Quote Originally Posted by Renathras View Post
And this is why I believe the best way forward is the "4 Healers Model", since it means "Green DPS" have healer Jobs they can play, "Sylphies" (that don't even exist, but whatever) have a healer Job they can play, and there'll probably be one somewhere in the middle for people that want something somewhere in the middle.

It's really the only answer that addresses everyone's needs in at least a passable way.
The problem -- or at the least, my problem -- with your "4 Healers Model" is, in short: the fact that Black Mage exists. Let me unpack what I mean by that.
Black Mage is known as the "complex" caster, with a sky high skill ceiling. This comes from the existence of a library of "transpose lines" that challenge even the best amongst us.

However, Black Mage also has a simple, straightforward rotation that you can stumble your way into if you give the job any amount of thought. That rotation still lets you perform at a high level, so much so that the advice for improving your performance is to start with mastering the basics, not to worry about all those transpose lines. You won't be prevented from clearing content if you go with this rotation.

Now, if even that "simple" rotation is too much for you, and you still want to get through the story, you can muddle your way through solo content (Very Easy mode exists, yes?), somehow, and then for group content, just go Blizzard-Fire-Blizzard-Fire.
The point is that within a single job, we have a healthy gap between the skill ceiling and the skill floor, with a passable option if the skill floor is too high and you just want to get through the story. If you favor the Black Mage aesthetic, the pointy yellow hat and blue robes (and things going "boom"), then by all means, you are welcome to play the job and select between "simple" and "complex" rotations.

Why must we categorically reject that approach for WHM? Or for any of the four healers? Why can we not choose a healer based on our favorite aesthetic and have a similar healthy gap between the skill ceiling and skill floor?

To be clear, I don't want a skill floor that's as high as Black Mage's (the current healer skill floor is just fine /two cents), but I do want that gap between the floor and ceiling.