Consolidated White Mage 4.0 Feedback Thread

[Exiled_Tonberry]

This passive MP reduction used to perturb me immensely for the majority of of 3.X after the AST potency buffs and was further exacerbated by the LA buff.

Now with the way the healer kits are shaping, this passive doesn't bug me as much. Every healer seems to have their niche in terms of sustainability so we'll see how it all shapes up.

The thing is, constant lower MP cost will always beat out MP saving CDs.
Such was the case with Shroud+ Assize being the excuse most people used to warrant AST retaining their lower MP costs.
It'll sure be interesting to observe if MP regeneration between healers will be a bit more balanced now.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

Based on the screenshot from PVP :

I don't know guys, but have access to Assize every 30 sec, it's pretty nice and powerful.

That's from PvP. Not only does lily work differently there, but that content actually rewards cure spamming. PvE doesn't, which is why even with a 100% proc chance, Lily generation being tied exclusively to Cure/II is a bad decision.

In PvP, yeah you'll see extremely good use out of 30 second Assize and Tetragrammaton.
In PvE, most of the time you won't even have lilies to benefit from CD reduction at all.

[Acidblood]

That's from PvP. Not only does lily work differently there, but that content actually rewards cure spamming. PvE doesn't, which is why even with a 100% proc chance, Lily generation being tied exclusively to Cure/II is a bad decision.

In PvP, yeah you'll see extremely good use out of 30 second Assize and Tetragrammaton.
In PvE, most of the time you won't even have lilies to benefit from CD reduction at all.

I'm starting to think they designed WHM for PvP first, then copied the mechanics across to PvE and addjusted it in a spreadsheet to meet some overall 'healing power' number; would explain a lot...

Edit:

If the PvE numbers are anything like the PvP numbers it will be worth tossing a couple of cure 2 to get some garanteed reduction. That is a huge cut to our CDs. I understand wishing the lilies did something else but a plannable 50% reduction to something like Bene is nothing to sneeze at.

While 50% CD reductions in certain situations would be nice, I'm really not looking forward to a rotation of Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Assize > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Tetra > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Asylum > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Bene > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Assive > ...

[Niroken]

I'd rather we get our own stuff than borrow toys from the other classes. Down that road lies homogenized healers.

If SE really cared about that then AST would be entirely different then what it is now.

I'm starting to think they designed WHM for PvP first, then copied the mechanics across to PvE and adjusted it in a spreadsheet to meet some overall 'healing power' number; would explain a lot...

It's almost mind blowing how true this starts to look the more you think about it. Yoshi-P has a real big crush with PvP, Fluid Aura, Sleep, etc.

Stoneskin's base cast time on WHM is 2.5s (Quick Stoneskin trait).
...
It's not the best skill, but it absolutely had its uses.

The stupid part of Stoneskin when they changed it from 18% for the now (and soon to be gone) Quick Stoneskin trait was they didn't even bother with adjusting the MP values to match the new 10% shield value.

[Ceasaria]

While 50% CD reductions in certain situations would be nice, I'm really not looking forward to a rotation of Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Assize > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Tetra > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Asylum > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Bene > Cure II > Cure II > Cure II > Assize > ...

Because, it's not a good rotation...(all depend of the difficulty of the fight, of course).

if you want to be optimal, you need to get absolutely 30 sec reduction on Assize because it's the best spell (heal, damages, mp recovery) which profite from lilies.
For the others, it will help if the fight is really tough, but not necessary if the fight is simple.

As I said before, 3x cure II (if possible with no overheal) + Assize every 30 sec. This 4 spells are not cast inevitably in a row.
You are free to cast other spells (Aero, Stone, etc) during the other secondes.

[Cynfael]

As I said before, 3x cure II (if possible with no overheal) + Assize every 30 sec.

Unless we have newer information, the 3 Lilies = 50% CD reduction is only a PvP feature. I don't believe we know yet what changes they plan for the PvE system.

[Reiryuu]

Unless we have newer information, the 3 Lilies = 50% CD reduction is only a PvP feature. I don't believe we know yet what changes they plan for the PvE system.

We should in a couple of days though. Yoshi might tell us in the live letter on Tuesday and it should definitely be in the patch notes on Thursday.

[Lemuria]

Honestly, it just kind of feels like SE has no idea what to do with white mage so they just ripped the guts out and made it cross-class and tacked on this lily system. Esuna and protect are both now taking up one of 5 CC slots instead of being default abilities. There's a lot of lost ground for us to make up, and a drop in cooldown (which we can't even use selectively) isn't really enough to make up for the loss.

I have to say it's a little hard to take any positives out of these changes so far. I really hope we're missing something and that when Stormblood officially arrives things straighten themselves out.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

Esuna and protect are both now taking up one of 5 CC slots.

Same thing happened to BRD and MCH with MP/TP restoration, though, and yet there really isn't much outcry about that. And then PLD also lost both Rampart, Conv, and Provoke, all powerful abilities, and no one bats an eye. It really does feel like people are just whining for special treatment...

[Lemuria]

It really does feel like people are just whining for special treatment...

Well, since you want to go there, let's go over what we actually lost to cross-role skills shall we?

Divine Seal - 20% Buff to heals
Shroud of Saints - 50% Enmity drop and MP regen
Protect
Stoneskin I/II
Esuna

No one bats an eye at PLD having Rampart et al in their cross-roles since they were already cross-role skills used by virtually every tank ever! Sure they're pretty darn mandatory, but at least those make sense! We didn't really have much going for us as it is, and what we have left is slowly being offered up as boons to Scholars and Astrologians. In return we get... lillies, which have zero effect other than changing cooldown timers. Um... yay, I guess. Beats a slap in the face, but we already had a ton of those so far.

The only 'special treatment' white mage is getting is the long shaft of a Dragoon's polearm.