Does the Sage have a 1.5s GCD like the Astrologian?

[Liam_Harper]

False, SMN clips as well and so does BLM at least in the opener.

I don't play SMN and can't speak for it but BLM is a very well designed class and years ahead of WHM. Between triplecast, swiftcast, procs and Xeno you get plenty of weave and you have BTL and AM for on-demand movement. One in the opener is hardly WHM levels of clip. WHM gets none of that, just a 30 sec window every Dia refresh then it has to literally dip into its healing lilies just to move or weave.

Outside of well practiced re-clears, healers have to react to unexpected situations more often, such as dropping a temp, excog or bene on a dps who got hit by an avoidable mech, needing plenary or temp to boost an emergency aoe heal, swift raise in general and so on. For WHM this very often results in a hard clip and for SCH either a clip or a tax that's almost as bad. There is nothing in WHM/SCH gameplay to smooth out this potential reactive aspect of gameplay and integrate oGCD's with casts, while AST flows nicely, weaving the needed oGCD's in with their GCD's. There's no reason for this clunkiness, it's not enhancing the experience.

We're just too used to how the devs have created healers that we're almost convinced it's meant to be that way. We're "meant" to pay dps tax. We're "meant" to be less mobile. The idea of mobile but more complex and engaging instead just doesn't even register to us, despite the fact it'd probably be more fun to play. Because it's meant to be clunky.
I mean really, you could give WHM/SCH the 1.5 sec cast and make AST's dps GCD instant. That keeps the identity intact. Then you have room for a much more engaging and challenging toolkit.