Choosing a healer in ShB-WHM or AST

[Nyvara]

Firstly I'm a mediocre healer mostly dungeons for FC and friends. I Never got the hang of SCH there was always just to much for me to think about, Even with all the changes It's still to much(deployment tactics, aether management, fairies) Not criticizing just explaining why SCH has never suited me.

I fell in love with AST using it for PVP and mostly played that through out the last expansion. However From what I have been reading it seems as though their healing has taken a hit? The new card changes are humdrum but it's not like anyone I ever healed for even noticed a bole on them anyway :P . I did doze off the other night doing fates but I think that might be a common problem with healers in 5.0

Then there is WHM which has always seemed like a straightforward press the button and heal job to me. Not overly complex not overly simple.

I want to heal and be comfy and be able to handle a crazy tank pulling wall to wall with out pulling my hair out.

[Connor]

I can’t speak much for White Mage since it’s only at level 75 but it does seem to be quite focused on minimising gcd heal usage to maximise DPS output due to having less oGCDs than Scholar or Astrologian. Gameplay mostly revolves around using Cure spells as little as possible and trying to o all of your healing with lily abilities so that the DPS loss can be refunded by Afflatus Misery. It also has less shield options that Astrologian, with only Divine Benison, and Temperance is the only party utility it really has (reduces damage taken by nearby party members and increases healing). In exchange, it has very powerful direct healing and damage dealing capabilities, particularly with all three Afflatus spells

Naturally Astrologian is more ‘support’ oriented. It has 1.5 second cast times on most of its DPS spells so you can easily weave card usage between damage GCDs if you want to optimise. You also have a variety of oGCDs that are quite reliant on good timing for using them, like Essential Dignity, Earthly Star and Horoscope. There’s less of a ‘focus’ on personal DPS though due to the lack of a healing/DPS interaction ability Energy Drain or Afflatus Misery. Nocturnal Sect has its issues but you do still have the choice between either shields of regens too.

In terms of comfortability, I think it ultimately it comes down to personal preference. That said, I think White Mage has a much lower skill ceiling than Astrologian (or at least I think that’s the right term lol). It’s easier to heal the party and find opportunities to deal damage as a White Mage because they have powerful GCDs and oGCDs. It also has decent utility in normal dungeons with Holy, which can make bigger pulls much easier if you’re not accustomed to healing. That’s not to say it doesn’t have a high skill ceiling, just that it’s easier to pick up than Astrologian.

Astrologian is a very busy job, and unlike White Mage you have cards to consider between DPS and healing. It has shorter cast times on its damage spells as well as Lightspeed, which allows it to cast spells instantly and reduces MP costs, which is quite versatile in if you want to use it for weaving Sleeve Draw cards, high movement fights, MP conservation, etc. Astrologian is a bit harder to pick up, but once you get used to it, it’s just as good at healing as White Mage. So even though it has some disadvantages with card effects being a bit weird now and it has quite bad MP economy, I’d say theyre both equally good options, and ultimately I’d suggest picking whichever sounds more
Fun to you, because I think that always ends up being the job you feel most ‘comfortable’ on

Edit: sorry for such a long reply lol, hopefully this helps you make your decision!

[Mhaeric]

You're going to get one of two answers mostly: play which you prefer instead of basing it on mechanics and end game min/max... or WHM is a better healer than AST right now.

I'm of the former camp, so go with which you prefer. I'm a Scholar at heart when I heal, but prefer AST to WHM when not going SCH. Even with the current state of AST (which to be honest isn't that bad, it just needs tweaking.)

[Dynia]

if you are new to healing WHM is better option

[Nyvara]

Not really new to healing I suppose I should have said that I have an AST at 70 a WHM at 60 and SCH at 70 but that's a freebie since I leveled SMN :P. The what ever I like best answer I should have known on my own LOL. I guess I was worried about what I had read about AST's healing being lowered maybe folks were exaggerating. I never had much of an issue tossing cards out it was always kinda fun! Not to mention lightspeed has saved my bacon more than once! I guess that answers my question, at least for me!

[Sebazy]

I Never got the hang of SCH there was always just to much for me to think about, Even with all the changes It's still to much(deployment tactics, aether management, fairies) Not criticizing just explaining why SCH has never suited me.

This is the most important detail here.

Why do you feel that you were bad on SCH? If it's because of CD management and encounter knowledge then I honestly don't think AST will suit you anymore than SCH did once you move into more stressful content.

An AST is more dependant on it's cooldowns whilst Earthly Star, it's powerhouse AoE heal benefits greatly from both good CD management and encounter knowledge to get good value from it. That's before the APM and weaving required to get value from those cards and cooldowns without wasting too many GCDs.

Meanwhile WHM is much more simplistic in its approach. A WHM can perform reasonably well with little to no long cool down usage, it's much more of a brute force affair. It's bread and butter AoE has more reach and it can put out a bunch more HPs without needing cooldowns to do so.

Are you going to be able to use AST's cooldowns well? Go with it. If not, I'd advise sticking to WHM unless you truly don't enjoy the job.

[BloodRubyXII]

AST is more fun during healing downtime, unless you really want to be a glarebot at 80. When it comes to learning a fight from start to finish with all appropiate cues and timings, AST becomes way more enjoyable to play.

[Zolvolt]

Both healers are completely different these days. Ast is the busiest healer where you will need to be an expert OGCD weaver to play well. You have so many ogcd's now that your gameplay will largely be Malefic->ogcd on bosses/trials/raids and gravity->ogcd in dungeons. Very little benefic/benefic II casts and asp. bene is few and far between and and most of your aoe heals are used when horoscope is up. Ast is a very complicated healer to play.

Whitemage is constantly Dps with Glare/Dia and trying to heal using only your resource which naturally occurs over time. You'll have to hard cast cure III's, medica II's at times but you you don't have a lot of ogcd's to weave in or heals to set up before hand. Your mechanics are very straight forward and its a very easy healer to pick up and play.

[Rabin]

AST was gutted in 5.0 and is nothing like the AST we levelled from HW+. They buffed the healing a bit, but the cards are ruined. Stick to WHM if you just want to heal things, but if you struggled with SCH I don't think you'll find another easier since SCH, imo, is the easiest of the 3 to heal with.

[Brandedblade]

AST gives you more to do and to manage, while as a few people said it is busier then whm, unlike whm your toolkit gives you the space to perform the busier tasks at a higher skill level.

Personally I've started playing AST over sch myself, the opener can be a bit hectic but if you choose to ignore seals you can still easily put out your first divination. It's only a 2% damage penalty, so it only matters in situations where you need to minmax your groups dps, like in savage raiding. Not to mention you'll have sufficient chances to try to build up the 3 seals for your subsequent divinations

Despite the OF's hatred of the current card system, it still allows for optimization, even if it's something as simple as "Monk just popped Riddle of Fire, better give him this melee card over the Sam."