White-mage is doomed - and why

[Shurrikhan]

Because you can't have mitigation that every healer doesn't have access to or they'd be mandatory in prog.

...That's literally every shield healer.

It's what makes them... shield healers -- having mitigation not available to every healer (those that are not... shield healers).

[Sebazy]

...That's literally every shield healer.

It's what makes them... shield healers -- having mitigation not available to every healer (those that are not... shield healers).

Correction, that's literally every healer except WHM.

Don't forget that AST has access to spammable barriers for 20 seconds on a 120 second cooldown. They aren't weak shields either. 625 potency single target and 312 potency party with a built in +20% modifier as well.

WHM has no answer to this whatsoever, and despite this, benison is arguably weaker overall vs Celestial Intersection.

Is it time for me to start repeating how little effort SE seems to put into designing and play testing healers at a high standard of play?

[Shurrikhan]

...

So we're back to "the only possible solution is homogeneity" or were any and all alternatives that don't require turning all shields and mitigation into Role Actions, despite shield and pure healers being separately classified in matchmaking, just coincidentally absent?

[Sebazy]

So we're back to "the only possible solution is homogeneity" or were any and all alternatives that don't require turning all shields and mitigation into Role Actions, despite shield and pure healers being separately classified in matchmaking, just coincidentally absent?

No? Where did you even pluck that from?

My personal take is that if SE wanted to get serious about the whole barrier vs pure healer thing, Neutral Sect should have been reworked into something else. Instead we got the usual bluster and hot air followed by more underbaked shortsighted changes that don't go far enough.

But yeah, since Neutral Sect is still a thing, I'd argue that WHM should bring something else to the table instead.

The unfortunate reality is that unless you place value on it's more simplistic kit, it doesn't.

[AFuzzyMu11in]

No? Where did you even pluck that from?

My personal take is that if SE wanted to get serious about the whole barrier vs pure healer thing, Neutral Sect should have been reworked into something else. Instead we got the usual bluster and hot air followed by more underbaked shortsighted changes that don't go far enough.

But yeah, since Neutral Sect is still a thing, I'd argue that WHM should bring something else to the table instead.

The unfortunate reality is that unless you place value on it's more simplistic kit, it doesn't.

ast is loosing the shield i thought

[Sebazy]

ast is loosing the shield i thought

You'd think so with what Yoshida's been saying.

I can only assume that the class design team couldn't be bothered at this point.

[BlueMageQuina]

ast is loosing the shield i thought

They’re losing Nocturnal Sect, the shield stance. They’re keeping Neutral Sect, the shield-regen buff. They’ll still have shields for 20s every 120s.

I think this wasn’t what you were really asking though but this goes with what everyone keeps repeating—only WHM lacks aoe shielding but somehow WHM is too “powerful” to receive anything that would make it unique and give it identity.

[Shurrikhan]

No? Where did you even pluck that from?

From the very quote I was responding to (regarding any mitigation skill needing to be a Role Action) before you turned a question of job identity to solely one of mitigation-parity:

Because you can't have mitigation that every healer doesn't have access to or they'd be mandatory in prog.

With the categorical division between "shield" and "pure" healers come EW, now of all times would not demand that "pure" healers must have a mitigation tool (as compared to literally any other form of compensatory capacity) or that mitigation skills be made into Role Actions.

[Sebazy]

With the categorical division between "shield" and "pure" healers come EW, now of all times would not demand that "pure" healers must have a mitigation tool (as compared to literally any other form of compensatory capacity) or that mitigation skills be made into Role Actions.

It's a division that makes no sense and doesn't seem to stack up in reality once you look beyond WHM.

Again, I'm not trying to say that WHM should get a group shield, but rather it really should bring something of it's own to the party.

[Deceptus]

With the categorical division between "shield" and "pure" healers come EW, now of all times would not demand that "pure" healers must have a mitigation tool (as compared to literally any other form of compensatory capacity) or that mitigation skills be made into Role Actions.

Yep, those Shield healers who have multiple Regens and those "Pure" healers who have multiple Shields.

Shield and Pure healers are a fallacy.

In order for WHM to have something interesting or unique that's actually useful, the community would need to come off this vague unspoken assumption that AST and SCH "deserve" mandatory meta slots and WHM can only have "uniqueness" that never threatens them in the slightest.

I have yet to see a single post that says AST and SCH "Deserve" mandatory meta slots. I've love for you to prove me wrong if you have the proof, but otherwise, that argument is nothing more than a Strawman.