looking for a healer job to play as.

[Adrain]

Hi Everyonem!!
Getting back into the game after a month break and I really want to get into healing.
Thing is I don't know much about the different jobs, so if anyone can give me pros and cons of the different classes that would be really great.

[DynamoAce]

White Mage is really great for Burst healing as far as I know.
Scholar is more focused on creating Shields to mitigate damage as opposed to just straight up power heals, and you get a pet to help you heal. But they're also very great for going on the offensive too with their DoTs a little better than the other two.
Astrologian as far as I know can sort of match up to either or depending if you go Diurnal or Nocturnal.

I personally play Scholar and have not dabbed into the other two much but I'm sure we got some experts on the other two classes who can share some insight.

[Rennies]

White Mage is your pick for the best burst damage+burst healing. Has lowish MP sustain compared to the others when using AoE spells. Has the most crowd control of the healers.

Scholar has the best overall DPS because of their MP sustain and 5 DoT spells. They rely on the fairy to do a good chunk of their healing contribution. Eos is a mini white mage (amazing healing), Selene is a mini Astro (boosts allies' damage).

Astro can be like a White Mage or a Scholar but should only be used in Diurnal sect (white mage stance) unless A. there are two Asts or B. you literally need shields to survive attacks. This is the job you pick if you want to buff up your allies and have space themed spells. Also, it has the most powerful bubble of the three (Collective Unconscious) which comes at the price of being really awkward to use in many situations.

[File2ish]

WHITE MAGE:

PROS:
Easiest healer to pick up and play
Biggest heals in the game.
Best AoE heal range.
Best overall Heal Over Time (regen, medica 2, place-able aoe heal at like 54 or 56)
Stoneskin (a handy ability for any healing role and paladin)
Best burst damage of any healer, especially in large groups of enemies (Holy is amazing).
WHM's base class Conjurer is literally the only healing class (the rest are jobs: SCH unlocks at 30, AST gated behind HW expansion). Can get used to the role from the start.

CONS: Stoneskin is only shield, only useful when used outside of battle (less efficient to use in battle unless prepping for a tank buster)
Stoneskin 2 is just AoE stoneskin and can not be used in battle
Tetragrammaton (only instant heal) is on a 60 second cooldown
May have some MP management issues if using the given abilities at bad times.
Outside of HoTs and Stoneskin, WHM does not have many buffs for party members.
Some find WHM boring, feels less active than SCH and AST in regards to ability use (cures, aeros, and stones are mainly what you'll be hurling)

SCHOLAR:

PROS
Adloquium is arguably the best shield ability in the game (the ability heals and places a shield, if crit it heals for the amount shown and doubles that amount for the shield placed. ex: adlo for 500 is 500 heals + 500 shield. Crit for 1000 is 1000 heals and 2000 shields)
Has an ability to add %10 damage reduction (I think, might be +10 defense/mdef) in an AoE
Best overall damage output of any healer
The Fairies Selene and Eos are constant cure bots with abilities to help you heal or help your party do more damage, among a couple other things
Good MP management with Aetherflow and Energy drain
Good party buffs through Selene

CONS:
Only heal over time ability is Selene's Whispering Dawn
Shields are Scholar's primary concern, burst healing is difficult to do without saved Aetherflow stacks for Lustrate (I'm not familiar with the post 50 abilites, so I'll not comment on those)
Micromanaging your fairy is a must in difficult fights. That means placement and controlling when their abilities are used.
Arguably the hardest healer to learn to play at a high level (i.e. in hardest content).
High Crit is a must, big shields are dependent on crits.
SCH's AoE heal applies shields, but does not double the shield with a critical, unlike Adlo.


ASTROLOGIAN:

PROS:
Has 2 stances, Diurnal and Nocturnal. Each changing the properties of the Aspected Benefic and Aspected Helios spells (adds heal over time and shield effects, respectively)
Can fill in for White Mage or Scholar because of stances.
Great utility through card mechanics
Cards can buff attack, attack speed, defense, lower cooldown times, refresh MP, and regain TP.
Cards can be stored for later use, and cards can be use to enhance the next drawn card.
Aspected Benefic is an instant heal upon use, Diurnal Sect placing a heal over time and Nocturnal Sect placing a shield equal to the amount healed + 33% iirc.
The Regen effect from Diurnal Aspected Benefic/Helios stacks with Regen/Medica 2 from White Mage
Can use Lightspeed for hastened cast spells over the course of a few seconds (allows you to move and cure while running).
Has an ability you can place on another player, it increases the amount of HP healed on that player when healing them, and if you heal another player while it's up, half of what you healed is applied to the target of that ability.
Best looking Limit Break 3 of any healer, arguably of any job.
Can boost the duration of ALL buffs you applied to a target by a fairly significant margin.
Collective unconsciousness is both a damage reduction AND heal over time field of effect

CONS:
Can NOT switch between Diurnal and Nocturnal sects in battle. Once the battle starts you are locked in.
Cards are random and is VERY HIT AND MISS trying to get the cards you want or need.
Overall healing performance is lower than either White Mage or Scholar
Overall damage output is lower than the other two healers
Scholar shields overwrite Nocturnal Sect shields, and vice versa. (with a scholar you essentially must be in diurnal)
CARDS
Does not gain Eye for an Eye or Virus as AST's cross class abilities are from Conjurer and Thaumaturge.
Collective Unconsciousness restricts your movement, if you move the ability ends (whm and sch can place theirs and forget about it)

[Atoli]

WHM has strong heals, potent regen and and a nice, strong stunning AoE. It is the most basic of the three healers.

SCH is fairly limited in it's ability to heal after the fact, so you need to plan ahead and shield your party from getting hurt in the first place with your potent shields. Also, most normal content can be solo-healed by your fairy so you will probably spend 90% of your time DPSing.

Diurnal AST:
Strong heals and regen that nearly rival WHM's, has the card system that lets you give powerful buffs to your teammates with a bit of RNG and can shield once every 90 seconds. Worst at dealing dmg themselves.

Nocturnal AST: a sad, sad existence. Uses shields like SCH but a lot less potent and versatile. At least has the card system going for it, but the lack of a fairy and decent DPS capabilities makes you want to grab a SCH instead

Basically, decide if you want regen or shields more first,
and then think about what kind of 'difficulty' you want to start with
SCH and AST are both fairly busy and probably confusing to someone new to healing, but they are also very interesting and fun to play
WHM is - at least to me - kind of boring, but it's a very straight-forward healer that might be the easiest to get into healing with

Edit: nvm, poster before me was very in depth already xD

[Nekotee]

To put it simply :

First white mage, simpliest, easiest and most boring healer to play allow you to learn the basic move of a healer and cleric dance
Then go for scholar to learn about shielding and pet management very fun to play
Then finally go to astrologian to slay the house down with the most versatile healer, capable of everything

..

Also careful on File2ish post some point are highly wrong, but most are true

[Dogempire]

Basically:

White mage: Gaping wound in the chest! No problem! Lemme patch you up!

Scholar: My fairy handles all the healing for me while I DPS.

Last: Heart of the cards.

[LilLemay]

White Mage: let me keep the group topped up with my crazy radial regen and focus on healing the tank

Scholar: I can solo heal perfectly fine, but put me in some 8 man content and I'll help dps, my fairy will help the other healer keep health topped up, and god****
can I nullify some damage.

Astrologian: I can fit any role you need really, need some regens? I got that, need some shields? I got that. Just.. gimme a heads-up beforehand. Also I've got some really nice buffs that I can pull out, they may be randomly drawn, but that randomness doesn't make or break me, i can still heal fine without them