Why healing is broken and terrible, and how to fix it...

[Avatre]

If a dps eats an aoe, I give them a regen.

When I melee DPS, I don't expect the healer to heal me instantly from my stupidity of taking an AoE I could have dodged. That's where Second Wind and Bloodbath come in. If the healer feels inclined to heal me, bonus! If not, I also carry a bunch of HQ X-Potions/Max Potions that I got from PotD. Though, there are TONS of people who don't do either of those things, so I can see some healers feeling the need to get those people topped up.

[Naunet]

Why healing is broken and terrible, and how to fix it...

I'm not sure I agree with some of the suggestions in the OP, but healing in this game is very dull compared to others. The damage comes out in extremely predictable bursts and after a couple AoE casts, you're back to dpsing.

[Kazrah]

And more to the point, healers in XIV are capable of putting out a lot more damage than healers in most other MMOs, so they're leaned on even harder to make the choice.

That's why I like healing in this game more than other MMORPGs, because you actually have to manage your main resource under random and chaotic circumstances (some not as much though), with higher reward for players that know how to adequately manage it under more extreme conditions. It's also how much damage healers do that is why I prefer healers in this game over other games because I don't have to wait five minutes to kill one thing soloing as a healer like I have to in every other game, and actually contribute to a kill when I'm in a group instead of spamming heals and the occasional one damage skill and going "yay, i iz helpink".

Also, if you think healing is broken, then maybe you're just a bad healer? Admitting is the first step ya know, and it's okay not to be that good of a healer. I love healing in this game, but I don't blame the system because I'm not the absolute best at it. There are a couple of issues, yes, but resource management is anything but an issue.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I think you're gonna get a lot of immediate and defensive reactions just from the title of your thread, OP. Using the term "broken" when healing in this game objectively is working for the content that we have is a little hyperbolic, IMO. You might not like it or think it's how healer gameplay should be, but "broken" generally implies that it's too OP or UP such to the point that it completely throws all semblance of game balance out the window.

It also makes people who DO like how healers play in this game reflexively want to dismiss your discussion outright since no one likes being told the thing that they enjoy is busted.

Have to agree here. The choice of title and phasing redirected this thread into something negative when I do think there's a discussion to be had regarding healing in this game. I, personally, don't find it dull, however I do find it a bit silly just how much downtime you actually have, especially on easier content. Yes, I know, HW are old nowadays but when I can play "how long can I go without casting even regen?" and get through to the final mega pull. That just seems downright... bad. One thing I fancy about leveling dungeons when I'm in weaker gear is I actually have balance healing and DPS. Once I've reached 70 and equipped various bits of Verity and Omega, it's more or less trivial. The devs keep insisting DPS is an option, and they are technically correct. But if people followed their word to the letter, you would literally do nothing as a healer more often than not. They simply don't tune content relative to how powerful tanks and healers are.

[Mirateski]

When I melee DPS, I don't expect the healer to heal me instantly from my stupidity of taking an AoE I could have dodged.

I was in a Shisui recently (admittedly I was dpsing that run, my friend was healing) where the sam intentionally ate aoes to maintain dps. Including Flush, which left them on ~1k hp and made my healer friend freak out and ask them to dodge

"I know aoes are bad, I also know how much I can take before I die"

nice of you to let the healer know, I guess...

(Everyone always gets hit by SOMETHING, hence the application of regen. It's just multiple instances of eating things that make me go "actually, nah, you can die")

[Avatre]

(Everyone always gets hit by SOMETHING, hence the application of regen. It's just multiple instances of eating things that make me go "actually, nah, you can die")

I'm the same way when I heal. Raid wide AoE I will start casting Medica II when the bosses cast is almost done so it coincides with the damage. If need be another Medica, or a Regen on those hit the hardest(though I tend to keep a Regen up all the time on tank when in a boss fight/when they finish the pull and are not moving anymore).

[Kazrah]

(Everyone always gets hit by SOMETHING, hence the application of regen. It's just multiple instances of eating things that make me go "actually, nah, you can die")

And after knowing enough healers who have said something along those lines, that's why I never expect heals when I'm not a healer.

[Cenerae]

If your sole reasoning for wanting change is 'I don't like getting chastised by people when they think I should have done it differently', I can assure you with confidence that people will always find something to whine at the healer for. Even if the damage model was changed so that healers became turrets like the WoW model, and they were literally doing nothing but casting heals to keep patching up the incoming damage, there would be people that would complain.

As someone who's healed on that more 'standard' healing model at the highest tiers of content, I find the FF14 model to be a breath of fresh air. I get to use more of my toolkit than the things that make health bars go back up. And it involves some decision making on my part of what kind of heal I should be using and when; as well as deciding how much of my mana I want to use up dealing damage. As opposed to just mashing the big single target healing button or the big aoe healing button depending on what sort of damage is going out.

Sure the way it's set up also encourages poor play from people who have the misconception that healers are only supposed to heal and never do damage (as well as poor play from people who have decided that they don't need to heal and the tanks can magically do all the work themselves), but there would still be poor play from healers even in a 'spam your healing buttons' model. Trust me, I've seen enough healers come and go from my old WoW mythic team to understand that there's still room for mistakes and valid reasons to chew healers out in that healing model as well as here.

[NolLacnala]

Tanks: Constantly run through your rotation to maintain aggro and the best mitigation you can.

DPS: Constantly run through your rotation to do the best damage you can.

Healers: Let regen tick on the tank (who's taking a trickle of auto attack damage from the boss) while you either press your few DPS buttons, or conserve mana in case a DPS screws up and gets hit by an AoE.

Oh I love this game let me try

Tanks: Monitor aggro and use emnity as necessary, stance dance when safe, use defense cooldowns as needed, abuse ults to cheese key mechanics, spot heal (pld), check team positioning, check boss' rotation, grab adds, handle designated tank mechanics

DPS: Monitor aggro and use anti-emnity, use defensive cooldowns as necessary, spot heal, check positioning, check boss' rotation, nuke adds, handle your designated mechanics.

Heals: Fix owies and DPS when you can

Don't trivialize the other roles.

Healing is a guessing game...

No. It's a memorization game. If you know the fight, you know when busters are coming, when you can and cannot DPS, and how much mana you can get away with.

[Snow_Princess]

Please, ANY of the above would be better than being a green DPS with the lingering paranoia of going OOM. I've hung up my globe for a gun at this point. Idon't even care that MCH is bottom of the barrel on damage parsing because, you know what? The rotation is fun and engaging.

AST is the healer with the least mp problems, unless people are standing in bad while the tank never uses cds, while over pulling undergeared. With Lucid Dreaming and ewer you are fine. I had a really bad Zurvan normal in HW once where after 2 draws, 2 rerolls, after all the dang raises etc, I had to ask the other ast for ewer because I was not getting one. That is an extreme string of bad luck + playing with "bads" Also solo ast should be using shields =/ (you commented on regen)

Most of the healing problems have to do with people standing in bad/ getting cleaved/ dying (maybe make raise cost less mp?) other then that, i do not see much changing needed. I thought this thread would be more about the stat inflation checks to make healing weaker then I feel it should be (least weaker then i270 @ level 60) for 61-69. Why even in max gear for the level, someone healing weaker then a lv 60, i 270, i got no idea.

You basically traded the strongest healer for the weakest DPS (least right now, as of 4.00- 4.05) and least wanted DPS in savage. I am confused

No. It's a memorization game. If you know the fight, you know when busters are coming, when you can and cannot DPS, and how much mana you can get away with.

that is the same for any role, and even much more so for MCH in HW. your DPS suffered HARD unless you knew exactly when to unload wildfire.

For the TC, one more thing, most healing issues has to do with the tank more then anything, meny do not use CDs properly or overpull in low level gear, or even try DPS stance in low level gear. Sometimes it is the DPS as well, if you get 2 bad DPS, with a megapull tank, you are not going to have a fun time. another tip past "git gud" is try become more aware and try spot the problems in the party composition, or ask for smaller pulls.

DRK,BLM,BRD, WHM, AST, 60-70 SB, and 60-70 sam (50-60 leveled in deep/fate and other things) lv 50-60 RDM off and on for trials and 50/60 roulette) not one party had a complaint of too much DPS or too little DPS from the healer (even with the bad ones, some made me cringe a LOT.. how can you go though a FULL DF and never use assize, literally zero DPS UGH! I do not care if no one died, NO COM >.>). AST was my first and it was hard 67+ with people still not getting a full feel with the changes + being min level gear for the places meant harder times as far as healing.