Suggestion as to how to get people to become healers.

[Vexander]

This is a DPS oriented MMO

Okay, this might be slightly off topic, but I was amused enough that I felt the need to share this thought. Was just thinking about this line and I said to myself, "Well, killing enemies is pretty traditional in an RPG, MMO or otherwise. Perhaps Square needs to implement an Undertale like mechanic where Healers could heal enemies to twice their full health to pacify them and leave the players with loot as, 'Gifts?'"

Yeah I need my morning caffeine...

[Fernosaur]

Thats just an assumption , thats like saying tanks would stop tankin if you remove their ot stance which is certainly not true at all. Cleric stance is fun in its on right but its not the only reason why people heal, I mean look at simply how much people dont even wana dps at all.

Do you remember what happened in 3.2 when they nerfed Tank damage with the Vit+Str changes? There was a rather considerable exodus of tanks, which was noticeable by healer and DPS queues becoming much longer than before the patch. I personally know quite a bunch of people who used to play WAR for fun who simply stopped playing after the damage nerf in 3.2. Same thing would happen if Cleric Stance was removed: healing would become boring, and a lot of healers would go off and play other roles.

On the bright side, maybe we'd get more tanks...

[Sida]

Or even having, like someone suggested, fight mechanics where the boss needs to be healed to kill it. That wouldn't even be a new Final Fantasy mechanic. I can recall quite a many fights where the undead type monsters could be handled with one well placed Phoenix Down,and healing spells damaged as well. That of course would still have healers damaging but in those cases, they'd be able to do it precisely because they are healers, not besides it.

[Zojha]

Or even having, like someone suggested, fight mechanics where the boss needs to be healed to kill it.

Which isn't functionally different to just making healing spells damage the enemy, except that DPS and tanks get to sit that one out because they can't heal.

It would be fairly boring, too - If you want to maximize single-target HPS, you put a regen on them, blow Asylum/Seal/Presence/Bene and Tetra, then spam Cure II. If you need to conserve MP, you spam Cure I until freecure procs. Even level 50 BLM has more complexity.

[Vexander]

Or even having, like someone suggested, fight mechanics where the boss needs to be healed to kill it. That wouldn't even be a new Final Fantasy mechanic. I can recall quite a many fights where the undead type monsters could be handled with one well placed Phoenix Down,and healing spells damaged as well. That of course would still have healers damaging but in those cases, they'd be able to do it precisely because they are healers, not besides it.

If the Phantom Train is a primal in Stormblood, I -want- to be able to use a Phoenix Down on it, see the boss fake die, then laugh and go, "What, you thought that would work?" Something like that. Just to call back to FFVI.

[Belhi]

I wonder if it would change how they calculate damage requirements for raids. Currently they don't factor in Healer DPS. It would be funny to see threads turn up in the forum after a theoretical removal about people complaining that their healer class has underpowered dps numbers.

[Sida]

Which isn't functionally different to just making healing spells damage the enemy, except that DPS and tanks get to sit that one out because they can't heal.

Instead of generic common mechanic, I was thinking that more as some phase gimmick or some such. Add some other mechanic which keeps the others running around the field to keep them busy for the while. Platform groups that need to be stood in and chased, or some such. We've already seen gates/addds they need to handle. Gimmicks are such because they offer change of pace. Even if it is "ok, let's heal the boss".

[Reiryuu]

Instead of generic common mechanic, I was thinking that more as some phase gimmick or some such. Add some other mechanic which keeps the others running around the field to keep them busy for the while. Platform groups that need to be stood in and chased, or some such. We've already seen gates/addds they need to handle. Gimmicks are such because they offer change of pace. Even if it is "ok, let's heal the boss".

In XI you used to be able to damage undead mobs with heal spells. Didn't happen very often, but it was possible. =p

[Alaina]

Do away with requiring healers to dps and I might play my scholar.

[Taika]

Do away with requiring healers to dps and I might play my scholar.

How would you hope they'd "do away" with it? You can't just remove Cleric Stance and damage spells, because then they would have nothing to do for most of the time...