Which healer job are you? Why?

[Xelanar]

I play as an Astrologian, mainly because I love giving support buffs. I never cared about being on top of damage meters myself. Assisting those who are already there and making them even more powerful, feels really satisfying though ^_^.
AST is probably the closest we will ever get to a support job, so I'll stick to it for eternity.

[NocturniaUzuki]

*sits down next to you* Hi there! I’m Kacho Nacho. You make healing on an astrologian sound so interesting! Would you mind going more into your kit allowing you to do things you are not meant to do? I'll share my freshly baked oatmeal cookies with you. *smile*

Forgive for not being able to tell if that is sarcasm or not, because I deal with a lot of snarky people on a daily basis, given that I hold dissenting views.

If you actually meant it though, I appreciate the interest. Without going into a full-blown essay, what I mean by "not meant to do" is basically doing content in ways that SQEX did not design them for. What I'm probably best known for drawing examples from would be 4-player MinIL Royal Menagerie. I've also recently tried Tankless 4-player Synced Ultima's Bane, which was also quite fun. These are examples of fights where the healer and/or party has to deal with mechanics in very odd or excessive ways in order to succeed. AST's Earthly Star and Lightspeed are exceptionally useful in dealing with bursts of damage that are meant to be duo-healed, or when the healer is forced to deal with a movement-based mechanic where the healing would otherwise be covered by the second healer, etc. The cards are also extremely helpful because they can be held on to in order to cheese various mechanics. For instance, surviving a mechanic that is would ordinarily be impossible by using an enhanced Bole on a player. The Spear card was one of the best with regards to dealing with unconventional challenges because it allowed AST to reduce its own cooldowns virtually at will (assuming you prioritized and held Spear as needed). This allowed for AST (or other classes, if necessary) to get around cooldown checks or to simply have cooldowns up more often when dealing with unpredictable mechanics (which was largely the case in 4-player RM, for example).

Other healing classes have tools for most things at their disposal as well, but I personally think AST is the best for dealing with unconventional things. The cards, in particular, are unique to AST and offer a lot of flexibility.

[NocturniaUzuki]

Your groups must've been hilarious if you could coordinate old-school Spear use.

I was rarely in groups where we actually coordinated using Spear on other players to manage cooldowns, outside of, say, casting it on the tank before HG/Holm/LD, etc. However, I am sensing a bit of the usual "But only DPS matters" here? You never had to coordinate Spear to make good use of it. All you had to do was hold it, then use it on yourself right before using a bunch of major cooldowns. Naturally, this impacts the healer's DPS. But there are other things that the healer has to prioritize over DPS, namely actually having the tools at their disposal to deal situations as they arise. In some cases, these situations are guaranteed to arise. In most, it's a matter of chance. Whether or not holding that Spear had any value over other cards ultimately came down to the whether such situations arose. This is the same thing as with the new role skill, Rescue. It's one of the best skills in the game, in my opinion. But almost no one ever uses it because:

1) Most people follow the creed of "If the other player messes up, it's they're fault and they should die. Maybe they'll learn from it."
2) Most people don't think a situation will actually arise that they need to use it.
3) Many people don't trust themselves to notice that situation in time to actually use it effectively.
4) Many people don't want to get yelled at by the other player(s).

[TitaniaYaerem]

AST and SCH
Became SCH first because our group needed a healer, our old SCH wanted to become a WHM, our old AST wanted to be NIN so I went from MNK to SCH during Creator and kinda just stuck with it. When Omega first came out I took to mainly being SCH then went AST for O4S since WHM/AST was the 'safer' healing comp to roll with for the first couple weeks to deal with Almagest. I just play whatever is beneficial for my team lol.

[Sebazy]

<snip>

Whilst I think your views of old Spear are naive at best, I'll give you a point on Rescue. Whilst it's far from 'one of the best skills in the game', it's actually a rather useful optimisation tool for DPS in Savage allowing extra GCDs pretty much whenever a melee has to disconnect or BLM has to move further/faster than they can shuffle cast.

[NocturniaUzuki]

Whilst I think your views of old Spear are naive at best, I'll give you a point on Rescue. Whilst it's far from 'one of the best skills in the game', it's actually a rather useful optimisation tool for DPS in Savage allowing extra GCDs pretty much whenever a melee has to disconnect or BLM has to move further/faster than they can shuffle cast.

Because it always has to be about DPS, doesn't it? Everything I say falls flat on the ears of anyone who only sees things in terms of speed and DPS efficiency. There's more to the game than that. Just like there's more to life than making as much money as you possibly can, etc.

[Sebazy]

Because it always has to be about DPS, doesn't it? Everything I say falls flat on the ears of anyone who only sees things in terms of speed and DPS efficiency. There's more to the game than that. Just like there's more to life than making as much money as you possibly can, etc.

If I truly only saw everything in terms of speed and DPS efficiency etc, please explain why I've stuck with raiding as WHM for entirety of this tier so far?

Here's a hint:

It's because I found it significantly more enjoyable to play than AST up until 4.1.

It's not about DPS at all actually, it's about your apparent obsession with dressing up clunky little situational abilities as the greatest thing that nobody knows about, except you.

[Kabooa]

I'm a Black Mage, because Erase is so good.

[NocturniaUzuki]

It's not about DPS at all actually, it's about your apparent obsession with dressing up clunky little situational abilities as the greatest thing that nobody knows about, except you.

Meh, if that's what you want to call it, fine. It's not really any different than claiming Rescue is minutely useful because it can grant certain DPS classes a tiny convenience once every 150 seconds. In my eyes, that's even more ridiculously minor and situational than using Spear to be prepared for disasters that may or may not actually happen in content that SQEX never actually intended to be tackled in such a way.

I don't claim to be some mastermind that knows things nobody else knows. Frankly, when it comes to uber DPS efficiency, I'm probably pretty clueless compared to some people. I just don't like those people telling me that I'm somehow stupid for arguing for what I think is pretty clearly just as valuable as their approaches (which are usually DPS-oriented). It's a different view, and both are legitimate ways of approaching the game. One is speed and damage oriented, the other is safety-oriented. That's all. Maybe I come across as snotty and a know-it-all because I can't help but be exasperated by how few people actually see things the same way I do. Thankfully, I do come across them occasionally, though.

There is so much conflict between myself and others because I hold a view that dissents from the common views of of the vocal majority of gamers. That doesn't make my view wrong, though. It's just in stark contrast to that vocal majority and, naturally, sparks fly unless I meekly back down because I'm outnumbered. Since I also feel quite strongly that the vocal majority shouldn't be the only voice that is heard, I'm not about to do that so long as my attention remains focused on Final Fantasy XIV.

All I'm really hoping for from people is a respectful acknowledgement that my view has legitimacy, and if I'm fortunate, for someone who had never considered my approach to step back, consider it, and learn something from it to put towards their own method of gameplay. I have no delusions of trying to change your (or anyone else's) mind just by arguing. Likewise, you are never going to change my mind.

On the note of learning things, I had never considered using Rescue in that manner. I may never actually end up using it, seeing as I prefer to actually save it for when my allies are actually in danger, but it is still good to know if I'm ever in a situation where I have complete confidence in my party members' ability not to get themselves killed.

[Cynfael]

Rescue was convenient when Susano EX was more relevant, but otherwise it’s still quite niche as an actual “rescue” skill. I can see it having value in helping other players with Rabanastre, though.

As for old Spear, it mostly just illustrated why CD reduction isn’t highly valued, less so when attached to an RNG buff that may or may not be available when you want to hit long CDs.