Isnt it time that white mages got buffed to level of Schoalr already?

[Pots_Talos]

SCH is awesome, check out this thread http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Dungeon-Solos
I'm not saying WHM should be able to do that also but SCH is a really powerful job.

[Manuka]

Numbers and utility wise SCH is legitimately OP compared to a WHM just look at Pots post or check out the recent Turn 9 SCH solo heal, a feat that would be pretty difficult for a WHM without Bard's on standby. However the issue is a bit more nuanced than that. If we consider only healing throughput the WHM is king simply because their raw power with a couple skill presses = raid saved. A SCH has power but it's precision power, they have to properly weave in Succors and Adlo's to prevent damage from escalating beyond your control since your only good raid healing has a 1/3 uptime, when to properly debuff/mitigate and whether blowing their stacks is the right decision in a given situation relative to when Aetherflow comes off CD. Because of the much higher skill floor/ceiling required to play SCH at peak efficiency they are backed up with much greater numbers to prevent average and below-average SCH's from needlessly whipping raids.

Look at it from this angle; WHM gets buffed with a consistent form of MP sustain on par with SCH. This wouldn't make the class more intricate or fairer it would simply drop the skill ceiling even further while providing a massive power spike that would make WHM's faceroll content. While on the other end, if they nerfed SCH's numbers it wouldn't just reduce power it would also raise the skill floor since the decision-making required to play the class decently remains untouched. This the problem with binary 'ease-of-use' kits like WHM's, they either gimp their power or are forced to introduce limiters (MP limitations/ long CD's) to gate it. The only way they can legitimately buff WHM's (at least sustain wise) is by introducing some form of class gimmick that controls their power spikes, think Greased Lightning, Umbral/Astral, Aetherflow, Wrath, etc.

[wizzed]

Weird, when scholar just came out people were saying scholar sucks, it's the other way round now?

[Velox]

snip

That's because people were playing SCH like WHM instead of as a preemptive mitigator. Its only now, with all the kinks worked out, that people realize that mitigation is more useful in endgame vs straight recovery. One has to simply look at the old PLD vs WAR threads pre-2.1 to see how important mitigation is in FFXIV.

I'm not saying WHM is useless, it does function to some extent (if only as a 1-trick pony), but no one can deny that SCH brings so much more utility to the party on top of being able to heal, thus making SCH a much more valuable resource without the MP constraints and enmity issues of WHM. The problem with WHM (other than being a 1-trick pony) is that it suffers much of the same problem BLM is facing. It has a singular niche (AoE) when 99% of endgame requires ST healing. On top of that it is a turret class and can only be effective when not having to run around, a problem that BLM is also currently suffering from in endgame.

[Bigpurpleharness]

Weird, when scholar just came out people were saying scholar sucks, it's the other way round now?

Only stupid people.

[fanservice]

That's because people were playing SCH like WHM instead of as a preemptive mitigator. Its only now, with all the kinks worked out, that people realize that mitigation is more useful in endgame vs straight recovery.

Only stupid people.

Inaccurate generalizations.

Weird, when scholar just came out people were saying scholar sucks, it's the other way round now?

Huge portion of the issue was pet control UI was lacking (eos being the SCH's best source of aoe healing), and the scars of pre 2.1 titan HM putting extra emphasis on the need for AOE healing (pre echo: Fight went on longer. More tumults. More AOE healing was needed, which punished SCHs who only had succor since it was a poor/ineffecient tool to recover from damage already dealt. SCHs first succor mitigated ~400 damage from the first tumult per person. Recovering after that was a 400ish heal for the same MP cost as medica, but half as powerful), plus Medica 2's HOT was twice as powerful which made SCH aoe healing look like total crap in comparison. Considering back then titan was the wall in the way of getting into coil, that was a big deal.

With all of the above was addressed, and fights with intense need of consistent AOE healing are not as frequently attempted by the masses (what few that are done by pugs are subject to echo) WHM aoe healing power isn't as necessary anymore, and SCH single target healing potential through adloquium crits, lustrate (not even sure why they buffed this by 5% while I was away, but w/e), and a more intuitive pet UI allowed SCHs to shine.

In case you don't know the pet UI issue back then, the short version was after commanding your fairy to use embrace, you constantly needed to stop the fairy from automatically using other more important cooldowns as soon as she was able. Needless to say, it made timing the fairy's tools a little unreliable outside of spamming embrace.

[AngelicSence]

I think every class should have + and - when we play them.

They shouldn't be all equal. We can't also forget that it's all about player skills and not
class disadvantage. White mages can solo some dungeons too, even on HM.

White mages have.. Divine seal (30% healing boost), Benediction (instant 100% recovery), presence of mind (50% casting boost at will), Holy (AoE spell with stun, 220 potency with cleric stance. 2nd powerful AoE in the game next to flare).

However, WHMs have to face with those two problems: MP and Enmity. While it's true that MP is not that big issue once we get our pie gear, it's hard to deal with enmity due to powerful single healing abilities. Unlike Scholars, we put extra pressure on a tanker. We either need another enmity reduction spell/skill or make shroud of saints scale with our natural mp regeneration by --%.

[Vlady]

To say that white mages posess more emergancy/wipe abilities then scholars is a flawed notion. Lustrate x6 a scholar can possibly line up to heal up half a raid in seconds along with rouse/fey from a fairy which will churn out 1200 point heals per cast is more then enough to clean up a mess. If its worse then that then there would be no help to be had for a wipe coming anyway.

[fanservice]

To say that white mages posess more emergancy/wipe abilities then scholars is a flawed notion.

Didn't think people still believed that. Anyone with sense who seen lustrate since 2.0 should prefer that over benediction.

[Dixon]

Have you ever considered maybe your WHM players just suck? Personally, I prefer to have one of each since scholars have a hard time healing when more than 2 people are in the red, especially since it takes them 3+casts to heal what a WHM can do in just 1.

SCH is great in many cases as long as they are keeping galvanize up, but when things start getting really ugly, I start wishing there was a WHM instead.