Isn't playing WHM optimally going completely against what SE wants healers to be?

[ChoedanKal]

As much as I want a new healer in 5.0 I'm afraid that it's just going to be another healbomb class since the way damage is dished out in this game is all too predictable to make any other type of healer viable, when all you really have to worry about is a tank buster/Room AoE you can set your clock to then theres no room for healing classes that bring anything other than large heals to the table.

[Ghishlain]

I'd consider WHM as less of a "Pure Healer" and more of a "Raw Healer" with a toolkit just designed to exude raw heals and raw DPS. Having both the highest DPS and HPS throughput of all the healers with little frills attached means they're there to piston out as much of anything as possible to help complete the duty. I do agree that this puts WHM in particular in an odd situation because depending on the fight that means they'll be using one half of their kit more often than the other with little synergy in between to mesh the two halves together. A couple of QoLs can fix that really quickly though.

I will agree with the sentiment stated early - I'm pretty certain S-E has no damn clue what they're doing with healers at this point. To me this is less of a WHM issue and more of a "healer identity and/or design" issue overall.

[Pentt]

I will agree with the sentiment stated early - I'm pretty certain S-E has no damn clue what they're doing with healers at this point. To me this is less of a WHM issue and more of a "healer identity and/or design" issue overall.

I'm sure they know what they are doing, this is how they want their healer design to be.

Healers are actually overpowered in this game compared to other MMOs, the amount of healing required to top a player off is really minuscule compared to say WoW.

So unless they nerf healing potency across the board for every healer, increase mana costs of DPS spells to force you to stop DPSing during healing downtime or some other way to nerf healers, healing will always be this short bursty window you do before returning to your Stone/Malefic/Broil spam.

[gti443]

I'd consider WHM as less of a "Pure Healer" and more of a "Raw Healer" with a toolkit just designed to exude raw heals and raw DPS. Having both the highest DPS and HPS throughput of all the healers with little frills attached means they're there to piston out as much of anything as possible to help complete the duty. I do agree that this puts WHM in particular in an odd situation because depending on the fight that means they'll be using one half of their kit more often than the other with little synergy in between to mesh the two halves together.

To me its less the fight than it is the group you're with in most cases... tanks eating busters in Sword Oath and DPS doing a Displacement off the edge or whatever will require you to shift gears in a hurry. Generally speaking I think the WHM kit is in a great place though, and WHM DPS is a lot of fun. But you can only do as much DPS as the encounter and the group will let you, end of the day.

[Kabooa]

What the designers create and what the players decide is useful isn't unique to FF14.

[Ghishlain]

I'm sure they know what they are doing, this is how they want their healer design to be.

Healers are actually overpowered in this game compared to other MMOs, the amount of healing required to top a player off is really minuscule compared to say WoW.

So unless they nerf healing potency across the board for every healer, increase mana costs of DPS spells to force you to stop DPSing during healing downtime or some other way to nerf healers, healing will always be this short bursty window you do before returning to your Stone/Malefic/Broil spam.

I actually am perfectly fine with current encounter and core kit design. As a healer main the way encounters are designed and how the core kits of each healer works allows the really good healers a wide array of flexibility in how to tackle the issue and how to manipulate the fight towards their advantages.

I can understand where the Dev team is coming from to a degree. In my personal opinion they've made healer's a very low stress job to try to get more people to heal. Healers in other MMOs tend to have a very high responsibility threshold compared to tanks and DPS which I imagine is a huge turnoff to some players. By making the healer skill floor excessively low compared to tanks and DPS, I get the feeling they're trying to encourage players to heal more often and thus even out the queue a bit better hence, to quote you, the overpowered healer design.

While I will say from a kit balance perspective the three healers are actually fairly well tuned in relation to each other, I heavily dislike the identity that D.AST = WHM w/ cards and N.AST = SCH w/ cards and no pet. I'd rather they just rebuild AST entirely from the ground up and give it something uniquely there own without essentially crushing the feet of the other healers. Until they do that I have little confidence S-E could design a fourth healer without stepping on the identities of the other three.

To me its less the fight than it is the group you're with in most cases... tanks eating busters in Sword Oath and DPS doing a Displacement off the edge or whatever will require you to shift gears in a hurry. Generally speaking I think the WHM kit is in a great place though, and WHM DPS is a lot of fun. But you can only do as much DPS as the encounter and the group will let you, end of the day.

I agree. With me when I say "the fight" I mean the encounter, how the encounter is designed, the players that partake in the encounter and their gear and skill level. All of that effects how quickly healers have to shift gears to respond to changes in flow and ebb.

Just in WHMs case they tend to be stuck either having to provide heavy DPS or heavy healing with little middle ground compared to AST and SCH. Not to say I mind that - the current iteration of the WHM kit is the first time a healer kit in XIV has made me want to stick to that particular healer. I'm usually bouncing between each healer kit as my mood sees fit.

[FoxyAreku]

You sure have an odd idea of what "SE wants healers to be".

Just because healer DPS isn't considered when everyone has relevant gear and plays perfectly doesn't mean they don't expect you to. Healer =/= Pacifist

Of course, this thread is by the person who thought white mage was complete garbage for the entirety of heavensward, so I'm not sure why I'm surprised you may have odd ideas.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

You sure have an odd idea of what "SE wants healers to be".

Just because healer DPS isn't considered when everyone has relevant gear and plays perfectly doesn't mean they don't expect you to. Healer =/= Pacifist

Of course, this thread is by the person who thought white mage was complete garbage for the entirety of heavensward, so I'm not sure why I'm surprised you may have odd ideas.

Way to not even consider the possibility that something might be wrong with healers in this game just because of who created the thread.
I guess some people are fine with an entire role havng jobs filled with clashing job mechanics and shaky identities.

[Kabzy]

100% agree that they seem to be clueless with healers atm. Ironically though, the three seem to be the most balanced they have ever been since AST was released.

What I don't agree with is saying WHM is only relevant because it has the highest personal DPS. That obviously helps, but after doing some V4S I think it's quite evident that their healing power is shining brilliantly in this raid tier. As for clashing job mechanics and shaky identities, I think that only belongs to SCH for now. What with Dissipation/Fey union and their transition from preventative healing to burst OGCD healing. But even with that, they've been buffed enough that any healer comp is good, not just viable.

Edit: Also with the Balance card being nerfed, and the exception of some of N.ASTs toolkit, it's safe to say that AST isn't leagues ahead anymore. So you can probably calm down on taking digs at the job. xD

[QooEr]

dpsing as healer is NOT looked down upon by SE. if anything i feel like theyre trying to push it otherwise they wouldnt give all the healers such powerful dps kits (and significantly reduce the mp costs for dpsing too)

theyre also not rewarding unoptimal whm play. they changed what it means to be optimal. just because using cures is good it doesnt mean that using regen is bad. if people cant figure out what is better to use when, its entirely their problem.

and fyi, to many people, a healer that doesnt dps is a detriment to the group. balance or chain strategem aside.