The Case for the WHM Party Buff

TL;DR-- It is not a small advantage, and it is not just for elitists and top-tier raiders.

I ran some quick numbers to show why party buffs are way more effective than you may think. Please keep two things in mind:

1. If you do not attempt high-level content, this can only help you! This is to help those of us who really love WHM and would prefer to play it in raids without knowing we are making life harder on our group.
2. The below numbers are for PERSONAL DPS.

This means whatever effect you see from the buffs is being magnified several times over because actual DPS classes are being affected.

• WHM Potencies
• Stone IV--250; 100 PPS
• Aero 3--50+40/3s over 24 s (370 over 24s for 1 GCD); 15.41 PPS
• Aero 2--50+50/3s over 18s (350 over 18s for 1 GCD); 19.4 PPS
• Assize--400 every 45s; 8.9 PPS
• 17.5 GCDs every 180s to keep dots up; -24.3 PPS
• Total WHM PPS--119.41

• SCH Potencies
• Shadow Flare--50/3s over 15s; 4.16 PPS
• Miasma--20+35/3s for 24s; 12.5 PPS
• Bio--35/3s for 30s; 11.7 PPS
• Broil--230; 92 PPS
• Energy Drain--150; 3.3 PPS (if no clipping)
• 13.5 GCDs every 180s for DoT maintenance; -17.25 PPS
• Total SCH PPS--106.41

• AST Potencies
• Malefic 3- 220; 88 PPS
• Combust--50/3s over 30s; 16.7 PPS
• Lord of Crowns-300 (occasional)--1 per 180s?; 1.6 PPS
• Earthly Star--200 every 60s; 3.3 PPS
• 6 GCDs per 180s for DoT maintenance; -7.3 PPS
• Total AST PPS--102.3 PPS

WHM's are killing ASTs and SCHs...right? Let's look at the 75th percentile and confirm WHM's dominance:

https://i.imgur.com/ArfbxpV.png


Wait...what!?

AST vs WHM: WHM has 16.7% more potency per second than AST, but AST beats WHM by 5.7%. This is a swing of 22.4%. Buffs are one cause.

SCH vs WHM: WHM has 12.2% more PPS than SCH, but SCH still edges WHM out by 5% on personal DPS. This is a 17.2% swing. How!? Again, buffs.

I've heard a lot of people say the buffs only matter if you're in the top 1% and chasing a gold parse. This is not true. If you have ever enraged on a boss or struggled to meet a DPS check, you know every little bit matters. Having an AST or SCH in your party is not a tiny boost--it is huge.

Here is a log I ran through xivrdps, which calculates the damage gained from buffs, and breaks it down by ability. I chose it at random, it is a non-meta comp, and none of the participants parsed orange.

https://i.imgur.com/qyElTs0.png

Numbers do not lie. The healers will never be balanced until WHM has a buff.

WHM needs a buff if it is to compete. It is that simple.

The only number SE is worried about is clearrate. How many White Mages are able to complete vs how many other healers are able to complete. And if you look at that WHM is in a pretty good spot.

This means, even though WHM will slow down the rate at which a boss will die, they are exceedingly good at stabilizing the party. And that is a huge boon.

The raid buffs contribute a lot to the discrepancy, but it's not just them. SCH and AST's mobility blows WHM out of the water, and they both have an easier time working with their oGCDs without clipping.

For some unknown bizarre reason, SE is absolutely against giving WHM utility. Would it really be so bad to give them a chance to actually compete against the other healers? We're about to go 6 years with WHM being this subpar healer lacking any solid identity.

Now no buffs would be fine, if our damage or healing made a significant difference but they don't, our personal DPS is weaker and our healing is nothing the other healers can't do. So what exactly is going on here? Why is WHM in this position where it isn't allowed utility but also isn't allowed to be stronger than the others at a base level?
I think ShB may finally be the patch to make me move away from healers completely...

I feel like the problem here is narrow metrics, so to speak.

For instance, though we gradually emphasize new priorities with further progression there are ultimately going to be three main goalposts, of which only one currently disfavors White Mage.

1. Ability to initially clear.
2. Reliability of clear.
3. Speed of clear.

Don't get me wrong, I feel that White Mage needs buffs, but I don't feel like it's purely because they lack raid-buff rDPS.

Many upper-content fights are far more difficult to solo-heal as a WHM than as a Diurnal AST.
Despite needing far less forethought, WHM is still often the least able to react to certain mechanics, especially those requiring mobile heals.
White Mage's personal DPS does not presently make up for its lack of indirectly contributed damage overall or in bursts.

But, none of those things have anything directly to do with a lack of party buffs; instead they come from simple imbalances and failings elsewhere in their kits. For instance, Party buffs would not solve the middle or (less important) first issue and while able to solve the last, it's certainly not the only thing that would solve it.

Increasing personal DPS of course comes with other potential issues, namely if we ever got any form of serious light party content (the legendary "Mythic+" equivalent, for instance). But, especially if generated through a resource to be shared with some manner of healing ability or spender, it would offer White Mage the flexibility of output that could allow WHM a good foot forward in speedruns without sacrificing its "reliability" in early progression. And that's worth considering.

The dominant solution need not be the only solution. Scaling such as that of raid buffs (weak in light party; strong in full party) and zero raid buffs (weak in full party; strong in light party) offers a range a minor imbalances, but so long as we're still only making serious 8-man content, or if future serious 4-man content is difficult enough that the specific spell and skill utilities are worth more than any arbitrary amount of HPS or DPS, then alternate solutions in line with what we have now should at the least be tried before defaulting to homogeneity.

I do agree. Raid buffs will make WHM immediately more attractive, but there's a underlying problem under all of this. WHM isn't as good at healing as SE wants to think it is.
Everything WHM has SCH and AST has with a minor resource requirement, if that.
It's even worse now, with AST and SCH moving more towards WHMs levels of healing more than ever yet not affected by any of WHMs faults, like over reliance on GCD healing, poorly thought out resource system, mobility issues, weak oGCDs.
I could just go on, but the point is, raid buffs is one of many things WHM badly needs. They need to completely rework this job from the ground up.

Hi there!

Yes, I do agree that that WHMs are lacking in both support and also her smoothness to execute heals on demand. As i played all healers, SCH and AST are very nice to play due to how smooth when using heals or attacks interchangeably but for WHM, not only she has no party buffs (offensive ones) but also the whole animation lock/clipping issue that made her other two partners more preferred in almost anything. Heck, I cant even enter PF because alot of ppl are preferring SCH and AST over WHMs.

Also, though the argument is that, WHM has really powerful healing added for the new expansion but from what i see, WHM will only be viable for a month or two after people are geared enough to not need much healings. This make me thing that WHM class is just useful for the period and potentially until the next expansion, which is around 2 years or so.

What makes me sad is that the balance of healers that were made for next expansion revolves around WHM's limitations but not boosting WHMs so that they can finally stand besides her other two healer classes which is the point of a balancing. Also, the fact that SE said that healers shouldnt go and focus on DPSing but then added a 900 potency attack on WHM instead of giving her a party buff or two. So idk there. (EDIT: on the point of the balancing around WHM's limitations, I already saw AST and SCH mains are blaming WHMs .. Maybe we'll get even more outcasted than before. but idk its just my speculation)

Please, make us WHM viable in everyone's pt like the other 2

This is my first time commenting on a forum and also a relatively new player. Any misinformation on my part do correct me as im still learning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Josco

AST vs WHM: WHM has 16.7% more potency per second than AST, but AST beats WHM by 5.7%. This is a swing of 22.4%. Buffs are the cause.

SCH vs WHM: WHM has 12.2% more PPS than SCH, but SCH still edges WHM out by 5% on personal DPS. This is a 17.2% swing. How!? Again, buffs.

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WHM is behind in personal DPS because it doesn't even remotely reach the full 119 PPS it can achieve, not because it lacks buffs.

You even posted the argument here yourself:

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Here is a log I ran through xivrdps, which calculates the damage gained from buffs, and breaks it down by ability. I chose it at random, it is a non-meta comp, and none of the participants parsed orange.

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Chain Statagem is about a 1% DPS increase, and the cards are a 1.8% increase. If you add these 2.8% to either AST and SCH, you do not even remotely explain the personal DPS gap between WHM and the other two. The gap is caused by WHMs healing toolkit not allowing to even remotely reach the full pps potential.

If you translate the 1-2% raidDPS gain into potencies, you're looking at somewhere 400-800 potency per minute. If a WHM would be able to reach the 119 PPS compared to SCHs 108, then that would equal to 780 potency per minute. If you use Shadowbringer numbers, you'd get 1200 potency per minute as a WHM, at a reduced gap (due to lily), against a Chain Statagem that now provides 1/3 less potency (and whatever the new cards provide)

There sadly is no real (numerical) argument for any sort of raidbuff (for WHM). (i'd also argue the nerfed Chain Stratagem with it's "glorious" 0.66% raid DPS increase could just as well be removed, it's absolutely garbage potency wise)

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Originally Posted by Hustensaft

snip

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Was just about the post this myself.

Josco, your PPS calculations make the assumption each spell is being cast constantly.
Stone IV every 2.5s with no breaks, Assize every 45s without fail, etc.

Fact is, this isn't possible. The much larger factor here is that WHMs entire spellset is probitive to oGCD weaving, which results in a lot of clipping.
SCH has more DoTs (or did have) and more instant GCDs meaning weaving oGCD heals and buffs doesnt impact pDPS as much.
AST has shorter cast times and buffs to shorten them even further, thus less clipping and more pDPS uptime.

That said, I do think WHM should get some utility, but it doesn't necessarily need to be directly dps oriented.
A speed and MP regen buff would work well, like Arrow+Ewer, now that theyre gone. It would play into their strengths, and suit the water and wind elemental symbolism.

It still wouldnt have more than a marginal effect on dps though. For that they either need instant/shorter cast times, or just a flat potency buff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

That said, I do think WHM should get some utility, but it doesn't necessarily need to be directly dps oriented.
A speed and MP regen buff would work well, like Arrow+Ewer, now that theyre gone. It would play into their strengths, and suit the water and wind elemental symbolism.

It still wouldnt have more than a marginal effect on dps though. For that they either need instant/shorter cast times, or just a flat potency buff.

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I could see the Ewer, but +%Attack Speed is essentially just +%Damage but with direct damage being more greatly affected (10% attack speed = 11.1% bonus direct damage over time) while periodic damage and abilities benefit naught.

It was actually kind of a wonder to me that Thin Air didn't... you know... affect the area (air?) around you? That might actually over-solidify WHM as the progression healer of choice, and wholly deservedly this time, but even a more minor spread effect would be significant.

Meanwhile, honestly, I'd just love to see some manner of oGCD full-cleanse on charges (maybe via... Fluid Aura) and a target, point-AoE, or affected-area movement speed buff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

That said, I do think WHM should get some utility, but it doesn't necessarily need to be directly dps oriented.
A speed and MP regen buff would work well, like Arrow+Ewer, now that theyre gone. It would play into their strengths, and suit the water and wind elemental symbolism.

It still wouldnt have more than a marginal effect on dps though. For that they either need instant/shorter cast times, or just a flat potency buff.

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I could see the Ewer, but +%Attack Speed is essentially just +%Damage but with direct damage being more greatly affected (10% attack speed = 11.1% bonus direct damage over time) while periodic damage and abilities benefit naught.

It was actually kind of a wonder to me that Thin Air didn't... you know... affect the area (air?) around you? That might actually over-solidify WHM as the progression healer of choice, and wholly deservedly this time, but even a more minor spread effect would be significant.

Meanwhile, honestly, I'd just love to see some manner of oGCD full-cleanse on charges (maybe via... Fluid Aura) and a target, point-AoE, or affected-area movement speed buff.

Aside from that, though, I just want some more responsive heals (which it seems we're getting, though I'm not a huge fan of what just amounts to a fancy shared-charge system), and to either be compensated for casts per fight lost to poor weaving or to have easier weaving. Heck, even just a Thundercloud-esque Aero II/III proc would probably do wonders.

Separately...

Let's also not forget that %Healing_GCDs has a feedback loop of sorts. The more your combination of healers loses by your filling the shared duty of a given GCD heal, the more likely you will (and should) make the other healer perform that heal. For this reason, one of the easiest ways to screw over "WHM dps" (although an irrelevant metric, as only the healer-pair's total actually matters) is to simply give WHM better GCD healing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

That said, I do think WHM should get some utility, but it doesn't necessarily need to be directly dps oriented.
A speed and MP regen buff would work well, like Arrow+Ewer, now that theyre gone. It would play into their strengths, and suit the water and wind elemental symbolism.

It still wouldnt have more than a marginal effect on dps though. For that they either need instant/shorter cast times, or just a flat potency buff.

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Yeah was thinking this yesterday, even came up with a fun mechanic. Need to remind myself to post it for entertainment value...

Afflatus Misery - WHM Trick Attack, problem solved.

Most of you all are preaching to the choir. I think the healing kit issues are the more serious ones. If tetra had 2 charges and the afflatus spells were oGCD, maybe? I'd argue lillies should generate every 20s.

There is a perception floating around that WHM slings enough damage to offset not having a party buff, and that is patently false. I'm focusing on the lack of a party buff to point out that, if anything, it should be the other way around.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Was just about the post this myself.

Josco, your PPS calculations make the assumption each spell is being cast constantly....

Fact is, this isn't possible. The much larger factor here is that WHMs entire spellset is probitive to oGCD weaving, which results in a lot of clipping.
SCH has more DoTs (or did have) and more instant GCDs meaning weaving oGCD heals and buffs doesnt impact pDPS as much.
AST has shorter cast times and buffs to shorten them even further, thus less clipping and more pDPS uptime.

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Exactly my point. WHM is designed as a reactive healer, but has the fewest tools with which to react. SCH is supposedly a proactive healer, but has a far better kit for reacting to damage than WHM. AST does, too (to a lesser extent).

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Originally Posted by Hustensaft

-snip-

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You can say there is no case, but there clearly is. This is just one example. Of the tens of thousands of logs, AST and SCH come out on top by a noticeable amount even given the potency differences. The other 2 healers offer one while WHM does not, and there is no evidence to suggest WHM will have the pDPS to match the others or offset the buffs. In fact, the numbers all point the other way.

You are dead on about the reason, though--WHM's healing kit forces them to use far more GDCs, interrupt casts to move (losing more hidden GCDs), and does not reward knowing the fight as well as AST/SCH.

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Originally Posted by IttyBitty

The raid buffs contribute a lot to the discrepancy, but it's not just them. SCH and AST's mobility blows WHM out of the water, and they both have an easier time working with their oGCDs without clipping.

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Exactly. The biggest DPS gain WHM received from the new changes was actually using fewer GCDs to refresh DoTs. It's ~19 PPS gain vs the 10 PPS gain from Misery (which costs 13.3 PPS to use).

If WHM is going to give a party buff I think it would be best to do it as a channeling ability. This would give you a tactical decision to apply regens early to potentially mitigate incomming damage. Make it a 10 second channel that increases damage in a small area around you. It would be specifically useful for phase pushes and it wouldn't be another boring win button.

All I'm seeing here is that Scholar needs a potency nerf.

Maybe removing Shadowflare and Energy Drain, and then more or less equalizing the spam and DoTs.

One could also feasibly reduce the value of cards to make Astrologian vs White mage a more compelling choice.

1. Afflatus skills should be oGCD
2. Introduce a trait that makes PoM AoE
3. Give back Divine Seal and Aero 3
4. Revert PI back to its current state
5. Tetra and/or Divine Benis receive charges


666. Afflatus Misery causes Vuln Up to its primary target :cool::cool::cool:

The fact that SE saw the WHM complaints about too much GCD clipping and mobility issues and decided to give us instant heals on the GCD really shows how disconnected they are.
Whenever someone mentioned mobility issues and clipping, they were referring to DPS, not healing.
And then to lock our DPS ability behind a healing requirement. This was literally what we said we hated about lilies and you did it again. Was the 90s CD not enough by itself?

If WHM ever does get utility, you can bet it's going to be extremely poorly handled like everything else on this job has been.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

It was actually kind of a wonder to me that Thin Air didn't... you know... affect the area (air?) around you? That might actually over-solidify WHM as the progression healer of choice, and wholly deservedly this time, but even a more minor spread effect would be significant.

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This would allow BLMs to spam Fire IV, pausing only to refresh their Astral Fire. Combined that with AST cards and DNC and you just created a meta where BLM is absolutely dominate. Thin Air is far too strong an ability to ever be made AoE.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kabooa

All I'm seeing here is that Scholar needs a potency nerf.

Maybe removing Shadowflare and Energy Drain, and then more or less equalizing the spam and DoTs.

One could also feasibly reduce the value of cards to make Astrologian vs White mage a more compelling choice.

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To somewhat bounce off of this comment:

The potencies in 5.0 with the curent toolkits actually look decently balanced. I'm of the mind that shadowflare and ED should be reinstated to improve gameplay and flow for SCH, but this should either come at a potency cost accross the DPS toolkit or the other healers should be given similar tools (a bit like how we've been asking for a dps ogcd for WHM over the past 2 years). Probably a combination of both.
The reason for adding them back in is to avoid a lot of clipping and instant GCD casts that we have no skill to weave into. Both of these make for clunky gameplay that just isn't enjoyable.
As it stands Ruin II is not a viable single weave option and opportunities to double weave will be sparse. It's a great opportunity to add both the aforementioned skills back in and nerf broil a little. We would get more to weave, a needed stack dump, and at the same time Ruin II would benefit from the broil nerf and become viable for single weaving (although the mana cost may be an issue depending on 5.0 management). Cue huge gameplay improvement over the current iteration.
Just putting them back in as they were without contingencies will not be helpful however.

As far as WHM is concerned, it's a bit tricky to judge on potencies alone. Some of the things that made them lag behind in pDPS despite having higher potency skills have been removed from other healers, some haven't. How much this reduces the gap between them is pretty hard to tell without seeing damage patterns in encounters (for me at least). My gut feeling is that the current potencies aren't enough to make up for some of the other healer's toolkits and their rDPS contributions.
With that said, as long as WHM pDPS is roughly equivalent to other healer's pDPS+rDPS, WHM doesn't require party utility, it should be a non issue unless I'm missing something? The issue obviously being that that's never been the case up to now.

All WHM would need, imo, is one buff. And it's a simple one, one that's been staple to the WHM job through the series.

Haste/Hastega

Idk how long it should last or how long its CDs could be. I'll leave that for you guys to theorize. But srsly, I feel it's all a WHM would need for a buff. And like I said, it's been a staple WHM spell since ever.

Gimme Haste, Brave, Faith, Enholy/Enwind or something, just give us fun white magic spells which make our party love us yayyy lol