[Opinion] Why I'm disappointed by most changes to healers.

[NocturniaUzuki]

Yup.

I haven't even seen the OP acknowledge that Spear also affects healing, either. He/she keeps going on about DPS. Kinda feels like I'm in a salt mine.

Are you referring to the new Spear and the idea that "More DPS = Less Healing"?

If that's the case, then my response is that the "More DPS = Less Healing" mantra is not true in FF14 in almost all raid circumstances. Killing mobs faster does reduce healing, and increasing DPS is an important part of healing in mob-filled dungeons (and also add phases in raids, to some extent). According to Sebazy, at least, it also applies to certain "required" phase pushes.

However, it does not apply outside of those situations. FF14 boss encounters are entirely scripted, there is only one enemy, and that enemy is balanced to not cause the healer to run out of MP unless the party kills the boss within a certain time limit. Technically, you don't have to heal as much if the boss dies faster. Maybe you only have to cast 13 AoE heals instead of 18. But the problem is that once the boss is dead, the question of DPS letting you heal less is irrelevant. Once the boss is dead, there is no combat; there's nothing that is going to cost you cooldowns and MP. It's only relevant in mob-clear situations with large pulls because the rate of healing required drains the healer's MP and cooldowns extremely fast. If the mobs don't die, then eventually the tank dies. Bosses, on the other hand, are balanced differently. Healers will never run out of MP on a boss as long as they are being smart with their MP regen skills, not overhealing excessively, and their party isn't taking ridiculous amounts of avoidable damage. There is no "If the boss doesn't die, the party will die." Except for enrage, obviously. But then if the boss enrages, being able to heal less is irrelevant.