What makes WHM special? Nothing anymore.

[Cynfael]

Again, "fast, cheap heals" would land AST in the ghetto. It's all about healing and DPS efficiency, and having to cast more heals for the same effect would be a terrible design.

[NorthernLadMSP]

I've seen the whole "faster, cheaper heals should equal weaker" a few times now, and I have to say, I do not agree.

The only aspects of AST that are super fast pertain to their access to the Benefic II proc (random based on RNG), Aspected Benefic and Lightspeed (which has a lengthy cooldown). Besides these three things, there is nothing else remotely fast about AST. All of their other heals have the same cast times as skills like Cure/Cure II/Physick, Medica/Medica II, Succor etc.

EDIT: I forgot about Essential Dignity. However, the other healers have the same (if not better) instant heals as WHM with Assize, Bene and Tetra and SCH with Indom and Lustrate.

[Raso]

Well an AST gets natural 5% cast time reduction with Diurnal sect, this also reduces the GCD. They are always 5% faster than a WHM in the same gear and equivalent stance. That is why all the spells were weaker in power IE the 380 potency on Benefic vs the 400 potency of Cure, they were balanced by having Diurnal active.

Now increasing Diurnal's effect and Nocturnal as well would have balanced things out while still making an AST better throughput wise without CDs like they are now but they would not be the same as WHM.

[GideonHighmourn]

Well an AST gets natural 5% cast time reduction with Diurnal sect, this also reduces the GCD. They are always 5% faster than a WHM in the same gear and equivalent stance. That is why all the spells were weaker in power IE the 380 potency on Benefic vs the 400 potency of Cure, they were balanced by having Diurnal active.

Which doesn't matter at all when it comes to actual healing throughput, unless you are chain casting constantly. The 5% speed bonus on Dirunal may as well not exist, honestly. It doesn't do anything to actually increase the amount that you heal.

5% cast speed did not make up for the lower potency, period.

There is nothing wrong with Benefic II being the same potency as Cure II, at all. Baseline heals mean very little in terms of class identity; CDs and playstyle are much larger factors, which you and the majority of people whining that WHM isn't special enough since AST's buffs seem to leave out of the picture.

[Raso]

Then why is Spell Speed a WHM's second best stat next to PIE? Heck its even better than Determination, Spell speed helps out a lot actually. The only thing that the +spell speed -Potency hurts is Aspected Helios which probably should have been buffed anyway.

[GideonHighmourn]

Then why is Spell Speed a WHM's second best stat next to PIE? Heck its even better than Determination, Spell speed helps out a lot actually. The only thing that the +spell speed -Potency hurts is Aspected Helios which probably should have been buffed anyway.

What does WHM's stat priority have to do with AST's haste effect? They are completely separate classes. May as well bring up Crit being preferred for SCHs, while we're at it.

[NorthernLadMSP]

Then why is Spell Speed a WHM's second best stat next to PIE? Heck its even better than Determination, Spell speed helps out a lot actually. The only thing that the +spell speed -Potency hurts is Aspected Helios which probably should have been buffed anyway.

I've never seen a WHM prefer Spell Speed OVER Determination. And I completely agree with Gideon. The 5% spell speed buff is completely unnoticeable. Not only do I never notice any difference on my AST vs. my WHM vs. my SCH, I also never notice a difference when I switch from Nocturnal to Diurnal. The only aspect that is actually noticeable between sects is the 5% healing bonus on Nocturnal, because you can visibly see the larger numbers.

[Cynfael]

Then why is Spell Speed a WHM's second best stat next to PIE?

Because it isn't.

[Lastelli]

Then why is Spell Speed a WHM's second best stat next to PIE? Heck its even better than Determination, Spell speed helps out a lot actually. The only thing that the +spell speed -Potency hurts is Aspected Helios which probably should have been buffed anyway.

Are you suggesting that since WHM benefits from spell speed, it should be a defining characteristic of that class? (interpretation based on Gideon's answer to you)
Or that it is so important that it's natural for AST base potencies to be lower if their gcd is faster?

In the first case, no, a secondary stat doesn't define a job, especially when gear is changed frequently and has different secondary stats (or we should say that SCH no longer has an identity because of low crit on new gear).
In the second case, no, the sect bonus is there simply because of AST's lack of healing skills when compared with SCH and WHM and it's not even that usefull anyway. It's only natural for AST to have slightly higher potency on their regular skills (or a slightly faster CD) since they have way less spells and skills to heal to begin with.

CDs and playstyle are much larger factors, which you and the majority of people whining that WHM isn't special enough since AST's buffs seem to leave out of the picture.

This. A 100HP difference in basic healing spells or a 5% gcd speed don't define a class, unless we want to argue that WHM's identity changes every time new gear is introduced, spell speed is increased and spells become stronger.

[Cynfael]

To elaborate briefly, spell speed and and other effects that increase overall attack speed have little value for healing purposes; mechanics are scripted and very often telegraph themselves besides, so knowing when and how to heal (i.e. being good) largely negates the benefit of added speed, especially since most healing spells have low base casting times already.

Spell speed does positively impact DPS, but healers rarely have the opportunity to hard cast enough Stone IIIs, Malefic IIs, and Broils to take full advantage. I'm not sure of spell speed's exact impact on HoTs and DoTs, but it doesn't seem to be huge at current ilvls.