Final Fantasy XIV: Healers Reborn - Rebuilding the Healers

[ty_taurus]

Hello All,

So it's no secret by now that a lot of us are feeling skeptical of the changes to Healers coming in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. While some of the changes seem very good, such as the changes to the White Mages lilies, many other changes threaten to strip away aspects the healers that many would argue is a major part of their identity.

I myself feel torn as well. While I see a lot of potential in some changes, the overall homogenization of their healing and DPS tools is worrying. So naturally, I did what any other rational human being would do: Sit down and redesign each healer from the ground up in a heated passion project.

So obviously this is a little extreme, but I actually had a lot of fun thinking about how I might redesign these roles if I was in charge, and I wanted to share these ideas with the rest of the community, hence this project: Final Fantasy XIV: Healers Reborn.

Below are links to some google docs that showcase a completely rebuilt skill set for each healer. When designing these new concepts, I had two major goals in mind:

Goal #1: Redefine Healer Identity
In an effort to combat homogenization, I wanted to strip away a lot of the tools each healer had that splashed over into other healer territory, such as White Mage's Divine Benison, and further enhance the healing role they already had. Rather than try and make them all the same, I wanted each healer to take the concept they were good at and run even farther with it.

Goal #2: Make Healer DPS more enjoyable, while making sure it stays optional
The healer DPS argument is one as old as time at this point. With that in mind, I want to reiterate that the game is designed inherently for healer DPS to be optional. But just because it's optional doesn't mean it should be as boring and monotonous as spamming one spell over and over again with 1 damage over time spell to manage in between. This would also make solo content and leveling a lot more engaging for healers as well.

With those goals in mind, these are the designs I came up with:

*EDIT* These have been updated to version 1.1 with some new changes to help fix former issues.

White Mage

Scholar

Astrologian


If you notice a lack of terrain spells and healing over time spells, it's actually because I also want to design a concept for Geomancer, a healer who emphasizes healing over time and terrain effects. That's taking a lot more work right now though, so I'd love to add that to this post as a concept for the future at a later date.

Lastly, I want to just say that I am, of course, not perfect in the slightest, and I imagine there are probably areas in these designs that could use some work. I hope that we can have some great conversations about these designs, and that comments from the rest of this healer community can inspire improvements to any areas where these healer ideas are lacking. Numbers especially are easy to fix.

I hope these concepts would help breath life back into the fantasy of these healing roles.

[kashi11]

I read through your WHM rework and they are really cool! I love how it keeps the elements wind, water, and earth, and really expands upon plants and nature overall.

[Celenia]

You should keep in mind you want to make healer disparity down not up. With your current design, again it just makes 1 of healer is not wanted. This will make it hard to balance later. (Which is the healer situation right now)

The other suggestions, always make it simple. Unnecessary complexity is never good. (In fact it becomes trap in your design). For example not good design and too complex, 2 lily and peach blossom for activating a skill, then lvl 80 no need lily for 20s, but then you need peach blossom to do the skill. This is what I mean you make a skill unnecessary complex (thus it becomes trap in your design).

In addition, if I were you, I would limit to total 4 things which I need to track (excluding party HP). In addition, you should also gives background how the fight will be designed with these healers (not the strong point of each healers, but the fight concept as this will help you in designing healer).

PS: keep in mind in the number of button. I suggest maximum 16 buttons.

[Nihility]

i'm honestly used to healer dps being boring but what i think would fix a lot of it is just small things

make misery apply a debuff similar to trick attack or chain stratagem. WHM now has some level of party utility and considering the spell is called misery it seems lore-fitting

replace art of war with a targeted aoe that includes the bane effect. Or even just add "inflicts bio" to it... Make the highest costing healer aoe be worth it?

astro is tougher. I feel like... go back to old system but change it so it's 2 cards do crit, 2 cards do direct hit, 2 cards do haste.
card manipulation was genuinely fun for me at least, take out the often useless ones and one people think is OP
Every card is always useful to varying degress to every job.
At the very least the crappy "brotherhood with twice the cooldown and no additional effect that you also have to jump through hoops to even use" skill needs to just die in a fire. I'd take royal road over it any day

your write-ups are a bit long for me to go through completely but seems like your hearts in the right place

[Loki]

Imo concerning the SCH :

- summon Eos : your healing spells are better than without her and your dps skills are weaker
- summon Selene : your dps skills are better than without her but your healing skills are weaker
- none fairy : your healing/dps skills are medium

Both of them can be controlled like right now and have their own skills
Summoning them would be instant like the summoner will be at 5.0 it could rep a sort of stance and it could add a rythm

We would have all the skills we have right now and some new ones.

It's a summary idea but this is the kind of SCH i would like.

Unfortunatly, everyone has his own expectations and we all know that SE will do what they want so keep dreaming lol

[ty_taurus]

You should keep in mind you want to make healer disparity down not up. With your current design, again it just makes 1 of healer is not wanted. This will make it hard to balance later. (Which is the healer situation right now)

The other suggestions, always make it simple. Unnecessary complexity is never good. (In fact it becomes trap in your design). For example not good design and too complex, 2 lily and peach blossom for activating a skill, then lvl 80 no need lily for 20s, but then you need peach blossom to do the skill. This is what I mean you make a skill unnecessary complex (thus it becomes trap in your design).

In addition, if I were you, I would limit to total 4 things which I need to track (excluding party HP). In addition, you should also gives background how the fight will be designed with these healers (not the strong point of each healers, but the fight concept as this will help you in designing healer).

PS: keep in mind in the number of button. I suggest maximum 16 buttons.

Do you think simplifying the Peach Blossoms for White Mage so that instead of gradually growing in power and consuming them anytime Efflorescent heals are cast, you just get the max value once your blossom is in full bloom would fix some of what you're talking about? Like the Blood Lily, you're only using it once it's fully nourished?

[Bastionus]

I like OP's idea for making healing interesting at least. I realize for many this is a faus pas within the community but years ago I played WOW. Now WOW healers had very interesting healing kits, such as bouncing heals that triggered off other heals such as waves of healing so it would trigger often targeting the next player at lowest hp, seed hots when hit with another heal would bloom into an aoe heal, a heal that triggers another heal into another sort of like a healing rotation with sometimes branches, shields that when target player with said shield gets healed it buffs the shield to a cap or adds a regen.

Now I realize atm this is probably too much as it seems to me at least that FF14 is trying to make healing jobs perhaps more simpler or pure healers? I like the direction of this idea, I do not like the identity of classes and what people are used to in others being taken away (I am an Astro main so for me its identity and the taken away remark is for Scholars).

I think what would be beneficial is if we could have the long way path of what is the plans for the healers happen now be available but sadly I feel like we have to wait for another expansion in order to see these changes fleshed out. Until then it appears to just be a case of being scared of change and with good reason for some or many.

All I can do though is play old content to have good memories of what is soon going to be and try my best to give my opinion on what I think was right and wrong with the changes and hope for engaging healer jobs skills and actions that will not just make our healing capabilities more interesting but perhaps with some side flair like Afflatus Misery perhaps? Where our healing will be rewarded with dps?

P.S. I would love that starfall or starstorm ability to be a thing <3

[Celenia]

Do you think simplifying the Peach Blossoms for White Mage so that instead of gradually growing in power and consuming them anytime Efflorescent heals are cast, you just get the max value once your blossom is in full bloom would fix some of what you're talking about? Like the Blood Lily, you're only using it once it's fully nourished?

(Will not dealt with number)
1. I would like to abolished peach blossom or lily (not blood lily).
2. As what you write, I will make the skills use full amount of petal peach blossom (5 (I will simplify calling it peach blossom) rather than fragmented to 0 to 5. In addition (if whm keeps peach blossom), make it potentially have 3 stacks.
3. Albeit the concept of whm giving shield when overheal is good, it is unreliable. I rather make changes such that it straight forward giving shield and HP (it still unique as shield of whm is need more proper planning than sch or ast).
4. Make peach blossom can be used for damage (medium size of dmg) thus removing the need of amaryllis. (No need to make 3 kind of damage to be fancy (or utterly complicated thing) just make 1 and it still will works)
5. Every usage of peach blossom will nourish blood lily. Blood lily can be use after 3 stack of peach blossom are used. Blood lily can stack up to 3.
6. Blood lily based ability practically the biggest cd of whm, it has big number and or effect to warrant 30+s build up (and it use it own button)
7. For lvl 80 skills rather than not using lily it change to gives 1 stack of blood lily.

[ty_taurus]

(Will not dealt with number)
1. I would like to abolished peach blossom or lily (not blood lily).
2. As what you write, I will make the skills use full amount of petal peach blossom (5 (I will simplify calling it peach blossom) rather than fragmented to 0 to 5. In addition (if whm keeps peach blossom), make it potentially have 3 stacks.
3. Albeit the concept of whm giving shield when overheal is good, it is unreliable. I rather make changes such that it straight forward giving shield and HP (it still unique as shield of whm is need more proper planning than sch or ast).
4. Make peach blossom can be used for damage (medium size of dmg) thus removing the need of amaryllis. (No need to make 3 kind of damage to be fancy (or utterly complicated thing) just make 1 and it still will works)
5. Every usage of peach blossom will nourish blood lily. Blood lily can be use after 3 stack of peach blossom are used. Blood lily can stack up to 3.
6. Blood lily based ability practically the biggest cd of whm, it has big number and or effect to warrant 30+s build up (and it use it own button)
7. For lvl 80 skills rather than not using lily it change to gives 1 stack of blood lily.

Sometime soon I'll give the WHM design a little touch up. I do agree with some of your points. The concept of layers to spells was meant to represent blooming your spells like flowers, but I agree that multiple casting can actually get a little messier in practice. So I do like the idea of changing Amaryllis to exploding on the next DPS action.

I like keeping the Peach Blossom at 5 stacks because peach blossoms have 5 petals, and the WHM has a lot of abilities that allow you to charge it pretty fast. If you're using your DPS actions in a certain level of frequency, or at least Banish and Amaryllis, you're getting 3 petals every 30 seconds, so I think 5 keeps it from just being always up.

One of the reasons why I think the Peach Blossom and Lilies can coexist is because Lily generation is entirely automated. That's kinda the problem I have with it right now. It's certainly better than Stormblood lilies, but there's no way to have control over things. Your Afflatus spells in this build actually replace your Cure and Medica spells, so all of that work is done for you, making more of player actions revolve around blooming your Blossom. Even without it though, Efflorescent Cure is the same as Cure II with no boost.

@Nihility mentioned a great idea for Afflatus Misery as well: Giving it a damage received up debuff to help combat the utility of AST and SCH that will always pressure WHM so long as it doesn't have any on its own.

Regardless, I'll think on a few things and make some adjustments sometime soon.

[GrimGale]

THis is my take on SCH. I do like the fact that you wanted to introduce FFXI scholar spells. My problem is, I think you made SCH too bloated in terms of buttons on focus too much on the DPS aspect.

Healing Skills

Adloquium: Is now GCD and instant cast, no longer heals, rather it applies a flat shield on target equating to the old heal+shield potency. Crits would apply the Gatalyze effect.

Physick: Removed

Embrava: Commands the fairy to heal target with the same potency and cast time Physick had. (Fairy will not cast this on her own, she needs to be directed.)

Succor: 1,5s Cast. No longer heals, it applies a shield to all targets in range with the same equivalent potency of the old heal+shield.

Lustrate, Indomitability and Excogitation remain the same.

Whispering Dawn, Embrace, Consolation, Seraphic Veil and various fariy healing skills remain unchanged.

The idea here is to follow SCH's lore where the healing itself comes from the fairy, leaving the SCH to apply oGCD heals and mitigation.


Utility Skills

Emergency tactics: 15s CD. Turns shielding effects into pure healing- Basically the same as it is now.

Deployment tactics: Same as it is now.

Aetherflow: Renamed to Einblick, or Battlefield Insight (loved the German words for SCH skills in FFXI) Basically remains the same, three charges, 60s cd, gives back 10% mana.

New skill! Libra: 30s CD, Applies a 15 second debuf increasing damage taken by the target by 3%. Costs an Insight point. Grants a charge of Tactical Preparation. Grants 10 Fey Gauge Points.

Chain Stratagem: No longer on a CD, requires 3 charges of Tactical Preparation to be executed. Other wise, remains the same. Grants 30 Fey Gauge Points.

Recitation: Remains unchanged.

Sacred Soil: Remains unchanged.

Dissipation: Remains mostly unchanged. It grants 3 Stacks of Insight and sends your fairy away. No longer increases healing by a flat percent, instead it grants your Adloquium and Succor spells the ability to heal the target by 100% of the shield applied.

Summon Seraph: Is no longer on a CD, it requires 100 Fey Gauge Points to summon, at wich point it will last 20 seconds. Fey Gauge Skills have no cost during that time.

I think SCH's kit doesn't build up to anything it the current state. All other jobs have a mechanic they build up to during the fights, being Blood Lillies, Divination, Polyglot, Phoenix...I wanted to give SCH the Debuffing Healer idenity back while allowing her to build up towards the Seraph ability, which rewards prompt debuffing with a potent healing tool.

Damaging Skills.

Broil III: Remains unchanged.

Biolysis: Remains unchanged.

Art of War: Remains unchanged.

New Trait! Wahrnehmung: Critical hits from damaging spells have a 10% chance of granting a single stack of Battlefield Insight.

I wanted SCH to have a bit more sinergy with its damage, allowing the Scholar to gain charges of Insight, would hopefully alleviate the removal of quickened aetherflow.