Getting WHM on Par

[Jib]

You said it yourself, the WHM is in a good position. In every mmo patch cycle different classes become more relevant than others. Let 3.4 be the AST era, that is fine. When Im on my WHM i still "outheal" my random co healer in my dutyfinder sophie ex and A9S. True though i cannot compete in terms of dps with a SCH for example.
Most probably there will be changes with new abilities in 4.0 we will see then.
At the moment i consider the WHM the pure healer when paired with the AST or SCH. Lets them concentrate more on dps/buffs. Its when there is two WHM that there might be a decrease on healer dps compared to other pairings. But we are still relevant. I dont think a major change is needed right now, I would wait for 4.0 and do a small tweak meanwhile perhaps, but nothing major.

[Serilda]

I like WHM. The one area where I feel I'd like improvement is in some general utility/support - not exactly like AST's card buffs (which I like) but in some other areas. I'm not for a second advocating the same bloated spell list situation we had there, but one of the things I liked about FFXI was that I had lots of things to do in between reactive healing - bar spells, refresh etc - and as great as the Grand DPS Era is, I can live with pressing buttons other than Stone 3/Holy etc from time to time and socketing acc in HW has been an annoying situation all around. I'd love to see a bit more flexibility incorporated without making us into MP-challenged wannabe BLMs whenever healing isn't required.

They can buff healing but in 99% of content it's pointless as healing is almost unnecessary most of the time, and big healing is just overhealing outside of the harshest encounters. Personally WHM is my preferred healer in PVP (because of its options for more aggressive play) while I usually rock up with AST or SCH in group content. I'm glad I have all three.

[Averax]

A 32 year cast time for a 10% shield sure is a threat to scholars. It'd give WHM's something to do to prepare for a phase change, rather than a medica 2 blanket. And if you wanted to use it effectively in the middle of a fight, you'd have to burn swiftcast.

And if you have time to hardcast it in the middle of a fight, it's probably not all that needed in the first place

[Exiled_Tonberry]

So a better version of Adloquium that's also an aoe? No thanks I prefer my sch's to be useful.
Just give whm a boost to healing potency, big heals are kind of their gimmick or lack thereof.

No no no no, WHM doesn't need a healing potency boost. The one thing they are fine in right now is healing, they do that well.
The problem is that's all they do. They need some kind of utility for themselves. Some kind of identity.

It can't be solved with simple patch fixes though, it requires new skills. New skills that hopefully 4.0 will be giving them.

What they can do this patch though is increase the time or power of Shroud of Saints and reduce the CD on Benediction.

[Ghishlain]

I do hope that if they do release an AoE mitigation tool for WHM it's a new spell or ability in 4.0 and not a modification to the existing Stoneskin II. The intent of Stoneskin II at the time was introduced as a QoL change to allow for raids to setup faster and given to WHM's for free as a QoL. I feel any buffs to Stoneskin II would generate a lot more outcry from the rest of the player base than praise from the WHM players.

[EDIT] Also you're going to need to do more then just make Stoneskin II usable in combat to make "WHM on par". WHM is actually quite viable in its current iteration but there are some glaring flaws in balance logic when you compare the WHM kit to a Diurnal AST kit and additional mitigation isn't the solution to that.

[Brightshadow]

Why not give their cleric stance a trait that converts X% of damage to healing that would give them a nice little niche as side-healers. Hell also make the trait give an accuracy bonus problem fixed.

[Serilda]

Why not give their cleric stance a trait that converts X% of damage to healing that would give them a nice little niche as side-healers.

I would personally rather not have this. While it would be convenient and save a lot of time, I feel that WHM of all roles shouldn't be side-healers. The current DPS focus is strange enough as it is (and I say this as someone who likes to DPS and speed things up). At the end of the day if we're just going to be DPSers who occasionally throw some regens up and the odd instant cure in between melting faces, I'd rather switch over to another job; it's not what I want from a FF WHM experience.

I'm happy with stoneskin/stoneskin2 as they are, even though actually using the latter in FL is really annoying as someone is always in combat randomly. What I'd personally like as future 4.0 additions is something like haste (note: I'm not saying I want haste specifically). Give all healers something equivalent so nobody gets left behind, but let WHM have some extra tools to make keeping it up easier and more efficient. Oh, and some kind of limited reraise, not because it's essential at all with our current content but simply because not having it feels weird and it would be fun. I like fun.

[Brightshadow]

I would personally rather not have this. While it would be convenient and save a lot of time, I feel that WHM of all roles shouldn't be side-healers. The current DPS focus is strange enough as it is (and I say this as someone who likes to DPS and speed things up). At the end of the day if we're just going to be DPSers who occasionally throw some regens up and the odd instant cure in between melting faces, I'd rather switch over to another job; it's not what I want from a FF WHM experience.

it's not farfetched for WHM to DPS even in the old rpgs they would DPS with aero,dia,holy when not healing. The trait would just bring them more on par with SCH who can currently DPS 100% of the time while eos/selene handle the healing. This trait would essentially allow the WHM to do the same. The only reason WHM didn't DPS much in FFXI is that they suffered from MP issues but trust me if MP wasn't a issue they would be DPSing too lol.

[Serilda]

it's not farfetched for WHM to DPS even in the old rpgs they would DPS with aero,dia,holy when not healing.

Yes, but they do heal as well. I sort of feel as though I don't get to do that all that much in the current design of the game, and that's a shame. Adding even more overpowered heals ironically makes the issue even more obvious. Adding passive healing to cleric stance would just make stepping out of cleric stance even less necessary than it already is; arguably you wouldn't even want to heal so much as boost your DPS through the roof to make your passive healing stronger at some points in the patch cycle. If they want to add a DPS job with passive healing, I think it should be done with a different job.

(If they do it, please make them fix accuracy first. And give us passive refresh or something. Or just make us completely overpowered and then everyone can play WHM and nobody will ever die again.)

[ElphabaTigelaar]

WHM ain't broke...and if it ain't broke, don't "fix" it XD