Fixing Every Healer Job

[SirShady]

Yummy feedback!

Hey Leonerdo! Appreciate you weighing in here! As Sebazy stated for me, the effects of Dia/Aero3 (Refulgence) would stack with each other, giving you a reason to use both in trash pulls. Perhaps having the proc work on Dia as well is unnecessary. I was just thinking it would give you more overall damage if you were keeping your eye out for it, and keep you from having to reapply the buff.

Oh yeah, I agree there. The numbers are definitely off now that I think about it. I was just thinking of a Lily spender White Mage's could use when no healing had to go out, and it can't be outright damage since then they'd be penalized for choosing to use the Lilies to heal, as is the intention. With how Bloom works to empower the next Blood Lily I was thinking it would be good to have Afflatus Inspiratione so that if you had lilies to burn you wouldn't just be outright wasting them.

Yeah, I thought about making Smite 2 seconds as well! I just thought that might be too overpowered from a balancing perspective, but I definitely see where you're coming from. The combo finisher should feel better outside of a small amount of potency gain.

To be honest I was just thinking the Bloom buff would be pretty generous. The optimization wouldn't come from timing your Blood Lily within the buff window, but spending your lilies wisely, but liberally so that you could get one off each time Bloom came back up for maximum damage.

I appreciate it! I know my changes are quite significant and would definitely throw some balance out of whack, but I feel they could be balanced number-wise while also bringing some much needed life/fun to the slog that is current day healing.

[Silver-Strider]

White Mage Changes
Aero 3 is back.
A lesser version of Blood Lily is now unlocked at the same time as Lilies.
Glare is now a part of a 3-hit rotation. The Glare combo reduces the cooldown of their new damage GCD, Bloom, by 1 second per cast.
2 charges of Assize. Assize now restores 10% mana.
Gave lilies a spender for when HP is not needed.

New White Mage Abilities
Bud of the Blood Lily - Level 52 version of Blood Lily. Less potency. Replaced with Afflatus Misery at 74.
Shine - Combos off Glare. Deals 310 potency and reduces the cooldown of Bloom by 1 seconds. Combos into...
Smite - Combos off Shine. Deals 330 potency and reduces the cooldown of Bloom by 1 seconds.
Bloom - 30 second GCD AoE with a potency of 400 and empowers the next Blood Lily by 10%. Can not stack. Its cooldown is reduced by 1 seconds for each cast of Holy II and Shine/Smite.
Aero 3 - AoE DoT. This can stack with Dia.
Refulgence - The upgrade to Aero 3. AoE Dia. Has a chance to proc Blinding Refulgence, which works like Thundercloud procs, dealing the full amount of the DoT and reapplying it. This can stack with Dia.
Afflatus Inspiratione - Spends 1 lily to grant a 200 potency shield to all party members.

These seem much more reasonable than the original design you had posted, although I do think Bloom is problematic in this state.
Since you can only have Misery up every 60s at best, having a buff like Bloom appear every 30s (much less if we can maintain decent uptime with the time reductions of Shine and Smite) seems off. Since it also deals more damage than your 1-2-3 combo, you would want to use it on CD, buff or not.

I wonder though, if a rotating buff, in a similar sense to BLM would work, although to a smaller scale. Say we keep Glare -> Shine as is but the 3rd part of the combo branched into Smite or Bloom. Shine would grant a small buff that increases the next Bloom cast and vice versa. Not the most thrilling prospect but would allow more room for experimentation with other ideas to be added to the rotation.

[Shurrikhan]

New White Mage Abilities
Bud of the Blood Lily - Level 52 version of Blood Lily. Less potency. Replaced with Afflatus Misery at 74.
Shine - Combos off Glare. Deals 310 potency and reduces the cooldown of Bloom by 1 seconds. Combos into...
Smite - Combos off Shine. Deals 330 potency and reduces the cooldown of Bloom by 1 seconds.

Let's... not. I know we get "even tank 123 combos would be better" memes every once in a while, but that is only because they're only the tiniest of steps more engaging than 111. They take 3 times the buttons for about 5% more gameplay.

That is, unless these combos would be broken by any intervening GCDs, which then opens up a further bag of worms with that constraint, as needing to heal, DoT, or Misery within 2 GCDs of hitting 1 means you waste that combo's potential.

If you're going to devote an added 4 buttons to WHM's offensive kit, why constrain half of them to a mere pretense of depth (or, if you make this combo break from intervening GCDs, this fetter)?

Additionally, you'd be making your new 30s nuke (Bloom) awkward to align. Each combo, itself 7.5 seconds, would only reduce the 30s CD by 2 seconds, meaning that you'd have a 24-30s CD. It would align only when untouched (30x4) or in 100% uptime scenarios (24x5), which would in turn require that one not use Lilies, which means there'd be no way to exploit Misery during raid buffs. And that's before even getting into DoT conflict. A 30s DoT is already effectively just a superior 30s CD; able to deal with desync and to sacrifice a bit of potency per minute for further mobility if an instant cast.

[SirShady]

If you're going to devote an added 4 buttons to WHM's offensive kit, why constrain half of them to a mere pretense of depth (or, if you make this combo break from intervening GCDs, this fetter)?

Additionally, you'd be making your new 30s nuke (Bloom) awkward to align. Each combo, itself 7.5 seconds, would only reduce the 30s CD by 2 seconds, meaning that you'd have a 24-30s CD. It would align only when untouched (30x4) or in 100% uptime scenarios (24x5), which would in turn require that one not use Lilies, which means there'd be no way to exploit Misery during raid buffs. And that's before even getting into DoT conflict. A 30s DoT is already effectively just a superior 30s CD; able to deal with desync and to sacrifice a bit of potency per minute for further mobility if an instant cast.

Quite frankly, it's because I wasn't sure what else to add without having White Mage's juggling a bunch of additional mechanics outside of Lilies and OGCD's and without adding too much button bloat. There isn't much that can be done with a White Mage damage rotation outside of what it currently has besides adding basic combos because of the linear design of their class mechanic, the Lilies. If you want more depth, sure, you can get experimental and do that, but your best bet is to add another unique mechanic/gauge, and I don't want to overcomplicate the job too much when its identity has always been straightforward: "big heals, big damage". Th changes were meant to add depth in the way of rewarding good OGCD heals and avoiding overhealing with even more damage, but in a more interesting way since it directly influenced the power of your strongest GCDs Bloom and Blood Lily.

I totally understand where you're coming from though. It doesn't feel as satisfying as it should. I took another pass at it anyway and split the two abilities so that it's two different two part combos. One buffs the White Mage, the other provides stacks that empower your next Bloom up to a cap. If you reach that cap, Bloom powers up your next Blood Lily. That way, you're not dealing with any raid buff weirdness (as much as I dislike the restrictions of the 2 minute system) and it adds some more tangible depth to the combo system. Let me know what you think!

Also, just weighing in here on an unrelated note... Holy's stun is definitely closer to 7 seconds of mitigation! It's the best mitigation in the game as far as normal pulls go imo.

[Katoar]

White Mage Changes

Can you give an illustrated rotation incorporating the changes implemented? I wrote an example of a rotation but after the 60s I am still not reaching a loop in any particular part of the rotation except Glare-Smite and DoT refresh.

Glare (2,5s) - Smite(5s) - Dia(7,5s) - Refulgence/Aero3(10s) - Glare(12,5s) - Shine(15s) - Glare(17,5s) - Smite(20s) - Glare(22,5s) - Shine(25s) - Bloom(27,5s) - Afflatus Lily(30s) - Glare(32,5s) - Smite(35s) - Dia(37,5s) - Refulgence(40s) - Glare(42,5s) - Shine(45s) - Glare(47,5s) - Smite(50s) - Glare(52,5s) - Shine(55s) - Afflatus Lily(57,5s) - Afflatus Lily(60s) - Misery(62,5) - and still not looping

Also, Bloom can be cast twice per minute, are we supposed to use it despite not having misery ready? What's the intended optimal playstyle?

[SirShady]

Can you give an illustrated rotation incorporating the changes implemented? I wrote an example of a rotation but after the 60s I am still not reaching a loop in any particular part of the rotation except Glare-Smite and DoT refresh.

Glare (2,5s) - Smite(5s) - Dia(7,5s) - Refulgence/Aero3(10s) - Glare(12,5s) - Shine(15s) - Glare(17,5s) - Smite(20s) - Glare(22,5s) - Shine(25s) - Bloom(27,5s) - Afflatus Lily(30s) - Glare(32,5s) - Smite(35s) - Dia(37,5s) - Refulgence(40s) - Glare(42,5s) - Shine(45s) - Glare(47,5s) - Smite(50s) - Glare(52,5s) - Shine(55s) - Afflatus Lily(57,5s) - Afflatus Lily(60s) - Misery(62,5) - and still not looping

Also, Bloom can be cast twice per minute, are we supposed to use it despite not having misery ready? What's the intended optimal playstyle?

I hadn't really thought much about rotation windows honestly (same with potencies), but the numbers can be adjusted to make it more fluid. It isn't supposed to be too strict of a rotation as the timings on lilies usage and shines would change depending on the fight. And yes, Bloom is meant to be used twice in between each cast of Misery if possible as it buffs your upcoming Misery up to two times. Honestly, written out that way it is a bit clunky. I'll go ahead and make Smite's buff last 30 seconds so you're not recasting as much.

Glare 2.5 - Smite 5 - Dia 7.5 - Refulgence 10 - Glare 12.5 - Shine 15 - Glare 17.5 - Shine 20 - Bloom 22.5 - Lily? 25 - Glare 27.5 - Shine 30 - Glare 32.5 - Smite 35 - Dia 37.5 - Refulgence 40 - Glare 42.5 - Shine 45 - Lily? 47.5 - Lily? 50 - Bloom 52.5 - Misery 55 - Glare 57.5 - Shine 60 - Glare 62.5 - Smite 65 - Dia 67.5 - Refulgence 70...

This leaves more flexibility for getting heals and shines in since those are pretty interchangeable (assuming lilies don't break your combo). If this is still too much to juggle, an easy change would be to limit the amount of times you need to cast Shine to one. That frees up 10 seconds from the one-minute rotation for any adjustments. That would make it much easier to stack your blooms, open up more time for GCD heals which white mage uses more than any other healer job, and let you use your refulgence procs more without throwing off your rhythm.

Glare 2.5 - Smite 5 - Dia 7.5 - Refulgence 10 - Glare 12.5 - Shine 15 - Bloom 17.5 - Glare 20 - Shine 22.5 - FREE 25 - FREE 27.5 - FREE 30 - Glare 32.5 - Smite 35 - Dia 37.5 - Refulgence 40 - FREE 42.5 - FREE 45 - Bloom 47.5 - Misery 50 - FREE* 52.5 - FREE* 55 - Glare 57.5 - Shine 60 - Glare 62.5 - Smite 65 - Dia 67.5 - Refulgence 70...

Any of the "FREE" spaces before Misery could be used for Lilies, GCD heals, Refulgence procs or more Glare/Shine combos.

[Semirhage]

What is your intention with each job?If there is one healer job who must have the 1-button rotation, it's White Mage.

I will never not be confused by these healer forum AST/SCH/SGE main screeds that spend paragraphs going on and on and on about how dreadfully boring mashing one button over and over again for an entire encounter is, what a wretched awful gameplay experience it is, how it's the worst design in the MMO genre.

And then conclude with "so that's why the 1 button rotation is perfect for WHM."

[Silver-Strider]

I will never not be confused by these healer forum AST/SCH/SGE main screeds that spend paragraphs going on and on and on about how dreadfully boring mashing one button over and over again for an entire encounter is, what a wretched awful gameplay experience it is, how it's the worst design in the MMO genre.

And then conclude with "so that's why the 1 button rotation is perfect for WHM."

I don't like the mentality either. You can have simple and still have more buttons.
WAR/DNC/SMN are all simple but at least have some semblance of a rotation

[SirShady]

I added two new buttons to their rotation, both of which mean you'll be hitting your blood lily more often. It just doesn't combo off of Glare.