The Healer Double Standard

[Trunks]

Oh yay, let’s cheer for bad game design because you choose to stick with a job you apparently found boring all those years...

I'll be honest, thinking on it now, why is it NOW suddenly a problem WHM is too simple, when it has always been the simple big heals healer?

Oh this is too rich. We have been complaining with varying regularity since they got rid of Cleric Stance, gutting any semblance of unique gameplay. It got worse with Stormblood, when we got another massive slap in the face as everyone got nifty Job gauges and we all disabled our useless Lilies. For all of Stormblood, people said, "just wait for the next expansion! New healer! Rebalancing!" Ha.

Well, here we are, and now it's "why didn't you quit your garbage class sooner, you big fat faker?" Good grief.

FWIW, I'm going Black Mage now. That doesn't mean I wouldn't love to be a White Mage again, if it didn't put me to sleep (literally - ask my static).

[Jerichai]

Oh this is too rich. We have been complaining with varying regularity since they got rid of Cleric Stance, gutting any semblance of unique gameplay. It got worse with Stormblood, when we got another massive slap in the face as everyone got nifty Job gauges and we all disabled our useless Lilies. For all of Stormblood, people said, "just wait for the next expansion! New healer! Rebalancing!" Ha.

Well, here we are, and now it's "why didn't you quit your garbage class sooner, you big fat faker?" Good grief.

FWIW, I'm going Black Mage now. That doesn't mean I wouldn't love to be a White Mage again, if it didn't put me to sleep (literally - ask my static).

Yes, you're exactly right, healer game play has been dumbed down consistently since HW. That you can see this makes it all the more bewildering that you're seemingly cheering SCH getting dumbed down further as some sort of "just desserts" situation. It's literally a sign that SE is willing to continue to make healers more and more mindless to play. Just because you choose to stick with WHM despite recognizing the damage dealing aspect of the job has been boring for years now doesn't make the SCH and AST players somehow villains in this story facing righteous vengeance.

Also throwing works in people's mouth is straight childish my dude. Never called you fat or a faker. Just said if you were unsatisfied with WHM's gameplay, you were always at liberty to play the other two healers at any point. The existing SCH and AST players didn't force you to stay on that job.

[fantasticm]

That you can see this makes it all the more bewildering that you're seemingly cheering SCH getting dumbed down further as some sort of "just desserts" situation.

I think it's less cheering and more bitter realization that WHM will never be fixed for the better, if this is SE's true answer to healer adjustments. It's difficult to be happy about anything after getting repeatedly kicked in the crotch for years and years. But hey, at least we still have Fluid Aura. My man Fluid Aura... trusty guy. Like an old dog, he's not what he used to be, but I love him all the same. He reminds me of better times.

[Jerichai]

I think it's less cheering and more bitter realization that WHM will never be fixed for the better, if this is SE's true answer to healer adjustments. It's difficult to be happy about anything after getting repeatedly kicked in the crotch for years and years. But hey, at least we still have Fluid Aura. My man Fluid Aura... trusty guy. Like an old dog, he's not what he used to be, but I love him all the same. He reminds me of better times.

And to be completely fair, I can totally get that disappointment. Despite it's huge potencies, WHM hasn't really developed a very interesting identity in all the time since ARR. Combine that with the mechanical clunkiness and issues with general community acceptance, I can totally get why WHM players can feel a continued sense of dissatisfaction and hope one day SE can truly overcome that.

What I can't get behind is the seeming glee some WHMs have expressed on this forum and others over the disappointment SCHs and ASTs have expressed over having large parts of their job upended and dumbed down. It just feels petty.

[fantasticm]

What I can't get behind is the seeming glee some WHMs have expressed on this forum and others over the disappointment SCHs and ASTs have expressed over having large parts of their job upended and dumbed down. It just feels petty.

It's petty, but I can't say I don't understand it either. After being ignored by SE for so long, even something as negative as schadenfreude can feel like real relief. It's a sorry sight, but just like WHM's current advantages, it won't last. I sincerely doubt anyone would feel so bitter if it weren't for the fact that WHM was in the unique position of having their requested fixes eternally ignored, all while seeing AST and SCH get picked up when they were struggling... sometimes sooner than later, and sometimes not. But later is better than never. Obviously this is no one's fault other than SE's, but they are unreachable for us peons, and it is only human for people to take out their frustrations on the nearest targets.

As of now I am in a unique position between pessimism and optimism. I am optimistic AST and SCH will see fixes and that this sort of hostility will not last, because I am pessimistic that SE will return the healers to The Stormblood Status Quo.

[Trunks]

Yes, you're exactly right, healer game play has been dumbed down consistently since HW. That you can see this makes it all the more bewildering that you're seemingly cheering SCH getting dumbed down further as some sort of "just desserts" situation. [...]

Also throwing works in people's mouth is straight childish my dude.

I feel like you must be conflating me with some other poster(s) here because I have never expressed the opinion you're attributing to me. What I have expressed is utter exasperation. Let me spell it out very, very plainly so there can be no confusion. White Mage has been suffering from This Problem for the better part of 3 years. We wanted This Problem addressed by giving White Mage an interesting mechanic of its own that allowed us some engaging gameplay a la the Astrologian cards or fairy micromanagement. Instead, SE gave This Problem to SCH and groin-kicked AST with steel-toed boots. Now, there's a growing sense that the severity of the backlash is going to cause SE to fix These Problems for SCH and AST, while leaving us to press our two buttons. It's even worse because the ShB changes have brought all the Sylphies out of the woodwork to talk about how WHM is just the bee's knees now.

There is a complete lack of trust that SE can touch healers with a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer. SCH expressly does not need buffs, as it's likely already on par with WHM for rDPS contribution in Savage content. AST expressly does need buffs but, forgive us, we've just spent two years either rerolling AST or being replaced by them. All it will take is a few potency changes and we're back where we started.

Edit: So, to be completely clear. Yes, I'd love to see SCH have its gameplay issues addressed. They're badly needed. No, I don't want to see AST in a garbage heap. But by the Twelve I really wish fixing both of those things could be a priority for White Mage for once.