Dear SE, I am a Healer

[Deceptus]

Exactly. Really the healer roll suffers from a similar issue to what they said tanks have: you've got an odd number of healers and only two slots to fill. Once upon a time, SCH and WHM had great synergy and it was almost always best to have one of each. Then they added a class that was essentially a SCH with cards and a WHM with cards as far as healing ability went. It pushed WHM out because WHM /only/ has healing, with no utility to offer so if you have a choice between a WHM with cards and a WHM without, the choice becomes simple. Balancing with three healers is going to be seriously difficult. Since everyone has to be able to heal the content and overhealing does nothing, WHM is never going to beat out the others. You can't simply nerf the other twos healing so much that they can't handle encounters without a WHM or you'll just see SCH pushed out for AST and WHM. The root of it? AST. They need to be stripped down and rebuilt so they aren't a carbon copy of the other two and then work from there trying to balance. I don't think its obtainable to find harmony with AST stepping on peoples toes.

Exactly. Pretty objectively AST messed everything up by being allowed to be either or (regen/shield). Your analysis of Diurnal AST being a better WHM is pretty spot on. As long as you have SCH available for a 2nd, why would you ever bring a WHM over an AST?

[Tsalmaveth]

Exactly. Pretty objectively AST messed everything up by being allowed to be either or (regen/shield). Your analysis of Diurnal AST being a better WHM is pretty spot on. As long as you have SCH available for a 2nd, why would you ever bring a WHM over an AST?

Unfortunately, from the sound of the interview... the target seems to be 'make WHM easier' 'nerf SCH because fairy too OP'

Colour me scared over here, but they still sound like they don't know what they're aiming for.

[AxlStream]

Like SCH emergency tactics, or to some extent, Earthly Star. And with a nit of tweaking, you could turn one of the faeries into a pre-heal method.

Ah I see. Wouldn't have a healer focused entirely on that make it harder to heal 4 man content though?

[Ursa_Vonfiebryd]

I feel you. However I wouldn't put it past them to sneak a healer in, especially Geomancer, that was heavily hinted in the AST quests and Auspice storyline. Or a completely different limited job, in this case limited to lvl 80 or even 70-80. I feel like the 'limited' job is just a way to add more content without having to make everything backward compatible. We could see a lot more jobs in FFXIVs future. I suppose it will depend on how this content is received.

[Tsalmaveth]

The issue I have with Geomancer is that it has been described as 'AST' only focused on Earth vs Star based, as being the same kind of healer, a mirror, and that the person came to the AST place to study/see how they were trained to learn from them/further his own training, right? It feels like it would be just... to close to what the AST is then.

I'd far rather get a completely DIFFERENT Healer type than something that has been described as THAT CLOSE to another established healer. Not only that, but I'd also like to move AWAY from Doma/Hingashi at this point. We have other lands opening up and we could use some classes from THOSE areas. Chemist, Oracle, etc... Everyone is so focused on Geomancer because it was mentioned, but we need to push past that to look at both other world areas(or shards?) and other TYPES OF HEALING.

[Belhi]

Hi Healer.

Do you know this?

Maybe Ranged-DPS is a better choice than Healer...just maybe...

Ok, why exactly do people seem to think healer players need an visual aid to count up to four. We get the logic even if we aren't huge fans of it. I tend to find the gameplay differences between roles a lot more significant than between role types. If I want to play something new but there isn't any new options among my dps category I can still chose other dps. I don't have to take up tanking or healing. If your a healer or tank, that isn't true. To get a change of pace you need to consider changing roles completely.

Also by that logic, are you saying the SAM job shouldn't exist because they added a 4th job to melee when ranged dps only had two? It also doesn't change the fact that Healer players will be waiting 6 years, over half the games lifespan so far, to see anything new added to their variety.

It also tends to ignore many of the other concerns this situation has raised. By far the bigger one for me is their given reasons on why they didn't a new healer job and what it suggests about what healers are going to have to deal with in the next two years. SE has been woeful at balancing healers and even having diversity in healing mechanics. What we are hearing from Fanfest doesn't suggest they have understood the core issues.

I feel you. However I wouldn't put it past them to sneak a healer in, especially Geomancer, that was heavily hinted in the AST quests and Auspice storyline. Or a completely different limited job, in this case limited to lvl 80 or even 70-80. I feel like the 'limited' job is just a way to add more content without having to make everything backward compatible. We could see a lot more jobs in FFXIVs future. I suppose it will depend on how this content is received.

They have pretty much said in interviews that we aren't getting a new healer job this time round.

[Miste]

I'd far rather get a completely DIFFERENT Healer type than something that has been described as THAT CLOSE to another established healer..

Yeah, I have the same worries about Geo. It just doesn't seem like it would be very different at all like...Geo is known for earth/wind/water magic and that is ...just like CNJ/WHM, so I'm not sure how well that would work unless they totally revamp Geo itself and make it different than what it was usually known for I guess.

This is why I am still kinda sad DNC didn't end up being the healer, it does work as ranged DPS too, but I feel like it really could have added something new and unique to the healer role if it was done properly :/

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...8GTvPw4uI/edit



This might help answer some questions. From reddit.

[Tsalmaveth]

Welp, a MrHappy interview went up and I can't say I'm ANY happier with the comments made by YoshiP. I love the guy... I really really do. But I'm sorry, from a Healer's perspective... this just doesn't fly with me. They've had 2 rounds of 'we are balancing things!' now and have not gotten it right. Only now are they going to rip everything down and rebuild? They could have brought a Ranged-physical DPS in with SB and instead brought a 4th Melee in. 'Balance the Classes' is still a bad reason to me at this point.

EDIT: Lawl, Valkyrie and I posted it at the same time... XD

[Nihility]

The issue I have with Geomancer is that it has been described as 'AST' only focused on Earth vs Star based, as being the same kind of healer, a mirror, and that the person came to the AST place to study/see how they were trained to learn from them/further his own training, right? It feels like it would be just... to close to what the AST is then.

I'd far rather get a completely DIFFERENT Healer type than something that has been described as THAT CLOSE to another established healer. Not only that, but I'd also like to move AWAY from Doma/Hingashi at this point. We have other lands opening up and we could use some classes from THOSE areas. Chemist, Oracle, etc... Everyone is so focused on Geomancer because it was mentioned, but we need to push past that to look at both other world areas(or shards?) and other TYPES OF HEALING.

what i would say the solution would be is incorporate the ffxi geomancer stuff into astro

As it is now, white mage is a white mage as we've always known it rename aero and stone to dia and banish and it's pretty much a spot on. Not saying they should do that but illustrating that they serve the same purpose

Scholar is something that is pretty much unique like even compared to any other mmo i've played. A lot of it's focus is on mitigation while a good chunk of it's healing is done passively through the fairy. I'd go so far as to say scholar is a triumph of class designing and just needs balancing tweaks to keep it in line

astrologian is clearly the one that needs changing if we're going to have three standout different healers. As an astrologian main it's kind of a terrifying prospect but the move that needs to be made.