Honest question for people dissatisfied with WHM:

[Leonerdo]

If WHM did the most damage out of the healers but everything else was the same, what would you think of it?

I know this is basically the case with DRK. They do the most damage but people are still upset that it's rotation isn't fun, Living Dead is trash without Benediction, etc.

But for WHM, are the problems that big/fundamental? Or would people just treat them like minor inconveniences, if it meant they were doing the most damage?

If WHM just got +30 potency on Glare and +120 on Misery (about 7-8% overall DPS buff) and nothing else, how many people would shift their perspective to something like this? "WHM design is quirky/nuanced, but that allows skilled players to do the most damage." And how many would stick with the opinion that it's outdated/janky/unsatisfying? (But at least it's not unfair anymore, because WHM gets to be the best at something.)

Sorry to ask the same question several times. I just want people to think about it and give their honest answer, not a knee-jerk reaction.

[Dzian]

bigger numbers dont change the game play issues.....

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
is exactly the same whether your doing 1,000 dps or 100,000 dps...

[Leonerdo]

Personally, I don't have much issue with the current design (although I would love to have 2 charges on Assize). But I expect most people would not drop their criticisms just for damage buffs. Like the principles behind most of the complaints would remain.

I think most people would still find it unfun for Misery to be DPS negative for instance. And WHM would still have the least free (oGCD) healing, so maybe people still think it's the worst at healing. But the low MP issues might seem more justified, since MP is primarily a DPS limiting factor.

[CrimsonGunner]

If WHM did the most damage out of the healers but everything else was the same, what would you think of it?

I know this is basically the case with DRK. They do the most damage but people are still upset that it's rotation isn't fun, Living Dead is trash without Benediction, etc.

But for WHM, are the problems that big/fundamental? Or would people just treat them like minor inconveniences, if it meant they were doing the most damage?

If WHM just got +30 potency on Glare and +120 on Misery (about 7-8% overall DPS buff) and nothing else, how many people would shift their perspective to something like this? "WHM design is quirky/nuanced, but that allows skilled players to do the most damage." And how many would stick with the opinion that it's outdated/janky/unsatisfying? (But at least it's not unfair anymore, because WHM gets to be the best at something.)

Sorry to ask the same question several times. I just want people to think about it and give their honest answer, not a knee-jerk reaction.

the answer is 0, no one would care if whm got a small potency increase cause his gameplay is too bad and has too many issues for something that small and insignificant QoL.
dps increase wont fix whm gameplay issues, the only thing it will do is not punish those who remained white mage to use their lilies a bit but again such a thing should not have been a thing in the first place if they just did a QA on healers and adjusted whm to EW thin air nerf and glare "upgrade".
they aren't doing the community a favor here if they fix the potency to misery, such issues should not have seen the light of day in the first place and needed to be done before EW even came out.
the fact u need to wait for 6.1 to see those changes is actually the most obnoxious thing and if in 6.1 there wont be even more changes and QoL changes for whm or even none of the mp and misery potency get address, such lack of actions will only solidify the fact that the devs dont care about the healer roles and whm in particular after saying their name in the LL.

[HyperiusUltima]

Basically, WHM is in a trash fire right now mainly because of the fact their design is bad. There are more issues than just potencies you have to think about.

Liturgy - 180s CD. Why? SGE has a 120s CD for Pneuma and can use theirs! SCH has a 120s CD on their Capstone and can use theirs! AST has a 180s CD because of the very fact they can rubberband an entire party's HP bars to max! White Mage...has to get hit for their heals to matter. Bad Ability, Bad Cooldown, Bad Design. WHM is not a Tank.

MP - SGE can mitigate their MP loss through good resource management. SCH can do that too. AST has Cards and Astrodyne so they never run out of MP. WHM has...Lucid. That's it. Their MP is trash because they didn't bother to check White Mage's issues with MP.

Engagement - JUST PRESS 1. And sometimes 2, but 111111111111111. Same across all healers, and is the major issue among healers at the moment - White Mage being more egregious in this manner given they gained near NOTHING other than overglorified potency increases and a mitigation button.

[Semirhage]

Doing the least damage is -an- issue, but it's not the most pressing one. I've often added it to my laundry list of complaints about WHM. The design space it's been shoehorned into is similar to BLM: no frills, no utility, just numbers, and nothing else. And if you're going to do that, you have to give it the complete BLM treatment; it has to do the most damage. If you're not allowed to do anything but numbers, and your numbers aren't all that impressive, then what is your class even for? At that point your competition both outdamages you AND brings more to the table, so why would you ever play WHM?

But the other part of giving it the BLM treatment is giving it an actual bit of complexity above 111111111111111. That's unbelievably dull gameplay. Not rescuable by potencies.

[Silver-Strider]

You bet your ass I would still complain. Lacking damage might be part of the issue but the fact is, it's the entire job from the ground up that's the problem.

A god awful leveling experience with ARR content feeling particularly mind-numbing due to an incredibly lackluster toolkit and your job gauge doesn't even matter until 74 when you unlock Misery, leaving Solace as purely an MP management tool until then because SE can't be bothered to help WHM's sustain in the content that they've historically had it rough in since 2.0. Then, there's the constant unnecessary nerfs WHM gets every single expansion, from level gating old skills at higher levels (Divine Seal/Temperance), to nerfs that actively hurt the job to a point of being crippling (Thin Air) to just flat out removing actually useful skills (Stoneskin 1+2).The lack of damage on top is just the icing on the turd cake that is WHM's entire design.

[Kolsykol]

Imo I think they could bring back Aero 3 and make Lily skills ogcd's.
That'd be an extra DPS button and make them stronger in dungeons too and I don't see the issue with WHM being even better in dungeons honestly.
And using Lily skills for Afflatus Misery wouldn't be a DPS loss anymore.
So it'd essentially be two more DPS buttons albeit one more rarely pressed.

[RinaShinomiya]

Imo I think they could bring back Aero 3 and make Lily skills ogcd's.
That'd be an extra DPS button and make them stronger in dungeons too and I don't see the issue with WHM being even better in dungeons honestly.
And using Lily skills for Afflatus Misery wouldn't be a DPS loss anymore.
So it'd essentially be two more DPS buttons albeit one more rarely pressed.

I'd rather Afflatus remain GCD so they can still be buffed by stuff like Temperance & Plenary and just crank up Misery Numbers up. WHM is supposed to be the GCD healer with big numbers so actually commit to that please.

[Azuri]

I mean, sure? Unbind all the pointless heals, get your Sage/Scholar to heal everything and just get a macro to repeatedly press "1" in 2.5s intervals. WHM would be the job for that "special kid" in the party. Thrilling gameplay.