What exactly IS a White Mage?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I had a situation in the Burn where I was glad I was whm recently. The tank pulled the usual first 2 sets of mobs, didn't use any CD's and dropped from 70k to less than 10k almost instantly. With the amount of damage he was taking, benediction was a no brainier and then pop Divine Bension after that. The no cast time double weave likely saved a wipe as even getting Lustraste/excog/Aldo would have likely had the tank down with no CD's up.

Maybe that's whm's niche, making up for bad tanks that don't use CD's. Of course for ones that can't hold aggro we all know what happens to WHM, but this one could hold aggro, When I had the same as a sch, party wiped although tank said "my bad".

No offense, but you may simply be a more experienced White Mage. Let's look at the tools of Scholar and Astro and see how they can respond to this same scenario.

Astro

Lightspeed + Essential Dignity + Largesse offers an instant 45,000 heal at i377, plus additional instant cast Benefic IIs at half the MP cost. I still have Collective Unconscious, Snastry and two options of extending all of these effects in Time Dilation and Celestial Opposition

Scholar

Excog + Emergency Tactics Adlo will cover the initial damage burst, allowing you to potentially Swift another Aldo for the shield. Blow a Lustrate and immediately use Aetherpact then Dissipation once it wears off. Just the first portion of that covers approximately 50,000 HP

The only difference in these scenarios compared to White Mage is the other healers need to work a little harder and be more mindful of their kit. Regardless, if I'd be more inclined to tell the tank to use CDs or replace him with someone who does. A job's balance shouldn't be determined by correcting someone else playing theirs poorly.

[zuzu-bq]

Snip

The moment you're relying on GCD healing, you already "lost". That is why WHM excels in dungeons and sucks in raids. Their dungeon kit makes them use the least amount of GCD healing as possible thanks to Holy's stuns and their kit makes them GCD to aoe heal on raids to properly use Cure 3 and Plenary.

[IttyBitty]

The moment you're relying on GCD healing, you already "lost". That is why WHM excels in dungeons and sucks in raids. Their dungeon kit makes them use the least amount of GCD healing as possible thanks to Holy's stuns and their kit makes them GCD to aoe heal on raids to properly use Cure 3 and Plenary.

The current discussion is about a tank that isn't using its cooldowns. All healers "lose" in such a scenario. WHM being able to delay switching to GCD heals for a femtosecond isn't a particularly stellar selling point.

[zuzu-bq]

The current discussion is about a tank that isn't using its cooldowns. All healers "lose" in such a scenario. WHM being able to delay switching to GCD heals for a femtosecond isn't a particularly stellar selling point.

Yeah, I'm complementing that discussion by saying WHM is the healer that will use the least resources to heal a tank like that.