New healer idea?

Me and a friend was talking about all the new DD's and tanks in the game, and I mentioned how few healers there are, and came up with this idea for a potential new healer: Blood mage.... or something similar.... The "Blood Mage" would use their health, mana, or a mixture of the two... the more health and mana, the more potent the heal.... and would have a blood gauge.... which would fill as you kill more enemies, and would work similar to the Red mage, when the gauge reaches certain points, it transforms certain skills into a more potent heal/buff, and using those skills would deplete the gauge. When it would fill all the way there could be something that gives the entire party a buff, or a major heal....

This idea is a work in progress, so the name and how it would work are still being thought of, so any feedback would be very much appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read my idea!

You're welcome

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Originally Posted by RagingStallion

You're welcome

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You're whalecome. :3

That is just what the original version of THM was back in the old version of FFXIV (1.0) - it had drain spells for healing as well as debuff spells (CNJ was the elemental spellcaster). When Jobs were added though the classes were redesigned so the new Jobs could fit, and so CNJ lost Fire, Thunder and Ice spells that were given to THM so it could suit BLM, THM losing it's drain healing and debuffs in the process (CNJ became the dedicated healer and the debuffs were mostly kept in reserve for ARR when ACN was finally added).

So I don't see SE going back to that (we already have some drain healing still in the game with the DPS role ability Bloodbath and WAR and DRK having this effect in a way, or at least did).

Could also make a new healer based off the flintlock job in FFTA2. Support party by shooting them with an oversized handcannon or fire things at locations as an air burst for AoE and establishing zones.

I believe philosophically they try to avoid too much of 'use this but take x2 more damage' as they removed that from many spells already, or like how our tank stances are now baked in and you don't choose to either take more damage or deal more damage. I think for making the game approachable this is nice, for those who are more skilled I feel like some sort of punishment choices can be interesting but conflicts with approach-ability, baked into the base job making it either a subtle mechanic or making the job not as approach-able. I mean they could always go back on that, but it would make the job more advanced to play and less casual friendly I think.

I don't think there is anything that stops using drain like spell concepts though, except either it not making something interesting to play (if they try it and it isn't fun- this is probably most important, as they've said before gameplay is first priority). Making it work through lore or whatever only takes creativity, which they don't lack- besides very rare specific cases lore is hardly ever the problem (like we've seen with summoner, beast tribes, and other points- they're able to adapt to what they want to do). So you could have a 'blood mage' but I don't think you'd get using your hp to heal things, at least not likely- if they want to do it then cool I'm not to say no lol. Also to note you'd have some other concerns about hp being a resource in that jobs that could heal the healer could extend the healer's resource pool in a way other healers wouldn't have access to which may make weird relationships with things like tank heals or SMN's regen. Would SMN + tank cure = never worry about my resources again? Might be a solution to that somewhere, but just wanted to bring it up as a potential concern.

Mechanically I think if you've focused on drain spells that it would work better as a tank but we've already got Dark Knight who is partial black mage, at least stereotypical in ff sense, so you could just give them more drain skills that they already have lol. (heal on hit). Thematically however you could easily have blood meters and such, using x spells gain blood, using y drains blood- which could work for any role. Drain spells could even be part of that job's skill set, just think it might be easier to balance if it the resources were still mp and not hp. Heck what you might do that makes it similar yet still balanced to mp is have the healer's attack spells drain hp and mp, such that the healer's resources DO come from draining but only from their own move set (rather than from their hp) and their mp management would come from properly casting certain spells onto enemies (some being dots and instant ogcd for reasonable management in intense situations).

With all that's going on I feel like Chemist seems like a very likely next healer but I think a dark theme'd healer would be cool. Back when people were more on how the healers have simple attack options I had suggested a healer that had some more offensive options, and was dark theme'd, just as a sort of fun goof off moment (Dark Magic Theme'd Healer - technically I mention blood magic in that thread too lol.. well and necromancer but due to the huge hurdle that would be lore I'd never suggest raising the dead, more thinking on the lines of soul magic, curses, poison, or what have you).

Chemist/Apothecary is my personal wish, but I think FFXIV mechanically has itself cornered regarding how it can build healers. I do like the idea of a lifeblood gauge, but being reliant on a second, highly limited resource could make many instances pure agony if a tone of burst healing is required. This is something SCH struggled with for a while.

My general lack of imagination and fear of unbalanced mechanics have me just thinking our fourth healer would best be reskinned WHM with DOT heavy DPS. Chemist, I always thought, would use Ninja inspired command sequences to “mix” certain concoctions, and borrow from AST’s ability to store card buffs to toss those mixes in sudden emergencies. Weapon’s a handgun. Mana usage in non-existent, but cast times remain as the player is “mixing” potions.