5.05 patch notes - still no downtime activity for healers?

Going over the listed and job guide changes, it appears that nothing's been done to address the current healer conundrum that a good healer doesn't need to heal all that much, but has nothing interesting to do during that new free time (at least as of this patch's pre-savage balancing, we'll have to see after the post-savage balance patch).

So our dps goes up with our one-two buttons (oh boy), but we're all bored out of our skulls.

Here's hoping we can see AST's card complexity brought back up to previous levels (even if changed), SCH get something like more involved fairy gauge or minion management (as the old DoT management has been pretty soundly rejected as an option by the devs), and WHM get... anything, literally anything.

quick edit/addition: This isn't to say that I'm unhappy with the balance changes that were made: I'm glad that AST's hopefully wont be lagging too far behind the other two, and SCH's getting an aetherflow dump back is a huge QoL (re-)addition, and also happy that WHM is still in a strong spot and the devs haven't decided to taketh away after their 5.0 giveth--just that they haven't addressed what now seems to be a core problem of the role as of yet.

It would be nice, yes. I'm hoping 5.1 does something about it and that they didnt want to change the classes too much right as soon as savage hit. Though it is nice to see steps in the right direction, I say we keep forum activity up and not let these changes be it for the expac.

I personally don't expect any major changes till 6.0, if at all. At least in the interesting rotation department - or, well, any rotation at all that isn't 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2. Though by then I sincerely hope the team has a proper healer main going to bat for us becauseI don't think the current dev team actually understands how healing works in this game. To the point I'm convinced none of them actually main healer - and if they do they're the kind of player who sits and waits for damage rather than actively participate.

They want us to heal more but refuse to design fights that make that a requirement. They nerf complication under what I can only assume is a misbegotten attempt to make classes like SCH more accessible but neglect to understand that the complicated manner in which it had been designed was what drew so many to the class in the first place. Let's not even get into what they did to AST at launch and the pruning of so many damage skills in spite of growing desire within the community for more to do.

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Originally Posted by Enla

I personally don't expect any major changes till 6.0, if at all. At least in the interesting rotation department - or, well, any rotation at all that isn't 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2. Though by then I sincerely hope the team has a proper healer main going to bat for us becauseI don't think the current dev team actually understands how healing works in this game. To the point I'm convinced none of them actually main healer - and if they do they're the kind of player who sits and waits for damage rather than actively participate.

They want us to heal more but refuse to design fights that make that a requirement. They nerf complication under what I can only assume is a misbegotten attempt to make classes like SCH more accessible but neglect to understand that the complicated manner in which it had been designed was what drew so many to the class in the first place. Let's not even get into what they did to AST at launch and the pruning of so many damage skills in spite of growing desire within the community for more to do.

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On the making SCH accessible thought. I think healers should vary in difficulty and complexity...even then Scholar still had accessibility. Whenever I've given advice to new healers playing SCH, I've argued that Eos is a great faerie for people who are new. But I see no issue in one healer being simpler than the next, they just need to be fun to play and flow. I also thought of WHM the easiest to get into. But tiers of difficulty I think are good to have, because different people get different things out of it.


I see a parallel to be had against mage DPS. Red Mage is simple to pick up, not that taxing as a DPS, but flows nice and is really fun to play. Black Mage whilst is not as simple, is not that difficult either, but if you mess up your rotation, there can be a bigger detriment versus RDM and there's less mobility, so in those respects BLM can be harder versus RDM, but as a job is not too complex. And Summoner is the most complicated and the busiest, but I know there are mixed opinions about SMN at the moment, but they've grown on me now I've sussed out how to play it smoothly. As one enjoying SMN, I'd rather not see it brought to the same difficulty level of RDM, although I enjoy RDM too.

SMN might be less accessible to somebody new, but it isn't THAT inaccessible. But they might want to try Red Mage first if they're that inexperienced. I feel a similar relationship should exist in healers, rather than trying to level them out.

Looks like we’ll be manning the forums a while, yet. And I hope everyone else still unsatisfied will join me in posting/upvoting healer questions for the live letter after the patch goes live.

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Originally Posted by Hatstand

Looks like we’ll be manning the forums a while, yet. And I hope everyone else still unsatisfied will join me in posting/upvoting healer questions for the live letter after the patch goes live.

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-puts on his YouTuber voice-

Don't forget to smash that like button.

Only started coming here after the 5.0 changes were known, and will probably stay longer now in hopes of the developers and community managers making a presence to discuss healers. And should they go back to making SCH the mitigating, diseases preading, fairy-controlling mortarboard-wearing Arcanist it once was I will let them know how much I apriciate the playstyle this time around.

Keep having a hard time believing someone approve of the changes knowing in full well everyone would be Broiling/Stoning/Maleficing from 70 to 80. Even longer for those starter out now. It can't all have been so jobs were ready for Savage, and was perhaps a misguided attempt to make things easier. Is why some feedback would be great.

Currently, only two healers have a secondary identity in terms of healing downtime. The same two healers whose kits have a sense of "build up".

WHM and AST.

One builds blood lillies, the other builds seals.

Ofc, that is not to say they are equally balanced or equally satisfying, but I believe they both still retain their identities as nuker and buffer.

SCH is the one lacking in that department. With all the free time provided by the fairy, SCH is stuck spamming damage to contribute to party progress without any sense of build up or satisfying finish.

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Originally Posted by Saefinn

-puts on his YouTuber voice-

Don't forget to smash that like button.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ions%21/page73

(Don’t want to self plug, but I feel it’s important for healers that we show united support)

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Originally Posted by Hatstand

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ions%21/page73

(Don’t want to self plug, but I feel it’s important for healers that we show united support)

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And now up voted.

What I really hate about the AST changes is that you had card play to make up for its basic DPS kit, not once I felt bored of using Malefic and Combust, now that all you gotta do when drawing is to check if they are blue o purple I can feel that boredom every single minute of game time, and not like I can play WHM or SCH for a better experience.

Sch got energy drain, with that u can burn ur AF stacks.

But right now im at almost clearing 1st savage turn and havent seing any time to burn them, lol.

Ofc that will change when people learn the fight bettwe

So for WHM thats never healed in savage, what would be the best approach? Ignore healing for dps until someone dips below 50%? Im glad WHM is at where its at, and I want to see what it can do in 1% content.

I fear the day I see DPS poyency nerfs in patch notes, but until then, I rather enjoy it in dungeons and general pve. Pvp continues to suck because gimmie back my regen.

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Originally Posted by Gula

So for WHM thats never healed in savage, what would be the best approach? Ignore healing for dps until someone dips below 50%? Im glad WHM is at where its at, and I want to see what it can do in 1% content.

I fear the day I see DPS poyency nerfs in patch notes, but until then, I rather enjoy it in dungeons and general pve. Pvp continues to suck because gimmie back my regen.

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If you're learning the fight, I would say focus more on healing than DPS. Once you know the mechanics of the fight (basically memorize what the boss casts) then you know exactly when heavy damage is coming so you can pre-cast or prepare for it, such as AOE damage or tank busters. The only variable is if DPS gets hit by a mechanic that they can avoid, then you have to spot heal or just leave them for a while if you know heavy damage isn't going to come soon.

Basically, when learning, focus more on healing.
For clear, focus more on DPS