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?