Please Tell Me If WHM is OKAY or Not

[elioaiko]

WHM was okay during ShB because the devs decided to fix their job mechanic: lilies. But that's all. They even took Aero 3 away.

Clearly, they want WHM to be starter healer that anyone can play no matter how ill-equiped you were and fits into that gross healbot stereotype.

Like TyTaurus said, WHM has no niche. Not even prog since dying is punishing with their horrible MP economy. For a healer that's supposed to GCD heal, it has the most expensive healing spells.

It's like the devs saw the positive response ShB WHM got and ran with it even though all they did was give him a meaningful gimmick that reflects the same thing it's normal kit does–direct heals. I get that WHM may not need super complexity like AST but on AST, you actually have things to do and get rewarded for doing them.

AST's MP recovery makes sense because it's encouraging you to draw cards and then rewarding with even more MP with Astrodyne for playing the cards.

SCH has Aetherflow on a 45s CD and has Energy Drain to drop unused stacks before the next refresh, encouraging you to keep Aetherflow on CD.

SGE gets MP for just using their oGCDs, encouraging you to use them often and not sit on them.

These are all healthy habits a healing job should teach the player. And for a starter, training wheels healer WHM, doesn't encourage that at all.

Thin Air should be used for the expensive healing spells like Cure 3, Medica 2, Raise hence why there's two charges. But often times, I just see new WHM players not touch it at all or use it after death only to realize that it only works on the next spell. On top of that, Assize is the only thing that gives you back MP for using it and you should use Assize on CD as its a 45s CD, holding it too long or strictly for healing actively gimps your MP recovery.

WHM should be the job that instills good healer habits but it does the opposite: over-reliance on GCD healing, spells being so similar that they don't have a microcosm of even having different ways of healing. Hence why new WHM players get overwhelmed playing any other healer.

[Hysterior]

I'm being told WHM is a garbage class

No. just play whatever you want to play, every job job is viable and new adjustments are coming up soon.

[Kabzy]

... and new adjustments are coming up soon.

"Are you new here?" :'D

[Hysterior]

"Are you new here?" :'D

No, I bet 100% that WHM gets some buffs in the next round of adjustments.
You can quote me on that.

[Adeacia]

I've noticed that MP is indeed worse than it was in Shadowbringers. Back then WHM had essentially infinite mp if you played right. Now, not so much. It's nowhere near as bad as it was in Heavensward though.

Can WHM do all content in the game? Yes. It has some issues, no doubt but it still works fine overall.

[Silver-Strider]

No, I bet 100% that WHM gets some buffs in the next round of adjustments.
You can quote me on that.

The most I see happening is Assize getting an MP buff to 8-10% but that's all it will probably get.

[Liam_Harper]

I use to really love WHM but I've been leveling other healers, only because I've been warned WHM is not worth the effort. Is it true? PS, the character listed on the forum is not my main.

WHM is absolutely fine for everything except the 3rd and 4th boss on Savage, and Ultimate. You can clear those with a WHM, but you'll struggle more compared to other healers because your tools to handle constant high damage are worse. The main reason WHM is fine elsewhere is because everything else doesn't hit that hard.

If you love WHM, play WHM, but if you're progging Savage and care more about what contributes most to the team it's worth keeping an AST on the side until you outgear the fight. AST is ridiculously good at healing.

[Semirhage]

WHM is okay because that's basically all WHM has ever been- just "okay".

[Risvertasashi]

If you read the JP forum, you will see stories about WHM being banned from P3S or P4S popping up a lot. As much as I love WHM and will continue playing it, you'll probably need to play a different healer for high-end contents for now.

This doesn't seem to have come to aether yet, though, I can't help but wonder if it's only a matter of time.

[Rilifane]

I use to really love WHM but I've been leveling other healers, only because I've been warned WHM is not worth the effort. Is it true? PS, the character listed on the forum is not my main.

WHM is perfectly viable and can clear all content. However, the more demanding the content, the more you'll notice its weaknesses, like being MP negative by nature or having fewer tools than all other 3 healers to deal with incoming damage.
Any content up to savage will not strain any healer's toolkit and even for savage, the 1st and 2nd turn usually have fairly low healing requirement, so it only starts becoming more obvious in the 3rd and 4nd turn or in ultimate.

If you're mostly doing roulettes, some expert dungeons, maybe some Extremes here and there, play whatever you want. If you want to tackle the most difficult content (later savage turns & ultimates), it at least helps to be aware of weaknesses or have another healer at hand if you prefer to play whatever is more beneficial for the team. But you can play WHM just fine, if you want to. Most groups don't care who plays which healer as long as they get the job done somehow.

In situations demanding heavy healing, the WHM is still the king. Big pull, and the tank is not using cooldowns correctly? Just heal through it, np. As SGE, you will struggle much more there (been there, done that).

Unfortunatly though, in most "normal" situations, heavy healing is not needed. And then you start to look at the bonuses other healers bring to the party (WHM doesn't have any really), or the obvious mp/cast time differences between WHM and the other "pure healer" AST.

I would still say WHM is a perfectly fine healer (and it is still my main), it only seems weaker if you compare it to other healers.

Since you mentioned SGE, I'll make a comparison between SGE and WHM.
So we have a tank pulling big in dungeons but not using mitigation, lots of single target heal required.

SGE has a total of 5023 free single target heal potency per minute on average, not factoring in Kardia auto heals except for Soteria, snapshotting heal buffs or using Rhizomata.
If you're dpsing for 50% of the time, Kardia auto heals amount to 1560 before 85 and 2040 at 85+. And we're talking about dpsing only 50% of the time which is... quite low even for tanks not mitigating.
6583 until 85
7063 at 85+ when only dpsing half the time

Level 90: Zoe + Pneuma, 900 potency on 2min = 450 potency/ minute
Level 80: Panhaima, 1200 potency on 2min = 600 potency/ minute
Level 78: Enh. Kerachole, 500 potency on 30s = 1000 potency/ minute
Level 76: Holos: 300 potency on 2min = 150 potency/ minute
Level 70: Haima: 1800 potency on 2min = 900 potency/ minute
Level 62: Taurochole: 700 potency on 45s = 933 potency/ minute
Level 60: Physis II: 650 potency/ minute
Level 35: Soteria (+85 trait): 510 potency on 90s = 340 potency/ minute,
without trait it's 280 potency per minute

WHM has 3833 free singlet target healing per minute on average, without factoring in heal buff snapshotting.
In big pulls, at 74+ (Misery), Solatus becomes dps neutral/ a dps gain, so it's additional 1400 potency below 85 and 1600 additional potency at 85+.
3833 until 74
5233 until 85
5433 at 85+

Level 90: Lilybell 1000 (auto heal, as tank damage doesn't trigger it) on 3min = 333 potency/ minute
Level 66: Divine Benison 500 potency on 30s = 1000 potency/ minute
Level 60: Tetra: 700 potency/ minute
Level 56: Assize: 400 potency on 45s = 533 potency/ minute
Level 52: Asylum: 900 potency on 90s = 600 potency/ minute (did they keep the instant tick on ground target aoes?)
Level 50: Benediction: ~2000 worth of potency on 3min = 667 potency/ minute

Adding to that raw healing potency alone, SGE recovers Addersgall every 20s and out of combat, so you'll start every pull with at least 2 Addersgall, WHM recovers Lilies every 30s and only in combat.
SGE gets 21% MP back through Addersgall heals alone, WHM gets roughly 11% from Assize and TA.
WHM's strongest GCD is 800 potency for 1k MP, SGE's strongest GCD heal is 840 for 900 MP, instant and gives a slight damage return.
SGE can also freely weave and move while aoeing, WHM has to clip and is less mobile.
WHM has Holy stuns but far less mitigation overall.
SGE can shield or aoe on the run, WHM can use Regen/ Solace but not aoe.

All in all, in a poor group SGE has far better tools and reliable dps.
In a decent to good group, being able to dump Lilies on the run for instant Misery every pull puts WHM ahead in dps but it requires a tank that mitigates properly.
When it comes to healing, SGE is ahead. Period.
And it doesn't matter if something "feels" weak or powerful, numbers don't lie.
SGE has a lot more tools than WHM has and is ahead in free healing at every level range, both for ST and aoe healing, even when partly ignoring some of their mechanics/ cooldowns and has better MP economy.

If you struggled so hard on SGE, you probably made some mistakes. Which is fine, but it's not the SGE toolkit that's lacking.