What is WHM's true identity?

[Starkbeaumont]

WHM is really stream-lined. not many gadgets just straight healing. it's simple, it's often boring and yet most ppl can't play it. medica II spam all day, no use of cure III, regen before large pulls, lot's of over curing and bad mp management...

I'm happy that we have this job the way it is, cause with all those mistakes it's stil kinda forgiving and get's the job done. I don't wanna see those players as SCH or AST. there must be an easy accessible healer, just like PLD is an easy accessible tank.

[Jonnycbad]

WHM is meant to be the PLD of healers.

[Jonnycbad]

WHM in FFXI is not a good comparison because in FFXI they were the ONLY 'healer'. RDM was not a healer, they were a debuffer that COULD heal but did not have AoEs or many of the -na spells to remove debuffs as WHM, nor did they have Cure V, although RDM could heal in merit parties if the tank had /NIN sub. DNC later came around and could be a healer but the playerbase used them as a DPS instead, which makes sense because DNC used TP to heal and TP was gained mostly from autoattacks, which DNC sucked at against high level HNM that annihilated melees with AoE and had high evasion. So really, in FFXI, the only actual healer job was WHM. SCH could be a support healer with their regens and embrava and AoE Cure IVs (rip Enmity), but could not sustain it. Also in FFXI, WHM had a stance called "Afflatus: Solace" which gave a shield worth 33% of their cures. So a 1.4k heal gave a player about a 450 HP shield to boot. In a game where most tanks only had 2k HP or so, that was a pretty damn good shield. No other job was anywhere near on par with the healing output of a WHM, because WHM had a monopoly on almost all of the healer toolkits, and SCH had about 70% of the same toolkit but also had 70% of the BLM toolkit and was better off throwing out high power nukes and DoTs with their Helix spells or being on stun duty than healing in an HNM fight or raid like Legion

[Makuro]

Whm's identity is defined by the person playing it. Yes, limitations to what you can offer a static exist but you still posses greater versatility than scholar or both sect Ast. Depending on your parties composition you can use Whm for difference purposes, for example if you choose to run Noct/whm then in theory whm's regens serve the purpose that a sch's fairy would. You then are given an opportunity to fit in more dps, more so now that noct is going to be buffed. (If your Noct ast is good)

The people who don't understand the full extent of how to play whm or accept the meta as fact are the ones calling for change. Yes whm has less buttons to press in comparison to Ast or Sch but half the time Ast's and Sch's aren't even using their utility efficiently. I've also seen it in whm's. The most flexible and underused skills being assize, presence of mind, and Asylum really make whm shine.

[Keramory]

When the cap was 50 I juggled WHM and SCH depending on content (and sometimes the other healer). After the cap raise as well as when the end gear was job specific, I kind of stuck with just WHM. I like WHM alot, because it is in fact, that straight up healer class. Granted the other 2 healing roles have a more unique feel to them, some people such as myself enjoy the simplicity of WHM. This game has become silly mechanics heavy. The last thing I want to deal with while dancing on the battlefield is a complex skill set (personally, I know others feel differently).

Also Holy. My god...Holy. Love it in PvP. Love it for trashing slightly weaker things. Love PL'ing people with it. Holy I think is the one move that keeps me from the other healing classes. It just feels so good spamming it.

[Teraluna]

What is WHM's true identity?..........Bruce Wayne

[gehrtalert]

To me, white mages the only actual healers on FFXIV. Sch and AST seem more like healer based support jobs. All are capable of healing but it seems to me that WHM excels at big numbers from curing hp, where as AST and Sch do more to lessen those healing numbers from even being needed and bumping dps numbers more than white Mage can.

[Nekotee]

To me, white mages the only actual healers on FFXIV. Sch and AST seem more like healer based support jobs. All are capable of healing but it seems to me that WHM excels at big numbers from curing hp, where as AST and Sch do more to lessen those healing numbers from even being needed and bumping dps numbers more than white Mage can.

Which is why whm is less and less attractive due to the need of mitigation in fight
They all can heal

But big number are useless if the target die instantly
You can't heal dead body :S

[gehrtalert]

Which is why whm is less and less attractive due to the need of mitigation in fight
They all can heal

But big number are useless if the target die instantly
You can't heal dead body :S

Stoneskin is mitigation. It's not the greatest but it works. Virus might work depending on the damage coming in. If people are dying instantly then mitigation probably isn't the problem.

[Keramory]

Which is why whm is less and less attractive due to the need of mitigation in fight
They all can heal

But big number are useless if the target die instantly
You can't heal dead body :S

Which brings up a huge issue itself. Mechanics that require nothing but dancing around a battleground or instant death isn't exactly an RPG like element. I feel sometimes like we're playing Resident Evil with the button cutscenes.