SE have any plans to keep White mages from being extinct?

[Parawill]

Please read this thread. It has some interesting discussion between Scholar vs. White Mage.

And with how Ninjas were introduced, I believe that White Mages will still find their place. We can only speculate what Astrologians can do, and I highly doubt that they will be a healing role that solely compliments Scholars. With the dev's class philosophy, they wish to have party slots open to all roles and not restricted to few. It's why some party compositions still include (very amazing) dragoons, summoners, and alike.