If AST/WHM is a thing, it's not because WHM is stronger than SCH

[Lastelli]

Wait, what? When? Didn't see this in the latest patchnotes. If that's true that's actually good, I can stop spamming Cure in order to prepare a shield for the next fight.

That's correct. Cure 2 will grant you a lily always. And cure 50% which is a lot.

[NamoNanamo]

Blablabla

It means nothing for the moment. Wait and see for Savage/patch 4.05

[Miles_Maelstrom]

I've seen a lot of white mages saying recently it's not as bad as we thought. Meanwhile scholars seemed to be taken more by surprise and it's worse then they thought.

I just wish they would stop giving us abilities that not only contradict the jobs feel/identity, but contradict eachother as well.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

I've seen a lot of white mages saying recently it's not as bad as we thought.

They are better than we thought, but there's a catch.
They're only better until SCH is buffed. WHM still has nothing unique to offer, it still has no utility. They only look so good right now because SCH is a weak they'd rather have the ASTs superbuffed shields over SCHs very mediocre shields and weak pet heals.

After they're inevitably buffed to hell, it's back to AST/SCH.

[Sebazy]

WHM still has nothing unique to offer

Except:

The highest sustainable aoe HPS in the game
The highest sustainable single target HPS in the game
Arguably the best aoe burst HPS in the game
The best aoe healer DPS in the game
Joint best single target healer DPS in the game
The best MP conservation in the game by a country mile
Joint best MP recovery in the game
The absolute best healer for 4 man dungeons by a country mile
Significantly less reliant on cooldowns compared to SCH/AST

Your blind hatred of WHM's current state is actually getting rather old now. Open your eyes and wake up already. The job is fantastic fun to play, it's accessible, forgiving and easy to pick up now, but it's unique cooldowns give it a decently high skill ceiling for more advanced players to shine despite it's lack of more complex abilities and mechanics compared to AST and SCH. Yes it got a couple of wonky 'marquee' abilities that are rather lacking right now, but the core kit is so fantastic that frankly I don't care.

I entirely agree that SCH/AST will end up being the speed run kings. But outside of that WHM is very solid and in a far better place than SCH is right now (And for multiple reasons). WHM will offer far more room for recovery during early progression as well as being significantly more forgiving of mistakes within less skilled and experienced groups.

[Ghishlain]

Except:

The highest sustainable aoe HPS in the game
The highest sustainable single target HPS in the game
Arguably the best aoe burst HPS in the game
The best aoe healer DPS in the game
Joint best single target healer DPS in the game
The best MP conservation in the game by a country mile
Joint best MP recovery in the game
The absolute best healer for 4 dungeons by a country mile
Significantly reliant on cooldowns compared to SCH/AST

Your blind hatred of WHM's current state is actually getting rather old now. Open your eyes and wake up already. The job is fantastic fun to play, it's accessible, forgiving and easy to pick up now, but it's unique cooldowns give it a decently high skill ceiling for more advanced players to shine despite it's lack of more complex abilities and mechanics compared to AST and SCH. Yes it got a couple of wonky 'marquee' abilities that are rather lacking right now, but the core kit is so fantastic that frankly I don't care.

I entirely agree that SCH/AST will end up being the speed run kings. But outside of that WHM is very solid and in a far better place than SCH is right now (And for multiple reasons). WHM will offer far more room for recovery during early progression as well as being significantly more forgiving of mistakes within less skilled and experienced groups.

+1 for full agreement~

I see the potential in WHM/AST but for mad deeps speedrun perspective SCH/AST will be the way to go, based on the way fflogs are looking right now, much to not many surprises. We may see WHM/AST world firsts though because the absolute heal and wipe recovery potential that setup provides can potentially help push raids to the suitability they need at the lowest ilvls to compete for that world first race.

My concern for WHM back in 3.4, which was the concern for many was why bring WHM when AST was better in every way shape or form.

Now with these changes WHM's core identity hasn't changed but it's clearly different from AST now. More MP sustain, less reliance on GCDs, more healing throughput to compete against AST's raw output - that's enough for me to be happy with the changes even if it doesn't make WHM meta. as Sebazy says there are some nuances to the kit that give it a higher skill ceiling - I would even argue WHM now has the highest skill ceiling of the three (though the rewards for playing at that level could arguably use some tweaking). Now players have an option with WHM instead of being "the inferior AST".

If a group of meta shepple won't take a WHM due to "BECUZ META" then that's not a group you want to run with anyway. Generally speaking those type of people don't have the knowledge base or understanding to look beyond "what works the best" at the highest levels of play which not everyone can play at.