Healer is in need because they didn't add a Healer since 3.0

[LariaKirin]

First month was nothing but heals in need. There wasn't a boycott, but there was an extreme shortage of healers.

Even when it does say something other than healer (say tank), I've queued as a tank and had a 5m wait. Switched to heals, instant pop.

The system isn't 100% accurate.

That's not a shortage of healers, though. It's a surplus of tanks/dps (specifically, GNB and DNC). There's a difference.

The surplus of tanks/dps has since dwindled because people are pretty much done checking out the new toys.

The inaccuracy works both ways: "Even when it does say something other than tank (say healer), I've queued as a healer and had a 5m wait. Switched to tank, instant pop."
I wouldn't even say it's inaccurate. It's simply not real-time. So, if it updates every 5 minutes (arbitrary number for example purposes), you see the situation as it was up to 5 minutes ago.

[Naychan]

Why would you want a 4th healer when they have issues with 3?
So we have 2 working healers and 2 broken ones?

Going by past performance your math is off. We would have one working healer (the new one) and 3 that are soo messed up most people would rage quit.

[EaMett]

How do you get to the conclusion that "healers are in really low numbers" from that?

The data does not say what you think it says. When you look at statistical data, you have to understand the methodology.

The number assigned to each job is based on how many people have unlocked that job. I have unlocked every job and I am a healer main. Yet, as a statistic I account for: 11 DPS, 4 Tanks, 3 Healers.

You could look at level 80 data, which would kind of give you a better idea of what people are main-ing, but not really. I'm still a healer main. Yet in level 80 data I account for 2 healers and 2 DPS.

Looking at item level data (i430+ weapon). The only way this data can be obtained is by looking at the currently selected job, which is based on your last logoff. If I just crafted something and logged off as a WVR, then I'm counted as a WVR.

Even ignoring these factors which make lodestone data inaccurate - looking at the link you posted, the healer numbers seem pretty damn healthy to me.

This is only one server. But you get the point. This data is neither sufficient, nor accurate enough to draw that conclusion.

There was plenty of data on the methodology where I originally found the link and the data-center data (as opposed to servers). Your example of how it works is a little inaccurate, this wasn't data from a single scan, also a single scan can still get more information than just the current job.

To add to this, even IF it was a single scan and could only check the current job (which I have to reiterate isn't the case) statistically the likelihood of anyone being on an alt is equal across the data set. So over a large enough set it evens out and the data is still representative of the whole. Maybe not in absolute numbers but definitely in proportion. But that is mute anyways because it's not a one and done as data wasn't collected in this fashion.

Also yes you might account for more than 1 healer but a tank or dps might be the same. Yes you might be accounted for in every class but that just basically means you're transparent in the data. Doesn't matter much again as this evens out the bigger your data set gets, you just get included in the fringe cases.

Also 430 weapons makes no sense, you'd want to look at 440+.

[Hysterior]

Going by past performance your math is off. We would have one working healer (the new one) and 3 that are soo messed up most people would rage quit.

haha I was thinking, we probably dont even need healers anymore at this point.
Most people seem to want to focus on DPS, even as healers, so give OGCs heals to everybody and we cut all the healers.

Problem solved. EZPZ

[Duskane]

Honestly pass few times I que up as tank in lvl roulette with healer in need I still get the bonus reward as tank

[Nathanial]

As far as people not healing because of the healer changes, I think the disatisfaction is just a vocal minority. I think that people want to be green dps but that actually a large group of healers who purely heal are satisfied with the changes and just haven't been on forums cause forums are more about complaining than anything else. If all healers have to do is keep people alive and not push dps then that opens the role up more to people who wanted to do harder content without having to help push that dps phase.

[Hatstand]

As far as people not healing because of the healer changes, I think the disatisfaction is just a vocal minority. I think that people want to be green dps but that actually a large group of healers who purely heal are satisfied with the changes and just haven't been on forums cause forums are more about complaining than anything else. If all healers have to do is keep people alive and not push dps then that opens the role up more to people who wanted to do harder content without having to help push that dps phase.

Then how do you explain this poll?

https://i.redd.it/m7yo4tdrmp831.png

Sure, it’s probably skewed a little to the unhappy side, since people who are unhappy are more likely to seek out ways to give feedback, but that should be equally true of all classes. The fact that AST, SCH, and MNK, all scored so badly compared to the other classes indicates that at the very least those three jobs are in a much worse state than the others.

And yes, this poll is from before 5.05, and I don’t know how the AST numbers would have changed, but I can’t imagine that energy drain alone would have flipped all those SCH players from deep blue to red.

[Hatstand]

As far as people not healing because of the healer changes, I think the disatisfaction is just a vocal minority. I think that people want to be green dps but that actually a large group of healers who purely heal are satisfied with the changes and just haven't been on forums cause forums are more about complaining than anything else. If all healers have to do is keep people alive and not push dps then that opens the role up more to people who wanted to do harder content without having to help push that dps phase.

Are you implying that healers should just be along to essentially be carried by the dps? That the only appeal of healing should be that it’s an easy way in to harder content? That is incredibly condescending.

[ImDingDing]

Tank back to be in need now.

[LariaKirin]

There was plenty of data on the methodology where I originally found the link and the data-center data (as opposed to servers). Your example of how it works is a little inaccurate, this wasn't data from a single scan, also a single scan can still get more information than just the current job.

To add to this, even IF it was a single scan and could only check the current job (which I have to reiterate isn't the case) statistically the likelihood of anyone being on an alt is equal across the data set. So over a large enough set it evens out and the data is still representative of the whole. Maybe not in absolute numbers but definitely in proportion. But that is mute anyways because it's not a one and done as data wasn't collected in this fashion.

Also yes you might account for more than 1 healer but a tank or dps might be the same. Yes you might be accounted for in every class but that just basically means you're transparent in the data. Doesn't matter much again as this evens out the bigger your data set gets, you just get included in the fringe cases.

Also 430 weapons makes no sense, you'd want to look at 440+.

I'm only speaking of the data you linked. If you have the data-center data, feel free to post it.

Yes, it is a single scan. There are previous scans and you can compare to them (e.g. Population change charts). But the character data you see is still just a snapshot of the lodestone at one point in time. The profile only includes the gear of the current job, because that is all you can check. It even says so right before the weapon ilvl charts (basically, exactly what I'm saying):

"Class at the time of Lodestone character data acquisition
It is the class reflected in Lodestone at the time of data collection, and not necessarily the main job class."

It is no coincidence that you only get weapon ilvl data for one character per profile:
Combat job profiles (sum of all weapons in the ilvl distribution chart) + Crafter/Gatherer profiles + Blue Mage profiles + Class profiles (no soulstone) = Current active profiles

Yes, over a large enough data set, being on an alt makes no meaningful difference. But that is not the kind of data you have here. You have one snapshot.

If you sum up all unlocked jobs and divide by the active profiles, you'll get an average of 9 unlocked jobs per profile. Statistically that means that every healer main accounts for at least 6 non-healers and every tank main accounts for at least 5 non-tanks.
Having unlocked multiple jobs is not the fringe case. Having only unlocked your main role is the fringe case. This is also reflected in the overwhelming majority of DPS jobs at lower levels - meaning that most people have unlocked DPS jobs, but are not leveling them.

If you sum up ilvl440+ weapons you'll get a healer:tank:dps ratio of around 1:1:3, which seems pretty damn healthy in terms of healers to me.
Presumably, this would indicate what players are maining, but for reasons mentioned before, the data does not and can not tell you what people are maining.
Besides, you've made a sweeping statement that "healers are in really low numbers". Why would I only look at ilvl440+ if I'm trying to address that?

I'm not saying that the data is pointless or that it says nothing. All I'm saying is that it does not support this conclusion: "healers are in really low numbers".