Another WHM chicken little sees the sky falling. The sky is an AST.

[MoroMurasaki]

I have had a crap day on a personal level. It's been one of the worst in recent memory honestly. I'm sure that's coloring all of my opinions right now and I'm trying to keep that in mind as I look over these patch notes.

Sadly I still feel a lot of apprehension.

I speak, of course, about the future of WHM in a universe that seems to be heavily leaning away from it.

"But Moro," people say, "WHM has the highest healing thoroughput and that's something AST specifically was lacking!"

Okay, I hear that. I'm thinking about that. The problem I'm having is seeing how these adjustments, as they are phrased, don't unbalance the healers overall. At the end of the day the entire game is not o8s and Ultimate, if you want to make a point that would only apply to those fights I have zero time for it. Please move along. Moving on.

SCH adjustments are the definition of vague. This scares me because it could mean almost anything. Even a small buff to absolutely anything on SCH is entirely uncalled for, they are sitting at the top of the pyramid right now and while I get that one of the three will always be number one there is zero reason to make that gap any larger. I expect this to be a Selene buff and if it's another viable rDPS increase on SCH I am beyond confused.

AST is getting a buff to A. Helios - I've heard people speculate that it's just the range increasing from 15y. If this is the case apart from further homogenization between A. Helios and Medica II I see no real problem.

If it's a potency increase though? Yes, gonna start having some issues there depending specifically on what is buffed. With the plethora of regens an AST has access to and the fact that they have the ability to extend them beyond their natural duration I feel like in the HoT department AST and WHM fly fairly close together right now.

I would spare some consideration for what buffed Noct A. Helios shields might do to SCH but I can't see AST bringing enough to the table for someone to swap a SCH for a WHM, especially if their "pet usability" buff is anything substantial.

How about actual healing potency though?

Medica II - 200 potency base heal plus 10 ticks @ 50 potency for a total of 700 potency. 2,040 mp @ 70.

A. Helios - 200 potency base heal plus 10 ticks @ 40 potency for a total of 600 potency, plus Diurnal Sect's 10% healing magic potency meaning 660 potency overall. 1,800 mp. 70.

A WHM technically comes out on top, though AST does bring a slightly stronger frontloaded heal. Virtually any healing potency increase on this spell will make it heal more effectively than Medica II. WHMs are paying for that potency too - 240 mp for 40 healing potency, I don't need to be a theorycrafter to understand that's an awful return on your MP.

Now I'm not crazy, I understand that 2k mp to a WHM is not the same as 1.8k mp to an AST (at least not right now) because WHM has godly mana regen and AST... does not. That's why you didn't see a complaint thread about this from me before now.

But then we get to the buff that has me almost torn about wanting to sit down and play AST it's so good - Lightspeed. 25% mp cost reduction being buffed to 50%, still essentially instant cast GCDs for 10 seconds on a 150 second CD... and there's no damage penalty anymore?! So we've increased the usability of Lightspeed (can you say Gravity spam on trash in dungeons? I can!) while helping alleviate some of that pesky MP inequality between WHM and AST.

It seems like with these buffs there isn't much on the AST wishlist remaining - the clipping of card actions maybe? Oh, nope, got that too! Attack spell cast time reduction will probably mean Malefic III (since Combust is already instant and I don't understand why they would make Gravity cast faster) which will mean less clipped GCDs when executing card actions.

I don't want to be so paranoid as to think the devs are giving AST instant-cast Malefic III even though that could be what this means but it will likely be cut down to something around a 1.5 second base. I know this is speculation but if you have an alternative that makes more sense based on the things we've seen let me know.

So there we have it. An overview of the upcoming healer changes in 4.3.

I'm going to be honest I've spoken with friends both ingame and on discord and most of them, while kind, have dismissed my concerns about this. I have some great friends and normally I would be inclined to trust their advice without question but as someone who has watched SE continuously sh*t on WHM for a while now I don't want the end of SB to be a clone of the end of HW where WHM is undeniably the least useful of the 3 healers.

I feel it already now - the pressure to play AST or SCH. I want to bring the most that I can to my party or group and right now the only thing WHM has (big HPS) is not something required in the vast majority of content. Unless I want to try to find a group to prog Ultimate or o8s there is really no reason for me to not jump ship here and that bothers me.

One last little thing and I'll shut up and go to bed - almost every AST main I've spoken to has defended these changes allowing AST to encroach more on WHM healing thoroughput and MP management with the idea that AST needs this to be able to heal God Kefka effectively right now.

I've then asked a few if them if they would trade out Balance from a flat damage buff to a DH buff. All of them have declined, some people have said "that would kill AST".

So wait - people on AST want to be able to have the thoroughput to heal like a WHM but still keep their rDPS buffs... the same people who say that since WHM has such strong healing thoroughput it doesn't need an rDPS buff?

I know these changes do not give an AST the same MP management as WHM. I know WHM still has more pDPS. I'm not stupid. To me the only way these buffs to AST can be equalled out is by similarly harming their utility or by buffing WHM with some rDPS of their own. AST gets some more WHM (mp management/pDPS/healing potency) in it, WHM needs some AST (rDPS) in return.

So yes. Please, if you've made it through that, prove to me that I'm wrong. I look forward to looking like a complete idiot because I overlooked something basic. I don't think it happened but god do I hope it has.

Nini all o/

edit! - I just want to say before everything is blown out of proportion as it always is on the OF up until these changes were announced I was fine with healers as they were. The pipedream of an rDPS ability on WHM was something I recognized for what it was - unrealistic. I'm not some crazy #deleteWHM apocalypse crier, this post is born from a genuine concern and fear for my main class in the face of buffs happening to it's counterparts when I think things finally died down.

Oh, and sleep deprivation. And stress. Those helped too.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

It's always been this way, and it always will be so long as WHM keeps it's identity as a pure healer. It's just way too razor thin and flimsy of a idea to build on. A healer that can heal slightly more than the rest, yet brings absolutely nothing else of value. This along with SE's idea that all healers should be able to equally heal content just makes WHM come off as redundant.

That's why whenever I hear of AST or SCH buffs, I get nervous, because WHM is already barely relevant past the progres phase and pugs. And just like with DRK, SE seems adamant of their claim that they're perfectly ok and need nothing else as they continue to add buffs after buffs to the other two healers.

SCH is already, once again, the best healer bar none, and AST is looking to tighten up the small holes it had, MP and clipping. Meanwhile what about WHMs enmity gain? What about WHMs lack of any utility whatsoever? This is just going down the same path 3.3 did at this rate.

[Sylvain]

, I get nervous, because WHM is already barely relevant past the progres phase and pugs.
.

So the only moment where it actually matters basically? I mean, I understand many people enjoy optimisation and clearing the boss a few seconds faster. I used to be hardcore progression in WoW Tbc to Cata, so I know what optimisation of the very last little dps% is
But I've personally got my experience from a guilde which valued progression above personnal achievement / raid achievement. In otherwords, we didn't care how good the first kill was as long as it was dead and we'd use anything to reach that kill before. And once dead we wouldn't change much if anything EVEN if there were potentially more optimal solution as gear and experience would carry us through the fight anyway.

I don't say that's the case for most people but I don't think most people would rather wipe more just so that when they eventually get the kill it's 10-15sec faster than with a WHM. At least I wouldn't, as long as the boss dies, I couldn't care less if it dies in 5,30min or 5,48min. (This is also why I hate progression group going for risky cheesy strat just so they can "gain 3sec" of dps even tho it'll actually cost tons of wipe)


Same for pugs, AST buff are great when people can stay alive. On some fight I've given up using my AST when doing pugs, there's no point, people just keep dying, I rather go for my WHM and push the fight a bit forward.

WHM keep complaining that they bring nothing yet they have more uploaded parse and are on more first kills than AST.

@Moro
Regarding the buff, I would be extremely surprised if Helios get potency buff. Adjustment perhaps (like, stronger base less hots or vice-verca). I also believe it's only the range thing or maybe even a slight mana cost reduction.

As for Malefic I'm sure it's only for the card clipping. Altough I'd like to see its potency buffed a little because honestly it does bugger all and it was a pain to level up to 70 using wet blue sparks. (They're very pretty tho)

I main AST and I personally do not want to encroach on healing, I want to encroach on buff and utility.
I rolled AST because the selling points was the cards. Now personally, after looking at some log showing DPS contribution from players (so, rdps by buffs and stuff), I'm bitter to see that SCH often brings more rdps to the table than AST even with plenty of AoE balance.

So I understand your feeling regarding AST healing being buffed. As an AST I don't really wish for that. I think my healing is fine and I actually expect that my weaker heal should be patched by the other healer. What I do not enjoy is seeing SCH bringing more rdps and heal and everything than both WHM and AST.

Perhaps WHM pure healing identity would be in a better shape if healers in general were less OP. If running oom was a serious risk anytime people take remotely too much damage, if healer couldn't top a raid with 2-3 AoE heals. If overall fight would require more heal and healer had less mana I'm sure your identity wouldn't suffer.
The current issue is that healers have too much free time in raid.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much honestly
Unless the new ultimate require somehow "little" heal and lot of dps, (more than baha fight comparatively), my guess is that we'll see WHM SCH again.

[Shurrikhan]

It's always been this way, and it always will be so long as WHM keeps it's identity as a pure healer. It's just way too razor thin and flimsy of a idea to build on.

While I agree that "pure healer" is too thin a theme to build on, I don't think that's what's denying WHM value at this point. There are many things you could excuse of, or would even be a perfect fit for, a pure healer that would help to mitigate WHM's shortcoming.

For instance, you could as easily have a "pure healer" whose heals grant bonus Attack Magic Potency (say, stacking at gradually tapering effect over some 12 seconds or so, continuously fading), which would push towards tighter rDPS parity without having to go so far as to eclipse a SCH or AST's niche; it'd still largely be a WHM's or "pure healer's" niche in that it wants intensive healing dealt, but simply now rewards those scenarios further, as not to be denied from all fights and compositions.

[EaMett]

First things first. WHM in raiding is all about dat B...cure III and sustained healing. Encroaching on medica II isn't that big of a deal.
It's giving AST even more dps that is troubling.

The card clipping being addressed is a good thing IMO, yes it does give AST a little more dps but the (assumed) gained fluidity is well worth it. The MP buff to lightspeed touches on the current balance however. For the sake of consistency lets say that it wasn't fair that only ast had to really worry about piety and move on.
The fact that lightspeed now no longer reduces dps however..... I get that it's a nice gameplay addition for dungeon content and gravity spam a la thin air holy spam.. but this is just such a significant change for raiding.

At this point it just looks like they took a WHM, removed it's Cure III and bene. Combined thin air with presence of mind = lightspeed, gave it way better raid dps and voila: AST.

Kinda rough.

[Kabzy]

While I do agree that AST will obviously gain more pDPS from these changes, I do think the Lightspeed change is being a little overrated. It will make some fights a bit easier, as you just need to smash one button and then run like a headless chicken, but generally in raids I have found that one Swiftcast and Broil II has been enough for me to position myself to safety and then continue casting. I can't think of any raids where you need to be on the move for that long, and where you wouldn't be able to cast in between moving.

WHM is popular because of its' straightforward playstyle (which I believe is a much more important factor than people give it credit for), as well as it being a powerhouse in progression. The AST changes are not messing with any of that.

[Fernosaur]

OP, I'm sorry you were having a bad day .

I don't think the buff to Aspected Helios is gonna be a potency buff unless it's exclusive to NoctAST, but more of a cast time or MP cost buff. Particularly the later, since they seem to be cutting back on the weakness they admittedly gave AST on purpose. We'll see.

While I do agree that AST will obviously gain more pDPS from these changes, I do think the Lightspeed change is being a little overrated. It will make some fights a bit easier, as you just need to smash one button and then run like a headless chicken, but generally in raids I have found that one Swiftcast and Broil II has been enough for me to position myself to safety and then continue casting. I can't think of any raids where you need to be on the move for that long, and where you wouldn't be able to cast in between moving.

The reason this change is a bit of a big deal is less about the movement utility and more about the MP management, though. Once you have a heavy healing phase properly coordinated in prog, Lightspeed will make AST's biggest weakness (mediocre MP management) a borderline non-issue. Coupled with removing the DPS penalty, this also means AST can get a bunch of weaves in during Lightspeed, instead of turning it off the moment it wasn't needed anymore.

Malefic III's lower cast time will also allow AST to get some more casts off per fight. I'm calculating around 5-8 extra casts on any fight that is longer than 7 minutes, given that you have to use around 3 or 4 oGCDs per minute just to manage your cards. Weaving in ED, Lightspeed, Swiftcast, Earthly Star, etc will also be a lot easier and help AST's personal DPS a super tiny bit.

The MP economy buff is what I think might not be a terribly good idea, though.

Edit: Just saw the translated JP post. Yeah, figured it would be a MP cost reduction buff.

[KDSilver]

Of course, someone had to make that thread...

[KaivaC]

Of course, someone had to make that thread...

It is a valid concern, though.

[KDSilver]

It is a valid concern, though.

It's not.
The day AST will have the same toolkit as WHM, or insane potencies increase, maybe it will.
But those small adjustements won't.

WHM crying over AST always are people who don't know how to properly play WHM.