WHM downtime thoughts

[Recon1o6]

White mage as we all know has always had the short end of the stick in terms of what to do during downtime. Its perception as the simple but powerful healer or the tutorial healer has led it to suffering a lot during downtime throughout the years.

I would argue however that it should not be the so called tutorial healer- that's what conjurer is for.
Instead I would say it should be the easiest to play of the three healers, but that does not mean it needs to be the current brain dead medica 2, dia then back to glaring with the occasional lily on the tank and blood lily on the enemy

WHM's the world over lament losing Aero 3, our only water ability (fluid aura) being nerfed to uselessness and the rest of our elements and abilities in shadowbringers.
Most want them back or at least aero 3

Throughout final fantasy history, white mages also had access to some useful buffs. Faith, Bravery, Protect, Reflect and Shell being the most common. Reflect for obvious reasons can't be used, but the others can be done or have been done previously in the game.


I'm thinking WHM could incorporate a little of both historical buffs and elemental damage for downtime. It would look something like this:

Note: I am not a balance expert so potencies will likely be a bit off. This is more an idea to bring some actual fun back to the downtime rather than balance

Damage spells:
Stone 1/2/3/4/5 does single damage to an enemy. 40% proc water
Aero 1/2 does DOT to a single enemy
Aero 3/4 does DOT to multiple enemies
Water 1/2/3/4/5 instant cast but must be procced, does single damage to an enemy and weaker aoe damage 3y away. Restores 500mp
Holy- bumped back up to 240 pot and mp cost raised to 900. (make it actually does more than tickle but not so much it can be spammed so frequently)

New ability Faith- self buff for Whm, costs 1 lily, recast 45 seconds: Turns stone into quake, water into flood and aero 1/2 into tornado. All instant cast spells at same mp cost as their bases.

>Quake: Does a potency 350 attack to every engaged enemy within 15y radius (so it doesn't aggro additional mobs in open world)
>Flood: Does a potency 375 attack to one enemy and within 3y of it
>Tornado: Does a potency 250 attack to one enemy and within 3y and inflicts them with a 15 second DOT dealing 150 potency over time.

New ability- Bravery: Boosts ally and self direct hit rate by 10% for 20 seconds and grants a lily. Recast 120 seconds. Cannot be used to gain lilies out of combat.


I can't think of anything to replace dia and glare, nor give protect and shell to allies like whm used to do without revamping or adding skills.



What are your thoughts? Shoudl whm focus more on its elemental roots or more on iconic final fantasy abilities?