WHMs and their toolkits

[zuzu-bq]

Healers' toolkit tend to have a lot of optional stuff thay may ease the way your healing during the fights depend on how you use them. I can understand Scholars and Astrologians not using stuff, their supportive skills don't look as strong or usefull as how in fact they are. White Mage on the other side is a massive heals-type of healer, almost everything looks strong. Note that I'm saying the word look because visually WHM is made of raw healing so everything that makes you heal more is not only strong but makes the player as feel stronger as a healer. I'm talking about how powerfull the skill really is vs how visually powerfull the skill looks to the player.

This asside, I can understand some White Mages not using Asylum because its their skill that looks weaker togheter with Presence of Mind. But in fact those two skills are really strong. I can understand a WHM not using Divine Seal tough, maybe he thinks its a panic button? When I started playing the game I had this tought on my mind... Actually, WHM is still the healer that I lack more on hehe.

[Twilite]

Oh... Presence of Mind. I'm actually going to try that out and see if it'll help for those "Need Cure II NOW" moments.

[Raso]

Outside of raids PoM is pretty much just a DPS CD, you never need to chain cast heals like that in dungeon content.

DS tends to be situational as well unless everyone is getting absolutely smashed, it just causes too much over healing. Now using DS then toss a renew and Asylum out then spend the next 15 seconds DPSing is awesome provided the tank is smart enough to stay in the Asylum and not so undergeared that they might die.

[zuzu-bq]

Oh... Presence of Mind. I'm actually going to try that out and see if it'll help for those "Need Cure II NOW" moments.

You can just use Swiftcast or Tetragrammaton for this.
WHM doesn't has many panic buttons and most of their cooldowns fail when being used as panic button since they're not instant stuff. So with Divine Seal, Shroud of Saints and Presence of Mind you shouldn't mainly think "I need this now" but "I'll be needing this for the next seconds" or even "I want this skill for the next seconds of the combat". At least that's how I think about healer buffs in general, not only WHM.

[technole]

More like inside of raids PoM is really great for maximizing DPS. Like the pull of A1S is perfect for getting all the DoTs and some Stones up, Tetra heal the tank, go right to AoE, and your prey target with ease. A3S for burst damage. Being able to get multiple uses of the skill in a raid is absolutely taking advantage of the WHM kit.

Tetra and Divine Seal should also be used liberally with their 60s cooldowns. What separates good WHMs from others is taking advantage of their cooldowns in their kit to maximize their healing potencies and MP management. Like should Divine Seal be paired up with this Medica II for a heavy hitting mechanic that happens every minute? Should I use Tetra to heal this damage that requires more than Cure II? There isn't anything else more hard hitting for another minute. Not only will I be saving MP, I'll have the skill ready again when this mechanic comes back. It's about being a proactive healer. This is why some healers never sweat when it looks like they are low on MP.

You can just use Swiftcast or Tetragrammaton for this.
WHM doesn't has many panic buttons and most of their cooldowns fail when being used as panic button since they're not instant stuff. So with Divine Seal, Shroud of Saints and Presence of Mind you shouldn't mainly think "I need this now" but "I'll be needing this for the next seconds" or even "I want this skill for the next seconds of the combat". At least that's how I think about healer buffs in general, not only WHM.

Like what? Only Benediction would be a fail if it wasn't timed right (PLD's have the same issue too for Hallowed). Everything else is fine. Assize and Tetra are absolute instants. Asylum and Regen just need heal ticks to really take effect. Shroud use shouldn't be a panic use but rather often, as mechanics dictate to keep MP refresh cycle going, save for some situations where threat reduction might be needed.

[Risvertasashi]

I realize Asylum's potency isn't very high, but it's still free, instant, and off the GCD, and works well combined with Regen - easy enough to throw it out after that. Not using Divine Seal seems inexcusable to me though. Why struggle to heal up the party after a big AoE when you can use that and make it so much easier? I don't see a lot of them using Presence of Mind either.

Aside from the picture Lyrica posted just below... you've given all the reason needed to use Asylum. Even if it's just as an extra on the tank.

I'm guilty of not using PoM outside of raid though. XD Usually it's my MP limiting my DPS anyways, and nothing hits hard enough to warrant spamming heals with it, so not much reason to pop it in dungeons.

Oh... Presence of Mind. I'm actually going to try that out and see if it'll help for those "Need Cure II NOW" moments.

Well, I found it helpful for Ahk Morn. But dungeons never have anything like that.

[zuzu-bq]

Like what? Only Benediction would be a fail if it wasn't timed right (PLD's have the same issue too for Hallowed). Everything else is fine. Assize and Tetra are absolute instants. Asylum and Regen just need heal ticks to really take effect. Shroud use shouldn't be a panic use but rather often, as mechanics dictate to keep MP refresh cycle going, save for some situations where threat reduction might be needed.

Thats why I said most and not all.
And if you're saving a cooldown ability for future use, like Shroud for a moment where you don't wanna get aggro. This is not panic, its just planagement.
Also Asylum is terrible as panic because its a regen based ability and Assize shouldn't be saved fo ever to panic situations since its cooldown is relatively low for the amount of mana it regenerates. And you may need that mana for most content. Some of WHM abilities can be used as emergency skills like Assize and Tetragrammaton but you shouldn't be using them only for these moments. As healers we should plan ahead, doing so we'll be minimizing situations that need emergencial healing.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Assize shouldn't be saved fo ever to panic situations since its cooldown is relatively low for the amount of mana it regenerates.

Since this was brought up, a message here for all you White Mages.

While it is fine to use this whenever it is available for MP purposes, take a moment and consider the following:
A lot of damage is coming up soon (let's say within 10 seconds) and your Assize comes off CD. Don't just blow Assize for MP as it's available, wait out the 10 seconds. The amount of HP recovered from it is equivalent to a Medica. That's one Medica less to cast and thus 1257 MP saved. Which in turn is roughly 10% of your MP pool. Technically you could have an Assize off CD for the full 90s to do this and get the same result MP wise as 2 Assizes*. It amazes me how often this is forgotten or unplanned for just so they can get their MP bar bloat up, which they'll be spending again within a few seconds.

* Only considering healing purposes

[Twilite]

You can just use Swiftcast or Tetragrammaton for this.
WHM doesn't has many panic buttons and most of their cooldowns fail when being used as panic button since they're not instant stuff. So with Divine Seal, Shroud of Saints and Presence of Mind you shouldn't mainly think "I need this now" but "I'll be needing this for the next seconds" or even "I want this skill for the next seconds of the combat". At least that's how I think about healer buffs in general, not only WHM.

As I pointed out in another thread, Swiftcast isn't really reliable for panic situations because it invoked GCD and animation delay.

(well explain more on this later in this post)

Edit: Nevermind, since I'm actually agreeing with you.

I did run into an instance where Presence of Mind was extremely helpful.

[technole]

Well yeah, lining up healing cooldowns with mechanics is always in the best interest. If the incoming party damage is just another 15 seconds later, it's likely not going to be vital to have Assize 10% MP restored that much sooner just because it's available.

It may not matter in most casual content but getting used to these MP management techniques will undoubtably make one a better healer in the long-run. Like I mentioned you'll find some good WHMs don't sweat one bit when it looks like their MP is low on-screen, and may even tell their raid SCH partner that it's okay to DPS even during that phase. It's all being aware of what cooldowns will be up, what mechanics are coming, and how to best handle it.

As for the subject of swiftcast, it's only a 1s delay you should build into it (just like if you macro swift+raise, you should build the 1s delay for the cast). It's great for DPS, and Medica II in some situations outside of raises.