White Mage absolutes?

[Tears-of-Death]

Eye for an Eye is underrated by most but on fights where you can reduce big hits of damage like twin is very important to be able to keep eye up 100% of the time rotating CDs between all.

[Alkimi]

Surecast because you might be interrupted mid-cast. Think Titan's Geocrush.

I've never had Geocrush interrupt anything, even on extreme mode. But as others have said, still need it for other things like fireballs. Game is weird on which attacks actually interrupt you and which don't.

Virus I've found I rarely use anymore in 8 man content, especially since I run with a SCH who knows when is best to use theirs.

[PArcher]

Honestly...WHM only *need* 2 cross-class skills in 8-mans IMO (not to say only get these, just that you really should have them as your first and second cross class slots)

Swiftcast - Obvious

Eye for an Eye - Yes, it is excellent mitigation, especially on groups of enemies. The chances of it not procing throughout its duration is extremely low (just remember, it only triggers off physical damage, not magic...so it is useless on T2 and Ultima, for example)


For the other three slots...

Surecast - Its good to have, but not completely necessary. There are a few places where it does shine, however. T5, Ifrit EX (Howl can interrupt) and Garuda EX (and HM; I'm pretty sure Friction can interrupt, and know the main AoE does) are the three main fights I can think of where its good to have (whether you use it or not...different story). Of course, its just good to have should you take aggro and need to get that saving cure off. And, well, PvP...
Biggest problem for me with this is actually remembering to use it...

Virus - If you have a SCH or SMN in party...forget you have it. If there aren't any, its good to have for those times its needed. But in 8-mans you should have a SCH or SMN, if not both...

Bliz2 - Solo-play really...unless I was screwing around, I've never used this in an instance post-45 (Holy is so much better)

[NintenPyjak64]

I'd say Eye for an Eye is a great priority considering how a vast majority of SCH don't even use the skill

[AiChyan]

Honestly...WHM only *need* 2 cross-class skills in 8-mans IMO (not to say only get these, just that you really should have them as your first and second cross class slots)
Eye for an Eye - Yes, it is excellent mitigation, especially on groups of enemies. The chances of it not procing throughout its duration is extremely low (just remember, it only triggers off physical damage, not magic...so it is useless on T2 and Ultima, for example)

This made my stomach hurt because I hate using ACN, but now I'm doing Coil and there is no avoiding this sigh ._.

[Menae]

This made my stomach hurt because I hate using ACN, but now I'm doing Coil and there is no avoiding this sigh ._.

You don't need it. I killed Twin for the first time without it (or rather with it but I forgot to use it, because I'm super good at using my CDs). You can get by without it, particularly if you have a SCH and SMN in your party.

That said, might as well - once you hit 30 and do the sch quest healer queues are pretty quick, and while it might not be NECESSARY, it certainly can help - it's great during snakes and while it's not enough to skip a set of tank cooldowns on death sentence, it gives you a little more buffer in case Twin gets a high DS or somebody misses a shield.

[PArcher]

You don't need it. I killed Twin for the first time without it (or rather with it but I forgot to use it, because I'm super good at using my CDs). You can get by without it, particularly if you have a SCH and SMN in your party.

That said, might as well - once you hit 30 and do the sch quest healer queues are pretty quick, and while it might not be NECESSARY, it certainly can help - it's great during snakes and while it's not enough to skip a set of tank cooldowns on death sentence, it gives you a little more buffer in case Twin gets a high DS or somebody misses a shield.

Technically...you don't need Swiftcast either; you should be able to complete any content without it

But...why wouldn't you grab it to have just in case?

Mitigation is mitigation; less damage to the tank is less you have to heal and less you have to worry. And if you have a SMN SCH and BLM in your party...you should be able to rotate E4E pretty well and get insane uptime on it (don't nerf this SE like Virus please)

[Menae]

Technically...you don't need Swiftcast either; you should be able to complete any content without it

But...why wouldn't you grab it to have just in case?

Mitigation is mitigation; less damage to the tank is less you have to heal and less you have to worry. And if you have a SMN SCH and BLM in your party...you should be able to rotate E4E pretty well and get insane uptime on it (don't nerf this SE like Virus please)

I'm not saying don't grab it. In fact I specifically stated in the post you quoted that you might as well.

But let's say you are a fresh 50 WHM/15 ACN/0 BLM. Which do you grab first? The ability that allows you to instantly cast any spell (sans LB) while moving once a minute? Or the ability that might give a mob a 10% damage dealt reduction for 20 seconds once every three minutes?

I don't hate Eye for an Eye, but it's no Swiftcast.

[PArcher]

I'm not saying don't grab it. In fact I specifically stated in the post you quoted that you might as well.

But let's say you are a fresh 50 WHM/15 ACN/0 BLM. Which do you grab first? The ability that allows you to instantly cast any spell (sans LB) while moving once a minute? Or the ability that might give a mob a 10% damage dealt reduction for 20 seconds once every three minutes?

I don't hate Eye for an Eye, but it's no Swiftcast.

Honestly...if you've gotten to WHM 50 (or SCH 50 or SMN 50) without people yelling at you to get Swifcast ASAP...you've probably been Fate grinding and have little idea how to heal properly...