Suggestion as to how to get people to become healers.

[TaleraRistain]

The problem is our role is out of balance. We're supposed to be healers but the fights are not pushing us in this area very much. So there is a massive amount of downtime when heals are not necessary that is being filled with dps. This is really how we've always worked. We could always work in a little extra dps when there were windows for it. The problem is that healing requirement has dropped so much these windows are big enough to drive semis through. If they do reduce damage potential (which I think they should) they must balance that out with increased healing/cleansing/support requirements.

[Kazrah]

I think the 'best' way to get more healers to the game is to bring a different kind of healer. A close range, physical, healer - with some ranged skills so as to prevent them from being excluded. This would be a very different kind of healer to play, and potentially a lot more mobile. It would alter the way players think of healing, and provide a new style of healer play.

I'll just leave this here....

Fortunately, a new healing style is an eventuality. After all, you can only do so much with HoTs and bubbles.

[Driavna]

I'll just leave this here....

Fortunately, a new healing style is an eventuality. After all, you can only do so much with HoTs and bubbles.

To me, the problem is only two slots for healers, that alone ensure very similarly playstyles.

[Caduagm]

For those that are willing to remove cleric:
Git gud.

[Sebazy]

A far better option would be for SE to get some people into the design team that are long time MMO healers, can bring some passion for the support role and hopefully have seen first hand how other mmos have approached the healer 'issue'.

2.0's WHM and SCH were beautifully balanced and complimented each other beautifully. Both had their strengths but both were still entirely relevant right the way through to 3.0.

However it pains me to say it but AST was a poorly executed hack job slapped on the side of the game for lack of any better ideas within the dev team. It's core gameplay is pretty much identical to WHM but with the added benefits of balance. Whilst the two jobs are this similar to each other there's always going to be balance issues.

I get the impression that cleric stance is here to stay and frankly I'd much rather keep it in it's current state, it might be a nuisance but at least it's fluid in play unlike sword/shield oath. Rather a better approach would be to diversify AST and WHM more.

Focus AST more card mechanics and buffs at the expense of it's own personal DPS, for example putting redraw on the GCD and removing the cooldown allowing the AST to spend their GCDs chasing a balance combo rather than nuking away as they currently do. The trick would be to tune AST's personal DPS downwards whilst increasing WHMs up so the end result is fairly close once you take cards into account. Going by some quick cigarette packet math on a typical A12s pug post echo, WHM would need to do roughly 600 DPS more than the AST to compensate for a ~40-50% uptime on aoe balance. Remove accuracy, even up the MP disparity between WHM and AST and that's not that tall an order with the extra DPS oomph a WHM already brings.

Another option would be to add depth to the DPS abilities we already have, making WHM function a little bit more like a disc priest from WoW for example.

Personally, I'd tear up the rule book, blow up all the ASTs, rename the expansion to a healer reborn and make RDM a carbon copy of Warhammer Online's warrior priest =(

Eitherway, simply tweaking and streamlining isn't going to fix the issues with healers at the moment, I've got my fingers crossed that Yoshida's team understands that <3

[Sebazy]

To me, the problem is only two slots for healers, that alone ensure very similarly playstyles.

Disagreed there. For the overwhelming bulk of content out there, it simply doesn't matter which healer you bring as they all have far more HPS throughput than anything pre savage requires. I've healed keeper of the lake as a BLM and I strongly suspect I could do the current experts and even do a passable job in the 24mans if I cheated with mnd gear. Obviously things change once you hit savage early on in comparatively low ilvl gear, but at this point most career healers (and tanks) will have 2-3 jobs levelled as to be prepared to switch to the most optimal in that situation. By the time the masses are hitting the harder content, they will have a higher average ilvl and again, disparities just won't matter as long as they are relatively minor.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

what is enjoyable as a non-dpsing scholar where the fairy does most of the job on her own?
Throwing a heal once in a while is enjoyable?

If that's the case, move Cleric Stance to SCH, set Mind as the main damage and healing stat for WHM and AST, and let SCH be the exception to the rule, since they apparently already are (they're the only healer job born from a DPS).

As a WHM/AST secondary, nothing irritates me more than Cleric Stance. I got no issues DPSing. Hell, I analyze the fight and look for prime opportunities to do it, but Cleric Stance (as it currently works) just throws an unnecessary wrench in the works, and many times I've fumbled with it and mistakes happened. I'm sure I'm not the only one either. Regardless, NOT wanting to use/keep it doesn't make someone a "heal-only" healer, but let's face it: WHM/ASTs don't have an autopilot co-healer as part of our kit. We mess up or we slip off our timing, and people die. Having to flip a switch to determine whether attacking or healing is actually useful or not is just pointless complication to a role that's already carrying a pretty high ops tempo.

I'm not speaking for anyone but myself, instead of trying to flip a switch to perform my main role or something extra (and please note: it's EXTRA. Nothing is designed with healer DPS in mind at all currently), let my main stat be my MAIN STAT in all the ways that count, and leave the where, when, and how of DPSing to me.

[Zojha]

Eitherway, simply tweaking and streamlining isn't going to fix the issues with healers at the moment, I've got my fingers crossed that Yoshida's team understands that <3

I have my doubts. I expect them to up the healing on White Mage and hope that'll do the trick. They already said they're not taking healer DPS into account when balancing encounters, so I'd not be surprised if imbalances in that regard fly completely under their radar until the community yells at them real loud.

[Sebazy]

....They already said they're not taking healer DPS into account when balancing encounters....

Agreed =(

The fact that they stated this whilst A4S was current progression content (which ironically near enough required both parsing and healer DPS to clear for the entirety of a content patch) showed that they were either out of touch or just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck =(

Fingers crossed they learned their lesson with that one.

[ToasterMan]

I've always thought Cleric Stance was a terrible design. It's awkward and half the time doesn't even turn off properly when you hit it. Remove Cleric and balance healer damage to be slightly lower than what it would've been in Cleric to even out the marginally higher DPS uptime from no longer having to stance dance.

Well SE didn't originally intend for it to be used to stance dance. It was just suppose to be used for soloing so it wouldn't take eons in order to kill a mob when you were questing. The player base just figured out that it could be used that way.

For those that are willing to remove cleric:
Git gud.

I'll bite. What about me? Someone who supports removing it in favor of focusing on healing more? Someone who already DPSes all the time because if I didn't, I'd fall asleep?