More WHM thoughts...

One of the things I keep coming back to is shields vs. not shields, because while we have the setup we do, we will always revert to "need a shield healer, then we can fill the other spot with whatever."

By nature, shields are powerful. Preventing damage smooths out an encounter and lets players survive mechanics. Shields add to a player's effective health. We use them for some tankbusters, and a variety of other mechanics for raidwide AOE bursts/bleeds, including ones where the healers both must move while the damage is going out, and mechanics that have two damage components back to back, usually ticking faster and stronger than hots.

Players might use shields more often, but in essence, these mechanics are why we bring the shield healer.

I anticipate that shields will be less potent looking ahead, but no amount of nerfing numbers will change why we dedicate a shielder spot in raiding.

Instead, I hope that SE looks at tools for non-shielders to respond to these types of damage that aren't just "everybody gets shields and hots and that's balanced!"

I would like a tool for WHM that grants effective health or heals on a conditional delay--like excog but not. A raidwide buff with (3-5) stacks where each stack represents X potency. When damage is taken that drops a player below (50 or 75) percent health, stacks of this buff get used to bring them back up to 75%. If stacks are left, they will activate on the next damage taken with no hidden internal cooldown (making them faster than hots, essentially, and it can keep up with each pulse Akh Morn, Flamethrower, Earthshaker, etc).

A spell or ability (perhaps an ability that modifies the next qualifying spell cast) that grants effective health to a player, for tankbusters or targeted mechanics (and probably also heals what effective health is given, because otherwise that extra health doesn’t matter). Short duration and somewhat short cooldown.

FFXIV doesn’t utilize channeling, and I understand why—maximized play is all about the GCD, and that’s why PLDs really only use Passage during ultimates/no enemies up. But what if WHM had a single target, channeled mitigation that was powerful enough to justify losing a GCD or two? While channeling, WHM’s target is 50 or 80 or 90% invulnerable to most things (same considerations as tank invulns, long cooldown). Would this be stepping on tank toes? Or would a get-out-of-tankbuster-free card help tanks stay in dps stance a little more often, thus the WHM brings utility?

These ideas are powerful, but honestly, so are Indom, fairy skills, Earthly Star, Collective Unconscious. That’s kind of my point—these abilities make an encounter “easier” or more manageable, and WHM should have tools beyond just “I cast Cure III until whack-a-mole is over.”