If it’s between Dancer and Chemist for 5.0 which should be our next healer?

[TruebladeNuke]

While I have no intention of letting myself get dragged in to what's happening right now, I'd like to point out Dark Knight in all of this. A good number of the people in this community insisted on thinking that Dark Knight would be a DPS job. The moment DRK got revealed as a Tank instead, a good number of the people felt "spat on" that the job would dare to be anything other than a DPS. In a similar vein, before Red Mage even got announced for this game, I'd hear people say that there would be no way Red Mage would work out in FFXIV's combat system, with them saying things like "It's just a White Mage/Black Mage wannabe"... among other things. Yet, here we are, with RDM in as a DPS unit with a notable Cure spell of its own and has it's own melee 3-step combo, and DRK as a Tank that focuses more on MP management instead of HP management when it comes to attacking targets.

To get to the point I'm trying to make here... if a job like DRK can jump into this game as a Tank instead of a DPS... why not have Dancer as a Healer? Especially considering that the DPS job role department already got all the love thanks to Stormblood. *Waves to RDM and SAM*

This'll be my only post on this matter.

As for the thread itself, I already voted for Dancer as the next healer. Why? Well, not only do I want the next healer to be a physical job, but I want it to be a job that really shakes up the current healer job formula the game has going right now. A healer that fights at melee range to dish out DPS would be a good start. I don't mind the idea of Chemist coming in as a Healer unit too, but I'd rather see Dancer first.

...

5.0 info can't come soon enough. And we're only approaching patch 4.3.

[Dualgunner]

Especially considering that the DPS job role department already got all the love thanks to Stormblood. *Waves to RDM and SAM*

This'll be my only post on this matter.

Because Square has shown they're amply capable of balancing 3 healers and 3 tanks against each other, let alone four :P

[Shurrikhan]

Because Square has shown they're amply capable of balancing 3 healers and 3 tanks against each other, let alone four :P

To be fair, while the jobs face noticeable niche, situational, or composition-specific imbalances, their composition-ideal power levels are really quite close for an MMO on the average of in-progress runs over a given tier (though less balanced, again, at its start and speedrun ends). The main issues stem from more function- or mechanic-driven imbalances (most noticeably, tank gradual homogeneity and the outcast thereform, unnecessarily awkward mechanics such as LD's or card overlap, and over-reliance on RNG as in the case of cards, none of which can even out over time as well as it can on DPS jobs).

I also don't see adding new jobs as necessarily or even likely a reason to short detailed balancing. While extra development time will be necessary, the addition of a new job may force necessary reconsiderations that can push effective parity over homogeneity, and ultimately reach a better balance for it.

[Dualgunner]

To be fair, while the jobs face noticeable niche, situational, or composition-specific imbalances, their composition-ideal power levels are really quite close for an MMO on the average of in-progress runs over a given tier (though less balanced, again, at its start and speedrun ends). The main issues stem from more function- or mechanic-driven imbalances (most noticeably, tank gradual homogeneity and the outcast thereform, unnecessarily awkward mechanics such as LD's or card overlap, and over-reliance on RNG as in the case of cards, none of which can even out over time as well as it can on DPS jobs).

Fair enough. Since this is my only MMO I've ever raided seriously, it's easy to not have a biased perspective. Honestly I was expecting a "But the DPS aren't balanced either" type retort before that lol.

I am glad they didn't make a new tank or healer yet while they're still feeling out how they want to balance their current ones against each other. If, say, SAM was a tank and RDM was a healer, there might be bloodsports right now regarding the optimal tank and healer compositions.

[Shurrikhan]

Fair enough. Since this is my only MMO I've ever raided seriously, it's easy to not have a biased perspective. Honestly I was expecting a "But the DPS aren't balanced either" type retort before that lol.

I am glad they didn't make a new tank or healer yet while they're still feeling out how they want to balance their current ones against each other. If, say, SAM was a tank and RDM was a healer, there might be bloodsports right now regarding the optimal tank and healer compositions.

My experience in this regard mostly comes from just WoW and Rift, but over many iterations of each (e.g. from Vanilla to Legion in WoW's case), wherein surprisingly enough reducing complexity or curtailing roster growth had little to no positive effect on balance.

Rather, moving away from "obligatory" tools that, in their few exceptions, leave outliers that are community-disfavored (regardless of actual theoretical imbalance) in favor of effective parity has tended to provide better effective, even if overall more niche, balance, simultaneous to improving identity. A certain healer may be better for a certain fight, but you tend not to see such large imbalances over tier age (especially since the fall of, say, mana-bottoming builds like Int Paladin), and each can still get through.

[Gemina]

I am going to favor DNC on the potential aesthetics alone. I know many players don't want another dainty, fragile, stereotypical healer. I am on the opposite side of the spectrum. I want an even more ultra feminine, extremely elegant and graceful healer. Like BRDs, they can have a perform action that would have them showing their graceful steps in cities all over the map. I wonder what exactly can a chemist bring to the table other than just being another healer? I would place a very generous wager that if DNC is introduced, they will get some kind of perform action as well.

From a gameplay/mechanics perspective, I still favor DNC. I am only one person of course and innovation is not one of my strengths, but the way I envision chemist being played won't offer much diversity over our current healers. Perhaps it would be better for me to say that I feel like Dancer can bring more to the table when it comes to opening up the healing role to a different playstyle. I think the road is well paved for a healer/melee hybrid.

[Kabooa]

I wonder what exactly can a chemist bring to the table other than just being another healer?

Have you ever wanted to aggressively heal someone? To do your job but also let them know you don't -want- to do it at the same time?

Few things say "I hate that you need to live" like a bottle to the face.

[Ferth]

Chemist, but only if they get to use rifles.

[MoroMurasaki]

Have you ever wanted to aggressively heal someone? To do your job but also let them know you don't -want- to do it at the same time?

Few things say "I hate that you need to live" like a bottle to the face.

I may have voted dancer but this resonates with my soul.

[AxHell]

Bottle to the face

I want an animation where the Chemist throws the bottle at the players.

My vote goes to chemist.

One way to make it interesting is buying different ingredients and then mix them to create the bottles you need for your skills via the Alchemist. Heck why not make them gain levels at the same time like SCH and SMN ?

And the skills could consist of buffs (that somehow need to be distinct from AST), resistance to certain status effects to make them less powerful or shorter, debuffs, AOE pools of good and bad stuff, Mighty Guard as the last skill, a LB that heal and grants temporary buffs via a rain of bottles.

Chemist's got a lot of potential and could bring a touch of "modernity" in that game.

As for the weapon, pistol or rifle, so you can shoot bottles mid-air to spray its content or cause explosions