I was wrong about WHMs.

[Yona87]

So I personally chose a Scholar because I like to play a class that I thought/think is most challenging. I always used naga, and I have close to 30+ binds on my SCH.

Now, I had a misconception that constant no down time multi-tasking is somewhat what I defined as "high skill cap".

I leveled a WHM to 50 and I realized that being constantly proactive does not always make the best healer, I.E SCH.

WHM has just as much utility as SCH and much more challenging in a lot of situations.

See, people think SCH has a higher skill-cap because of pet micro, but that is just laughable to me. As I have mastered SCH to a certain point and micro is not really a micro, you just have 3-4 more binds to manage.

Just my 2 cents on my new perspective on WHMs and props to good WHMs out there.

[Velox]

So I personally chose a Scholar because I like to play a class that I thought/think is most challenging. I always used naga, and I have close to 30+ binds on my SCH.

Now, I had a misconception that constant no down time multi-tasking is somewhat what I defined as "high skill cap".

I leveled a WHM to 50 and ran SCoB and I realized that being constantly proactive does not always make the best healer, I.E SCH.

WHM has just as much utility as SCH and much more challenging in a lot of situations.

See, people think SCH has a higher skill-cap because of pet micro, but that is just laughable to me. As I have mastered SCH to a certain point and micro is not really a micro, you just have 3-4 more binds to manage.

Just my 2 cents on my new perspective on WHMs and props to good WHMs out there.

The challenge for SCH is not only the number of skills, but changing your approach from a typical "I'm a healer, I heal people" mindset and instead look at the job as more of a support role than a healer. "I have a vast array of abilities that protect my allies and reduce my foe's ability to fight." Once you have established this mindset SCH becomes so much damn fun to play. They also have more room for error overall due to having both a fairy and quicker heals which allow for more healing-on-the-go instead of a stop-and-cast which is all WHM can do.

If I had to describe it simply, it would be
WHM is easy to learn, yet hard to master
SCH is hard to learn, yet easy to master

[Tranquil]

The bottom line is, the jobs are balanced well at the moment and both of them have their things they excel at in 8-man raid settings, hence you should bring one of both.

If I had to describe it simply, it would be
WHM is easy to learn, yet hard to master
SCH is hard to learn, yet easy to master

Ehh, I think it's pretty much the exact opposite.

Ie.

WHM is hard to learn, because mistakes are more punishing with the high potency spells, HoTs and triggering spawn aggro etc. Also, a WHM will have worse sustainability over time so not being MP-efficient and proactive to an extent will cause dents in your performance. (Eg. not precasting anything but just bruteforcing through with Cure IIs when the damage has literally already been done and you gotta catch up). So in a sense, until you have a solid understanding of the game mechanics in general and before you are able to analyze things at the required level, a WHM is punishing. Once that threshold of skill has been hit, I think the kit is pretty simple. (Albeit strong, don't get me wrong!)

SCH on the other hand is very easy to "learn", ie. be lazy with, because it suffers from no enmity issues, has fantastic MP-sustainability and because it has the fairy to patch up things for you even if you are not a good player. So in a sense, bad/new/mediocre players will just seem to be doing their thing, with the fairy doing something, the player in question not having MP or enmity issues, etc. So in a way, the skill floor is low on a SCH, whilst the skill ceiling goes through the roof if you wanna squeeze out everything you can from the job.

Now, this is just me rambling and I don't intend to turn this into a "lulz my job is harder than your job!" -debate, just putting my own 2 cents in as well. I've played both healers a lot since release and I enjoy them both, even if I am a SCH main.

I think it's great to see that the OP has some new-found appreciation for the WHM-buddies out there.

[Cynfael]

SCH is definitely easier for players to be bad or mediocre at while still doing at least the minimum required of them. I'll take a bad SCH over a bad WHM any day since the fairy, at least, will do something even if her player is a space cadet.

WHM is easier to pick up, but is punished harder for making mistakes. It's also punished harder for party members' mistakes. Solo healing raids as WHM can be a pain when new people eat unnecessary damage at the same time that the tank requires your complete attention. You start to feel the constraint of the GCD in a way that isn't as taxing on a SCH.

Props to good WHMs in any case. I never consider it weaker than SCH, just very different. And not nearly as easy as it looks when it comes to end-game.

[DarkmoonVael]

I think both healers have their difficulties to overcome whilst learning how to use them to fullest potential. Sch may have oodles of abilities to use etc, but its not really the quantity of abilities that makes sch hard to master. Its being able to mitigate damage correctly, thats the hard part, as well as managing their aetherflow correctly. Also there is "natural" difficulty in sch with learning how to use their pet to heal properly; how to place them can be important in a fight, how to be able to override their a.i. is something scholars have to learn - sometimes in fights, especially when multiple people take damage, the fairy goes into stupid mode and will just heal whoever it feels like - and when to use which fairy.

Whm is a different sort of difficulty, perhaps best summed up with the phrase that seems commen on the forums when talking about whm skill cap; its about knowing when not to heal, rather when to heal. Overhealing and mana management are the whm "natural" difficulty in this game, things that sometimes only come to light whilst raiding. And yes, i agree with the OP that whm also has a lot of utility, something often overlooked in conversation here about the classes. Also, whm playstyle has to be so much tighter in end game raids, due to having to manage that mana!

I play both, and i find both have their own uniques difficulties to overcome. Both are amazing classes which bring so much to the game .

[Ryfee]

I was a SCH but now am a WHM, and gotta say, I LOVE WHM much, much more. Threat and Mana management are very important, and I have to constantly think all the time-- is my Medica going to be enough to top people off after this? Should I Cure 3 instead? Should I stoneskin Tank now--will there be enough time, or should I just pre-Cure 2? Like someone said in a comment: playing WHM is like playing chess. Knowing when to save/use Shroud, when to NOT use Regen, knowing how to plan your movements, pop your CDs... Beyond their seemingly "simple and straightforward" toolset, WHM is actually hard to master.

That said, I always love and appreciate an amazing SCH who shields and micros his fairy and pops CS every now and then.

[Sessurea]

Don't underrate the sch either tho. Spell speed increase is great. Virus is essential. Shields, good tank healing. Incredible mana efficiency. "skill cap"ing on a sch would probably require fulfilling all the above, aswell as throwing out some respectable single target dps.

But yh, whm definitely has a higher...skill base? I guess. A lot more demanding in terms of mp management.

[DreamWeaver]

Other than "Knowing when not to heal, not when to heal", I would like to add "what to heal with" as well .

Unlike Scholars with their 2/3 Physick : 1 Adlo ratio (Please correct me if I'm wrong in thinking a Scholar's healing rotation for normal healing, not tank buster damage healing can be simplified into a set rotation of physick and adlos), there's no such thing as 2/3 Cure I : 1 Cure II ratio for WHMs.

Many WHMs I see usually use Cure II right after a tank buster attack (Death Sentence, Raven's Beak), and while this is standard procedure, I would think there's still improvement that can be done.

If you're able to analyze the current situation and pay attention to what debuffs are on the boss/buffs are on the tanks, you can actually make a snap decision whether to use Cure I or Cure II to heal the tank buster attack damage:

1) Only your stoneskin is applied, tank has no adlo no personal CD, Boss has no debuffs? Better prep that Cure II!
2) Tank has Stoneskin+Adlo+Sentinel, Boss has E4E, virus debuffs? A heal spell may not even be required, but why not just throw a Cure I just to feel safe .

Obviously the 2 top examples are extreme cases on when to Cure I (Maybe don't cure at all!) and when to Cure II, but these are decisions a WHM have to make on the fly based on what buffs/debuffs are active currently.

Your reward for doing all the above? Possibly 133 Mana because you decided a Cure I is more than sufficient and will not use Cure II.

Sound's like a PITA just to save 133 mana right? But this is the game of the WHM, every little decision you make (Cure III/Medica/Medica II or Cure I / Cure II or Cure I / Regen to heal DPS up) will impact your mana in the long run : That panic Cure II spam on the OT/MT on the 2nd Minute of the fight may come back and haunt you during the 8th Minute of the fight.

....Or you can just ask a Bard to be your mana battery and all your mana problems will go away.
.....Until you wiped at 0.3% of a boss and you realize if the bard wasn't required to sing MP song for you previously, you could have killed the boss already

[Tranquil]

-snip-

Truly excellent post right here, very true stuff. What you mentioned about "snap decisions" is one of the biggest factors in all healing game in general, at the top level. That kind of adaptibility is very important for max synergy and minmaxing mana usage, every GCD and so forth.

Overhealing never kills anyone (literally), but some times there might be some unnecessary MP strain due to the thing you mentioned: Ie. overkilling a heal after tank killing move. For instance, for a T12's Revelation, if there's a Virus, E4E proc, Rampart, Stoneskin and a fresh Adloquium up - there might or might not be a need to queue up that Cure II then, depending on whether or not you also camp your co-healer's casting bar and if you can see they are pre-casting Physick/Adloquium to land post-impact. If they are not, it might be a safe bet to land that Cure II - stuff like that. Some of it is also RNG of course, with Blocks happening or not happening, even with CDs on. Adapting mid-combat requires good awareness and snap decisions so it might not always be so easy to not default into that Cure II. All of this adds up and it sounds like that 0.3% you mentioned could have come from experience, first hand.

[StouterTaru]

I found SCH much easier to play in the leveling dungeons. I just put out Eos and let him heal while I did DoTs under cleric and backed him up as needed. There's more to SCH in the end game content, especially if you are using Selene, but it's an easy job to play at the basic levels. WHM takes focus on healing full time, which still isn't too hard unless your group is pushing their limits.