White mage remain gimp because the can go scholar on real content?

[KisaiTenshi]

Side note:
It irks me when people list Benediction as an asset. It's a gimmik that rarely proves it's usefulness (literally, rarely; its a f'n 5 min cooldown).
You will never, ever, ever, ever, heal 100% of a players HP with Bene. The most, best, and unlikeliest scenario is that you hit a Holm'd WAR at 1HP, to get a 10K+ heal, and that's still only 99.99%. NOT 100%.
Bene is best used in the midst of a Holy spamm during speed runs.
I would gladly trade Bene for 50% reduction in the cooldown on SoS, DS or PoM.

Benediction is effectively useless.

The conditions to use it are basically:
- Healing target is within range (if you miss, you heal yourself)
- Healing target is less than 100%, but you're likely only ever to use it if the target is at 10% and that target is another healer.

Sure, you could use it to pull a Tank's ass out of the fire, but they're just going to die anyway if they're taking that much damage to begin with. You're delaying the inevitable by 5 seconds. It's best used when another healer is in trouble so they don't end up with 0MP if revived and become useless for at least a minute for them to recover enough MP to do something.

Maining WHM, this is what I do, and I suspect others do more or less:
- Do not Healbomb (eg Medica II, Medica, or Cure III) unless there is incoming party-wide damage. If you know the mechanics, you know to start casting before the damage hits so that the HP is recovered quickly. Proactively using Medica II just makes you a magnet for everything and the Tank has to re-gain enmity from you. Practice on Ultima Weapon.
- Use Cure I exclusively until there is enough damage being pulled to require a Cure II. This is why the number of mobs a tank pulls can vary depending on the healer. A healer that didn't minmax healing potency is going to not like the Tank that speedpulls.
- Use Regen on Tanks that pull more than one mob set. It however does increase the Enmity rate, so the Tank has to work harder.
- Use StoneSkin (or at least attempt to) before the Tank runs off to pull something.
- Use Protect before the party leaves the starting point.

Everything else in a party is generally not used except in a boss room. You shouldn't need to use Shroud of Saints or Divine Seal during trash pulls. If you do, the Tank is pulling too much or you are way undergeared for the dungeon. The CD's on these effectively make them not useful except for predictable boss room mechanics. Using them during trash pulls results in the Tank overestimating what can be pulled since the CD's are too long to use for speedpulls.

[DreamWeaver]

If your mind set of Benediction is "This skill recovers 100% HP!! I must only use this skill when my target's life is extremely low to get the most out of it!!", you're gonna have a bad time.

Benediction should be used to prepare a Tank FOR big hits.
Benediction should not be used to heal a Tank FROM big hits.

If your tank is at 70% HP and the Tank Buster cast bar's already at 50%, you should use Benediction before the Tank Buster and then heal your tank up from the Tank Buster damage. If you wanna wait to use Benediction after the Tank Buster has already been casted, there's a chance that your poor Tank may get 1 shot.

Yeah it sucks that the Benediction only heals the Tank for 30% life, but on the other hand, this may just have saved your Tank from dying, and thus preventing a wipe.

Now, is "May just have saved your Tank from dying, and thus preventing a wipe" good enough for a 5 minute CD? I would say no...But hey, still better than Tri Disaster/Freeze/Feint right? .

If possible, I would love to see Benediction reworked so that it heals 50% and be on a 3 minute CD. This, IMHO will increase the utility of Benediction tremendously.

[radioactive_lego]

...
Benediction should be used to prepare a Tank FOR big hits.
Benediction should not be used to heal a Tank FROM big hits.
...
If possible, I would love to see Benediction reworked so that it heals 50% and be on a 3 minute CD. This, IMHO will increase the utility of Benediction tremendously.

I, for one, don't have the situational awareness to toss Bene (of all my available spells, Bene is the last that comes to mind) on an injured tank during an enemy cast, unless it's an incredibly slow cast. Besides (assuming 10kHP tank), Swift+Graniteskin Gives 18oo vs 3ooo for Bene. If the party wipes because the tank was 12oo "short", well, it was prolly gonna wipe anyhoo.

As for and relating to the OP/WHM vs SCH ragedebate; I agree 50%/3m would help in "fixing" Bene, but would still appear very gimped when compared to SCH AetherFlustrate. That, and I get it's a balancing act and SE wants to preserve the uniqueness of each class, So I would keep it a 100%/5m and:

- Add SS
or
- Add 10% Dmg reduction/20s
or
- Add 25% TP/MP restoration
or
- Add Holy damage to target weapon
or
- ...
In other words, make bene a big deal, like other skills on everlong timers (Hallowed Ground).

[Virevolte]

Saved the Warrior at 800HP yesterday during T10 adds phase. He was back at 10 000HP. I was focusing on healing the Paladin.
The raid continues. When you have lots of things to do, a Benediction is always welcome.

[Sebazy]

Bene is handy if you try to plan it's usage more rather than just using it as a emergency button.

A good example would be using it to catch back up on tank healing if you've lost a GCD due to raising or healing damage elsewhere. Few things are as demoralising in T13 as raising a goofing DPS only to lose the MT a few seconds later.

[Vena_Sera]

You guys have a very narrow perspective about how useful Bene actually is. Because WHM is such a gcd dependent job oGCD skills, such as bene and swiftcast, are great tools relieve yourself from just trying to use it in "oh shit" moments.

Just a general example: Megaflare > breath > rage happens. You can simply Medica 2 > Swiftcast Medica > and bene in the oGCD if anyone is in danger of dying. Whether it be your tank isnt topped for or after the breath before the Rage + auto attacks.

Like I said, just a general example. But it's use supersedes just needing it when your tank drops uncomfortably low.

[gehrtalert]

Benediction is awesome. No cast time. No mp cost. Full health almost instantly. A better cooldown is all you can complain about.

[radioactive_lego]

Benediction is awesome. No cast time. No mp cost. Full health almost instantly. A better cooldown is all you can complain about.

Benediction is crap when compared to AetherFlustrate. That's really the point of this thread, no?

[DarkmoonVael]

Benediction is crap when compared to AetherFlustrate. That's really the point of this thread, no?

Nope really isnt. Try that out in actual hard content like t13 and you will see exactly how you have to spend those aetherflow stacks (i will give you a clue, a lot of them go on sacred soil, you dont get to lustrate like mad). Benediction is exceptionally powerful.

[Its_Elodie]

Another one of these threads? When you actually, I dunno, play both of the classes, you can see the strengths and weaknesses of both. Why is it all of these threads are about hearsay and not the OP speaking from personal experience? Oh yeah, because when you play both you can actually see they are both strong classes on their own with variable individual weaknesses. The two work really well together. A smart static would have both in group, not two sch's or two whm's. If anything, other than what's already been stated, I think there's a smaller margin for error for WHM's from a greater need for mana management compared to SCH. It's not hard to do if you know how to play the class though.