The Healers should be reworked? New player perspective.

I'm not a new player but my friends are. They're trying the game. One of my friends came from wow (i never played it before). He thinks that the MSQ and gameplay feels boring, he's doing it with a WHM. That he's only pressing one or two buttons the entire day. I told him that in higher levels the healers have more APM but... is it really like that? Maybe if you play SGE or AST but having to play the game for hundreds of hours boring yourself because you wanna play healer at higher level feels kinda idk... meh.

It doesn't get better on any healer.

WHM will get Assize and Misery later on but Assize is an oGCD that requires no real thought and Misery only works after using 3 Lily spells, which are all heals and aren't particularly necessary for any of the solo stuff
SCH has Energy Drain but that's the extent of their Solo experience
AST gets Earthly Star but that is in the same vein as Assize and Lord is a RNG based card they can use but isn't particularly reliable
SGE gets Phlegma once every 40s to use but that's the most deviation on any healer.

If one of your friend's gripes was the 'pressing one or two buttons the entire day', then they will be disappointed that play pretty much sticks to them from lv4 to lv90 regardless of content. It will be their most pressed buttons. AoE filler also won't become available to them until lv45/46 and even that is still pressing same button over and over.

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Originally Posted by Silver-Strider

It doesn't get better on any healer.

WHM will get Assize and Misery later on but Assize is an oGCD that requires no real thought and Misery only works after using 3 Lily spells, which are all heals and aren't particularly necessary for any of the solo stuff
SCH has Energy Drain but that's the extent of their Solo experience
AST gets Earthly Star but that is in the same vein as Assize and Lord is a RNG based card they can use but isn't particularly reliable
SGE gets Phlegma once every 40s to use but that's the most deviation on any healer.

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Gotta also chime in:

AST has lowest personal damage output amongst any jobs in the game so they will press their own 'one or two buttons' couple more times to kill their target. Their cards, while giving them a little minigame to play with during group contents, barely does anything noticeable on MSQ's solo settings. The job also locked behind ARR completion since it resides within Ishgard.

SGE also only becomes accessible once one of their combat job reaches lv70 so even though their extra button (Phlegma) is learned at lv26, they're not going to have the luxury to start anew as one right away.

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Originally Posted by Szylver

I'm not a new player but my friends are. They're trying the game. One of my friends came from wow (i never played it before). He thinks that the MSQ and gameplay feels boring, he's doing it with a WHM. That he's only pressing one or two buttons the entire day. I told him that in higher levels the healers have more APM but... is it really like that? Maybe if you play SGE or AST but having to play the game for hundreds of hours boring yourself because you wanna play healer at higher level feels kinda idk... meh.

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I would suggest your friend play summoner if they’re below level 50, and swap to red mage once they reach level 50. Summoner at low levels has a lot more to offer and can still heal with Physick since ARR caster gear has mind on it, but that red mage is a far more enjoyable support job moving through the rest of the game. Healing is not going to pan out into an enjoyable experience for anyone feeling the healer flaws now at that stage.

The only amusement I find with casual healing is having all the support items like Echo Drops to remove silence and a few others to remove petrification or paralysis etc because they can be used on other players and most people don't know they exist. It's really neat when the moment arrives to turn off a status effect for someone. Of course you can use these items on any class but Healing is where I tend to get the most bored with single button spam so it's a small reason to pay attention.

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Originally Posted by Szylver

I'm not a new player but my friends are. They're trying the game. One of my friends came from wow (i never played it before). He thinks that the MSQ and gameplay feels boring, he's doing it with a WHM. That he's only pressing one or two buttons the entire day. I told him that in higher levels the healers have more APM but... is it really like that? Maybe if you play SGE or AST but having to play the game for hundreds of hours boring yourself because you wanna play healer at higher level feels kinda idk... meh.

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Healers back then did had many DPS buttons and pots because their regens or fairy heals were pretty strong so its GCD heals were neglected in a way. Then again the game did transition from 1.0 were healers were more FFXI like. Pop a few regens, stone skin, buffs and just DPS.

This is just….you just give up. Just let them try it and if they don’t like it, just let them unsub. Can’t really fight personal preference.

I did that. Leveled to max as whm. I strongly recommend against it. It does not get better.

I was so completely utterly fed up with the most boring gameplay I've ever experienced, I quit. Press 2-1-1-1-1-1-1 for months, level up, get new spells, press 2-1-1-1-1-1-1, wheee. I'd advice him to main something else, and just use the whm for duties whenever he feels like it.

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Originally Posted by Szylver

I'm not a new player but my friends are. They're trying the game. One of my friends came from wow (i never played it before). .

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If he leveled a Healer in WoW, he shouldn't complain really, what is leveling a Priest in WoW like?
Dot > spam one spell
Dot > spam one spell
repeat.

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Originally Posted by Arohk

If he leveled a Healer in WoW, he shouldn't complain really, what is leveling a Priest in WoW like?
Dot > spam one spell
Dot > spam one spell
repeat.

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Various combinations (cos of talents etc) of Holy Fire (10s, dot), Shadow Word:Pain (GCD, dot), Shadowfiend (3min cd, can talent to make a 1min CD), Smite (filler GCD), Mind Blast (2 charges), Mindgames (45s CD), Holy Nova (AOE, can be a gain in ST with a talent), Divine Star (15s CD), Halo (literally GCD Assize, 40s CD too), Power Infusion (haste buff you can give to an ally, 2min), Holy Word:Chastise (1min, stuns, CD reduced by casting Smite)

And that's Holy, if you get bored of that you can respec Discipline. The healer in WOW that is closest to FFXIV healers right now is probably Evoker (Living Flame spam as GCD, Disintegrate as 'Energy Drain' style 'spend healing resources on damage skill', Flame Breath as a 25s CD damage thing, Deep Breath as 2min big AOE damage CD). But even Evoker has all the talents behind it that make that small DPS kit coherent with your healing. For example, a talent that echoes 80% of the damage dealt by Flame Breath to the nearest damaged ally as healing. A talent that causes Living Flame to hit additional targets based on how many enemies Flame Breath hit. Living Flame is actually both your Glare and your Cure 2, able to target both enemies and allies. Resto Shaman's pretty low on damage buttons too, but it bulks it out a bit with the Totems.

And then you have Druids, where optimal 'do damage' at times has literally been Cleric Stance style, as you have to spend a GCD to go into cat form, then do damage as a cat (where you are unable to heal), and then if you need to heal, you have to spend a GCD to shift back. Or Paladin and Monk, where 'do damage' is how you keep your healing going (generates Holy Power as Paladin, applies your HOTs/extends active HOT durations as Monk)

As for the OP, I'd echo what others are saying, level as SMN, and use roulette bonuses to level a healer on the side. Doing the story as a healer is an exercise in depression

If you want to be honest, healers back then just made it more....difficult to play, kind of rewarding? I mean, WHM was just 1 button spam against adds. If raids with WHM and SCH, just pop cleric stance, 3+ DoT with various duration, do a few stones and ruins, only to reapply them again, pop cleric stance and repeat. Then had to for SCH, pop pet heal so it won't die every....what....a few seconds when a AoE goes off, then have to place it somewhere to it won't get clipped, but to where it can heal the tank, but don't heal the tank...just randoms. Used to be the time where you can actually order the fairy to heal the tank with a macro embrace+ruin, but that got removed real quick. Then you have to remind yourself to take off cleric so your AoE regen isn't nerfed. Man, that was a mess back then.

I'm just looking back, why do ppl want to suffer so badly lol. I get it, but geebus.