Cure 3 Blues

[Hasrat]

Unless the enemy has a really powerful melee range AOE that is used frequently, why doesn’t everyone just crowd around the enemies for easier healing (including ranged) After dodging a mechanic, head right back (and dodge to the same place).

Because the explosion of graphics and effects might cause players to lose track of what's happening?

[VanilleFang]

Because the explosion of graphics and effects might cause players to lose track of what's happening?

Eh. There are some fights that you stack behind the boss. Shiva and Susano spring to mind.

[Rasikko]

The range on Cure 3 is what makes it situational. It's never been a spell you could use with high consistency, and if you try to, you're just wasting MP. That being said, it's a bit misplaced to consider that spell being the thing that gives WHM an edge of over healers. Medica I, iirc is more MP effecient and obviously has bigger range. And even then you have assize, faster heal, extremely mp effecient for obvious reasons, and longer range/radius.

[RopeDrink]

OP, you essentially answered yourself in your first post. It has that whopping potency and other benefits 'because' its range is abysmal - something that big (and spammable) has to have drawbacks. I personally see it best as a response tool to those moments where you're all stacking on marks - this is a moment where it is in the best interest of the party/raid to stack, so throwing a CureIII can have a big impact for everyone other than stragglers, provided you have good timing. I also throw it out there on occasion when both the tank and additional melee need a heal-tap. Outside of that, I essentially forget it exists given Med + Assize or Med + Prayer typically has those same bases moderately covered (with obscenely good range).

[ElazulHP]

I've found cure 3 is good in the new EX primal for the stack mechanic or right after the second stack when you need to run behind Byakko due to the Leg Sweep. Otherwise, i'm not really using it much beyond higher level content that forces you to stack together. Dungeons you don't really need it at all.

[Gemina]

I have found Cure 3 the most helpful for stack heal mechanics. It's honestly our answer to SCH's Indom, which is just ridiculously powerful and convenient, but they still have a range advantage over Cure 3. However, a Largesse'ed Cure 3 on the entire party pretty much erases any big attack not meant to kill a group at full health. Otherwise, if your situational awareness is high, then you can make use of it when you notice enough players are gathered together and are at low enough health to take advantage of it's small range/high potency. However, this is highly optimal play that cannot be expected from your everyday PUG WHM.

I look at Cure 3 as the number entails. If you can hit at least three players with it, it's worth the gcd and MP cost. This is obviously difficult to pull off when everyone is scattered. It would be pretty cool if a colored telegraph would show up when a beneficial AoE is being used. If you all of a sudden see a green telegraph around a player and you need a heal, then GTF over there, yeah?

[Stabby-Chan]

Many statics do what is possible to aid their healers by planning ahead of time when to use Cure IIIs outside of stack-markers. Premade parties do not have iLvL and Role Requirements. Due to this, there are many healers including myself who have solo-healed savage runs before.

"With great power, comes great responsibility"

As a WHM main, I've enjoyed most the fact our numbers are mostly raw and direct. Our limiting factor is not our MP management (as we have been MP managing since 2.0), but our immediate enmity generation, as we are capable of stripping aggro away from a tank if we do not control ourselves.

On potency alone (non-crit), our highest enmity generation would come from:

Cure III + Cure III + Cure III + Planery
550 + 550 + 550 + 450 = 2100.
2100 x 1.2 = 2520 (from Largesse)
2520/700 = 3.6x
3.6 x 8 players = the equivalent of 28.8 cure IIs cast in three GCDs + one oGCD.
18K Cure II heal x 3.6 = 64,800

[EaMett]

Comparing sch and whm? Sounds productive (/sarcasm)

To start with cure III is pretty much optional for all content. It has almost no use outside of savage/ex raiding. And in that content it's quite simply a dps optimization skill more than anything else.

You can't have your party stack constantly because that forces your dps to move which in many cases is a potential DPS loss (don't forget moving again for the next mechanics). That DPS loss is often greater than the benefit of using cure III. It's a great tool however if you're in situations that benefit from the party stacking or maintaining their stack.

Honestly, most content that can benefit from cure III, people already stack (even in pugs, minus your usual BLM or RDM outlier). For the rest cure III is almost systematically overkill.

Would be way more beneficial to "educate" healers on not crushing hots when it isn't necessary.

[Stabby-Chan]

If you have a good static or group, try the following combination in a raid:

1) Start by Casting Asylum around the boss being fought and make sure all members enter the Asylum and stay there, as the Radius that Asylum generates is also the radius for Cure III

These next two steps are carried out simultaneously as WHM will intentionally strip aggro from the tank.

2a) Cast Presence of Mind + Thin Air + Largesse, and follow it up with 5 - 6 Cure IIIs + a Swiftcasted Medica II + Planery.
2b) Have a PLD cover the WHM so damage from Tank Busters and other attacks are redirected to PLD.

Now its time for tanks to regain control.

3) Have both tanks (MT and OT) use provoke to match up to the enmity generated by the WHM.
4) Have the OT Shirk the Main Tank.
5) Use Lucid Dreaming
6) Top three in enmity are now MT, OT, and WHM with an extreme lead over all others.

Enmity math

MT = 125% enmity of whm
OT = 75% enmity of whm
WHM = 50% enmity (from lucid dreaming)
Everyone else is far below the white mage.

Note: I use step 1 and 2 in dungeons to generate aggro when a tank gets disconnected and doesn't come back and I want to tank as a white mage.

[Megguido]

You can add a NIN that uses Shadewalker on the WHM.