5.0 Helpful Suggestions to Combat Homogenization

DISCLAIMER: I am not a healer main despite having leveled them to 70. I am no subject matter expert, these are simply suggestions

As many of you have noticed, it feels as though with the information we have so far (which is not final) SCH and AST have been watered down to the level of WHM, who many thought deserved some love this expansion. In addition, many like myself see the jobs as being 1 attack spell, 1 dot and lots of healing options. I personally enjoyed playing the shield mage (SCH), the buff mage (AST) and the powerhouse (WHM) respectively specifically because they were different takes on the same role. It is for this reason that I enjoy playing the individual DPS as well, each is its own unique approach. So with this in mind, how can they make each healer unique and balance them at the same time? Here are my suggestions

1. SCH
Let Scholar be the proactive healer. Continue to enhance it's shielding capabilities and give it more actions like Excog that let you preemptively deal with the problem. This to me lends to a tactical style of play that is quite enjoyable.

I think that Selene and Eos should still be pets that are available and different, but like SMN should be instant cast and also have Fairy Assault I etc. to limit hotbar consumption.

Let Scholars damage be based on DoTs. If it is necessary to lower their damage to be in line with the other healers, do so, but it was part of the classes identity and complexity that I think was lost with the suggested abilities so far

Keep Scholar as the preferred 'crit' archetype. This will give it synergy with DRG, MNK etc. and as you'll see as we continue, hopefully form not just 1 meta, but multiple viable compositions


2. AST
Keep Astrologian as the wildcard (pun intended). Give Astrologian access to some shields and some regen but not as powerful as it's counter parts. Supplementary yes, but not to the point where it is better than both of the specialists in that field.

Let Astrologian cards have their randomness back. Most seem to dislike the change where cards have been all relegated to 'The Balance'. True many times people were fishing for that card specifically, but I would venture that that is an issue with the card itself, not the system in general. I think giving the Draw action charges was a great idea. However, in addition make it so that when a card is drawn, if Redraw (or it's equivalent) is selected then the previous card is not part of the pool that cards can be drawn from. Most of the frustration was about drawing spire after spire after spire. With this change that would no longer be an issue. Also, obviously make The Spire direct hit instead of TP.

Let Astrologians have Royal Road back, but not expanded. I can agree that giving those buffs to the entire party was a bit much, even with the reduced potency and made it difficult for 2 Astrologians to work well with each other. However, the flavor of strengthening or particularly extending the buffs felt very much like it lent to the fate and time aspects of Astrologians lore.

I believe that the addition of the seals is good fun and adds complexity as well. Bring back Time Dilation and other buffs that extend their buffs and I think the job is balanced.

3. WHM

Ahhh, the problem child! With Scholar being the king of shields and Astrologian being in between should White Mage just be a regen king? I think that wouldn't be quite enough to make the job on par with those two. SE has said multiple times that the identity that they prefer for White Mage is a "pure healer". How do you do that while making it fun, unique, and comparable to the other healers? Here is my suggestion. Allow White Mages to over heal their targets. "But isn't that just a shield?", you say? Not exactly. Many that have been through raids have experienced that not taking damage can mitigate receiving certain dots or status ailments where as this is just extra HP added on to their max HP. "Isn't that just strictly worse than a shield then?", yes it would be if not for a trait White Mage would get. Let's say that the White Mage Cure II's a tank before a tank buster, giving them 20,000 extra HP. When that HP is lost, the target takes that much damage in retribution. Bam! There you have it! White Mage does it's damage not just purely from Stone or Aero, you literally do damage based on the amount you overheal. This makes White Mage a damage powerhouse. It's very straightforward, yes, but it feels very good and still doesn't infringe on the uniqueness of either Astrologian or Scholar. It would have to be worked such that health was lost before shields in order for White Mage to work alongside the other two healers, but this does not seem difficult to accomplish. A system in which you are reward for insane raw healing power.


That concludes my thoughts on how to make the healers unique and I could even see a spot for a fourth healer like Geomancer that focused on strong regens and providing flat mitigation to the party as well. What do you think? More experienced healers, please comment and let me know what you think!