The Remaining Healers

[Connor]

For each expansion, I've always assumed that they'll add at least one job for each roll.

This got me thinking though...what FF jobs could be added as new healers past Stormblood?

Generally, XIV seems to try and stick the traditional role/weapon/abilities for each job (though this isn't applied to Dark Knight or Bard), so I think we can figure out which jobs fit into the 'healer' role by looking at how they are in previous FF's.

In previous FF's there are a many jobs that can dedicate themselves to healing/support. White Mage and Scholar are currently in-game, and Astrologian is a mix of FF Tactics and concepts unique to XIV.

So, this means out of the jobs that could fit into an MMO 'healer' role we could have Red Mage, Chemist, Dancer, Sage. Chemist and Dancer are both support oriented jobs in most FF's, but I think they'd fit in as healers better than they would as support dps. Bard in the form it takes in previous FF's would be another good candidate for a healer, but it's unfortunately already in use. Jobs that are considered 'upgrades' of healer jobs (e.g Devout in FFIII) could also be included, though they'd have to deviate pretty heavily from the traditional image to give it a concrete identity.

I'd love to hear what other jobs people could see being added as a 'healer' job.

Personally I really hope they do end up adding Dancer as a healer in Stormblood, but for all we know it could be something completely new and unexpected!

[Talraen]

I'm less concerned with what jobs could be a healer (AST shows they can make up a new one), and more concerned with what mechanics a new healer would have. So far we have a burst/regen healer, a shield healer, and a healer that does either. They have other differences unrelated to healing (AST cards vs. more direct DPS), but I don't want to keep having healers that are one of two types with slightly different offensive capabilities.

If they were to add a healer that doesn't heal as well (e.g., Red Mage), that causes a problem with balance because some fights need healers to heal as well as healers currently heal. Having a healer that heals 70% as well in favor of doing a lot more DPS (for example) could cause problems.

Honestly, I wonder if this game needs any more healer classes at all. I don't know that just because 1/4 of every party is a healer, 1/4 of all classes need to be healer classes. I feel like that's just going to create redundancy and clutter.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

Red mage doesn't fit as a healer. At worst it's a dps class, but it much better suits a tank role.

[Jandor]

Red mage doesn't fit as a healer. At worst it's a dps class, but it much better suits a tank role.

It doesn't fit the tank role at all, can't have a Red mage with a blue job icon .

[Johaandr]

Whm - Burst healer
Sch - defensive tactic healer
Ast - supportive healer

We need a healer that doesnt have any of what er already got.
I reallt think ee got enough healer unless SE got an suprise for us when they show the new healer class.

Mayby a healer with drain and osmos as offensive skill. With darkness... It could be a healer that dps at the same time.
Demi is known for taking a specific amount of % from monsters health but is very bad when the monster is about to die. But of that Demi is a aoe skill that would mean that taking health from monsters using demi will also heal the party members.
"But we got scholar as part of dps" - true but they got amezing defenive barrier stronger than ast and decent dps and can play both aaand has acces to solo heal aswell. Ast can both play the role but they lack longer range and burstier heals from whm. But they got this card system which is random and could turn tide of a battle. But since noct revamp they got access for better healing potency aswell

My point is we dont need more copys just a different healer that is totally different.

[Jandor]

A couple suggestions that could work.

Necromancer, has a pet that regains health through attacking, the Necro mainly heals through doing damage to its pet and handing it out.

Dancer, does combos that heal (and do damage) like a melee DPS. small heal into regen into big heal, or small heal into shield into aoe heal, and so on. It then has a number of slots to save these dances into for calling upon aetherial 'backup' dances that repeat the moves. The character physically dancing uses TP, summoning backup dancers uses MP.

[Connor]

Necromancer, has a pet that regains health through attacking, the Necro mainly heals through doing damage to its pet and handing it out.

I've seen a lot of people suggesting this kind of healer in XIV (healing through damage), I think it's a cool idea though one that'd require pretty fine balancing to avoid becoming overpowered. I think there's already enough lore in place within the game for a Necromancer job to be added without seeming out-of-place, which I think is something they want to avoid.

Red mage doesn't fit as a healer. At worst it's a dps class, but it much better suits a tank role.

I'm not sure if there's one I'm missing, but from my understanding Red Mage has always been a versatile mage fighting with magic and melee in FF. I don't think there's anything that really suggests they'd suit the tank role since they aren't generally associated with defending the party like a Paladin is, nor do they ever have particularly high HP or access to most of the heavier armor. It fits much more neatly into a healer role because it's associated with both black and white magic along with melee. If it were a dps it wouldn't be able to use any worthwhile healing abilities, which defeats the purpose of a Red Mage entirely. As a healer though, once it gets its standard healing spells it can have as much offensive abilities as there are available slots.


Basically, the versatility the healing role offers makes it much more suitable for Red Mage than any other role

[VanilleFang]

it much better suits a tank role.

What? How? Traditionally Red Mages have had lower maximum HP than Black Mages, and have never equipped anything above light armour.

They have always been decent hybrids, with a better affinity for dealing damage especially with magic. FFXI is an example of an exception, where they make incredibly support mages. When have they ever fit the tank role?

[Docent]

It's likely that instead of Necromancer, we'd get Puppetmaster again (Square tends to shy away from the darker-themed jobs. We're heroes, not villains). That, and mammets are everywhere.

It could be a good healer class too, although the "healer class with pet that heals" already exist from SCH. I'd be interested to know how they manage to give it its niche, but I suppose it would be a good idea to bring another healer that competes with SCH's spot instead of one that competes with WHM/AST.

What? How? Traditionally Red Mages have had lower maximum HP than Black Mages, and have never equipped anything above light armour.

I used RDM as my main tank in the original FF all the time. I'm pretty sure RDM had more HP and much better armor that WHM and BLM in that game?

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

They have always been decent hybrids, with a better affinity for dealing damage especially with magic.

SCH is already in the game, we don't need another. Additionally, when people talk versatility, they don't typically think of healers in this game, but tanks. Tanks can cast, tanks can dps, tanks can heal, support, debuff, etc. Red Mage as a healer would just be a carbon copy of scholar, and I'd prefer something much, much more original. Key point though is that, unlike black mages, red mage could take a few hits before snapping. While traditionally they couldn't tank as many as a Warrior could, they still made viable tanks/defenders.

Also? Something people ignore all the time about rdm is it's not purely about spells. It's about using both sword play and spells for maximum effect. A melee healer would just make things even more of a cluster ****.

FFXI is an example of an exception, where they make incredibly support mages.

IMHO, Dark Knight is more RDM than XI RDM. It's never been intended as a pure support.