Help SE with new mechanics for WHM!

[Shurrikhan]

I've included my reasoning for each suggestion, and the prior text tends to greatly outnumber the latter. At the end of each discussion the suggestion itself I will post the suggestion itself in brief form as a tl;dr.
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While I feel like a take on the "pure healer" is aesthetically possible, it is in any practical sense a contradiction. The stronger a healer's heals, the less time they ought to spend healing. If this is not the case, that added power is wasted after reaching the content-appropriate gear level, leaving only the opportunity cost of forgone competing utilities from SCH and AST. Either the "pure healer" can spend more time DPSing though stronger healing (see below), or it can provide some sort of additional effective (non-capped) throughput benefit to heals cast.

In either case, it seems likely to me that to not overpower the White Mage, this base healing enhancement must be less incremental, or more analog, than can be acquired through fixed potencies. Even if raw potencies are increased, there is a huge breadth of time in which the final GCD spent simply overheals before a given GCD can actually be spared. That leaves us with two options: (1) dynamic heals (e.g. variable mana cost for variable healing as not to overheal), or (2) a mechanical use for overhealing.

I personally prefer the latter, especially as it may potentially give a viable option for spending more than a minimal number of GCDs on healing (given sufficient mana to avoid Cure I when direct Spell healing is actually needed).

To put it another way, a mechanic use for overhealing could allow the would-be waste between excessive healing on a final GCD of topping someone off (or returning them to survivable HP) and a trimmed GCD to take a cumulative effect. Even if it doesn't see use immediately after that series of heals has completed, it will in time, awarding a GCD of spared time without requiring a massive increase in per-GCD healing and no longer plateauing (in the long-term) against specific instances of damage.

For now I'm unsure of what exact formula would best suit this purpose, how long a duration it would need in order to meet that promise of allowing a trimmed GCD both in healing intensive and nonintensive situations (the latter requiring a longer duration), or what kind of fall-off would be balanced, but I believe the overheal mechanic is both necessary and fitting.

So, the first thing we need:

an Overheal Mechanic

(details TBD)
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The next most crucial change would be to free WHM of ineffective RNG mechanics and provide more even mana efficiency inside and (newly) outside heal-intensive scenarios (or rather, those that require Cure I/II spams). This imbalance has only worsened with the 4.x changes. This is where, again, the "pure healer" fantasy takes on two faces. Either anything can provide increased healing, giving consumable ramp-up or resource to WHM heals, or healing should provide increased efficiency to everything else. In the first cast, healing itself is stronger, fitting the idea of a heal specialist. In the second, healing is more frequent, fitting the idea of a job centered on healing (GCDs).

Tabling which of two is more appropriate for now, it's also worth considering how WHM procs work presently. Our three remaining 20% chance procs (Freecure, Overcure, Enhanced Medica — Esuna free-cast chance removed) are all about mana sustain. It would therefore stand to reason then that our base potencies already have any competing (proc) bonuses wrapped into them, at cost to mana efficiency (which is then balanced by our procs), however, the potencies are not currently high enough compared to its competing healers' to warrant this conclusion. In HW, WHM mana efficiency over time, especially during frequent DPS, fell slightly behind that of AST, even if Assize was used on cooldown. This is largely due to part of its mana sustain being allotted to skills that are inherently inefficient for combined throughput (raid DPS and survival — which is further indirect raid DPS) over time, Cure I and Cure II. While Stormblood has leveled the difference between Luminiferous Aether, Energy Drain casts over time, and Shroud of Saints, and still has Assize to boot, thereby forgoing most mana concerns, this toolkit contradiction has only deepened with further dependence on Cure I and II through the Lily and Confessions mechanics. While that may not be problematic from a throughput standpoint, so long as the job is in someway overbalanced to compensate that its being pushed towards a non-optimal playstyle, it is still frustrating from a design standpoint. It reeks.

And that's not just because of the contradiction. RNG has been mentioned time and time again as being a relatively bad fit for the healer role. I would argue that this depends on the exact proc rates, proc buff durations, and exact windows of play likely at the time of the given proc, but as a rule of thumb I have to agree. Healing, especially in XIV, is about learning and then matching known patterns. While RNG can help prepare for a given upcoming instance of damage on a healer for which the procs actually effect output (like AST's Benefic II auto-crit or a Crit-Adlo), this is rarely an engaging aspect when determining only sustain, and whether for sustain or burst I would argue that engaging gameplay when building or preparing for known or predicted danger sides with control more so than chance.

So how do we go about replacing or mitigating the RNG, in a way that still aids sustain more so than burst as to allow higher base potencies (thereby granting that "pure healer" reliability (see interpretation #67 of the term "pure healer")), but is more engaging than the current system of procs?

There are a few ways possible. In part, this is already rolled into the above change, by granting increased effectiveness, not quite as burst, to (over)healing. Another few options would include:

• Give incremental advantages in place of all-or-nothing procs.

  For instance, each Cure would reduce the MP cost of the next Cure II by a portion of the Cure's cost. This mana cost reduction would stack but also fade over time. Casts that have a chance to refund a portion of their own cost (e.g. Enhanced Medica) could be simplified into a reduced base mana cost. The latter is less than necessary, as it would be rare to lose throughput over time or any given burst window. In short, while this would be more reliable, it wouldn't be any more interesting.

• Use a normative proc rate, the maximal rate of which greatly exceeds the "average" (listed) proc rate, and which quickly regenerates, advantaging both infrequent and intensive casting periods.

  Normative procs tend to trigger with a seemingly abnormally high frequency after periods of inaction and/or non-procs. So long as a player has not benefited from a given proc in x time, the % chance of said proc increases over time (and/or the triggering action's failure to proc). Though the chance may quickly fall to the listed rate, or even beneath it after a series of procs, this tends to most benefit periods of infrequent (if [greatly] regenerating over time) or intensive casting (regenerating [greatly] per failure, either extreme. Especially if these utilities were left to Cure I and II itself, which are skills that should only be used infrequently except in intensive scenarios, this should improve throughput and reliability. The mechanical calculations can also be tuned in a number of ways to allow for greater synergy with other skills, etc.

• All casts generate additional, spendable resources.

  These can be either by-element or universal. I'd personally prefer the by-element version, as it lends itself more to the idea of a tactical, decisive-but-fluid, versatile take on the WHM that takes full advantage of its Conjurer roots, but a universal system would actually better fit the idea of a cut-out, stereotypical "pure healer".
  
  The elemental resources is an idea I've played around with since 1.x, but it seems I'm not alone in wanting to make something out of the elemental alignments of the WHM (see above, for instance). What this would look like in my case is that the every Wind, Water, and Earth element cast would generate a related resource, which provides passive bonuses, some of which may consume resource, and allows the use of resource-consuming "Release" skills.
  
  The Wind resource, Whispers of Wind, for instance, generated through the use of Aero, Aero II, and Aero III, could allow you to complete any spell instantly that would normally be interrupted by damage or movement, at resource cost. Alternatively, it can be spent on a channeled oGCD skill which ranks up based on total resource. The total potency output possible over the channel builds linearly, but its functionality increases in tiers, from Gust (single-target) to Gale (AoE). All first forms and some second forms have a self-cast, an allied-cast, and an enemy-cast form.
  
  Gust: Channel the power of wind in order to affect the movement speed and/or attack rate of your self, an ally, or an enemy, while dealing damage and healing to surrounding allies and enemies.
  
  On Ally: Channels wind through your ally, increasing their movement speed by 40% and attack speed by 15% for .3 seconds, stacking, for every .1 second channeled. Once the original duration has ended, the effect will fade over 3 seconds (e.g. 15% bonus attack speed at 0s, 10% at 1s, 5% at 2s, 0% at 3s seconds), and dealing up to 100 potency healing and/or 50 potency damage per second, split among nearby allies and enemies, prioritizing those with lowest HP. Application speed is reduced by 33% if moving.
  On Self: Channels wind through yourself. While active, you will move with 50% increased speed and heal for 200 potency or deal damage for 100 potency, split among all enemies and allies within 12 yalms, prioritizing those with lowest HP. You may cast abilities through Gust, but casting a spell will cancel the channel.
  On Enemy: Channels wind onto the target enemy, causing it to move with 50% decreased speed, and attack at 15% reduced speed for .3 seconds, stacking, for every .1 second channeled. Once the original duration has ended, the effect will fade over 3 seconds (e.g. 15% bonus attack speed at 0s, 10% at 1s, 5% at 2s, 0% at 3s seconds), and dealing up to 100 potency healing and/or 50 potency damage per second, split among your nearby allies and other enemies, prioritizing those with lowest HP. Application speed is reduced by 33% if moving.
  
  NOTE: This should read that the healing and damage-dealing draw from the same potency per second pool. I will correct the wording later, and will adjust numbers as needed to make up for the loss of casting uptime.

After that we move onto Gale, an AoE support function that, depending on the number of players affected, burns through resource much faster. If the party cannot make even use of the bonuses, it is generally better to spend Whispers of Wind of Gust instead.

Gale: <To be continued>

(Earth uses Rigor of Earth, which empowers spells by causing the Overheal mechanic or status effect debuffs to last longer on allies and enemies respectively and uses the Releases, Harden and Polylith (?).
Water (the Cure spells) builds Fluid Self, which can absorb potential spell damage and status effects on the WHM's behalf and uses the Releases Fluid Aura and Sacred Fount. Fluid Aura is now an AoE knock-back and severe Heavy when self-cast, a debuff-transfer, damage, and Heavy when cast on an enemy, and an oGCD cleanse when cast on an ally. Sacred Fount creates a proximity and %HP-based healing turret of sorts for as long as you channel, while making you immune to knock-backs, draw-ins and most status effects.)

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To be continued... Jeesh this got out of hand...