Advice on choosing a healer

[Connor]

Honestly at this stage OP I’d wait and see if any changes come with the raid patches for healers. If the feedback is anything to go by we’re going to see even more extremely high power healing oGCDs through super buffs to all of them, buffs to all healing spells, buffs to DPS, addition of lost DPS spells, Lucid Dreaming buff, Aetherflow buff, probably Cleric Stance back in role skills.

Basically don’t go into the role expecting to be a traditional healer that heals and supports the party, because the reality is that you’re a damage dealer with healing oGCDs, and the vast majority of players only want that identity to be reinforced

[Ayer2015]

Honestly at this stage OP I’d wait and see if any changes come with the raid patches for healers. If the feedback is anything to go by we’re going to see even more extremely high power healing oGCDs through super buffs to all of them, buffs to all healing spells, buffs to DPS, addition of lost DPS spells, Lucid Dreaming buff, Aetherflow buff, probably Cleric Stance back in role skills.

Basically don’t go into the role expecting to be a traditional healer that heals and supports the party, because the reality is that you’re a damage dealer with healing oGCDs, and the vast majority of players only want that identity to be reinforced

I hope not. What you are saying would be overkill.

SCH just needs a DPS aetherflow spender.
WHM doesn't need much of anything.
AST.... i dont even know where to start.... its a mess. Divination is far too long of a CD for a core mechanic, and healing potency for skills aside from the main heals are far too low for the long CDs

[Hatstand]

Honestly at this stage OP I’d wait and see if any changes come with the raid patches for healers. If the feedback is anything to go by we’re going to see even more extremely high power healing oGCDs through super buffs to all of them, buffs to all healing spells, buffs to DPS, addition of lost DPS spells, Lucid Dreaming buff, Aetherflow buff, probably Cleric Stance back in role skills.

Basically don’t go into the role expecting to be a traditional healer that heals and supports the party, because the reality is that you’re a damage dealer with healing oGCDs, and the vast majority of players only want that identity to be reinforced

Cleric stance... that would be glorious. As an actual stance, as it was in Heavensward. I’d be fine with no healing or damage potency buffs (for whm and sch at least, ast may need some buffing) and having the damage potencies cut so they’re only where they are now with cleric stance. What we’re complaining about is a lack of complexity and decision-making, and cleric stance was amazing! It made you think about whether you could afford to pop cleric stance! Stance dancing was an art and the role suffered when it was removed.

[Olipopsicle]

SCH and AST were basically deleted this expansion. Go with WHM. It can outheal the other two healers while having an easier time.

[galbsadi]

First off, complaints I may have about SCH aside: every healer is capable of all content in the game. Every single one.

If you try out AST, you get the benefit of starting at a higher level, and the card system, while very changed from what it was previously, is still somewhat neat. There is a numbers problem, however, and AST needs some help there. This will probably be fixed by 5.1, however.

If you try out SCH, you get the benefit of sharing levels with SMN, and the heals are technically more capable than they were in Stormblood (very slightly, IMO, due to the fairy nerfs)...but DPS has been turned into basically a more mana-intensive WHM without the stuns, there's some clunkiness issues with Aetherflow, a bad tank that you might be able to salvage as WHM will probably mean a wipe, etc. That's 5.0, though, and SCH was in a (similarly, but not quite as bad) bad spot in 4.0, and that was fixed by early 4.1...so I'd expect a fix by 5.1.

WHM is basically a cheat code to healing right now. You get about 20-30% more DPS power than the other healers, coupled with about 10-15% more healing capability, plus extremely easy MP management (I've never gone below 75%), and everything flows quite smoothly. It's in the best spot it's been, IMO...in the entire game. Currently WHM can outheal both other healers combined while also outDPS'ing any tank (no other healer can outDPS ANY tank of similar skill). (In fact, the bulk of the issues I have with healing atm are that WHM pDPS and pHeal is so powerful as to basically make any raid utility a SCH or AST might provide basically worthless, up to the extent that if WHM had more shields than Divine Benison the meta would probably be WHM/WHM or WHM/extraDPS).

[Mandeville]

I understand balance is the biggest concern for most people visiting this forum right now, but I am only concerned about what is fun (subjective I know). AST was really fun for me before, though I've only dabbled in dungeons with friends as far as the MSQ allowed me to.

I do not like it now though. The healing kit was pretty basic before, but the varied card buffs gave me something fun to react to, to change up the situation. Now the cards don't do that, it's become more of a rotation, the buff is static, and the healing kit is still super basic.

My understanding now is that the basic kit for all of the healers is about the same. That was my main question, thank you so much for the input here.

[Jinorah]

White Mage is the ok only one in a good place atm

[galbsadi]

I understand balance is the biggest concern for most people visiting this forum right now, but I am only concerned about what is fun (subjective I know). AST was really fun for me before, though I've only dabbled in dungeons with friends as far as the MSQ allowed me to.

I do not like it now though. The healing kit was pretty basic before, but the varied card buffs gave me something fun to react to, to change up the situation. Now the cards don't do that, it's become more of a rotation, the buff is static, and the healing kit is still super basic.

My understanding now is that the basic kit for all of the healers is about the same. That was my main question, thank you so much for the input here.

In that case, the basic kit for healers is extremely similar. On a 'how it feels' perspective:

Toying with AST a bit, the new card system is...less interesting than it was before, but still interesting. It does feel kinda cool to build up to a bigger party buff. I also wish they'd merge Play back into Draw, but I understand why they separated it with certain other changes.

Playing with WHM some, honestly it feels good. Simple, but good. Afflatus Rapture (I think that's the AoE one?) feels like Indom, but without needing to specifically charge Aetherflow first. Afflatus Solace (I think that's the single target one?) feels like Lustrate, again with the same lack of limitation. Holy feels as good as it ever did (it's fun to charge into a pack and HOLY HOLY HOLY everything to smithereens). Mana feels like it's infinite (seriously, why does WHM even have a MP bar?), and everything is basically a better version of what WHM has always been.

Playing with SCH more than the other two (it is my main, after all, for better or worse)...and most of the issues I have are that certain things are underwhelming (Seraph, I'm looking at you). Don't get me wrong though, it's COOL. I love watching Selene or Eos turn blue and even though it's not as effective as it probably should be for a capstone ability, it is fun. The biggest playstyle issues are largely with Aetherflow, which feels weird to not be able to charge out of combat, feels incredibly feast or famine with an awkward 15s longer CD and nothing to burn it on other than healing, and certain abilities that should be fun just feel ineffective (looking at you, Fey Blessing).

I haven't done any dungeons since the patch came out today (spent all my time this morning clearing Eden), so I can't speak to the Art of War changes, but I think that will alleviate some of the issues there (they reduced MP cost to 600, so now it's an instant-cast non-stunning holy rather than an instant-cast-non-stunning-more-expensive holy).

I'd give all of them a try in some slightly older content if you're unsure, to be honest (maybe lv60 or 70 normal raids?)...because at low levels they're all the same anyhow.

[Alphras]

Hello! I'm a fairly new player, I played for a few months earlier in the year, my friend boosted an AST for me because they looked fun and we needed a healer. I really enjoyed the utility variety with the cards, but the new system feels extremely dull by comparison.

Do any of the healers have interesting kits in 5.0? With AST at least, the healing is really basic. I'm coming from WoW for reference, where I was playing a resto shaman with things like healing rain, spirit link totem, bloodlust, interesting interactions between the basic heals, etc.

I love the game, but worried that I'm not going to find a healer that engages me again. What makes SCH and WHM engaging to you?

You could try SCH, the healing kit is a bit different. But to be honest, if you think AST has a dull kit you won't be happy with the other two.

However it gets more interesting at 80 in general. So you can also try to stick with it.