From Yoshida himself

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I truly don't understand how some of you can defend these changes, or support Yoshi when he says people are just overreacting.

Unless they've completely redesigned the entirety of the WHM changes since they were shown, then the job is still going to be in a very unfortunate place.

I like the WHM changes. Tempted to make it one of my rotating mains.

[Pinkie_Pie]

Ya'll will get a kick outta this.

https://twitter.com/Larryzaur/status/874820206501167105

[KisaiTenshi]

I'm sorry, what Final Fantasy canon? Even in the older games White Mages still had damage dealing spells such as Dia and Holy.

In some games White Mages could damage undead enemies WITH their heals.

You aren't looking far enough. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest's predecessor was Wizardy (Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.) Wizardry was also perma-death, so you could not just zerg-rush through things like you do in Final Fantasy. Wizardry funny enough was more popular in Japan despite originating in the West.

And prior to Wizardry, the mechanics still came from the Dungeons and Dragons Pen-and-Paper RPG. The White Mage is just a sanitized version of "Priest", and the Priest in Wizardry was also the Tank before there was a concept of a tank. A party in Wizardy was typically one Fighter (DPS), one Mage (DPS), one Thief (Utility), and one Priest (Healer/Tank), When you got to a certain level you could switch to Elite Classes (a similar thing exists in AD&D 3rd edition) which were a combination of two classes, eg the Bishop being the Priest/Mage, the Samurai was a Fighter/Mage, Lord which was a Fighter/Priest, and Ninja (Fighter/Thief.)

So for all intents, the Gladiator in FFXIV is the traditional "fighter" class repurposed as a Tank. The Thief class doesn't really exist (They fight with traps, and disarm other traps, and also do things like back-stabbing) in FFXIV and the closest you get to it is the Rogue class which has a Hide skill. The Conjurer is the Priest class in all but name. The Black Mage would just be the Mage.

In other games, typically the Priest can use healing magic against "undead" precisely because you encounter undead (zombies, skeletons, vampires) quite a bit.

[Ametrine]

I think the deal with SB White Mage is the twofold issue of the status that a White Mage in FFXIV needs to be able to function acting solo, while White Mage was always traditionally the squishy heal and buff bot /unless in very particular circumstances,/ such as with zombies. Other times, white magic is supplemented to other character's skills, such as the trend to give summoner characters a list of white magic. White Mages are the OG support job.

So, in an effort to fit that imagery of a powerful, bursty healer, they put all the emphasis on pure heal potential, while dumbing down the DPS.

White Mage in FFXIV is also irreparably affected by 1.0's decision to break the White and Black Mage dynamic and completely forego the elemental wheel, as all White Mage offensive skills (save for Assize) are tied to Conjurer skills.