Thread: WHM 5.0 Discussion

Look, I know we're all annoyed at the Devs for not giving us raid utility, but let's at least give constructive feedback in this thread.

For my opinion, I think somewhat similarly to everyone else: "They screwed up WHM again." Though, what I can see is that they fixed one of the very core mechanics that were extremely unnecessary in Stormblood and had no synergy with WHM's own playstyle at all(for those who think the playstyle is healing, I'm talking about in a high-end setting like Savage and the like, where damage from Healers can be expected).

Let's make a list of Stormblood's problems first to see the changes:

- PI issue until 4.5...
- Aggro Issues all-around due to the massive healing throughput WHM has.
- Useless Lily Gauge that does not sync at all with WHM's kit compared to AST/SCH.
- No Raid Utility

Going to Shadowbringers:

- Gets an AoE Nuke worth 900 pot with normal degradation every 90s(when using 3 lilies)
- More Healing abilities...Yay...
- Temperance sounds like Largesse and Soil combined into a 2m cooldown
- No Raid Utility

There's only literally one thing I see going forward: Overhealing, and Aggro Issues in Savage fights. When has this not been an issue before SE? Oh wait, let's look back at the adjustments they made for Kefka and Final Omega just for WHM...

It's pretty lackluster given the fact they're trying to make healers play rather straightforward; but honestly, that's not going to stop people from trying to focus on DPS, it just makes it look boring and uninteresting. It's why you have the entire Healer Forum in an uproar right now. If I actually DID see a raid buff that extended to other players from WHM that wasn't defensive, I would be rather happy it got SOMETHING that can make it competitive other than digesting the flat numbers that are made from its spells.

All they would have to do is change PoM to be AoE or be some kind of utility for Casters to utilize...anything at this point that would give WHM some form of rDPS to contribute.

While a raid buff would be awesome, it's not even the biggest bit of design clunk on WHM. Adding a buff on a cooldown would be a trivial fix for that complaint.

One of the major reasons people are predicting SCH/AST are still the most optimal is that their damage and heal kits flow together better. What I mean by this is that they don't have to choose between doing one or the other. They can do both at the same time. Fast cast or instant damage spells with powerful off-global heal spells let them keep going nonstop. WHM's "new" healing spells are the same as their old ones: the opposite of this. You need to stop doing damage in order to cast them, and the only damage ability you can weave there is Assize. Additionally, WHM's off-global healing kit is very anemic compared to AST and SCH, and this hasn't changed. Due to this, WHM has to resort to their global kit more often than AST/SCH can. If anything, it's gotten worse because the other two got better off-GCDs that they can weave with impunity.

Nothing about content design is going to change these facts. Even if outgoing damage increases. Think about it from a basic level. Which set of GCDs flows better?

(Attack, heal), (attack, heal), (attack, heal) (heal)

Or

(Attack), (heal), (attack), (attack, heal)

The above is the largest discrepancy between WHM and the other two healers at the high end. AST and SCH are getting a lot less fun by many accounts, but the core reason for the power imbalance is still there.

I'm bluntly not happy Aero III is being removed. Having an AoE dot is really nice and allow's me to do additional damage without pulling outright hate. There really isn't any reason this should be removed it's not like WHM had the same level of skill bloat compared to the other classes to begin with.

Originally Posted by Semirhage

While a raid buff would be awesome, it's not even the biggest bit of design clunk on WHM. Adding a buff on a cooldown would be a trivial fix for that complaint.

One of the major reasons people are predicting SCH/AST are still the most optimal is that their damage and heal kits flow together better. What I mean by this is that they don't have to choose between doing one or the other. They can do both at the same time. Fast cast or instant damage spells with powerful off-global heal spells let them keep going nonstop. WHM's "new" healing spells are the same as their old ones: the opposite of this. You need to stop doing damage in order to cast them, and the only damage ability you can weave there is Assize. Additionally, WHM's off-global healing kit is very anemic compared to AST and SCH, and this hasn't changed. Due to this, WHM has to resort to their global kit more often than AST/SCH can. If anything, it's gotten worse because the other two got better off-GCDs that they can weave with impunity.

Nothing about content design is going to change these facts. Even if outgoing damage increases. Think about it from a basic level. Which set of GCDs flows better?

You realize all of the new lily skills are instant cast, right? Asize, Tera, Benediction, Divine Benson... all instant cast as well.

Raid utility and shield access are still the gaps for WHM.

No new oGCD heals, damage tools got shafted. Our new damage spell is merely an apology for spending GCDs on heals at best.

WHM is completely worthless. Only way it will see play is if the changes to the other healers hit them harder.