Pros and Cons of each Healer Role

[zuzu-bq]

If you mean about heals, yeah WHM will always be the one with the most powerfull healing. But any healer can do fine on their own as long as you know how to play it.

[Yhisa]

AST
Pros:
Highest potential for total party contibution
Very accessible insta heals
Better AoE healing than SCH.
Best mobility

Cons:
Unreliable cards; therefore, unreliable contibutions
Gravity is level 60

Erm what? Have u played AST?

Ast got the best HoT in the game no other healer can get 4-5k HoT on a none tank... If tank ur looking at a 6-7k hot instead, AST is also the strongest healer for AoE healing due to its kit it stomps WHM hard

Also AST can dish out insane AoE damage if done correctly

All i can say is "USE UR KIT" if u dont use ur kit stop playing ast xD

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Erm what? Have u played AST?

Ast got the best HoT in the game no other healer can get 4-5k HoT on a none tank... If tank ur looking at a 6-7k hot instead, AST is also the strongest healer for AoE healing due to its kit it stomps WHM hard

Also AST can dish out insane AoE damage if done correctly

All i can say is "USE UR KIT" if u dont use ur kit stop playing ast xD

"Best HoT in the game" requires a lot of set up time and it isn't always available. At best you can have 180 potency healing under normal circumstances, an extra 150 with Collective Unconsciousness, which has a 90s CD and an extra 20% on Aspected Benefic and/or -Helios through Synastry with an identical CD. Set up time requires 5.5s recast/casting time and an additional "idle time" up to 3 seconds. HoT totals up to 366 potency at the cost of 2 abilities and maybe a third or fourth, depending whether you use Time Dilation and/or Celestial Opposition. The healing effect difference on tanks only applies when healing modifiers are applied and do not create an additional 50% potency worth.

As for the AoE healing, how does it "stomp white mage hard"? In raw strength, the spell potencies are pretty similar. Divine Seal adds 10% more potency than Synastry and not to mention having access to Assize and Cure III (If the group happens to be stacked for that). If you were referring to Light Speed, Light Speed doesn't actually increase the healing output. Helios recast time is still 2,5s with or without Light Speed. Presence of Mind, however, does reduce the recast time.

Holy has the same potency as Gravity. Astrologians do not have access to Aero III and assize, however.

Now, I'm not saying that Astrologian is inferior to White Mage. But the way you are describing Astrologian is simply misleading.

[NorthernLadMSP]

WHM
AST
Pros:
Highest potential for total party contibution
Very accessible insta heals
Better AoE healing than SCH.
Best mobility

Cons:
Unreliable cards; therefore, unreliable contibutions
Gravity is lvl 60

No, Gravity is not level 60 - it is level 52.

[Oohlalaheals]

I play all three, and since you've already gotten some more in depth answers I will just give a quick comparison

AST- Fast big heals, and some awesome buffs. The cards are random but that's part of the fun to me. Synastry is a huge life saver and Lightspeed is amazing to pop out some quick heals, or dps!

SCH- Medium heals and Shields. Lots of fun skills here with multiple shielding abilities and some large instant heals.The fairy is amazing. You can choose Eos for more healing or Selene to buff the dps.

WHM- Slow but potentially huge heals. There is of course Presence of Mind to help speed things up, and a couple of fancy things to instant cast, but even so it still feels overall slower than the other healers. WHM also requires the most mp management.

This is just from my perspective and playstyle. Most importantly they are better together. Where one lacks the other shines and when you are in party together you can feel the jive of having different types of heals going on

[Ghishlain]

White Mage
Bread and butter healer of the three. Very direct healing and very minimal raid utility (mostly from their cross class abilities). Also the only healing job available from Level 1 (CNJ) and thus a good starting block for any healer looking to get into the healing scene. Has the most variety of healing spells among all the healers in the game. Also requires the most standing time as they have the least amount of instant casts at their fingertips.
+Large variety of healing spells to select from
+A variety healing abilities on relatively short cool down that pushes more WHM HPS
+Highest burst DPS of the three healers
+Highest sustained HPS in AoE healing
-Lowest workable MP pool of the three
-Lowest raid utility of the three
-Least mobility of the three


Scholar
S-E's mythos places Scholars as the tactician of the healers. They are a strategist with their fairy providing additional support to their kit. This theme is shown in their job design. SCH employ a variety of cool downs from both themselves and their Fairy that are on short cool down to maintain party health and provide utility. Also they provide some of the most potent mitigation tools to prevent massive tank busters / party busters from wiping the group out. Because of the nature of their design, SCHs are less constrained by their MP and more constrained by their cool down usage - thus requiring a SCH to plan their kit usage more in advance than the other two healers.
+Fairy that provides free healing and raid healing / buffs that is completely independent from the SCH's contribution
+Highest sustained DPS of the three
+Highest workable MP pool of the three due to the nature of their kit
+Highest sustained single target healing
+Aetherflow abilities provide a lot of instantaneous healing
+Strongest burst AoE healing
+Best AoE Mitigation Potential
-Least "adaptable" to unexpected circumstances of the three due to kit design
-Least wipe recovery potential of the three once resources are expended


Diurnal Astrologian
Diurnal Sect is one of the healing paradigms AST can use when performing their healing role. This paradigm changes the Aspected spells to provide Healing over Time spells and the Sect bonus provides a 5% haste bonus. Thematically, the kit seems to be more about healing a bit faster and having gradual healing over the course of the fight. Astrologian as a whole also provides the highest raid utility / party augmentation in the form of their card buffs at the cost of being random.
+Highest raid utility / party augmentation buffs in the game
+Healing spells are at least 10% cheaper than equivalent spells from the other kits
+Arguably best MP management / sustainability of the three
+Best healing over time potential
-Raid utility comes at the cost of randomness
-Has to use more GCDs overall compared to the other healers
-Lowest self-DPS potential (potentially made up by card buffs)


Nocturnal Astrologian
Nocturnal Sect is one of the healing paradigms AST can use when performing their healing role. This paradigm changes the Aspected spells to provide shielding effects (mitigation) and the Sect bonus provides an additional 5% bonus to healing spells. Thematically, the kit is about power heals with more potent spells and an instant cast heal that is only restricted by the AST's MP pool. There is almost zero sustained healing with this kit. You're either healing or you're not. Astrologian as a whole also provides the highest raid utility / party augmentation in the form of their card buffs at the cost of being random.
+Highest raid utility / party augmentation buffs in the game
+Healing spells are at least 10% cheaper than equivalent spells from the other kits
+Arguably best MP management / sustainability of the three
+Strongest raw heals in the game due to Sect Bonus when compared to equal spells in other kits
+Instant cast heal with a consistent shield that is only restricted by the amount of MP the AST has remaining
-Raid utility comes at the cost of randomness
-Has to use more GCDs overall compared to the other healers
-Lowest self-DPS potential (potentially made up by card buffs)
-Almost no sustained HPS, requiring Nocturnal AST to commit more resources to heal the same amount as their counterparts

[HPDelron]

White Mage
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Scholar
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[B]Diurnal Astrologian[/B
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Nocturnal Astrologian
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Just posting to endorse this post. As I think it's the most accurate and unbiased post in the thread so far.

[Kaurie]

Scholar
Pros:
-Pet (heals while in Cleric Stance)
-Powerful shields
-Strong AoE regen or Attack speed buff
-Limitless (effectively) MP
-High sustained DPS
-Emergency Tactics
-Deployment Tactics
-E4E
-Supervirus

Cons:
-Wields a book
-Lowest HPS potential

White Mage
Pros:
-Strong heals
-Free MP procs
-Cure III
-Highest AoE range
-High burst DPS

Cons:
-Poor shielding/mitigation
-Few to no support buffs

Astrologian
Pros:
-Stance Dance, strong heals / mediocre shields
-Strong RNG focused team support/buffs
-Strong aoe heals
-Most mobile healer

Cons:
-Mostly has what the other two jobs have, but slightly less + RNG focused buffs

[Werhusky]

Scholar
Unlikely to be able to solo heal difficult fights.

Wutt D: I gotta disagree

Anyway

WHM pro:

- Burst heal
- Burst damage
- Tons of Regens
- Strong Instaheals

WHM con:

- DPS consumes mana fast as f**k
- No "boost for your DPS"

Diu AST pro:

- Cards
- Regens
- Backup Shield

Diu AST con:

- DPS is meeeeh
- Cards are RNG
- "Hatemanagement" meeeeeh

Noc AST pro:

- Instaheals
- Cards

Noc AST con:

- I don't like it it just bores me D:

SCH pro:

- DPS while healing due to fairy
- Fairy can boost heals or DPS
- "Endless Mana" if Energy Drain used
- Strong Instaheals

SCH con:

- AoE healing is mana consuming and/or costs stacks and/or has 30s CD
- If you pet dies you watse 7s if no swift up >.<
- "Slow" DPS/No burst
- Micro management of pet can be stressful

[NorthernLadMSP]

LMAO, I have to say I think it's quite amusing that some people are saying SCH has very powerful shields, while at the same time saying AST has mediocre shields - when, aside from the RNG based Adlo crit, AST shields are actually the same potency or slightly more potent due to the 5% buff in Noc stance.

EDIT: I should clarify I'm referring to Succor vs. Aspected Helios and the shields from Sacred Soil vs. Collective.