Thank you SE: WHM is fine where it’s at.

[Shurrikhan]

but it definitely isn't recommended anywhere in game.

For that to matter, there'd have to be more than the barest basics recommended in-game at all.

Whether slide casting is an intended mechanic or not is wholly irrelevant. It's not prevented and sees significant rewards when done.

It'd be great if they embraced that and made it more consistent. It'd be ironic, perhaps, as the whole mechanic was likely born of the same netcode mess that makes it inconsistent now, but it'd be an improvement nonetheless.

[NobleWinter]

I'm not sure why you think slide casting is irrelevant to a question about Square's playstyle philosophy? A lot of us want more weaving windows and intuitive play that allows us to always be casting but what if they don't even want us to always be casting? Have you noticed that healers are the only role that don't get movement tools? We are expected to walk or run everywhere while tanks and dps get dashes, disengages, and teleports. Even stationary casters like BLM get tons of mobility options. Clearly slide casting is optimal but I'm more interested in what they expect from a healer because this dictates what skills we get in the future. Seeing how Scholar got pruned for this expansion makes me really worried about their design intentions. I personally don't find this current expansion fun to heal at all.

[Shurrikhan]

I'm not sure why you think slide casting is irrelevant to a question about Square's playstyle philosophy?

Where did I say it was? I specifically said,

Whether slide casting is an intended mechanic or not is wholly irrelevant.

No part of what I said precludes healers getting "dashes, disengages, and teleports".

Though, I'm not sure why you're writing it off as solely a healer issue. Summoner and Machinist gets none of those skills either and Bard's is a pathetic joke, which has been the standard across non-melee until RDM and DNC were each formed as outliers.

The tank role began with none and has only seen one particular type of movement skill added ever since, and only one per expansion across the entire role. Originally, BLM was the only caster (healer or offensive) with a movement skill, and precisely to compensate for it being especially immobile, while the rest were left with only a capacity that was vitally important at the time, Sprint (which consumed all TP, meaning only casters could effectively use Sprint mid-combat). Caster's uniquely viable Sprint, atop melee's greater need for mobility, is why melee have gotten mobility skills while casters of any sort traditionally have had none (AM being compensation for being the most casterly of casters and RDM being sold as its own utility-overladen hybrid).

I personally don't find this current expansion fun to heal at all.

Then, by all means suggest improvements. I'd be the first to agree that healers aren't fun right now.

But it has nothing to do with the content of my post, i.e. to whether slide-casting is an intended mechanic, which is itself, again, irrelevant so long as it works. Slidecasting takes up no necessary allotment for mobility capacity among casters; the devs are free to give casters as much or as little as they like. Since StB, Caster's primary mobility advantage has been removed, with design instead going the way of more frequent instant-casts and thereby reduced "caster costs" rather than compensation, but that doesn't have to remain the case with future expansions. Ask away.

[Recon1o6]

On slidecasting, I have a vague memory of yoshi-p stating that it was a QOL feature to combat lag before they could fix the netcode. that's why its not any stronger

[NobleWinter]

On slidecasting, I have a vague memory of yoshi-p stating that it was a QOL feature to combat lag before they could fix the netcode. that's why its not any stronger

This is really cool if it truly was intentional. Ever since RDM released with dualcast built in and ease of movement as a result I wondered when, if ever, they would try to make healers more mobile. BLM with Triple Cast and Teleports and SMN now with Instant everything show that casters with mobility built into their rotation without penalty is clearly possible. Ruin 2 on Scholar is great but I would much rather have Decoy Tactics to swap places with my fairy. Fluid Aura should send the WHM hurtling toward their target encased in water that explodes with AoE damage on impact. Let Astro get some Time Magic back in the form of a teleport too. Still not sure why all time aspects were removed and I I definitely dont like it. Slidecasting is great but being forced to rely on a mechanic like that feels more like a punishment from underwhelming design.

[Deceptus]

The ONLY thing I think that needs improved is on the Blood Lilly movement.

What I mean by that:

Currently if you have 3 blooms, it stops trying to get more. It shouldn't. It should keep going, just like the BLM Enochian Gauge keeps going if they have 2 nodes of Polygot.

[Shurrikhan]

The ONLY thing I think that needs improved is on the Blood Lilly movement.

What I mean by that:

Currently if you have 3 blooms, it stops trying to get more. It shouldn't. It should keep going, just like the BLM Enochian Gauge keeps going if they have 2 nodes of Polygot.

Note, though, that the BLM is unique in that regard.

You cannot stack more than 1/3 consumable Repertoire on Bard, despite that being those minimum and minimum optimal amounts for consumption, respectively.
You cannot stack more than 3 Seals, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 5 chakra, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 3 Meditation stacks (for Shoha), the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 3 eyes, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 2 Aethertrail, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 3 Aetherflow, the minimum amount that can be generated at a time.

Aside from BLM, the only systems that allows for overflow are the granular (usually centigrade) job gauges and bonus charges on specific abilities.

Lily isn't being uniquely or unfairly isolated. It merely hasn't gotten the unique benefits of another job that effectively had few if any other ways to build obviously upon its StB gameplay additions.

:: I'm not saying it wouldn't be doable or eventually deserved. By all means, let us bank another 2 lilies' progress towards the next Misery. But it's not like WHM is being unfairly left out from obvious systems. With this, it'd be one of two jobs in the whole game to see these benefits. And, moreover, it still wouldn't get much out of it, just by nature of the minimum "wasteful" casts required to charge an Afflatus Misery.

[Deceptus]

Note, though, that the BLM is unique in that regard.

You cannot stack more than 1/3 consumable Repertoire on Bard, despite that being those minimum and minimum optimal amounts for consumption, respectively.
You cannot stack more than 3 Seals, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 5 chakra, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 3 Meditation stacks (for Shoha), the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 3 eyes, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 2 Aethertrail, the minimum amount to make use of them.
You cannot stack more than 3 Aetherflow, the minimum amount that can be generated at a time. .

You can't compare any of these. BLM and WHM use a time based gauge. They get their resources based on time. Which is the basis of my argument as to why they should behave similarly.

BRD is RNG based, it's not like those Repetoire stacks build up over time, they just pop. Same with Monk Chakra, Sam Shoha, etc etc. They all use resources to get resources.

It's not like BLM use Blizzard 4 and get a Plolygot as a result. If that were the case, then you could compare them.

[tikiwiki]

its currently the healer in the best place but i would not call it in a good place while there are good ideas in new whm like lillies and attempts to fix some of the weaving issues but at theres the issue of still just mashing 1 dps button and while i do think whm should probably be the vanilla and simplistic healer i dont think it should be as simple as you spam glare most of the time pld despite being the vanilla tank nowadays has gained a lot more than it old one combo while whm has just regressed and gotten less dps buttons

[EaMett]

Your enjoyment of the healers in this game is going to depend immensely on 1) Your skill level 2) The content you run. The current healers are simple enough that they reduce the anxiety of running content that is above your skill level. The flip side to this is that they make content on your level boring.

In other words, if you heal every now and then for fun, or if you haven't been healing for long, or if you don't try to optimize healer gameplay, then you'll be of the opinion that healers are fine overall. If you, however, do the things above and get better then you'll find the role boring. Sadly, everyone who cares to actually heal as their main role will get there with time.