Which healer do you suggest and how to lvl

[Exiled_Tonberry]

Have to disagree here. WHM has the best CC (by far... SCH doesn't have *any* and AST gets one ability on a long CD) and burst DPS of all healers. The latter is especially relevant in dungeons, and in raids for burn phases/mechanic DPS checks.

I would agree with you, but as I'm sure you know CC is nearly, if not completely, useless in a raiding environment, which is where all the issues of what WHM offers matters.

If we're looking at dungeons, yes WHM is a very good asset to the group, it's issues with MP not mattering as much there. In raiding however, it's CC is useless, it's MP is a blatantly apparent issue, and their DPS is locked hard behind very short DoTs and ACC issues.
If their idea was to make WHM do well in dungeons and be horrible in raiding, which I very highly doubt, then they certainly have nailed it.

[Risvertasashi]

and their DPS is locked hard behind very short DoTs and ACC issues.

Read again more closely ~.^ I'm saying the DPS has utility in a raid environment, not the CC.

DoTs are a bit weird, Aero 1 being a DPS loss and Aero 2 being OK but meh. Aero 3, however, is pretty amazing even single target. But the burst DPS comes PoM + Stone III which is amazing even with accuracy issues. It can really help push anything in a fight that requires a sudden burst of DPS, which Alex has had and has in the current tier, sometimes primals have (ravana, bismarck, Zurvan, etc), and so on.

As I said way back on page 1... WHM is overshadowed. But horrible in raiding? No. It's a little behind the others, but it brings a lot to the table still. People are wont to turn "slightly behind" into a perception of "horrible", though, I'll grant that :/

edit: Which, come to think of it, is probably why the first post reads like it does, as though white mage is somehow an unplayable job..

[Bourne_Endeavor]

snip

Problem is, you will not have enough MP to maintain high DPS without forcing your Bard or Machinist to sing/turret for you, thus negating the small benefit you gained. Scholar jumps ahead in overall damage not due to potency but sustainability through excellent MP management. White Mage is by no means incapable of completing endgame content. It is, however, outclassed by Astro and Scholar. People are shying away from White Mage because it offers absolutely nothing the other two healers cannot make up for in spades. Astro has, in my opinion, surpassed Warrior in terms of mandatory composition. Therefore, White Mage is forced to go up against Scholar... and it'll lose that battle every single time.

Nevertheless, White Mage is perfectly viable job. And one I would highly recommend for newer healers. Everything above is strictly endgame min/max discussion.

[Llynd]

Actually, i think you should stop comparing healers like that. It is NORMAL that the whm cannot dps like sch. It is the sch thing to dps, because of its primary class. You want it to be kinda hybrid. on the other hand, it shouldn't have much raw heals because that's whm thing. They should complete each other, rather than compete. It was a big error to create a job that copy the other two. Let's not make the same mistake again. If all three can dps/heal/shield the same, what would be the interest in playing one over another ? One will use a staff, the other a book and another a globe ? And that's it ?

[Rennies]

Actually, i think you should stop comparing healers like that. It is NORMAL that the whm cannot dps like sch. It is the sch thing to dps, because of its primary class. You want it to be kinda hybrid. on the other hand, it shouldn't have much raw heals because that's whm thing. They should complete each other, rather than compete. It was a big error to create a job that copy the other two. Let's not make the same mistake again. If all three can dps/heal/shield the same, what would be the interest in playing one over another ? One will use a staff, the other a book and another a globe ? And that's it ?

Every healer in this game is a hybrid DPS. It's not exclusive to SCH.

[Llynd]

Every healer in this game is a hybrid DPS. It's not exclusive to SCH.

That's the mistake

[Risvertasashi]

Problem is, you will not have enough MP to maintain high DPS without forcing your Bard or Machinist to sing/turret for you -snip-

Once more, refer back to page 1. Burst DPS, not sustained, that is SCH's expertise yes.

------

On other notes...
I agree talking about how they compare on DPS is meh, but it seems to be a thing a lot of people want to talk about. So we go down this path...