Why does White Mage feel so bland?

[Gist]

Let me make my dissent clear, since I don't believe I've done a good job of it so far.

It's not that WHM as a class is underpowered (Benediction, Asylum), but rather, less rewarding for the effort input than the other two healers, and I think that over time, this ... mechanical gap will only widen, due to this being the simplest healing class. In the broad aspect of things, most healers play white mage, and that's not deniable given the simplicity of the class. However, with recent changes, people are going to get more bang for their buck by playing AST (not only because it's shiny and new, but because it also has unique utility that WHM currently doesn't offer). The tools that WHM has to heal are dwarfed in comparison to the amount that both other classes have to keep their parties alive (2 kits rather than 1).