Is it just me or are people overreacting to WHM too soon?

[ToasterMan]

The biggest problem here is that AST is a direct upgrade from WHM

[Gemina]

I would actually take this. Tie it to Stone use, so 3x stone means I get a 20% reduction on a CD in return for DPSing a bit? That would be relatively good. Not game changing (we'd still need CD planning in raids but for dungeons, or using assize on CD for dps+mp...), not amazing, but it would be a lot better than what we're currently slated to get.

I'm not sure how much more clear the devs have to make it. WHM is not going to be rewarded for DPSing. It's not happening now, and it likely won't happen ever. And any adjustment WHM gets in 4.0 will still gravitate towards reestablishing it as a pure healer, and getting this concept to work. 3.0 WHM is going away, and those who will continue to play it that way, might as well take the new gauge off of their UI.

Once we get our hands on SB, we will find out how "not amazing" their reduced CDs will be.

[Risvertasashi]

Oh I agree with you, I was just talking theoreticals. But it just won't work for heals because of different concepts. DPS abilities you want to use as often as you can. Healer abilities you plan around damage spikes. (And that's even if it had a completely OP, 100% proc rate...)

But then again, maybe I shouldn't agree with you. 4.0 WHM is actually looking very good on the DPS front. SCH AoE DPS was heavily nerfed, WHM AOE significantly buffed... and that stone 4 potency is huge...

The concept won't work for our current content in 3.0. I agree with that 100%. However, the game is changing and we simply have to wait to see how this works in the new content. All healers received increased healing ability, which is telling me they've recalculated how DMG is dished out. Regens likely won't be enough to keep a group up anymore, and even if they are at the start of 4.0. I predict they will have their potencies and/or durations reduced to make healers access their new skills, or previously low-used skills.

Playtesters of the new dungeons don't agree, and said they were easy to heal. And data shows that durations were not nerfed (Aspected Benefic was buffed both in terms of raw potency and from the new stance buffs).

[BroodingFicus]

I feel like part of the 'doom and gloom' of it all is because WHM came into HW pretty underwhelming as well. People were upset that they had no identity, that the other healers had more utility, that WHM had to share some of its more unique abilities through Cross Class etc. Along comes SB and we don't get a new healer or tank because they want to work on balancing the three of each we have so everyone gets excited. Especially WHM's who, arguably, needed the most love to bring them up to speed. Instead they:

-Lost tons of spells to the new cross role system, to the point that its practically nothing new for WHM at all because they'll essentially be buying back five spells they used to get naturally without getting anything to replace the ones that were taken. Ex. Divine Seal was a job quest skill and now WHM just doesn't get a new skill at lvl 40. In fact there are now several places where it appears they will go for long stretches without anything new because those skill are all cross role.

-Were handed an RNG system based on an RNG stat, that rewards something that doesn't seem at all useful or practical. Either the chance of getting it is low but the reward is worth the effort or its a very small benefit for equally little effort. You can't combine 'hard to get' and 'may or may not be useful'. That doesn't make for fun game play.

-Had both their shiny new mechanics tied to Cure/Cure II which are primarily used on tanks and not spammed on anyone unless things have gone really really badly. A good WHM will keep everyone topped off with Regen and Medica II if needed and then use their cooldowns to top off anyone who takes a hit. Nothing in their play style has ever been catered to mass cure spam and its not a very appealing idea to suddenly try to force them into.

-Overall just feel neglected, both in the 'rework' aspect we were promised and, personally, the visual aspect. More rocks? Yay? More vague flashy lights? Double yay. Meanwhile AST summons a freakin galaxy.

While I will say some people take it all too far with threats of quitting etc, I agree I feel rather miffed about the situation and rather past the point of feeling like I want to be patient with them. It puts a damper on the whole thing when you realize you may have to deal with slipshod design for months before they decide to do something about it so honestly right now I'm just hoping they at least adjust the percentages and procs of the lily system before launch.

[Gemina]

Oh I agree with you, I was just talking theoreticals. But it just won't work for heals because of different concepts. DPS abilities you want to use as often as you can. Healer abilities you plan around damage spikes. (And that's even if it had a completely OP, 100% proc rate...)

The concept won't work for our current content in 3.0. I agree with that 100%. However, the game is changing and we simply have to wait to see how this works in the new content. All healers received increased healing ability, which is telling me they've recalculated how DMG is dished out. Regens likely won't be enough to keep a group up anymore, and even if they are at the start of 4.0. I predict they will have their potencies and/or durations reduced to make healers access their new skills, or previously low-used skills.

[Edewen]

Pure healer simply will never be optimal when the fights are tuned for any healer combo to be able to complete it. If an AST can heal it instead of a whm while giving buffs to the group and dps, why would anyone opt for a whm over an ast. Sure a group CAN do it with a whm. But going sub-optimal means the performance will have to be that much better leaving most groups leaning towards the healers that bring more utility other than pure heals.

So are people over reacting. Maybe, but there is still a valid point. If they insist on direct spells giving lilies why not let stone provide a lily too?

[Fawkes]

Divine Benison is just stoneskin that I won't be able to cast as often because it needs Lillies. You can't just take a spell away, change it's name to something dumb, slap some restrictions on how it's cast, and call it something new. This is not a new spell, this is an insult.

Plenary Indulgence makes no sense at all. It's an AoE but it only heals people you were already spamming cures on. If people other than the tank need healing I would use one of the AoE heals I already have, not cures. If I have time to spam cure on multiple people then I have time to heal them fully with something else. It seems like a spell I would need to go extremely far out of my way to make full use of, if it's even possible to get a full stack on all party members at once.

[silentwindfr]

- Their primary mechanic is -entirely- RNG-based. No other job behaves this way. Even worse, it's based on a 20% chance when casting two single target healing spells. Do you realize how low of an activation chance 20% is? Go play Bard, and keep track of how many times Straighter Shot activates throughout the course of a fight. Then consider that Heavy Shot is a Bard's most spammed attack, while you shouldn't be spamming Cure I/II at all unless you want to run out of mana quickly or not contribute anything else in a fight (since chances are you're going to be overhealing - and thus generating immense unnecessary aggro). And if you're spamming Cure I/II that much in an attempt to generate lilies, why should you even cast Regen?

the machinist want to talk with you about them ammo thing.... them whole combo mechanic is based on rng...

- Their primary mechanic also eats their stacks whenever they use their key skills with no choice in the matter, some of which they can't really afford to delay for too long, like Assize.

the AST want to have a word with you with royal road buff that get consumed at the next use... forcing you to think a bit before use your card.

- WHM still doesn't have any unique defining support that truly separates them from SCH and AST (if anything, they LOST some uniqueness with the removal of Stoneskin), unless we're counting the fact that WHM didn't really get nerfed in terms of damage inflicted against multiple mobs while almost every other job did. And as it turns out, attacking doesn't do anything for their primary mechanic anyways, not to mention the vast majority of major fights are single target affairs!

if the white mage can heal stronger than other (what it can already, you know?)it means he can dps more before heal... then assist in dps... or in raid allows the second healer (generally ast or sch) to dps more. assist is not only about give a buff, but allows other to do more...

And none of the above is even getting into what AST and SCH gained in comparison. Sometimes, you don't have to have played it yourself or even main the job to realize there's something wrong here. For me personally, this WHM situation mirrors what I saw in the previous MMO I played that ultimately resulted in the healer community being permanently decimated, and I have fears that I'm watching the same about to happen in FFXIV. I just hope it doesn't take the FFXIV devs two years to acknowledge that there's even a problem compared to that previous MMO.

from what i have seen soo far, you have little to no knowledge about how the game work for the other jobs... they want make people focus on using mono heal instead to play the easy road of aoe heal... because maybe the monster in Stormblood will hit far harder and will recquire more solo heal than aoe heal.. in the video about the dungeon a sam did get a 19k damage from an aoe of a trash... it's insane... and it's only level 63... i think people really need to stop to over react and wait to test the actual change on the long terms... and stop with meta is absolute... yoshida have make sure is possible to do every content with any composition... if your group only want to rely on the best of the best... they aren't really facing the challenge... they are taking the easy way out by playing the best in the slot composition.

[AlexSag]

In this case, I'd have to disagree about people overreacting. I feel like devs listened to complaints from most jobs. Bards complained, "cast bars are for mages", the dev team said, "boom, they're gone", Paladins complained, "we suck against magic" the dev team said, "boom, shields now block magic", Black Mages complained, "Enochian is hard", the dev team said, "boom, easy button", White Mages complained, "We'd like more..." the devs basically said, "Shut up and hold these lillies." It doesn't seem as if they've done anything to fix issues WHM's had with the job and realistically, the best way to let them know that is by complaining loudly and often.

[Gumbercules]

its just you! Doom and gloom!!!! ripWHM!