CURRENT SITUATION WITH HEALER JOB CHANGE REVEALS
The recent media tour jobs reveal for 5.0 made a fault line in the healer community very clear. Some data points that help capture the general shape of the differences and the mood of the moment include:
1. Do you like to optimize your builds for power and efficiency? If so, SCH just got less interesting and WHM has failed yet again to become more interesting
2. Do you like managing things like rotations, mini-games, resources, etc., as a part of your job? If so, AST (simplified card system) and SCH (simplified pet and aether stack management) just got less interesting and WHM has failed yet again to become more interesting
3. Do want a job that can accommodate a range from a low high skill/knowledge ceiling to a high skill/knowledge ceiling? If so, SCH just got less interesting
4. Do you want a job that is simpler and easier to pick up? If so SCH and AST just got more interesting and WHM is still a good choice
5. Do you prefer not to deal damage or do it less while on a healer job? If so, healer jobs and the healing role are now more interesting
This intentionally broad and not intended as an accurate predictor for every single player – it simply tries illustrates some major differences between types of players and their reactions to healing jobs news. Note it doesn’t say jobs are uninteresting, just more or less so depending on what you want.
Some people previously intimidated by SCH and AST are considering trying it for ShB, while some of those who liked the 4.x versions of those jobs are let down. And WHM mains hoping for more optimization or management options are also a bummed. Or put another way, many SCH and AST mains were looking for adjustments but got reworks, while many WHM mains were looking for a rework but got an adjustment. The result is a lot of venting by those who feel their jobs didn’t move in the right direction.
DIFFERENT TOPIC TO PURSUE: SPECULATION AND WISH LIST FOR WHM GOING FORWARD
Yoshi P said he and the combat/job design team see no buffing damage, etc., as part of what sets WHM apart as a healer. So the suggestion people are floating for the new Bloody Lily to be the WHM version of Ninja's Trick Attack (10% bonus damage to a target) doesn't seem likely?
It's possible the same applies for *any* kind of utility feature. Especially since 3.0 and 4.0 saw no such utility added to WHM. At the very least I would expect that no damage buffs rule to apply to things like speeding up attacks or increased crit rate or crit damage.
So, for fun, and on the off chance that some non-damage increasing utility might eventually be considered for WHM, especially if you've made your position on the direction for healing super clear many times over before in other threads the last several days, what other type of utility would you want to see?