Changing all or almost all heals to off-global cooldowns

[Shurrikhan]

I think that's the way to go if they want to let healers evolve to match the way players use them. Increase the variety of GCD dps moves in their rotation, while bolstering the oGCD healing kit so that healing is done through instant abilities alone except in the most extreme cases that a pause in dpsing is needed for a GCD spell type heal. So basically just accepting the way they are already being used and double down on it, make it more fun.

The thing is, though, healers can only get away with using no GCD heals precisely because their oGCDs are so powerful and damage intake is so low and predictable (meaning that 90+% of the time tank-healer pairs can play around a far lower HP margin without additional risk). That's not because GCDs are inherently useless; it's because they've been actively made superfluous.

[JunseiKei]

Speaking from a WHM's perspective, the only heal I have that I'd like to see be changed from GCD to oGCD is Regen. With Solace, Rapture, plus our other GCD heals, I don't see a reason to change the others to oGCD,

[PondHollow]

As of 5.0, everything a tank does contributes to tanking so long as their enmity generator is active.

Good point, and it brings to mind the possibility of passive healing via offensive-oriented spells, perhaps with a stance. At present there's only Earthly Star and Assize if I recall correctly, but the effect could be tacked on to all or most spells.

[Corbeau]

I would greatly enjoy fistweaving in this game.

[Shurrikhan]

I would greatly enjoy fistweaving in this game.

Don't we already do exactly that the vast majority of the time, just without needing to be in melee range?

[Toystore]

I would say the closer answer is exactly reversed in regards to better healer design:

Change all heals to GCD. There's no need for instant OGCDs with the entire fights being scripted. Changing all heals to OGCDs just begs the question as to why healers exist in the first place. If healing damage is just an afterthought that interferes with actual GCD action and is a nuisance rather than a part of the role. Just make everyone a dps class, make them personally responsible for not standing in bad or eating mechanics, and cut out the middle man of healing lost hit points entirely. Savage fights are already halfway there to begin with.

[Gemina]

I would say the closer answer is exactly reversed in regards to better healer design:

Change all heals to GCD. There's no need for instant OGCDs with the entire fights being scripted. Changing all heals to OGCDs just begs the question as to why healers exist in the first place.

Exactly! It's what I've been stressing about since 4.2 or so. The way I see things is the cast times are key. These jobs are casters after all, and as the devs have continuously gone away from GCD healing, the further they put themselves from their "pure healer" vision.

Pruning the healer DPS kits was honestly like killing perfectly good grass to get rid of weeds, and then the weeds survive. They tampered with what wasn't even causing problems for healers to begin with. The glaring issue with healers that they cannot seem to grasp are the ogcd heals, and encounter design. Both of which went even further in the direction of problematic in ShB. Now healers are still every bit of a green DPS as they ever where, but many feel less engaged because DPSing as a healer is about as fun as counting grains of sand.

In short, we are stagnant until SE finally stops trying to fix the disposal when the problem is the kitchen sink. I don't think they realize how OKAY most healers are with having to heal more. I love it when bosses do back-to-back-to-back AoE. Makes it feel those shields and regens are actually necessary to survive. I want more of that, Make 'em bleed SE! We'll patch 'em. I promise.

[Flay_wind]

Exactly! It's what I've been stressing about since 4.2 or so. The way I see things is the cast times are key. These jobs are casters after all, and as the devs have continuously gone away from GCD healing, the further they put themselves from their "pure healer" vision.

Pruning the healer DPS kits was honestly like killing perfectly good grass to get rid of weeds, and then the weeds survive. They tampered with what wasn't even causing problems for healers to begin with. The glaring issue with healers that they cannot seem to grasp are the ogcd heals, and encounter design. Both of which went even further in the direction of problematic in ShB. Now healers are still every bit of a green DPS as they ever where, but many feel less engaged because DPSing as a healer is about as fun as counting grains of sand.

In short, we are stagnant until SE finally stops trying to fix the disposal when the problem is the kitchen sink. I don't think they realize how OKAY most healers are with having to heal more. I love it when bosses do back-to-back-to-back AoE. Makes it feel those shields and regens are actually necessary to survive. I want more of that, Make 'em bleed SE! We'll patch 'em. I promise.

I recently got The Burn again on my WHM in a roulette. Mist Dragon was fun. That's the fight where you can't just throw a few regens and dps away. We definitely need more fights like that.

[Lodi]

Exactly! It's what I've been stressing about since 4.2 or so. The way I see things is the cast times are key. These jobs are casters after all, and as the devs have continuously gone away from GCD healing, the further they put themselves from their "pure healer" vision.

Pruning the healer DPS kits was honestly like killing perfectly good grass to get rid of weeds, and then the weeds survive. They tampered with what wasn't even causing problems for healers to begin with. The glaring issue with healers that they cannot seem to grasp are the ogcd heals, and encounter design. Both of which went even further in the direction of problematic in ShB. Now healers are still every bit of a green DPS as they ever where, but many feel less engaged because DPSing as a healer is about as fun as counting grains of sand.

In short, we are stagnant until SE finally stops trying to fix the disposal when the problem is the kitchen sink. I don't think they realize how OKAY most healers are with having to heal more. I love it when bosses do back-to-back-to-back AoE. Makes it feel those shields and regens are actually necessary to survive. I want more of that, Make 'em bleed SE! We'll patch 'em. I promise.

Can't agree more, except on one thing: healers are more green dps than ever. The constant addition of ogcd heals with each expansion means we can spend more and more time dealing damage, our gcd heals are becoming more useless every two years. Back in HW, we had to choose between heals and dps, it was impossible to do both at the same time. Hell, I even found some savage logs where healers casted their basic heal spell more often than their nuke.

I wish healing was a complex task, and not something we can handwave thanks to all our instant heals. I want to be forced to stop and heal, and not just cast Medica II every two minutes.

I don't think I'd be wrong if I claimed that healers want healing to be a challenge, not an activity as complex as clipping your fingernails when they get too long.

[Eisenhower]

In short, we are stagnant until SE finally stops trying to fix the disposal when the problem is the kitchen sink. I don't think they realize how OKAY most healers are with having to heal more. I love it when bosses do back-to-back-to-back AoE. Makes it feel those shields and regens are actually necessary to survive. I want more of that, Make 'em bleed SE! We'll patch 'em. I promise.

SQEX have designed themselves into a corner by this point - both in terms of actual implementation, but also in philosophy. On several occasions they've claimed that they wish for the game to be accessible to many demographics, among which MMO novices has been highlighted. To cater to novice and "casual" players, the difficulty in the game is very low. Even 80 levels into the game, content labeled "hard" and "expert" only set players against basic mechanics and interactions, and often only one at a time. I don't mean to disparage players that have limited time or other hindrances to their performance, but by setting the bar so low it becomes increasingly difficult to marry the job design and intent with the reality of how the game is played.

As long as our tools are as plentiful as they are and as powerful as they are, in the face of the terribly basic challenges that entail the commonplace content, healers with any modicum of skill will gravitate towards dealing damage and oGCD healing.