I just had an enlightenment regarding Healers in Shadowbringers

[HyperiusUltima]

This was quite recent when I was just talking with people in the Balance Discord today, and I didn't even begin to think about how they're changing things until now.

It might be old news, but I think I have an idea of what they actually have in mind for changing the Healing Paradigm that apparently is mostly DPS(which is what optimized players should still be doing. Not saying DPSing is a bad thing, but it's something most people should do so they aren't standing there doing nothing unless long-term plans require more MP at a certain point).


WHM

As much as people have been saying that Afflatus Heals are just pretty bad and "more of the same"(which it is) I've had someone remind me of how WHM got kicked out of prog early on into Stormblood after Deltascape because of the constant AST buffs SE was giving them. What I realized was that WHM is now back in Prog in regards to how it was used back then. I think this is a good thing and doesn't make WHM so undesirable in groups since you have something to fall back on in case shit hits the fan considering they literally have the best MP economy with Thin Air right now, and Lucid being the CD for every healer to recover MP at a set rate.

The Afflatus Skillset, however, when used in place of your MP-based heals, gives you mileage towards Afflatus Misery and helps mitigate the DPS loss that you're getting from using a heal on GCD, and being Instant makes WHM able to weave freely Assize so there shouldn't be too many clipping problems now.

AST

AST...has gone through a lot of changes. Plenty of people on the forums already hate that they're taking away the complexity of the cards, as well as Spread and Royal Road that were used for planning ahead in fights. Considering that they were reduced to Melee or Ranged Buffs, people wanted their diversity back; but let us remember before why balance was literally thrown out the window: AST's constant buffing, and SCH never being knocked down off its high horse as king of raid healing.

With the Shadowbringers iteration, AST has a new skillset that requires them to draw 3 different Seals for their new skill, Divination, which is a 5% Raid-wide Damage buff if you draw all three seals. How they obtain seals is by playing the correct card that corresponds to that seal. Given that it is a 1/3rd chance of obtaining any type of seal per draw, that's why you have Sleeve Draw to make a sort of "burst" in your buffing. However, since you're trying to obtain a new seal each time and don't want to mess up your seal combo, you have Minor Arcana to eat up your cards if it's the wrong type of Seal. This creates a mini-game of drawing cards every 30s(with a burst every 3m) to attempt to get all three different seals for Divination.

Another fun thing is that Redraw is getting 3 Charges. This means that If you're trying to get the right seal, you can simply use it as a mulligan to find the card you need for Divination. While this does seem boring, this keeps AST busy as much as it does now, especially when it's also using Horoscope to enhance its healing potential in case things get hairy. Since its Healing isn't polarizing WHM through Sects anymore, it makes healers feel a bit more balanced in regards to how they all play around each other.


SCH

Now, for the best class of just about every expansion for last: Scholar. I had to take a long look at Scholar's kit to understand what the developers were going for, especially in regards to how they were to approach the problem that SCH caused for both AST/WHM; The Fairy, as well as SCH's Critlo Spread Combo which was heavily used ever since inception of Deployment Tactics.

How they did this was changing how Shields worked. Adlo now has a buff on a Crit called Catalyze, which adds Shield equal to 100% of the HP Restored. The fix to the Spread Combo was to reduce SCH's contribution to the raid by preventing raid-wide damage(which it can still do, but not as stupidly strong as they are currently, being able to stop a Savage Delta Attack in O11S with no use of LB Gauge). This still incentivizes Deployment Tactics' main use, which is to put it on a Tank that has Convalescence/Nature's Minne on them, and then spread it to the party; but now it isn't basically a 200% Crit Shield based on the healing done for the entire raid, but 225% for the target since Catalyze is not able to be spread across the entire raid.

As for the Fairy, a few adjustments had to be done so that pet jobs weren't so difficult to play for the newer players, but not so infuriating when you try to queue something and they just...cast whatever they're doing, and then do what you ask them to. The fixes to the summons and their casts being Instant helped alleviate A LOT of issues that the Pet System had in its previous iterations, however not a lot of people are happy to see Selene basically be a "skin" for Eos.

In my opinion, I want to think that the developers were having a difficult time creating unique decisions between Eos and Selene, given the fact that Selene's kit wasn't even close to competitive with Eos while also not overpowering the Fairy to where it was in Heavensward; this way, people can have both Eos and Selene which are tied into SCH's storyline and open up their options in both adjusting SCH's contributions and the Fairy's contributions.

Now from what I've read on the forums in regards to SCH's Aetherflow, people have been wanting a DPS ability that would allow them to dump excess Aetherflow. I used to be one of the people who wanted Energy Drain back(without MP Recovery) so that SCH could do its job again, but I then thought: "What if you're supposed to use those with Ruin II, which is 200 potency in Shadowbringers?" That opened up a whole new world of possibilities, and considering the 60s CD and how just about every confident tank under the sun has the "pull everything" mentality, SCH will probably use up those Aetherflows rather quick on Excog, Lustrate, Indomitability, or Sacred Soil(which has a Regen Effect to be competitive vs. Asylum). This also translates into how they will gain their gauge, and in turn allow them to use Fey Union for whatever duration they want; but in general I don't think that SCH needs Energy Drain back as much as people THINK they should have it back because of MP issues that people have foreseen because of DPS constraints.

While on the topic of DPS, Art of War has also been a topic of discussion, and how there's a demand for its MP Cost to go down due to it being 800/10,000 MP for an AoE spell. Generally I think it comes in line with the likes of Holy, but a lot of what SCH did before was abuse Miasma II for oGCDs instead of Ruin II. With the removal of Miasma II, SCH will still be able to weave for a decent potency once they learn Ruin II while also not having to worry about DoTs being their main damage next to Broil. Art of War is there to replace the damage that Miasma II would have done, but make it instant. It balances out with the rest of the kit since Aetherflow can be used for just about anything in 60s(and generally can be used to replace Physicks you'd otherwise be casting or Fey Blessing) and in regards to the overlying MP Issue that people exacerbate, that's why they made Aetherflow more focused on healing aspects in the first place and the trait Quickened Aetherflow synergizes with that rather well, potentially allowing you to have more resources earlier than you'd think once you've used up those stacks.

As for how the Fairy will act, we'll have to see how it works out when Early Access begins since we don't have control over her anymore. It's at least simplified better so that pets aren't a pain in the butt and die to Kefka's Hyperdrive(RIP Fairy) or don't listen.

End Word

For those who read this far, I'm willing to take criticism...which I feel may be overwhelmingly negative considering the nature of the Healer Forum right now, but I'm looking to be constructive. Even if Shadowbringers is 9 days away, just the thought provoking idea in the design is great and completely changes everything about how the game is played at an optimal level compared to how we currently play it now(which is DPS everything, try to always use Stacks on Energy Drain if not needed for anything else, Spread Balance, etc.). I can't wait to see how things unravel when we get the patch notes for Shadowbringers.

[Deceptus]

As for the Fairy, a few adjustments had to be done so that pet jobs weren't so difficult to play for the newer players, but not so infuriating when you try to queue something and they just...cast whatever they're doing, and then do what you ask them to. The fixes to the summons and their casts being Instant helped alleviate A LOT of issues that the Pet System had in its previous iterations, however not a lot of people are happy to see Selene basically be a "skin" for Eos.

In my opinion, I want to think that the developers were having a difficult time creating unique decisions between Eos and Selene, given the fact that Selene's kit wasn't even close to competitive with Eos while also not overpowering the Fairy to where it was in Heavensward; this way, people can have both Eos and Selene which are tied into SCH's storyline and open up their options in both adjusting SCH's contributions and the Fairy's contributions.

In this regard the developers took absolutely, 100% the laziest way out they could.

Instead of balancing the two fairies and giving them more of an identity (Selene the buff or debuff fairy?) They just made her a reskin of Eos.

That would be like telling Summoners, "Well, Titan is useless now so it's going to be a reskin of Ifrit. You get a melee pet and a ranged pet in Garuda. Hope you like it!"

[HyperiusUltima]

In this regard the developers took absolutely, 100% the laziest way out they could.

Instead of balancing the two fairies and giving them more of an identity (Selene the buff or debuff fairy?) They just made her a reskin of Eos.

Well, when you're attempting to design unique decisions, it kinda comes down to not preference, but which is better overall in an optimized setting. Sure, people have run Selene and succeeded before, but they've locked their progression with the Fairy because of the Healer Balance that kept getting worse as SCH kept getting powercrept into supremacy. Even if they had to make it a skin, as I said before they now allow them breathing room to expand on the Fairy in later expansions, should they wish to.

[Sebazy]

It might be old news, but I think I have an idea of what they actually have in mind for changing the Healing Paradigm that apparently is mostly DPS

The thing is, these changes alone do nothing to suggest that anything is changing here. Rather that the act of DPSing is just being dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, namely AST.

As for the changes individually:

Regarding WHM, it's strength in Deltascape was the combination of Thin Air being incredible and SCH being in the worst state any healer's been this side of AST. It was a perfectly solid progression option in Sigmascape as well. Alphascape kind of turned the tables with the encounters suiting AST and it's recent buff spree rather nicely.

I've said it before, but IMHO the WHM changes are mostly pretty solid. The problem is that they once again play into the feeling that the WHM job is forever an expansion behind, a sentiment reinforced by the fact the headline additions to our 5.0 kit is simply fixes for our 4.0 additions. Great work SE..... =/

On AST, this is the job I'm actually quietly concerned for the most. It's base kit is fine. I don't like most of the card changes but I guess I understand why they did it (And the new sleeve draw is a monumental improvement). However the E3 tooltips for many of their oGCDs were alarmingly bad and most critically, the skill ceiling and rewards for advanced play took a hammering with the loss of Time Dilation and Collective Opposition. Anyone who proudly proclaims that AST was purely about fishing for balance can frankly go spin on my globe. An AST playing at the top level would be trying to align as much stuff as possible with their CO. Extending an AoE balance, Cleric Stance, a Regen and ideally even CU was the gold standard to aim for and it could be very tricky to pull off if you weren't in a group that was running like clockwork. That entire facet of the class has been wiped out with this change and it'll only be worse off for it.

For SCH, again, the skill ceiling was the biggest loss here. But it's also worth noting that the job simply won't flow with the same pace that it did before. The loss of oGCDs coupled with the loss of APM from fairy micro management is another step back.

On a positive note, it's interesting to see a few healing up abilities seemingly reverting back to boosting non spell based heals though. I can see WHM/SCH/MNK being a nigh obligatory combination to counter the loss of VIT melds for early progression if the tooltips shown so far are to be believed.

Even if Shadowbringers is 9 days away, just the thought provoking idea in the design is great and completely changes everything about how the game is played at an optimal level compared to how we currently play it now(which is DPS everything, try to always use Stacks on Energy Drain if not needed for anything else, Spread Balance, etc.). I can't wait to see how things unravel when we get the patch notes for Shadowbringers.

Again, whilst I agree with your sentiment that the changes certainly aren't all bad. I'm still curious as to how you feel that these things change the whole DPS is everything angle of high end play. WHM's additions basically give them back some of the DPS they would have lost when forced to move. AST's changes literally change their previously somewhat flexible card system into something that is literally only DPS additions. It's only really SCH that's taken a hit in this department by way of the loss of their DPS oGCDs and the removal of any incentive to play hot potato with Aetherflow charges.

And completely agreed with Deceptus's opening comment.

My biggest take away from 5.0's grand healer rebalancing is that it just feels lazy, rushed and half-baked. Note, I'll be the first to acknowledge that SE's job design team is anything but lazy IMHO, they are just massively overworked/understaffed.

[Ilenya]

That opened up a whole new world of possibilities, and considering the 60s CD and how just about every confident tank under the sun has the "pull everything" mentality, SCH will probably use up those Aetherflows rather quick on Excog, Lustrate, Indomitability, or Sacred Soil(which has a Regen Effect to be competitive vs. Asylum).

Oh boy do I hope this is the case, because if it's anything like previous, I would literally use *maybe* two Aetherflow on healing in large pulls before (Excog, and if needed, Lustrate. If not, ED), the Third usually on Bane. I really doubt there will be a whole lot different this expansion that'll change that.

Frankly, however, we do need something to use an aetherflow stack on the occasions we don't need to heal and Aetherflow is back up. I thought something simple, like a skill that just gives 20 gauge for an Aetherflow stack, or maybe just a trait on the skill that says "If any Aetherflow stacks remain when this skill is used, gain X Fey Gauge." Just something for those moments when you don't need all 3 stacks in a minute, but don't want to be wasting potential.

[HyperiusUltima]

The thing is, these changes alone do nothing to suggest that anything is changing here. Rather that the act of DPSing is just being dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, namely AST.

One thing I've always considered to be good about complexity is that it creates engagement and focus; but AST had the balance issue of having too much to handle and use while having a 1.5s cast time, which was unheard of til' they got it in Stormblood just so that the flow of the job can do better. You know what that did? Kicked WHM out of a majority of high-end raid groups, and causing the peer pressure of "We need you to play AST because it's better than WHM", which basing on fact is fine, but festering that kind of environment isn't healthy for the community as a whole, especially to those that are actually just getting into doing Extreme Trials or Savage Raids. Even though meeting DPS Checks is the goal post, forcing someone to change to something they are foreign to doesn't help. With the reduction to AST's utilities(Damage Increase, MP Recovery, TP Recovery, Crit Rate, Damage Reduction, Haste from Stormblood) it puts them in a place where they aren't a necessity since all they do now is raise overall damage with cards and also have decent healing despite people not liking how some of them are looking to be used.

Regarding WHM, it's strength in Deltascape was the combination of Thin Air being incredible and SCH being in the worst state any healer's been this side of AST. It was a perfectly solid progression option in Sigmascape as well. Alphascape kind of turned the tables with the encounters suiting AST and it's recent buff spree rather nicely.

That's really all WHM was: A Progression option which honestly is the best it could be given both SCH/AST are more complex than WHM is by a certain degree of gameplay, along with the MP Management that comes with it if you're going hard for parse. Also, Alphascape was around when AST got its 1.5s Malefic Buff for fluency, which as a design decision should've been spread to WHM, who didn't have one at the time. Having the capability to have a .5s of GCD to use an oGCD was a significant advantage that could not be overlooked when people were looking for a healer and solidified it in the meta(again).

The problem is that they once again play into the feeling that the WHM job is forever an expansion behind, a sentiment reinforced by the fact the headline additions to our 5.0 kit is simply fixes for our 4.0 additions.

As much as it sounds, I can understand the issues that WHM currently has; however, do remember that AST had to keep getting constant buffs in Heavensward: Why? Because they were too weak for the Savage content to even be considered viable. In Midas they got some screen time, but by Creator they were dominant. The same pattern has followed us in Stormblood as well, and the powercreep from Earthly Star also makes it substantially stronger than Assize in regards to freeing up healing for DPS due to its ludicrous potency with Giant Dominance and its base healing kit being NEARLY IDENTICAL to WHM outside of a few gimmicks. The same happened with SCH here in Stormblood too when they first hit the job with the nerf hammer, given it was dominant for all of Heavensward because of Shields; that's changed so that Critlo Spread isn't the strongest option anymore. They got better healing AND better tools in the form of Chain Strat, which solidified it as the best healer in the game next to having the fairy. The same result, different scenario happened because of powercreep alone; oh, and let's not forget them not touching WHM all expansion until 4.5 despite the outcry and massive amounts of feedback regarding Lilies and their extreme redundancy.

However the E3 tooltips for many of their oGCDs were alarmingly bad and most critically, the skill ceiling and rewards for advanced play took a hammering with the loss of Time Dilation and Collective Opposition. Anyone who proudly proclaims that AST was purely about fishing for balance can frankly go spin on my globe. An AST playing at the top level would be trying to align as much stuff as possible with their CO. Extending an AoE balance, Cleric Stance, a Regen and ideally even CU was the gold standard to aim for and it could be very tricky to pull off if you weren't in a group that was running like clockwork. That entire facet of the class has been wiped out with this change and it'll only be worse off for it.

Time Dilation extension of Regens was definitely a factor because they were mainly used on the tank to extend damage time outside of oGCD healing with ED or other sources; Regen couldn't even match up to that from WHM to make a fair comparison, but using Time Dilation to also extend buffs was a major factor in their giant rDPS that was shown on FFLogs that eventually led to them overpowering WHM as the stats kept increasing over patches. Same goes for abusing CO, which was insanely good to have given it's just a 10s extension of every buff under the sun.

For SCH, again, the skill ceiling was the biggest loss here. But it's also worth noting that the job simply won't flow with the same pace that it did before. The loss of oGCDs coupled with the loss of APM from fairy micro management is another step back.

The Fairy was already problematic for newer players to begin with because the pet system had quirks to it that were counter-intuitive. You can ask the SMNs regarding how their egi won't respond when they want Contagion... It made more sense just to give SCH the buttons to press rather than have it in a 'pet queue' system that relied on you either macroing the hell out of it or have your fairy cast X Skill too late and have your party die. As for the skill ceiling, it got reduced some, but it's still there because it's now about how you manage your MP overall between DPS and Healing. SCH has the advantage of Aetherflow, but they still have to make decisions on WHAT they're going to use those stacks on.

I'm still curious as to how you feel that these things change the whole DPS is everything angle of high end play. WHM's additions basically give them back some of the DPS they would have lost when forced to move. AST's changes literally change their previously somewhat flexible card system into something that is literally only DPS additions. It's only really SCH that's taken a hit in this department by way of the loss of their DPS oGCDs and the removal of any incentive to play hot potato with Aetherflow charges.

And completely agreed with Deceptus's opening comment.

My biggest take away from 5.0's grand healer rebalancing is that it just feels lazy, rushed and half-baked. Note, I'll be the first to acknowledge that SE's job design team is anything but lazy IMHO, they are just massively overworked/understaffed.

I acknowledge the same with their design team, but it's already been shown on the forums just how ridiculously they're in need of new blood to help open some doors when it comes to job balance. There's even a thread for it I believe you or someone started.

As for how I feel about the DPS on the high-end for Healers? I think I can understand why Yoshida agreed to these changes. He wants to lower the large % of DPSing we're doing and increase the healing amount so that the healers feel like they get to heal something for once, compared to how we're just sitting here right now spamming the same spell over and over and using oGCDs every place we can to heal, along with the peer pressure that the imbalance presents on its own. It's a portion of why a lot of people also jumped ship from WHM to AST in a single patch. There are better solutions, but in general we need to see the in-game calculations done first before we even begin to open that can of worms so as to confirm whether healing has increased or is the same(I'm not entirely sure on Titania because that was using pre-sets at E3).

On an additional note, AST's card system wasn't necessarily flexible outside of knowing what your damage cards(Spear, Balance, Arrow) were and your resource/utility cards(Bole, Ewer, Spire) were, with the Spire being nigh useless unless you are in heavy AoE situations along with Ewer sometimes getting use for yourself, your co-healer, or your BRD(Foes). Bole was really, really situational given how Tanks can rotate CDs and it's really only just to help mitigate fluff damage. Even then, only 4 cards were actually useful for Royal Road: Spear, Arrow, Ewer, and Spire. AoE and Duration Extension were big plays to make, especially if considering applying Time Dilation or setting up a combo with CO for a huge raid potency increase, while 1.5x effects weren't very useful except in very niche situations where you'd need Ewer or Spire.

[Ilenya]

The Fairy was already problematic for newer players to begin with because the pet system had quirks to it that were counter-intuitive. You can ask the SMNs regarding how their egi won't respond when they want Contagion... It made more sense just to give SCH the buttons to press rather than have it in a 'pet queue' system that relied on you either macroing the hell out of it or have your fairy cast X Skill too late and have your party die. As for the skill ceiling, it got reduced some, but it's still there because it's now about how you manage your MP overall between DPS and Healing. SCH has the advantage of Aetherflow, but they still have to make decisions on WHAT they're going to use those stacks on.

I am unsure if it was the case for Summoners, but at some point over the patch cycle SE made it so that telling the Faerie to use anything would make it instantly stop anything it was doing to use the ability. I never had to spam click to trigger the skills after that. We got our quality of life faerie change that you are saying was an issue.

Also, our aetherflow options are heal, AoE heal, delayed heal, and shield with regen. I don't really actually find that to be much of a variety.

[SublimeIbanez]

I am unsure if it was the case for Summoners, but at some point over the patch cycle SE made it so that telling the Faerie to use anything would make it instantly stop anything it was doing to use the ability. I never had to spam click to trigger the skills after that. We got our quality of life faerie change that you are saying was an issue.

Also, our aetherflow options are heal, AoE heal, delayed heal, and shield with regen. I don't really actually find that to be much of a variety.

The faerie skills were changed to abilities outside of embrace. I don't have to spam click them or interrupt their embrace cast by moving them or putting them on steady to force them to do what I want anymore, which is amazing. I mean there are a few select times where "maybe" I misclicked or "maybe" she just didn't want to whispering dawn, but yeah....

[Kalise]

Well, when you're attempting to design unique decisions, it kinda comes down to not preference, but which is better overall in an optimized setting. Sure, people have run Selene and succeeded before, but they've locked their progression with the Fairy because of the Healer Balance that kept getting worse as SCH kept getting powercrept into supremacy. Even if they had to make it a skin, as I said before they now allow them breathing room to expand on the Fairy in later expansions, should they wish to.

To be honest... While SCH is copying SMN in getting a new Demi summon (Seraph), they could have also copied SMN in having summons being instant.

In fact, instant cast summons makes way more sense for SCH than it does for SMN. Since SMN is 99.99% of the time Ifrit 24/7 with Garuda being used for Dungeons because AoE for mass pulls while lulTitan remains lulTitan.

Meanwhile, even with the current Fairies, SCH can actually get some use from swapping between them. Like, I've used Selene a bunch in Eureka because instant, AoE Esuna is quite useful. For example when fighting Dux in Pyros multiple people often get hit by Shock and get paralyzed. Or farming for things like Luigi/Penny and the trash apply that massive damage Poison to the tank.

All they had to do was alter Silent Dusk (Since CC is worthless...) and Fey Wind (Since they want to tone down rDPS boosts) for other niche utilities and then people could easily swap between the 2 forms during a fight to access different utility skills.

Since, trying to make them "Equally good" is not needed if you don't have to sit through a cast to swap. Especially when their actions are on 60/120s CD's so having them constantly at your side isn't necessary (Both have the same Embrace skill)

Just a matter of dividing up SCH's utility between the 2 Fairies and you're good to go.

Though, instead they just deleted a bunch of SCH's skills and copied Demi's from SMN (Would have been way more interesting to have just Lily and swap between Eos/Selene. Heck, you could have even had some other alterations, such as Selene shielding with Embrace/Fey Union while Eos healed like normal. Especially given that Seraph is literally just Lily but with more potency...)

[GrimGale]

Now from what I've read on the forums in regards to SCH's Aetherflow, people have been wanting a DPS ability that would allow them to dump excess Aetherflow. I used to be one of the people who wanted Energy Drain back(without MP Recovery) so that SCH could do its job again, but I then thought: "What if you're supposed to use those with Ruin II, which is 200 potency in Shadowbringers?" That opened up a whole new world of possibilities, and considering the 60s CD and how just about every confident tank under the sun has the "pull everything" mentality, SCH will probably use up those Aetherflows rather quick on Excog, Lustrate, Indomitability, or Sacred Soil(which has a Regen Effect to be competitive vs. Asylum). This also translates into how they will gain their gauge, and in turn allow them to use Fey Union for whatever duration they want; but in general I don't think that SCH needs Energy Drain back as much as people THINK they should have it back because of MP issues that people have foreseen because of DPS constraints.

Problem is, what happens when you have Aetherflow comming out of CD and you still have Aetherflow stacks. Remember, using aetherflow stacks grants fairy gauge which will be necessary for Consolation, Fairy Veil and Fairy Tether. If SCH's game play revolves around building Fairy Gauge (FG) then not using all stacks on CD is basically playing suboptimally, since you are not bulding as much resource as you could be. Indomitability, Excogitation and Sacred Soil all have CDs so Lustrate is the only heal that you can *spend* on demand- Are we really going to overheal to get that FG up? Seems counter intuitive.

While I don't advocate specifically for Energy Drain to be back, I'd love to have a skill to at least get some use of aetherflow stacks when no healing is needed. Doesn't need to be a Dps or even an MP restoring skill. It could simply be something that gives you extra FG- 20 instead of the normal 10.

Or if you want to focus on healing, how about this?

Fairy Charge- Charges your Fairy with your aether, granting it's next Pet Action/Embrace an increase of potency of X- Grants 20 Fairy gauge.

That'd make up for both the loss of ED and Rouse