Evercold White Mage first impressions

[Ankhira]

Overall I liked most of what they showed, but the line about making White Mage even easier is kind of bothering me. WHM is already one of the simplest jobs in the game. Just Glare, Dia, lilies, blood lily, plenary and you’re basically doing everything you need to do. There’s optimization of course, but the core loop is already super straightforward. So hearing that they want to simplify it even further doesn’t really make me happy, honestly.

I’m also a bit worried about the Blood Lily. Maybe it just wasn’t shown, but it looks like they might be removing it? That’s disappointing because I actually enjoyed managing lilies to line up a Blood Lily every minute. I’m assuming the new gauge fills from lilies and then you spend it on a damage ability, but I really liked the lily aesthetic the job has/had.

I do like the idea of shifting WHM toward more healing, but nothing shown really made me go wow, that's amazing. You said pressing Glare was boring (which is true), but it still looks like we'll be pressing one button, just the ability changes every other cast. And it seems like Dia might be gone too?

The concept is good, but I don’t think WHM is easy should be the reason to avoid making the job more interesting. I love the job’s aesthetic, but right now it feels like the only real change is swapping Glare casts for more GCD heals. Depending on fight design in the new expansion, that might be fine, but as it stands, it doesn’t look more engaging than what we have now. If anything, it looks less engaging.

Also if you're going to say "Astro is right there." I like the White Mage class fantasy. Astro is fine, but White Mage is what I like.

[Ankhira]

I also just noticed I see no assize in the demo... I'm sad

[Selsix]

I also just noticed I see no assize in the demo... I'm sad

Assize removed and no butt sliders. Why does SE hate posteriors so much?

[Fawkes]

They finally made it so that casting regen on a tank before a pull doesn't get hate, and now they got rid of regen as a spell.

[Doopliss]

The WHM showcase really soured me, too. I was honestly blown away that they took the complaint about it being monotonous to press Glare over and over and over again and rectified it by just...changing the animation that happened when you continued to press that same exact button over and over again. That's actually some insane key jingling to me. Having no Assize or Dia(?) in sight made this feel especially bad. I want to think this early prototype is just that--a prototype--but their Healer showcases have been underwhelming in every fanfest since SHB, and never really prove to be more interesting once they're finalized for launch...

Obviously I know the Reborn version is still there to play, but given that the Evolved versions are going to be a little bit stronger (and that, really, the Reborn versions are probably going to get eventually phased out), this feels especially bad. I can only hope that the fifth time they've claimed that encounters will require more healing will be actually true this time.

[Wasselin]

I don't think I saw a casting animation where we float, which is kind of sad, but maybe it was in there somewhere and not obvious since so many spells were instant. I actually kind of like to be required to stand still to cast so I'm not sure how long it would take for me to get used to a rotation with so many instants. I really like the idea of being required to heal more though.

It does seem weird to me to remove something like Assize or even potentially Afflatus Misery but keep something like Liturgy of the Bell, but I do think it's smart to pare down our rotations and so some abilities that I love will have to be removed to do that. We still have Holy, which I think is the most iconic spell. I'm still optimistic.

I don't think it looks less engaging than what we have now, and I really would not like them to make White Mage more complicated. Right now it's playstyle is elegant, which is a real plus for those of us that don't like to play finger ddr.

[flowerfairy]

The appeal of healers to me has always been choice. Choosing who’s the best target to heal, choosing the most efficient heal at the moment, managing my resources as best as possible.

There’s no decision making with this mode… No meaningfully unique healing tools, just automatically heal any ounce of damage with Cure/Medica and get rewarded for it. Not to mention insta cast Glare, just why? The monotonous attacks was like the number one thing everyone complained about…

I want to say this is tonedeaf, but this change seems to be for those who specifically want to healbot to a perverse degree, except it’s still trying to bargain with them with “hey, look, it takes absolutely zero effort to press your single damage button now!” And I have to wonder why even bother at that point, just remove the damage button and make WHM automatically do damage to the boss so we can “focus more on healing.”

I’m not very confident in how the other healers will play now.

[miraidensetsu]

Oh, gosh. Will yoshi-p double down on healer simplification AGAIN? If so, that's definitive proof that everything said here will fall on deaf ears. No one wants a simplier WHM. I would kill if that means WHM having Flood, Tornado and Quake.

[Azurarok]

I think most main combos are getting the same treatment as a filler attack button with minimal things to care about. Kinda wondering if we have the mobile version to thank for that.

What also bothers me is how they glazed over the job compared to the others, barely explaining several skills, skipping Holy entirely

[Raim]

It looks way better and more fun.