My thoughts on Healing in FFXIV as a new player

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Originally Posted by tazrenoth

I know I haven't finished the msq, but does healing get better after or is this pretty much the mentality of the game forever?

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The closer you get to endgame/max level, the stronger the mentality becomes and the more you will be resented if you don't DPS. Outside of the FF14 communities, FF14's healing role is often described as a DPS/Support hybrid role.

If you ever progress to what we call "Savage" raids (basically hard core/high end raid content), the healing requirements do get higher. But even up to and including the very hardest content in the game ("Ultimate", as it's called), even with the high healing requirements, there is an expectation that healers will balance that with DPS. Even more than 'just DPS when you can', and more like 'Hit X minimum DPS', as it's expected that these players can balance healing needs and DPSing better than those that, for example, just run dungeons.

This is not likely to ever change because of a number of issues that are fundamental to FF14's encounter design that would take thorough overhauls, and of course, those that don't like it don't tend to stay.

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Personally, not that I don't have fun with FF14's healing, but I'm also keeping an eye out for that MMO that might, some day, have a stronger trinity/healing role - where healing isn't just a 'side gig' as you put it, yeah. Not sure it'll ever come along, but who knows, perhaps someday.

I just recently started playing healer and i like it, its more proactive role in comparison to any other healers in other games i used to heal in (neverwinter, ESO).

On my low lvl WHM i try to apply dots to all mobs around the tank and heals him along with taking off debuffs from him with esuna and actually i find it more engaging than playing a tank.

You may not value the DPS you are able to dish out as a healer or think its unnecessary, BUT I DO see its importance and i could see now the difference between groups in which healer does dps and does not, healers do bring a lot of value to the party with their DPS making the run much easier and cleaner that i will tell you.
It feels several levels better than healing in ESO where you could meet people with no idea how to play at all, it could make your dungeon as long as 1 hour in that game if you play with wrong people which is frustrating beyond anything you will ever experience in ffxiv.

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Originally Posted by Nedkel

You may not value the DPS you are able to dish out as a healer or think its unnecessary, BUT I DO see its importance and i could see now the difference between groups in which healer does dps and does not, healers do bring a lot of value to the party with their DPS making the run much easier and cleaner that i will tell you.

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Healer dps makes dungeon runs quicker. Obviously.

FFXIV healer charm comes from the target switching, from enemy to ally. The constant juggling of dots, hots and awareness of healthbars and enemy telegraphs.

Problem is once you get to a certain practitioned point, you will see that you essentially spend most of your duties pressing either your AoE button several times in a row or your single target Spell several times in a row all the while throwing some eventual instant cast on the tank to sustain him/her.

And this won't change from 50 to 80. You will spend every encounter spamming your slightly differently coloured single target spell and refreshing your DoT forever.

And you can forget about dispelling debuffs. Dispellable debuffs at 80 happen so rarely it barely warrants having esuna on your Action bars.

Esuna is such a good example too. The only dispellable debuffs that will end up in a raid wipe, like TEA and Shiva, are even worth it more than the glare/holy that that esuna could have been. Maybe if a caster gets esunable paralyze in some dungeon packs. But basically every dot you can just let run and then slap a tetra on the player afterwards. If you will even need to heal them, that is.
Modern dungeons are a real disapointment in that you can run experts with 3 dps and a warrior, and the warrior doesn't even have hard time solohealing it.

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Originally Posted by GrimGale

And you can forget about dispelling debuffs. Dispellable debuffs at 80 happen so rarely it barely warrants having esuna on your Action bars.

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Even if they happen, it's often better to wait it out (throw out an oGCD heal if you have to) than to dispel it.

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Originally Posted by GrimGale

FFXIV healer charm comes from the target switching, from enemy to ally.

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I have to disagree with this. AST's amount of target juggling is one of the most infuriating things of ShB and has made me play the job less than any previous expansion.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

I have to disagree with this. AST's amount of target juggling is one of the most infuriating things of ShB and has made me play the job less than any previous expansion.

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Yeah, I honestly wish that FFXIV would take on the modern tab targetting system wherein you can have selected 1 enemy and 1 ally at the same time.

That would help not only healers, when they need to be weaving attacks and heals, but also Tanks too (As switching target to do things like Shirk or pop an ally defensive CD can be annoying, especially given how janktacular FFXIV's macros are). With also minor benefit for various DPS jobs (DRG putting their shiny red chain thing on someone, RDM/SMN using Raise or even BLM teleporting to an ally)

Especially when actual tab targetting is also janky af, where you need to see a bosses nameplate to tab target them (Which, even with fully zoomed out camera, isn't always the case when looking in a way to see mechanics)

I'm SCH main, and I do not have an issue with "green dps". I just wish SE would embrace it and give us back the full breadth of our DPS skill set, barring that and I'm supposed to be a full healer I'd like to see damage or defensive stats re balanced to see us healers utilized more. The amount of healing downtime is outrageous to the point where I enjoy getting that meme worthy noob under geared tank in DF just for kicks. No idea if SE is listening, and even if they are it'll just all wrong again..

Play the game that you like to play.

"Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game." - Soren Johnson (2011), source: https://www.designer-notes.com/?p=369

How much you need to heal and how much you get to DPS as a healer really depends on the group. If your tank pulls a lot, they'll need more healing. If they pull more than they can handle, they'll need more healing. If they pull more than the DPS can handle, they may need full-time healing with cooldown-usage on your side. I once got called out that I had to 'focus less on DPS' when a tank died after pulling way too much, the DPS couldn't handle it and I was out of healing cooldowns without being able to even contribute to DPS. This goes to show that how you approach any given situation depends on the dynamic of the party and the current situation.

In general, I'd personally recommend to keep healing as your top priority. When there's nothing to heal for a bit, fill up the time with some DoTs and damaging spells. "Everyone" (read: sarcasm) may want you to put DPS first, but that's purely because of the quote I put above.

At the start of the game, you'll be eased into the game's mechanics and approach at a comfortable pace, but this ramps up with noticeable difficulty as you go on. With Shadowbringers and its (instanced) content, the game has shifted to a more healing-focused approach for healers. You'll be DPS'ing when you get some downtime, but as a healer I find that a vast majority of my time is spent healing (partly for making up for mistakes in the party. They simply happen).

What I would advice you is simple: try the various healers, find one with a toolkit that suits your gameplay, keep healing as your primary concern and keep DPS a secondary priority. You are, after all, a healer.

I don't think anyone actually says to put DPS above healing. Obviously keeping people up is the #1 priority. When people say to make DPS a bigger priority, step 1 of that is to work on healing more effectively: Not tossing out big heals when only a little bit of healing is necessary, letting regens do their job, and using your free oGCd abilities early and often rather than saving them for emergencies that likely never come (and won't fix the emergency anyway.) It's just that healers often either stand around idle when no healing is required, or heal in super inefficient ways, and need to be told that they can do more than just keep people upright to nudge them into improving. Better still, these changes often make for better healing as well (staying active means a better reaction time, and knowing how to use your kit effectively means when emergencies DO happen they can turn what would have been an opening for DPS into more healing.)

I think the DPS priority perception exists because 1) your rDPS measures your performance in this game and 2) good healers will DPS more than they heal because they game doesn't challenge their healing enough for it to be a big chunk of their uptime.

To add, a healer's contribution to DPS isn't only affected by their personal DPS (or their DPS buffs) but their ability to keep people alive, a dead person is not contributing to DPS. So technically speaking, keeping people alive, even if you're a DPS obsessed healer, is still your biggest priority. A dead DPS is a big cut to overall DPS and you as a healer aren't going to be pulling that dead guy's weight.

So healing remains a greater priority over DPS even if you are obsessed over DPS.

Content and how your healing spells are equipped for it, that's what determines how heal or DPS focused something is. Unless your healer opts for standing around doing nothing in between heals.