What exactly IS a White Mage?

[JunseiKei]

There's some incorrect info here regarding enmity so here are a few corrections.

~snip~.

Thanks for the clarifications~

[Grimoire-M]

To me Thin Air should get that aggro reduction ability on top of its current 0MP effect. Whether that's Diversion or simply not generating aggro at all while its up I'm not as sure on. Given the above issues mentioned with AST's sects I'm inclined to go with the latter not the former. Just completely ignore the aggro step while Thin Air is up so Smokescreen doesn't affect it at all.

[Ghishlain]

To me Thin Air should get that aggro reduction ability on top of its current 0MP effect. Whether that's Diversion or simply not generating aggro at all while its up I'm not as sure on. Given the above issues mentioned with AST's sects I'm inclined to go with the latter not the former. Just completely ignore the aggro step while Thin Air is up so Smokescreen doesn't affect it at all.

I don't think the enmity values can negatively overflow anymore so either solution would work in my mind.

The Reddit Wiki pages mentions that the combination of Smokescreen + Diversion cannot reduce enmity generation to negative values so I imagine it's a hard cap that was implemented on all forms of negative enmity. I guess we'll find out when another combination of abilities allows us to hit negative modifiers because Luminious Aether doesn't exist as an ability anymore.

For reference, this was patched in 4.21.

The following issues have been addressed.

• An issue wherein the effect of the ninja action Smoke Screen in conjunction with the melee DPS and magic ranged DPS role action Diversion caused players to lose enmity after every action taken.

[zuzu-bq]

We were discussing about healing kits only of AST vs WHM in The Balance this weekend and we were pretty much agreeing and showing how AST is actually easier to pick up and learn how to heal enough and keep the party alive than WHM at this moment.

Assuming the player isn't experienced they would save instants for panic and AST would provide them more of that with shorter CDs and higher AoE potencies overall. Assuming the player is new and they'd probably be spending GCDs healing and the fact every single AST GCD is stronger than WHM's counterpart (Cure 3 being the only stronger from WHM but AST having no counterpart for it). Remember, every AST spell has the sect boost on it! You won't be punished by overhealing while you learn on AST while as WHM you will. The fast cast Malefic will probably make new ASTs feel safer when starting to learn how to squeeze damage in a fight.

It's just weird, WHM was supposed to be the simple "I heal you" job and outside of their really awsome Single Target ogcd kit (Benis, Tetra, Bene), they fail at that kind of job.

[Mansion]

I'd still recommend WHM as a first healer experience in FFXIV because that's what "feels" the safest when you are not so used to the game's mechanics, although I agree with Zuzu when you dig in the figures (and that Bene that is never instant when you need it), and once you are familiar with healing, you can try AST and SCH that have a more challenging approach to healing / endgame content if that is what you are looking for.

My point would be that outside of the meta discussion, WHM feels so plain and sometimes just boring to play at some point because of that identity problem.
In endgame dungeons and normal raids : meh, not so interesting (personal opinion there)
High end content : you have to be really good to replace the other two that are so beneficial outside of their DPS and healing.

I don't know if it is possible to fix it before 5.0 ; maybe buffing its DPS/heal to crazy amounts (which would be the most logical/pratical option), or give it more clipping solutions (presence of mind could for example reduce 1 second of casting times, have a shorter cooldown; or adjust Stone to what has been done to Malefic)...
It suffers from being an "in between" job. It is presented as a progress-healer, but AST can do it very well too (even better, with some nice extra), and it is presented as a big DPS healer, but SCH does it better (and even AST since 4.3, but not me cuz I'm bad).
WHM needs to find a spot and keep it (and make it enjoyable to play, when it comes to personal opinions)

[KoitoAina]

I rarely used Plenary Indulgence. Those AOEs already pull others nearly full health and felt confessions.

[EaMett]

WHM is a beginner healer, made to cater to the less skilled and carry them through content. It has never and will never be that competitive in content (minus some very demanding fights like ultimate). This is because it's built with a low skill cap in mind and therefore will also have a low rdps output compared to others. Less effort required, less reward given.
SE clearly wants it to be easy to play and have a high sustained HPS. If you want a better healer you play AST or SCH. In the few years I've been playing they have never strayed from this and I wouldn't be surprised if they never did change things for their starter healer kit in this casual first game.

That isn't to say that they never messed up on lilies and/or that the class isn't clunky and doesn't need a bit of a rework. But don't expect WHM to ever be meta outside of a few rare instances (aka: fights designed to not be done by everyone)

[SNESterday]

Huh, glad to see this thread is out there because it's just as relevant today as it was when the thread was created. While there's the obvious flaw in utility / dps / healing throughput / mana pool (whm mana pool is overstated), those could be fixed and the class would still be lacking an actual identity (ast is the cards, sch is the fairy, whm is....what, exactly?)

I've been tossing around ideas for a while on how to address it and it really does seem that the flaws are twofold: 1) lilies actively hinder proper play of the class and take away from what strengths WHM does have, and 2) lilies themselves don't really seem to FIT with the identity of WHM/conjurer from the lore. From my perspective, it seems that the concept behind lilies can remain but some changes should be made to be more in line with WHM strengths.

What is the suggestion? Take the concept of Army's Paeon from Bard and apply it to WHM

Spell / Ability Changes:
Regen duration extended to 30s
Asylum CD reduced to 60s
Assize is treated as an instant cast oGCD spell with default CD of 60s. This CD is impacted by spell speed including buffs that reduce spell recast time
Fluid Aura now applies 100 damage potency and 10s of magic vulnerability up, CD changed to 60s
Presence of Mind changed to 120s CD
Thin Air gives Diversion

LILIES:
Lilies can now stack up to four times
Critical Healing over Time from Regen and Critical Damage over Time from Aero II and Aero III grants a lily
Secret of the Lily I - Each lily reduces weaponskill cast time and recast time, spell cast time and recast time, and auto-attack delay by 2%
Secret of the Lily II - Each lily reduces mana costs by 4%
Using Assize consumes all Lilies

CONFESSIONS:
Utilization of water elemental spells and abilities gives a stack of confession, stacking up to 3 times
Spells included: Tetra, Benison, Cure, Cure II, Cure III, Fluid Aura
Confession stacks no longer expire
Plenary Indulgence: Consume confession stacks to heal self and allies. Potency is based on number of stacks
1) 150 Potency
2) 300 Potency
3) 500 Potency (50 extra potency for getting full stacks)

The above would roughly increase WHM pDPS by 11% or so (napkin math), and in observing Alphascape such an increase would only really push WHM slightly ahead of the other two in terms of pDPS. This could close that gap while giving WHM a better defined identity.

WHM would still be heavily reliant on their GCD strength and lean on Regen for most of their healing (much more optimal than Cure II and Cure) which takes some away from their dps capability in raid settings, but would enhance their identity as the "brute force healer", especially with the option to stack confessions indefinitely. Lastly, it would give WHM a bit more identity as it pertains to utilization of the elements.

[Metsonm]

WHM is a beginner healer, made to cater to the less skilled and carry them through content. It has never and will never be that competitive in content (minus some very demanding fights like ultimate). This is because it's built with a low skill cap in mind and therefore will also have a low rdps output compared to others. Less effort required, less reward given.
SE clearly wants it to be easy to play and have a high sustained HPS. If you want a better healer you play AST or SCH. In the few years I've been playing they have never strayed from this and I wouldn't be surprised if they never did change things for their starter healer kit in this casual first game.

That isn't to say that they never messed up on lilies and/or that the class isn't clunky and doesn't need a bit of a rework. But don't expect WHM to ever be meta outside of a few rare instances (aka: fights designed to not be done by everyone)

You mean like how the paladin is the easier tank but is still allowed to be competitive? Or how Samurai and Red Mage are easier, yet still provide a lot, or got buffs to push towards balance?

Why is white mage the only "beginner" job in the game that isn't allowed to be balanced? They push for balance across every DPS, they push for balance across every tank. Healers? Nah, just outgrow WHM.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

Why is white mage the only "beginner" job in the game that isn't allowed to be balanced? They push for balance across every DPS, they push for balance across every tank. Healers? Nah, just outgrow WHM.

This. A million times this. There is no such thing as WHM being held back to come off as casual friendly. There is not any other job in the entire game balanced this way, so why would they do this strictly to WHM?
Along with Cure III being an excuse for no utility, this is the second excuse I just hate to hear in healer balance discussions. WHM is an outdated healer stuck in the ARR era where healers weren't expected to DPS and Cure III was the only massive heal in the game. They really just need to step back and reassess what they actually want WHM to be, and if there idea can actually work for this game.
It's time to stop pushing the pure healer in the game that barely needs healing.