White Mage vs Scholar - Why is White Mage lacking?

[Slib]

When I first played FFXIV, I refused to believe that Scholar was better than White Mage when people would tell me that. People would also say how Scholar could solo heal certain fights where White Mage could not and I would solo heal it on White Mage to prove them wrong. I have never given Scholar a shot and always stayed White Mage because I felt that was the equal or better healer.

That being said, when I joined my current raiding group, I was asked to do Scholar since the other healer only had White Mage and we needed someone with Scholar to fill that role. I really hoped I could have done White Mage, but when it comes down to it, I’ll do whatever is needed.

Now, I finally started playing Scholar and I am starting to see how awesome this job is compared to White Mage.

From turn 8 to turn 11, I am seeing how much Scholar makes a difference compared to white mage.

Below is a sample of what I see Scholar having that White Mage does not and vice versa…

WHAT SCHOLAR HAS:
1) Can heal effectively while going into cleric stance and applying bio 2, bio, miasma, aero and a shadow flare. Energy drains could be used if no lustrates were necessary and aether flow is ~ 15 seconds to recast.

2) Can shield more effectively than a White Mage.

*3) Can AoE heal as effectively as a White Mage given the fights that have been thrown at us. Eos’ Whispering Dawn ability is basically an AoE Regen in potency when combined with Rouse (same cooldowns). This can be done while you are still single target healing or dpsing.

4) MP Recovering abilities are far more superior than what White Mage gets while having a pet that heals for free.

5) Lustrate can provide safety for many moments where a White Mage would have to time a Cure or Cure 2 on the target in order to keep the target alive. (A lot less room for error on the Scholars part…)

6) Selene provides AoE DPS buffs for the group.

* Currently there are no fights that really require burst AoE healing, making Scholars the better choice for all fights to my knowledge (coil 12 and 13 are the only fights I do not know). Right now we need to make sure people are just topped off, shielded and ready to take massive AoE damage. Turn 2 ENRAGE is the only exception to my knowledge.

WHAT WHITE MAGE HAS:
This is what I see that a white mage brings to the table that a Scholar does not…

1) Burst AoE Healing is better than Scholar.

2) Holy spell provides strong burst AoE damage.

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Below are a few things that I think White Mage needs…

WHAT WHITE MAGE NEEDS:
1) Halving the cool down on Shroud of Saints or lowering it in general.

2) Make Shroud of Saints recover a % of MP instead of a flat amount (correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe Shroud is currently a flat amount of MP restored).

3) Increase single target healing potency or nerf the hell out of Scholars fairy (I hate nerfs…I’d rather see White Mage be brought up to where Scholar is).

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Anyway, I would like to know how others feel about this. It’s been driving me crazy. 8^(





TLDR: Why is White Mage lacking so much compared to Scholar?

[Mister-Wonderful]

WHM is fine.

[Sessurea]

facepalmed.

[NorthernLadMSP]

The one and only thing I agree with in terms of WHM being lacking is Shroud. The recast needs to be shortened if they keep MP regen at the flat amount it is now.

[DreamWeaver]

Currently there are no fights that really require burst AoE healing, making Scholars the better choice for all fights to my knowledge (coil 12 and 13 are the only fights I do not know). Right now we need to make sure people are just topped off, shielded and ready to take massive AoE damage. Turn 2 ENRAGE is the only exception to my knowledge.

So....in T10 final phase, without a WHM, how annoying do you think it is to top everybody up before the next combo attack?
In T11 Add Phase, instead of 1 Medica/Medica II to handle the AoE, you want double succor instead?
in T12 Phase 3, have fun requesting 1 Scholar to solo heal both tanks as another scholar will be spamming succor to keep up with Flames of Rebirth damage.

I am not saying the above cannot be done with 2 Scholars (Vice versa for 2 WHMs as well), but WHMs are getting more and more relevant in end game raiding. Compared to BCOB and to a certain extent SCOB (other than T8, which with noobie gear is best done with a WHM), WHMs are pretty much needed for FCOB to ensure a smooth party composition.

[Slib]

For T10 Final Phase, you can Succor shield everyone before damage goes out. Pop Rouse + Whispering Dawn before Charge goes off or right as heat lightning is going off and before tether explosion (or can just wait for after it since people could be spread) and that should be enough to cleanly top people while your fairy heals them up and you keep the tank up.

I know this is fine because we lost our healer once and it wasn't too bad to keep people up...but it was the end of the fight and was for 2 full rotations of his moves.

As for T11, you can rotate whispering dawns or just even single target heal them...the aoe doesn't happen fast enough to make a big impact. Right now I do tank healing while the whm just aoe heals. Only one succor is necessary if you have 2 scholars. Right after the AOE dmg goes out.

Edit: Also, I do not know of T12 or 13, so no spoilers please ;O

Edit 2: I agree that White mage + Scholar together is better than WHM + WHM or SCH + SCH but I feel scholar has so much more potential alone...that is what I am trying to get at. They were given the ability to do a lot at once. White Mage can not. They will go out of MP too if you fill free time with dps in the course of a long fight without ballad.

[Yumi_umi]

Lower SS CD and fix benediction cuz at times it'll go on CD when u use it on a " just died " target. That split second will still make benediction go thru and u'll see a dead person get healed for max hp and still be dead.
But se can't really fix benediction as there r more "important" things to fix first.

[DreamWeaver]

You can handle all those AoEs using 2 SCH, but you gotta agree having a WHM in those situations makes it way easier aye?
Similarly, if I were to bring 2 WHM, I can probably handle most pre-shielding that is required (Maybe not T11 nerve cloud), but having a Scholar makes it way easier with their 2 sec cast Adlo/raid wide Succor.

You do not need to argue which healer job is better, as any proper raid group will want 1 of each, and if you're talking about 4 man content? WHM everyday for me (#HolyMasterRace).

Any arguments regarding which healer is better is moot at this point....until the release of 3.0, where we will have at least 3 healer types vying for the 2 spots in a static, then let the great debate begins!! :P

[Blueskyy]

I play both jobs each job have it's good and bad. As a WHM I tend to heal lesser because OVER healing as a WHM is very. As a SCH, i marco 2 heals into 1. physic+embrace and alo+embrace. It gives a 700pot heal. As a SCH i tend to over heal much more, whenever i see tanks hp is max i'll just alo the tank. Both jobs has it's good and bad. WHM is more burst healing, but you need to be careful not to over heal. SCH is more mitigation based healer, not to forget lustrate rocks on Warrior ehehehe. I find SCH more difficult but more fun to play in some primals/raids but You would totally want 2 of them in one pt.

[Zanhe]

Honestly you should just remove #3 from your post, it just overall contradicts itself and is confusing

And

5) Lustrate can provide safety for many moments where a White Mage would have to time a Cure or Cure 2 on the target in order to keep the target alive. (A lot less room for error on the Scholars part…)

Lustrate is a big safety net for scholars, it (and fairy) makes scholar very forgiving to play, whereas there is alot less room for error as white mage

White mage is a core of any group, it has great burst and AoE healing, and is great at correcting misstakes other members of the group makes, the only point I agree on is that shroud should be improved slightly (scale with piety)