are WHMs hard to come by?

[Chiramu]

Rather than white mages being hard to come by, my thoughts are as followed:
I believe the class/job is too bland for a lot players. Compared to a scholar, a white mage has a very small bread&butter skill kit. Resulting that those, who prefer a more active and dexterous class, prefer Scholar over White Mage.

I am WHM main and I just can't get into SCH at all. I am used to my slower heals and I adore my Stoneskin . WHM is a dexterous healer, but you sound like a SCH to a WHM Lyrica .

[Cynfael]

I am WHM main and I just can't get into SCH at all. I am used to my slower heals and I adore my Stoneskin . WHM is a dexterous healer, but you sound like a SCH to a WHM Lyrica .

Slower heals, yet dexterous? SCH is definitely the faster-paced, "dexterous" class, being able to effectively juggle more tasks simultaneously. I'd probably describe WHM as being more about flow and pacing; SCH gets billed as the strategist, but I find that WHM benefits even more from planning several steps ahead in a fight.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

I am WHM main and I just can't get into SCH at all. I am used to my slower heals and I adore my Stoneskin . WHM is a dexterous healer, but you sound like a SCH to a WHM Lyrica .

I'm a main white mage that's a part-time scholar. I can play both classes adequately for endgame content - Although I haven't played scholar for FCOB yet. White Mage in no case requires more dexterity than playing Scholar. Prime example would be the fact Scholars have a fairy to manage. A decent scholar worth their salt can and will micro their fairy. Fairy micro involves manually (pre-)casting embraces, managing buffs, placement and location awareness. Side note: There are plenty of scholars who simply don't place their fairy or forget all about it and don't notice when it gets knocked out of position.

A white mage bread&butter skill set doesn't involve a lot of multi-tasking: You either cast X spell for Y moment or prepare A player for B damage. Simply because the class itself doesn't allow you to multi-task while casting spells. I specifically mentioned "class itself" here. Playing White Mage requires a completely different mindset than Scholars. Playing a White Mage means maintaining vigilance, have awareness and be able to anticipate. A good healer does all that on either class, but it's more punishing on a White Mage than on a Scholar. Even if your mistakes do not directly lead to deaths, party members might find it to be uncomfortable to have you as a healer if they're not healed up within a certain time frame*. Tanks and DPS players don't care about how healing works as long their HP bars get filled in time.

So aside from White Mage being a bland class for the majority of the player base, I'll add in the following: White mages are highly under appreciated and is not a class fit for those who seek fame and glory**. I mean, ever seen someone praise your incredible HPS vs overheal% ratio or your pinpoint pre-casting?

* Assuming the meta where the scholar babysits the tanks mainly and the white mage takes care of the group as well as contributing to tank healing.
** Good scholars get a bit more recognition if they manage to dish out a respectable amount of damage while keeping the tanks/party healthy. They also get less "bard-aggro" if there's a situation where you run out of MP.

Also: This definitely deserves a quote simply because it deserves it!

Slower heals, yet dexterous? SCH is definitely the faster-paced, "dexterous" class, being able to effectively juggle more tasks simultaneously. I'd probably describe WHM as being more about flow and pacing; SCH gets billed as the strategist, but I find that WHM benefits even more from planning several steps ahead in a fight.