To healers enjoying 5.0: a gil for your thoughts?

[Fynlar]

For me as WHM: faster Cures, more potent Regen, faster and cheaper Holy, a 30 second DoT instead of 18, a more intuitive Plenary Indulgence (I never really used the original ability much due to how cumbersome it was; I just wish PLD's Divine Veil could have gotten similar treatment), a defensive cooldown for the party, and an actually meaningful job gauge.

All we really lost for all this was Aero 3, and I'm okay with that tbh. Just means more holyholyholy spam.

[Alphras]

No no no no, I didn't get blamed by a group or anything. I passively do Extreme and Savage but that might change this expansion thanks to a new small FC I got dragged into.

But it seems Healers, and Tanks, were expected to push a lot more damage by the community to the point of Tanks turning off Stances to do so. Now that Tanks have full damage, they can't get blamed for being behind anymore really. Healers however...,

Well nothing changed for healers in that regard. Damage for tanks is built into their kit with shadowbringers, but healers still need to decide between healing and dps. You will still be expected to deal damage in downtimes, which there is a huge amount of in the current lvl 80 encounters and I don't really think anything will change in the raids for fear of killing off the raid scene again with too difficult encounters.

[Aomine1992]

I personally love AST, I thought the card thing was going to annoy me but I really enjoy it more now. I feel like all my cards mean something now even if they are essentially all are the same in ways.

Divination could use some tweaking, it doesn’t feel that impactful but otherwise I love the job and I’m sorry that some arnt liking it.

[Laphael]

So i lvled SCH to 80 now and i like. I have to use my entire healing-kit to keep the Tank alive in big pulls. If i can throw some dots and Art of War, even better.
The incoming dmg is higher than before and my heals overall feel weaker, but its not like i have to spam physik. As someone who doesn´t really do savage its the first time in FF14 that i have to plan my healing-cooldowns during big pulls, that feels great.
I also used Dissipation for the first time ever in the lvl 75 dungeon.

P.S. Seraph rocks.

[LegoTechnic]

So i lvled SCH to 80 now and i like. I have to use my entire healing-kit to keep the Tank alive in big pulls. If i can throw some dots and Art of War, even better.
The incoming dmg is higher than before and my heals overall feel weaker, but its not like i have to spam physik. As someone who doesn´t really do savage its the first time in FF14 that i have to plan my healing-cooldowns during big pulls, that feels great.
I also used Dissipation for the first time ever in the lvl 75 dungeon.

P.S. Seraph rocks.

This is always the sentiment at the start of every expansion. See if you feel the same in a few weeks (spoiler: odds are you won't).

P.S. Seraph is fun.

[Granyala]

Honestly?
Healing feels no different at 80 compared to 70.
Maybe that will change when my group and I will venture into ex/savage but as it stands, I don't get what the fuss is about.

I do find DPSing a tad too baindead though. having only 1 DoT and mashing the other button like there is no tomorrow.... not exactly my cup of tea.
Content needs to hit harder. A LOT harder to make me heal more.

[Poisonous]

Personally enjoying Scholar at 80 in the extreme trials, dungeons, etc. Older content feels pretty bad, but I'm overall happy with the current state of my class. I appreciate having more healing tools, healing feels more fun, and I can still try to optimize my DPS as much as possible. For once I'm excited to solo heal. Haven't healed 80 content with White Mage but it felt fun, just not my style.

[RyuDragnier]

Honestly?
Healing feels no different at 80 compared to 70.
Maybe that will change when my group and I will venture into ex/savage but as it stands, I don't get what the fuss is about.

Most of the complaints dealing with SCH seem to have been DPS complaints and MP complaints. DPS isn't our primary job (it's a reward for healing well), and I have yet to see any MP problems, even when I spam Art of War. I may bottom out, but the MP comes back so fast via Lucid Dreaming that I don't see it as a problem.

[Warkupo]

One of the re-occurring arguments I see against healer changes in 5.0 is that a lot of healers feel their job somehow became less complex or interesting because their DPS was consolidated to fewer buttons instead of being spread out over a bunch of different dots or single target affects. I suppose I'm in another camp regarding this as I actually would prefer if other jobs followed suite; It's silly to me that Paladin's Royal Authority combo needs to be spread out over three buttons that I am always going to hit sequentially in the exact same order when they could have very easily been a single button that I hit three times. Samurai's offensive Kit could only take up 3 spots on my bar instead of 9. Dragoon wouldn't have to be a mess.

What I'm seeing from healers is the initial shock (and sometimes anger) that so much of their kit appears to be trimmed down and assuming this means their DPS was neutered, and then coming to accept the changes as they stick with the job to find that the gameplay they were used too has not actually changed that dramatically. The finesse of a Green-DPS is not in needlessly complex combos like a Red-DPS, but in managing your DPS moves with keeping your party alive and responding to enemy mechanics. That gameplay is still there and so I'm still very much able to enjoy healers.

tl;dr: More buttons doesn't mean the job is more complex.

The jobs still feel DIFFERENT ENOUGH to me that each one feels like it has its own identify. Whitemage is direct and powerful, but its power is measured by how good it can manage cast times against mechanics. It has a lot of insta-cures now which makes balancing healer duties and DPS duties a lot more viable, but I still need to consider DPS cast times and whether or not I need to cut losses and move or commit to an attack.

Scholar is able to shoot n' move much easier thanks to Art of War not having a cast time, but lacks the damage mitigating stun of Holy. Broil can always be cancelled into Ruin if necessary, or you can try to cook a Broil and then follow up with Ruin for a big burst of damage if you anticipate needing to run around for a bit. The fairy lets you focus more on DPS for mob encounters without being so powerful that you can ignore being a healer for boss fights.

Astrologian's cards now all do something useful so you never feel like getting a certain card is a "waste", but still keeps it's annoying level of micromanaging to try and find JUST THE RIGHT CARD to get that sweet damage bonus that never really feels worth the effort. OKay I still don't like Astrologian, but I hate it a little less than I did before so that sort of counts for something?

I assume the people having MP issues just aren't using Lucid Dreaming on cooldown or taking advantage of their free-cures before panic-spamming heals (which is also a dps loss). I've not really been having MP issues on any job provided my party was at least semi-competent and appropriately geared. Then again, those dumpster-fire parties are sometimes fun as a test of skill too.

[NanaWiloh]

Too those playing Ast who are not 80 wait until you get to 80 cause thats when the pain sets in hard. When you heal your tank and their hp dont move cause the bosses auto attack erased it like it never happened. Or Casting 2x Benefic II's just to get a 80k HP dps back up to %50+ HP or the constant feeling that you need neutral sect up 24/7 so your healing feels like its doing something. Healing gets in the way of card hunting more then your experiencing right now. I love Ast still maining but dont be fooled by what your seeing while leveling.

I still enjoy it and will continue too but its got issues that are not clear while leveling.