I feel a lot of WHM mains would be happy as long as WHM can bring top DPS compared to all the other healers. I'll always be of opinion that those jobs that have to play at both a high skill and party coordination level should trump (and thus be meta) those jobs that only need to play at a high skill level. However, those in the latter category should still bring something to the table. In the case of FFXIV, these jobs bring the highest individual DPS possible (BLM and SAM) and WHM should fall into this category as well.

Right now, one of WHMs strength is being able to perform well without much input from the rest of your party. Assize's large range means you'll be able to clip people who wouldn't normally be in range for Earthly Star or Deployed Adlo. Medica II can clip people when Succor and Aspected Helios could not. WHM's DPS SHOULD be equal to or better than AST and SCH rDPS contribution in a party of average skilled players, as the power of their buffs is a function of the total party DPS.

Part of the strengths of the SCH and AST kits is being able to take advantage of coordinated party heals and shields that have limited range. Once the party starts to move outside that effective range, as it is likely to do in a PuG situation, the WHM kits becomes a bit more desirable. Say what you will about the 700+ potency Earthly Star provides - if even a single party member is outside the range of the explosion, the healers will need to dump additional resources on to the party members that missed that massive heal and thus reduce healer DPS uptime.

That's part of why I like the WHM kit so much, the level of power and control I can have with very little input from the rest of the party makes it ideal in pulling parties through fires. Fixing Lilies aside, give me the DPS resources to out perform the pDPS contribution of SCH and AST and I will be a very happy camper with the WHM kit.