For my threads on the other healers, please see:
SCH: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...96#post6463296
AST: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...00#post6463300
SGE: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...06#post6463306
The White Mage. The quintessential 'Healer' class fantasy in most of the singleplayer installments of Final Fantasy. Here, however, the lore has been written to depict the school of magic as being rather more... Destructive. As half of the duo that created a world-rending Calamity (the other culprit being Black Mages), White Magic in FFXIV has been told via the lore to be both able to bring succor to those in need of aid, and equally a practiced avatar of destruction against those that would seek to harm the Twelveswood. Nature's Warden, Nature's Wrath. Her Vigil and Her Vengeance.
With this design, I hope to capture the two sides of White Magic, both the incredible healing potential, with the power to heal almost any wound, and the devastating vengeance the White Mage can unleash upon Nature's enemies. To provide a White Mage that, not only could 'survive' in the War of the Magi (through the use of restorative magicks), but also fight back against the invading Mhachi forces, with equally destructive magic.
THE NATURE'S VIGILANCE GAUGE
(Please forgive me, I am not an artist)
The Nature's Vigilance Gauge is learned upon reaching Level 50, and completing the Job Quest 'Heart of the Forest'. Upon gaining access to the Gauge, many previously learned actions will now generate Vigilance, stored in the gauge (displayed as the 'stem' of the flower). Upon reaching 50 Vigilance (displayed as reaching the 'leaves' of the flower), the execution of Blessing of the Elementals will become available. This spell is a strong AOE healing action, which also grants three new 'buffs', corresponding to each of the three natural elements, Wind, Water and Earth (displayed as the 'petals' of the flower).
The Nature's Vigilance Gauge can hold up to two of each Petal, so spending 100 Vigilance back to back will not cause overcap. When a Petal is present on the Gauge, that element's spell (Stone/Glare, Aero/Dia, Water/Banish) will 'upgrade' into the ultimate Elemental Magic of that element: Quake, Tornado, and Flood respectively. These actions serve as a way to 'refund' the damage lost by casting Blessing of the Elementals, with the total increase over their base forms being equal to one cast of your current level of Stone/Glare (at max level, lower level potencies might be variable).
In this example, we can see the player has 60 Vigilance stored, and has two of each Elemental Petal ready to use.
WHITE MAGE ACTIONS
Level 1: Stone, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Earth damage with a potency of 170.
Level 2: Cure, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 500 MP, Spell
Restores target's HP.
Cure Potency: 450
Level 4: Aero, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Wind damage with a potency of 60.
Additional Effect: Wind damage over time
DOT Potency: 50
Duration: 12s
Level 8: Protect, 60s, Ability
Grants Protect to self and nearby allies.
Protect Effect: Reduces damage taken by self and nearby allies by 5%
Duration: 10s
Level 10: Medica, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1000 MP, Spell
Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
Cure potency: 300
NOTE: Radius increased to 20y
Level 12: Raise, 8s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 2400 MP, Spell
Resurrects target to a weakened state.
CLASS QUEST
Level 15: Water, Instant, 2.5s Recast, 15s Recharge, Spell
Deals Water damage with a potency of 210.
NOTE: On the GCD, but a separate cooldown, akin to old Sonic Break on GNB, or Goring Blade on Paladin
Level 18: Stone 2, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Earth damage with a potency of 190.
Level 22: Water 2, Instant, 2.5s Recast, 15s Recharge, Spell
Deals Water damage with a potency of 230.
Level 24: Cure 2, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 500 MP, Spell
Restores target's HP.
Cure Potency: 700
NOTE: Cure 1 upgrades into Cure 2 via a Trait, saving hotbar space.
Level 28: Aero 2, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Wind damage with a potency of 100.
Additional Effect: Wind Damage over time
DOT Potency: 60
Duration: 12s
Level 30: Regen, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 250 MP, Spell
Grants healing over time effect to target.
Cure Potency: 200
Duration: 18s
CLASS QUEST
Level 30: Presence of Mind, 120s CD, Ability
Reduces spell cast time and recast time, and auto-attack delay by 20%.
Duration: 20s
JOB QUEST
Level 30: Stoneskin, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Lily, Spell
Applies a barrier to target that absorbs damage equal to a heal of 400 potency.
NOTE: Lily Gauge is unlocked at 30 instead of 52
Level 32: Medica 2, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1000 MP, Spell
Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
Cure potency: 300
Additional Effect: Healing over time
HOT Potency: 100
HOT Duration: 12s
NOTE: Medica 1 upgrades into Medica 2. Heals for the same 700p as Endwalker, but one tick is frontloaded
to make the base potency equal to Medica 1's potency.
JOB QUEST
Level 35: Holy, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 300 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 140 to all nearby enemies.
Additional Effect: Stun
Duration: 4s
Level 38: Cure 3, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1500 MP, Spell
Restores own or target party member's HP and all party members nearby target.
Cure Potency: 500
NOTE: Radius is still 10y
JOB QUEST:
Level 40: Divine Seal, 120s CD, Ability
Increases healing magic potency by 20%.
Duration: 20s
Level 42: Aetherial Shift, 60s, Ability
Quickly dash forward 15 yalms.
JOB QUEST
Level 45: Graniteskin, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Lily, Spell
Applies a barrier to self and nearby party members that absorbs damage equal to a heal of 200 potency.
Level 50: Benediction, 180s, Ability
Fully restores a target's HP.
JOB QUEST
Level 50: Blessing of the Elementals, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 50 Vigilance, Spell
Entreat the Elementals for aid, restoring HP to self and nearby allies.
Cure Potency: 500
Additional Effect: Blooms one 'Petal of River's Rage'
Additional Effect: Blooms one 'Petal of Wrathful Winds'
Additional Effect: Blooms one 'Petal of Earthen Ire'
Additional Effect: Restores 500 MP
Level 50: Quake, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Earth damage to target and nearby enemies, with a potency of 250 for the first enemy, and 50%
less for all remaining enemies.
Can only be executed while a Petal of Earthen Ire is blooming in the Nature's Vigilance Gauge.
Consumes a Petal of Earthen Ire upon execution.
This Action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
NOTE: Stone turns into Quake while a Petal of Earthen Ire is blooming.
Level 50: Flood, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Water damage to target and nearby enemies, with a potency of 290 for the first enemy, and 50%
less for all remaining enemies.
Can only be executed while a Petal of River's Rage is blooming in the Nature's Vigilance Gauge.
Consumes a Petal of River's Rage upon Execution.
Shares a cooldown with Water.
This Action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
NOTE: Water turns into Flood while a Petal of River's Rage is blooming.
Level 50: Tornado, Instant Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Wind damage to target and nearby enemies, with a potency of 130 for the first enemy, and 50%
less for all remaining enemies.
Additional Effect: Wind damage over time
DOT Potency: 70 for first target, 35 for all remaining enemies
Duration: 12s
Can only be executed while a Petal of Wrathful Winds is blooming in the Nature's Vigilance Gauge.
Consumes a Petal of Wrathful Winds upon execution.
This Action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
NOTE: Aero turns into Tornado while a Petal of Wrathful Winds is blooming. This DOT cannot be placed
on an enemy at the same time as Aero (they overwrite each other)
NOTE: Please see the Trait 'One with Nature' for more info about the Nature's Vigilance Gauge.
JOB QUEST
Level 52: Afflatus Solace, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Lily, Spell
Restores target's HP.
Cure Potency: 700
JOB QUEST
Level 52: Asylum, 90s, Ability
Envelops a designated area in a veil of succor, granting healing over time to self and allies who enter.
Cure Potency: 100
Duration: 24s
JOB QUEST
Level 54: Stone 3, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200MP, Spell
Deals Earth damage with a potency of 220.
JOB QUEST
Level 54: Water 3, Instant, 2.5s Recast, 15s Recharge, Spell
Deals Water damage with a potency of 260.
JOB QUEST
Level 56: Assize, 40s CD, Ability
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 400 to all nearby enemies.
Additional Effect: Restores HP to self and nearby allies
Cure Potency: 400
Additional Effect: Restores 500MP
JOB QUEST
Level 58: Tetragrammaton, 60s CD, Ability
Restores target's HP.
Cure Potency: 700
JOB QUEST
Level 60: Afflatus Tragedy, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Blood Lily, Spell
Deals unaspected damage to target and enemies nearby it, with a potency of 800 for the first enemy,
and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
Level 62: Thin Air, 60s, Ability
Next spell is executed without cast time, and without MP cost.
Maximum Charges: 2
NOTE: Yes this includes Raise
Level 64: Stone 4, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Earth damage with a potency of 260.
Level 64: Water 4, Instant, 2.5s Recast, 15s Recharge, Spell
Deals Water damage with a potency of 300.
NOTE: At level 64, Afflatus Tragedy's potency increases to 1000 via Trait, to keep up with the
increase to Stone's potency
Level 66: Divine Benison, 30s, Ability
Applies a barrier to target that absorbs damage equivalent to a heal of 500 potency.
Duration: 15s
Level 68: Plenary Indulgence, 60s, Ability
Grants 'Confession' to self and nearby allies.
Confession Effect: Reduces damage taken by 5%.
Additionally, upon being affected by the direct cast of Medica 2, Cure 3, Blessing of the Elementals,
Graniteskin or Afflatus Rapture, 'Confession' triggers an additional healing effect.
Cure Potency: 200
Duration: 10s
JOB QUEST
Level 70: Afflatus Rapture, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Lily, Spell
Restores HP of self and nearby allies.
Cure Potency: 300
Level 72: Glare, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 300.
Level 72: Banish, Instant, 2.5s Recast, 15s Recharge, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 340.
Level 72: Dia, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 150.
Additional Effect: Unaspected damage over time
DOT Potency: 70
Duration: 12s
Level 74: Afflatus Misery, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Blood Lily, Spell
Deals unaspected damage to target and enemies nearby it, with a potency of 1200 for the first enemy,
and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
Level 76: Afflatus Bastion, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Lily, Spell
Applies a barrier to target that absorbs damage equal to a heal of 450 potency.
NOTE: Upgrade of Stoneskin
Level 76: Afflatus Sanctuary, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1 Lily, Spell
Applies a barrier to self and nearby party members that absorbs damage equal to a heal of 250 potency.
NOTE: Upgrade of Graniteskin
Level 80: Temperance, 120s, Ability
Increases healing magic potency by 20%.
Additionally, grants Temperance to self and allies, reducing damage taken by 10%.
Duration: 20s
Level 82: Glare 3, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 310.
Level 82: Banish 3, Instant, 2.5s Recast, 15s Recharge, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 350.
NOTE: Afflatus Misery's potency increases to 1240 at this level to keep parity with Glare 3's potency
Level 84: Holy 3, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 300 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 170 to all nearby enemies.
Additional effect: Stun
Duration: 4s
Level 86: Aquaveil, 60s, Ability
Reduces damage taken by self or an ally by 15%.
Duration: 8s
Level 90: Liturgy of the Bell, 180s, Ability
Places a healing blossom at the designated location, and grants 5 stacks of 'Liturgy of the Bell' to self.
Duration: 20s
Taking damage will spend a stack to heal self and all party members within 20y of the blossom.
Cure Potency: 400
This healing effect can only be triggered once per second.
Additionally, any remaining stacks at the end of the duration, or upon executing this action a second
time, will be consumed to cause an additional healing effect.
'Detonation' Cure Potency: 200 per remaining stack
Level 92: Glare IV, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 0 MP, Spell
Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 640 for the first enemy, and 40% less for all remaining enemies.
Can only be executed while Sacred Sight is active.
Level 96: Medica III, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1000 MP, Spell
Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
Cure potency: 425
Additional Effect: Regen
Regen Potency: 175
Regen Duration: 12s
Level 100: Divine Caress, 1s, Ability
Creates a barrier around self and all party members near you that absorbs damage equivalent to a heal of 400 potency.
Duration: 15s
Additional Effect: Grants Divine Aura when barrier effect expires, or is consumed.
Divine Aura Effect: Healing over time
Cure Potency: 200
Duration: 15s
Can only be executed while Divine Grace is active.
NOTE: The 10s duration of the barrier is annoyingly small, so I've extended it to 15s for a little more lenience in timing
TRAITS
Level 18: Mastery of the Earth
Upgrades Stone to Stone 2.
Level 20: Maim and Mend
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 10%
Level 22: Mastery of the Rivers
Upgrades Water to Water 2.
Level 24: Cure Mastery
Upgrades Cure to Cure 2.
Level 28: Mastery of the Winds
Upgrades Aero to Aero 2.
Level 30: Secrets of the Lily
Enables the accumulation of Lilies on the Lily Gauge, with a new Lily blooming every 20s you are engaged in combat, up to a maximum of 3.
Level 32: Freecure
Grants a 20% chance that after casting Cure 2, Stone 2 or Water 2, your next Cure 2 will cast instantly, and cost 0 MP.
Duration: 10s
Level 35: Medica Mastery
Upgrades Medica to Medica 2.
Level 40: Maim and Mend II
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 30%
Level 46: Overcure
While Medica 2's Regen effect is present on the WHM, Cure 3's MP cost is halved.
Level 50: One with Nature
Enables the accumulation of Nature's Vigilance in its gauge by executing certain actions. 50 Vigilance
can be spent to execute 'Blessing of the Elementals'.
Stone and Quake grant 1 Vigilance.
Water and Flood grant 5 Vigilance.
Aero and Tornado grant 5 Vigilance, 1 when cast, and 1 each time the damage over time deals damage.
Holy grants 2 Vigilance per enemy hit.
Afflatus Tragedy/Misery grants 5 Vigilance.
Cure 2 grants 5 Vigilance.
Regen grants 10 Vigilance, 4 when cast, and 1 each time the healing over time triggers.
Medica 2 grants 15 Vigilance, 3 each time the healing over time triggers.
Cure 3 grants 10 Vigilance.
Level 54: Natural Mastery 2
Upgrades Stone 2 to Stone 3, and Water 2 to Water 3.
Additionally, increases the potency of Quake to 320, and Flood to 360.
Level 60: Transcendent Afflatus
Adds a Blood Lily to the Lily Gauge. Each Lily spent causes the Blood Lily to bloom by one stage.
After three Lilies are spent, the Blood Lily blooms fully and can be spent on Afflatus Tragedy/Misery.
Level 54: Natural Mastery 2
Upgrades Stone 2 to Stone 3, and Water 2 to Water 3.
Additionally, increases the potency of Quake to 290, and Flood to 330.
Additionally, increases the potency of Tornado to 140.
Level 64: Natural Mastery 3
Upgrades Stone 3 to Stone 4, and Water 3 to Water 4.
Additionally, increases the potency of Quake to 340, and Flood to 380.
Additionally, increases the potency of Tornado's damage over time effect to 75.
Level 68: Protection Mastery
Upgrades Protect to Plenary Indulgence.
Level 72: Infusion of Light
Upgrades Stone 4 to Glare, Water 4 to Banish, and Aero 2 to Dia.
Additionally, increases the potency of Quake to 400, and Flood to 440.
Additionally, increases the potency of Tornado to 170 and its damage over time potency to 90.
Additionally, increases the potency of Holy to 160.
Level 74: Afflatus Mastery
Upgrades Afflatus Tragedy to Afflatus Misery.
Level 76: Bastion of Light
Upgrades Stoneskin to Afflatus Bastion, and Graniteskin to Afflatus Sanctuary.
Level 78: Enhanced Asylum
Adds an additional effect to Asylum, granting 10% increased HP recovery for any allies within.
Level 80: Temperance of the Amdapori
Upgrades Divine Seal to Temperance.
Level 82: Mastery of the Light
Upgrades Glare to Glare 3, and Banish to Banish 3.
Additionally, increases the potency of Quake to 410, and Flood to 450.
Additionally, increases the potency of Tornado to 180.
Level 85: Healing Mastery
Increases the healing potency of Cure II to 800, Regen to 250, Cure III to 600, Medica II to 400,
Medica II's Regen effect to 150, Afflatus Solace to 800, and Afflatus Rapture to 400.
Level 88: Enhanced Divine Benison
Allows for the accumulation of charges of Divine Benison.
Maximum Charges: 2
Level 92: Sacred Duty
Presence of Mind grants 3 stacks of Sacred Sight upon execution.
Duration: 30s
Level 94: Fury Of The Elementals
Increases the potency of Glare III to 330, Banish to 370, Holy 3 to 175, and Afflatus Misery to 1,320.
Additionally, increases the potency of Quake to 430, and Flood to 470.
Additionally, increases the initial potency of Tornado to 200.
Level 96: Providence Of The Padjali
Upgrades Medica II to Medica III.
Level 98: Enhanced Tetragrammaton
Allows the accumulation of charges for consecutive uses of Tetragrammaton.
Maximum Charges: 2
Level 100: Grace Of The Divine
Temperance grants Divine Grace upon execution.
Duration: 30s
SIDE NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR
First off, I will state this: 'I hold the opinion that 'the Pure/Barrier split has not worked''. This is due to seeing that, for some duties, not only is SCH/SGE a viable composition, it can often be superior to bringing a Pure Healer at all. This is due to the combat design decisions leaning towards 'to make healing harder, we should make the hits hit harder'. What this leads to, is not 'more healing is needed', but instead 'more mitigation is needed'. The Barrier Healers have plenty of 'burst healing' in their kits, as it is needed for certain 'Pure Healing checks', such as Seat of Sacrifice's doom (HP is set to 1, Doom is cleared upon reaching Max HP).
As such, I find that the end result of the split, is simply 'WHM/AST are not able to complete challenging duties together anymore'. SCH/SGE can work together just fine. With this in mind, I would prefer that the concept of 'Pure/Barrier split' be removed, and a sort of 'sliding scale' be implemented, where the stronger a healer is at Pure Healing, the weaker it is at Barrier Healing, and vice versa. With the current way the healers are balanced/the tools in their kit, the order of WHM/AST/SGE/SCH (from most Pure to most Barrier) would make sense. Additionally, using a 'sliding scale' instead of a blunt binary of 'Pure' or 'Barrier' means that a new healer (if/when one is added) can be slid in on the scale at whatever position. For example, if it is perfectly balanced between Pure and Barrier (for example, a stance-dancing healer that shifts between maintaining Heal over Time effects, and maintaining a buff that delays damage allies take into a Damage over Time effect), the order would become WHM/AST/???/SGE/SCH.
By adding a Barrier option to WHM and AST (Afflatus Sanctuary and Aspected Selena respectively), this allows the devs to know that 'every healer has ready access to a Barrier', and so they can implement more... Let's call them 'Barrier Checks'. The opposite of a Heal Check (where you have to heal hard, like Harrowing Hell, or a White Hole-esque mechanic), a Barrier Check would just see if the players have used a Barrier to negate an aspect of an attack. An example would be Photon, in A11S and TEA. Your HP is set to 1, and you're suffering a DOT (fire floor/Nisi). If you do not have a Barrier, you will die to the next DOT tick. Another is Vulcan Burst, Ifrit's Knockback effect. If you have a Barrier applied, and it fully blocks Vulcan Burst, you don't get knocked back. As such, we could have things like, for example, a raidwide that does two hits: one small hit of say 200 'Unique type' damage, and a second hit of however much the raidwide should do. The raidwide damage could then apply a Doom that can be removed either by Esuna, or by hitting 100% HP. If the 200 damage was blocked because of a Barrier though, the Doom is not applied. This gives the players options, do they Esuna the Doom, do they use a Barrier to prevent the debuff, or do they power through it with Pure healing?
For this reason, I have included some shielding options in WHM's kit, albeit weaker than the Barrier Healers are capable of, or gated behind more strict timers (eg, where SCH can Pure Heal with Indomitability, but it has a 30s CD and costs Aetherflow, WHM can shield the party at the cost of a Lily). Additionally, when Afflatus Misery was made damage-neutral, it brought a gameplay I do not like: purposely wasting healing resources in order to prepare a Misery to keep it aligned with each 1min, so that one is always ready for the 2min window. I'd be fine with this, if the Lily spent was used on actual healing, but sometimes there just isn't healing required, and so the Lily just overheals. The Shielding alternatives, Afflatus Bastion and Afflatus Sanctuary, would provide a way for the WHM to get 'something' from the spent Lily, even if the party is full HP, as long as damage is taken within 30s.
The intention behind this design is to not only show that it's possible to keep WHM as 'the simple, easy to access healer', but for it to also have depth to the way it deals damage, for those that seek to optimize their damage (rather the current design of pressing Glare 11 times in a row). The general thinking of why Aero/Dia is reduced to 12s, and the addition of Water/Banish, is simply 'to reduce the amount of times we cast Stone/Glare in a row'. By doing these two changes, we go from casting Aero/Dia every 12th GCD (and thereby having 11 Glares in a row), to casting Aero/Dia on every 5th GCD (assuming the enemy will live for the duration of the DOT), and Banish on every 6th GCD. The staggered timers mean that we don't just fall into a rhythm, of something akin to 'Dia, Banish, Glare x 4, Dia, Banish, Glare x 4 etc'. Instead, their desynchronization from one another is intentional, to keep the player more engaged.
Additionally, a lot of thought was put into the potencies of the skills (at max level), such that the potency lost by missing an opportunity to cast these revamped spells (eg not refreshing Dia on time, or refreshing it early because of movement) is less punishing to players. This can be seen in how Water/Banish is only 40p stronger than the equivalent level of Stone/Glare, making each GCD you have Water/Banish ready but do not cast it, an average loss of just 6.6 potency. Additionally, the increased base potency of Dia (150p) means that, should the player need to move, using Dia to keep their GCD rolling is less of a damage loss compared to the current game, where it is 65p.
When Misery was made to be damage-neutral, it allowed for the optimization trick of putting it inside the 2min raidbuff window, which effectively 'transplants' 3 Glare casts from outside the window (the ones we lose by casting Solace and Rapture), to be 'inside' the raidbuff window, thereby increasing our damage contribution for the raid.
The same idea drove the concept of the refund mechanism for Blessing of the Elementals, allowing us to transplant one Glare from outside the 2min window, into it. Unlike Misery, however, it takes 3 spell casts to 'cash in' that refund, meaning that the difference in damage output between 'a player who does place Quake/Flood/Tornado inside raidbuffs' and 'a player who does not', is the damage of 'Glare inside raidbuffs, minus the damage of Glare outside raidbuffs'. In other words, a very small amount of potency, likely in the double digits. This means that, those who don't want to worry about keeping everything perfectly lined up, will lose almost no damage in doing so, and those who want to perfectly optimize, have another thing they can toy with.
Trying to make a healing plan that allows for the 'perfectly optimal' gameplay of going into the 2min window with everything ready, would mean your 2min window's execution would look something like this:
BOTE > BOTE > Presence of Mind > Banish > Tornado > Misery > Quake > Quake > Glare > Tornado > Banish
This is discounting the speed buff of Presence of Mind's effect on your rotation, as I am not clever enough to mentally envision its effect on your Recast speeds. Where the example says 'Glare', you would presumably fill with extra casts of Glare as needed.
I believe that this design captures the 'feel' and 'identity' of White Mage, as both a Warden of Nature, healing those that need aid, but also a fearsome avatar of Nature's Wrath, of vengeance against those that seek to harm it. We have seen, in lore and in cutscenes, that the White Mages were not passive in the War of the Magi, instead being very agressive against the invading Mhachi Black Mages. Additionally, in a cutscene as recent as Endwalker's release (6.0, in the Garlemald section of MSQ), A-Ruhn-Senna, a White Mage Padjal (and one of the Job tutors to an extent) interrupts an argument and potential scuffle by summoning a blast of air reminiscent of a tornado. Perhaps not strong enough to be Tornado itself, but it shows that, despite our abandonment of the elements in our current gameplay (in favour of Glare/Dia), White Magic is still related to the elements.
Additionally, the Red Mage uses spells created from the knowledge of White Magic (along with Black), using VerAero and VerStone. As such, it feels to some (myself included) that the 'Elemental' aspect of White Magic has been abandoned in favour of the new 'Light themed' WHM, without any lore explanation for why this is the case. Fans have created explanations of 'when we were in the First, the excess of Light meant we adapted our spells to use more Light', but to my knowledge, no official explanation was given (and the theory doesn't make sense, now we're on the Source (doubly so while we were in the Void)). While some prefer the Light theme, some also preferred the more grounded Elemental version, and are disappointed to see it gone. Some have even gone as far as to say 'the reason they removed the Elements from WHM, is so they can add Geomancer later', which, if true, would be quite disappointing personally, from the perspective of 'Job A had to lose a part of it's identity, so that Job B could later 'steal' it, something that happened (and players were extremely angry about, at the time) in World of Warcraft, with Warlocks losing the Metamorphosis ability (allowing them to turn into a demon), only for Demon Hunters to be added later with the ability to turn into a demon for a time.
With the design above, both sides would be covered, the Light being the majority of the damage-dealing gameplay (and any Lily healing required), and the Elements making a reprise via the damage refund system for Blessing of the Elementals. It's not an exact 50:50 split, and some would still likely complain that 'their favourite aesthetic (elemental/Light-based) isn't getting the better side of the deal', but I believe that having both aspects expressed is better than just going full tilt into one side and abandoning the fans of the other completely.
ADDENUM: DIAGRAMS/ILLUSTRATIONS
For the reader's pleasure, I have included some additional media, to help illustrate certain aspects of the design.
Figure A: Two pie charts. The first shows a breakdown of each GCD spent on an ideal run of a duty, where the player does not need to dip into 'damage-loss GCD healing' (factoring in Presence of Mind's speed boost as giving roughly 2 bonus GCDs, meaning that each 2min we get 50 total GCDs to spend). The second shows a breakdown of that same ideal run of a duty, but under the design laid out above (again, 50 total GCDs due to POM's speed boost). The first pie chart shows the incredible disparity in how often we press Glare 3, compared to anything else that isn't Glare3. It's almost 75% of our total GCDs that get spent on that single action, leading to the feeling of 'samey-ness' in combat.
By contrast, in Figure A2, we can see that we are spending (per 2 minute loop) a mere 17 GCDs on Glares, along with 8 Dia, 6 Banishes, 2 uses of Blessing of the Elementals, 2 Quakes, 2 Floods, 2 Tornadoes, 6 Lily spells (Afflatus Solace/Rapture/Bastion/Sanctuary) and 2 Afflatus Misery. This results in a Glare-to-Total ratio of 17 Glares out of 50 GCDs, or somewhere around 33%, a much healthier balance to the rest of the kit, and more inline with the in-lore foil to the WHM, the Black Mage. If Quake is included in the Glare count (because they share the same button), it becomes 19 out of 50, which is still below 40% and a much better ratio than the ~70% we're currently working with
Figure B:
A video of me playing this design on a dummy in Bozja, from the original post (hence the Abyssos BIS). Please do mute the video, if the button mashing bothers you (I was not practised at the 'new rotation', and so I was nervous). The Lost Action, Lost Banish III, allows for me to simulate the addition of Water/Banish to the kit (albeit with a cast time), and manually refreshing Dia when it has 18s left on its duration (so, 12s have passed) simulates the reduced duration of this design.
Thank you for reading. If there are any typos, please mention them.
To Square Enix, should someone from SE see this post: I give full permission for parts or all of this design to be taken and used for 8.0 or beyond, I do not ask for any credit.
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