According to FFLogs, AST pDPS >= WHM pDPS in 4.3

[Ghishlain]

Double post because I figure the wall of text I'm putting below should be it's own post for reference.

We've hit the two week mark and Ultima's Refrain has hit the table. I figure I'll go do a high level analysis of the log data and put some thoughts down.

4.3 90th Percentile Metric for all of Sigmascape - at time of this posting:

• SCH leads DPS at 2,701.43 w/ 24,872 logs recorded
• AST is second DPS at 2,614.21 w/ 16,982 logs recorded
• WHM is last DPS at 2,542.47 w/ 23,205 logs recorded

High level notes

• The total DPS spread from lowest to highest is approximately 160 DPS (WHM DPS is ~6% lower than SCHs). I will reiterate that the logs doesn't show neither pDPS nor rDPS but a total DPS accumulated from the jobs pDPS and any rDPS bonuses they get from other jobs (Balance, Chain Stratagem, Spear, Arrow, etc.). By the nature of 2-healer compositions, WHM will only ever get 0-1 rDPS buffs from the healing composition (Chain Stratagem or Cards or nothing at all if 2xWHM) whereas SCH or AST can get 1-2 rDPS buffs from the healing composition (Chain Strat and/or Cards). This will skew WHMs DPS to be slightly lower as they'll always be at a composition disadvantage. How large of a difference that will make though is difficult to say.
• Assuming optimal play, each card action is a 3 GCD clips (Draw, Redraw, Minor Arcana / Royal Road / Spread), Earthly Star is 2 GCD clips, and Essential is 1 GCD clip a minute, and 1 GCD clip to apply cards, AST would lose a total of 10s per minute (not included Sleeve Draw) to clips. They can regain 4s of that due to reapplication of combust meaning a total loss of 6s (about 3GCDs). The faster cast time then means that AST gains 3 GCD. In a game where the total GCDs per minute is 24 and optimal play conditions would mean the AST would get to use 21 GCDs per minute, this is a 14% gain. GCDs gain =/= complete DPS increase but for the sake of easy math, we'll make that assumption. At 2,200 DPS, AST gaining 14% would put them 2,508 DPS. The difference between this 2,508 DPS and the 2,614DPS recorded above is probably the gain the AST gets from using Lightspeed during movement heavy mechanics to maintain DPS.
• WHM maintains a higher DPS average at the 70th percentile. AST begins to overtake WHM at the 75th percentile. This coincides with the fact that WHM has a higher skill floor but lower skill ceiling compared to AST.
• AST participation are still the lowest of the three, though no where near as bad as it was pre 4.3. If the intent of these changes is to have more people play AST, they are succeeding.
• AST currently trumps WHM on all fights in Sigmascape when you look at each individual boss, though the difference can be pretty small. For example, at the time of this posting the DPS difference between WHM and AST on Kefka at the 90th percentile is literally less than 1DPS (2,640.49 DPS AST versus 2,639.81DPS WHM). Guardian has a 20DPS spread.

Thoughts and Solutions

• The easiest thing S-E can do is give WHM a potency increase on their primary spells. In theory they should be out doing SCH in DPS and have the highest pDPS of all three. This DPS hierarchy is reflected for DPS at the 90th percentile with BLM and SAM both leading at the 90th percentile. WHM should follow suit. I was thinking a 20-30 potency boost to Stone IV and/or increasing the initial DoT damage of Aero II to 75-100. The thought on the latter is to reduce the punishment for clipping your instant DoT so WHM can gain more GCDs via other means.
• It's time to rework the Lily system. I've mentioned in previous posts that I felt S-E hasn't touched the Lily system because of the balance the current healers are at. Now that the balance has been shifted again, it's probably time to review both how they're generated and the bonuses they give. The amount of thought I've put into this particular aspect of the WHM kit is far too much to paraphrase but this would be the way to go as it both would assist in WHMs identity and strengthen their kit at the same time if the lily rework is implemented correctly.

And that's my wall of text for your review and thoughts~ Happy reading and responding~