Stat Priority as a WHM.

[DarkerOrange]

MND is far more important than any secondary stat in this game. Unless you stack secondary stats to 600+ values then you won't really notice much difference, and an extra 20 points or whatever of crit from the i130 belt will not make much, if any, noticeable difference.

[Sebazy]

I use a pair of ironworks rings as opposed to ironworks/dreadwing for example, but that's due to the double whammy of the no Pie ontop of the DW ring being particularly bad vs the Ironworks which is particularly good.

However, I'm in the same boat as you for belts (T11 is a cruel mistress) and I went with the Ironworks, 3 mnd outweighs 9 det imo leaving the crit and extra point of pie as a little sweetener ontop <3

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Yeah, sufficient to say, I couldn't disagree more with Lyrica ^_^

especially the idea that 20-30 extra hp on a cure would save anyone. lol. Not a chance.

secondaries matter <-> that much for healing. That's just how the game is designed. I know theory crafters want it to be more complex. It just isn't.

I'm not saying that 20-30 extra healing will save someone, it can save someone. Unlike spellspeed, no matter how much you stack, you can't squeeze in another spell so that's 0 extra healing within the same time frame. So yes, spell speed is still useless and garbage

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Well, here's a question guys.

For example. Is it worth ever going for the High Allagan gear, over the augmented Ironworks gear for the secondary stats?

Like, main culprit, Ironworks Belt VS High Allagan Belt. Piety + Crit VS Piety + Det.

Main thing I do, is never go for crit. I hate the mechanic on it and it provides little to nothing to a WHM at all. Apart from RNG.

Yet, is the MND lost from goign for the high allagan belt that big of a loss?

9 determination has a bit less value than 3 mind. So on that, no, it's not worth it. Aside from trading in the 3 mind for 9 det, you're also losing out on: 3 vitality, 1 piety, 14 crit and a bit of defensive stats.

[Jeckyl_Tesla]

Thanks all!

[Cynfael]

I'm not saying that 20-30 extra healing will save someone, it can save someone. Unlike spellspeed, no matter how much you stack, you can't squeeze in another spell so that's 0 extra healing within the same time frame. So yes, spell speed is still useless and garbage

With this game being built around a base 2.5 second GCD and encounters being scripted accordingly, I don't see spell speed becoming less garbage for healers until they overhaul it to do something useful for Jobs besides BLM.

A dozen threads later and I still don't understand why any healer would consciously prioritize spell speed given the option.

[Raminax]

A dozen threads later and I still don't understand why any healer would consciously prioritize spell speed given the option.

I think the reason is obvious, although I don't feel like making this sub-forum my enemy. :P

[Cynfael]

I think the reason is obvious, although I don't feel like making this sub-forum my enemy. :P

The problem is that marginally faster heals aren't very beneficial when you already know when the damage is coming.

And by marginal, we're talking about hundredths of a second shaved off of primary healing spells....

[Sebazy]

A big factor in this discussion that seems to be getting overlooked is that until FCOB, SS on healers simply didn't bring as much to the table as DET or arguably even Crit, whilst all 3 secondaries offered up a small boost in potential HPS, SS simply didn't offer any kind of efficiency gain whatsoever, if you weren't chain casting it was a completely dead stat whilst the cast time reduction was small enough that if you weren't going to land a heal in time in DET gear, you weren't going to land in SS gear either.

FCOB saw a greater reliance on raw damage throughput with far fewer gimmick one shot mechanics. Take T10's add phase for example, on my main (Focusing on PIE but with a boatload of unavoidable SS), I can hit PoM as the adds are due and stoneskin all DPS + both heals safely before the first Prey completely trivialising the double prey mechanic (The SCH just has to put up succor and is free to otherwise DPS at will). On my alt with comparatively bad gear (Lots of crit for whatever reason) I can't quite do the same with at least 1 person typically being unshielded as the first prey hits.

The second example is in T13, both earthshakers and the flatten>breath x3 attacks hit somewhat faster than our GCD allows us to cast (2 or so seconds). All this SS on my mains gear makes phase 4 earthshakers that little less nerve wracking compared to my alt.

My point? Whilst I'm never going to willingly stack SS if I have a PIE+DET alternative, it's not the trash stat it used to be pre 2.4, it does have a use now at least. Not into FCOB? Gear as you like, it really doesn't matter.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Even in FCOB I personally have no use for spell speed. The examples you mentioned before doesn't really elaborate the uses for spell speed, though.

For the T10 stoneskin example, that's 6 stoneskins maximum. If you know when the transition is, you could pre-stoneskin some people before electrocharge is even being cast and finish the rest while it's being cast, adds appear and perhaps even when Pray's going out. It's a simple matter of planning ahead. Or to be precise: 18 seconds before Prey goes off. It's already a good 8 seconds or so once electrocharge is being cast and the only person taking damage between wild charge and electrocharge would be a potential second crit rip on the tank.

So skipping two turns and going for the more "hardest" example would be T13. You mentioned earthshakers and flatten>breath. But how does spellspeed help here? There are roughly 2 seconds between each flarebreath and a bit more (3?) after a flatten. You'd need so much spell speed that your GCD is reduced by 0,50s at least. No amount of spell speed with the current gear will achieve that. Much like with the T10 example, it all comes down to planning. With proper planning, spell speed isn't going to contribute anything. BCOB, SCOB or FCOB.