So 4+ years on since the pairing first Dominated the raiding scene.

[JanVanding]

I don't entirely agree that SGE's highest personal damage doesn't really compete with the utility of AST and SCH. SGE is a notable bump ahead of them, not unlike BLM is to SMN and RDM. It also has a lot of mitigation and sustained healing. Both AST and SCH have good tools to offer, but if you're comfortable with the fight, then SGE offers more bang for your buck. Also, I don't think WHM actually has burst healing at the same level as AST. Cure III has some value, but its very expensive for very mild gains over AST's GCD healing, but has has significantly better OGCD burst heals.

I also feel like this idea that WHM is the "easy mode" healer is kind of a lie. It's easy in the sense that being optimal isn't very hard and doesn't require much weaving, which makes it seem easier to play, but WHM can fall very behind very quickly if a fight isn't going well and is the first healer to exhaust their resources by a wide margin. For that reason, I think it's deceptively the hardest healer to play once push comes to shove, which if you're a casual player looking for a free ride is far more likely to occur than an experienced healer.

So I do feel that SGE contests nicely with the other healers whereas WHM doesn't really have any strength that warrants its largely shallow selection of powerful heals. Even SGE who's burst healing power is far more limited is largely going to have a much easier time. If you're looking for easy, you're better off just playing AST even if you're far worse at it. It'll be easier to heal through stuff as one even if you're botching your OGCDs and your card buffs.

Oh I 100% agree, SGE is not in a bad spot and that's more because they bring excellent ADPS and extra Mitigation which can and does put a lot of work in, WHM on the other hand what do they have that isn't easily covered for or even replicated?

The truth is, nothing really stands out in their kit at all. Yes they have Bene but AST have Aspected Bene. They have high ADPS but so does SGE with SCH not far behind.

I'd actually say WHM doesn't really have anything that is just theirs, something they can bring to the fight that nobody else can.

SGE has Mitigation and some burst healing with excellent self mobility
AST has a constant stream of Raid buffs and lots of burst healing
SCH has Raid buffs and Mitigation with group mobility
WHM has burst healing....and that's it.

Edit: And that in itself also answers the problem

AST and SCH covering everything that the other two do while bringing something the other two don't.

The symptom is called overloaded kit (however, I personally do not feel they should be nerfed/nor punished for it, that's on SE and I think they should look to other options for WHM especially so it's not a typical default to AST/SCH pretty much for everything)