in games, which in this game means BRD or AST and as mentioned I suck at DPS. Also I like modifying my card priorities based on my group comp and performance on the fly. After the spear changes ive nearly stopped phishing, if only I could get Royal Road to require activation before use I'd be set, basically get rid of the overwrite function of RR and have the click prime it for use on next held/drawn card used. Always fun when you can chain things like Duration Arrow into Buffed Balance on a BLM. Tho I absolutely hate getting stuck AST/AST, works better than SCH/SCH but more facepalm frustrating with card cancels.

Hoping for Dancer in 5.0 and that itll be another Support/Buff heavy healer to fight with ASTs niche. Even if its not DAN still would like a buff heavy healer.