Oh, this thread is back.

[obligatory witty comment about a necro before I reply]



Quote Originally Posted by Duraeus_Entenu View Post
I'm a Pure White Mage. Have been since I started this game (and this is my first MMORPG). I can't act like I don't think there's anything missing from the lineup, but at the same time, there hasn't been an RPG where being the healer was ever easy. Healers have the hardest job of them all, precisely because they have to focus on keeping their comrades alive.
This game is not centered around healers being a “pure” healer—meaning that healers are not expected by the community to stand around and do nothing but heal—they are expected to contribute to damage in most types of content, with very few exceptions (e.g., being new to a fight).

Heals are extremely overpowered right now and healers have a ton of healing tools at their disposal, so healers that do not contribute to damage find themselves standing around 80% of the time in most content. Which means you are only active and participating in the content 20% of the time. No other role is allowed to be active 20% of the time, so it is unfair to the party you are in for you to perform in this way. Especially as you get to the higher levels (I see that you are listed as only being level 43; I’m not sure if this is accurate or not, but that is what your forum profile says)—you get more heals and more tools that makes healing even easier to do.

The other healing classes, like Astrologer and Scholar, and certain other jobs that also have healing ability, can't focus on team survivability, because that's not their prime role.
Uh, Astrologian and Scholar are also healers and can output just as much HPS as White Mage can. This last tier, AST actually overtook WHM as the prog healer because it could match WHM in HPS and contribute to raid damage with card buffs—Earthly Star blows anything WHM has out of the water, as does Essential Dignity.

I think you’re misinformed if you think AST/SCH cannot heal as much as a WHM can. WHM’s burst healing is not a very good utility in this game because it’s generally not even needed.

The healer, the White Mage, is a pure job, in action as well as name. Survival as a lone White Mage; it's hard. I spent the first chunk of my gameplay on my own, no parties or groups or Free Companies, so I suffered, and died, a lot. A LOT. -.-' And I was told by many I should just cross-job, even a little, just to get the knowledge. But in my eyes, and based on my original intentions for my game career, I only wanted to be the one to patch people up and keep them going, because someone has to. I don't mean to get dramatic about this, like it's real life, but even in video games, the healer is the "bones" of the community (military speak). Without them and their specialization, it's not possible.
I personally think you need more experience on the other healers and perhaps other roles to get a better understanding of how this game functions. You seem to have a lot of misconceptions—and more experience will help rectify that. You’ve barely started this game—if you are indeed level 43—so it’s hard for you to really make objective judgements on the healing requirements in this game, if this is the case.

I remember seeing someone mention that as long as players make fewer mistakes, other jobs compensate for the lack of a pure healer. That may be true, but there are lots of ways to make mistakes, and lots of scenarios where mistakes get easier to make, even for seasoned players. Which is precisely why I prefer to be Pure White Mage. My job is easy: stand to the side, watch everyone, and keep them green. Put a protective spell and a helpful effect on them now and again, and generally just do everything in my power to make their job a little less stressful. My job is simple and focused. Willpower and wit is often what I've seen get me through my time in the game. Not just this game, but any game with a healing option. (I once played FF 1 with nothing but a team of White Mages; definitely possible). Anything else that helps that (like pumping up my Hand and Field classes to make items/equipment that helps keep players alive) is a plus.
You don’t need a Pure Healer in this game because healing is so overpowered and outgoing damage is so weak and scripted that it’s just not necessary. At the higher levels, healers can heal content with mostly off-global heals like Earthly Star (AST) or Indomitability (SCH). In the hardest fights in the game, healers have maybe 50% healing casts if they are playing super safe/overhealing. So there is no need for a “pure” healing job in the sense of standing around and doing nothing but healing. This game just doesn’t call for that type of play like other MMOs may (I hear WoW healers generally spend more time healing, either because of less potent heals or more outgoing damage—I’m not sure because I don’t play WoW; just going off of what I have heard).