Next new job better be heals

[ty_taurus]

I guess I see your point. However I am sure square can spice up the job with those elements haha. Anyway, I was thinking of Morpher too. With the Nu Mou in the game now I can totally see Morpher becoming a new job. We have nothing in the game like it and it will definitely bring some edge back. It doesn't have to be a limited job either. It can be a regular job. For the job quest. Go out and capture monsters. Take back to the Nu Mou. They work their magic and Bam you can turn into a monster. There are lots of monsters in the game that has healing spells to so it can definitely work. Who knows right Guess we just have to wait. Geomancer or Morpher will be great additions I think. Especially Morpher since there is nothing in the game like it at this point.

I'm not sure if I see Morpher being a thing since they didn't even return the job in FFTA2. Regardless, the jobs in FF14 are kept in a very streamline fashion so that there's no variability in your performance in that job. This is why Blue Mage is limited based on the way it's implemented. They don't want BLU to be queuing for duties despite missing spells or using gimmicky spells that are either useless or flat out OP, at least not for regular progress. This isn't FF11. I could see it maybe as a limited job, but I'd rather they continue developing BLU and let it eventually evolve into a job that actually can perform in a streamline fashion and be used in normal content one day.

Some jobs that I do think are either more likely or could be good editions:

Geomancer - Just because they might use earth/wind/water doesn't mean their application has to be the same as Conjurer's. Lots of jobs have fire attacks, for example, and that doesn't make them Black Mage clones.
Apothecary - Virtually the same as "chemist" that gets talked about a lot. I strongly prefer the name "Apothecary" though because there's less direct overlap with the Alchemist crafting job.
Minstrel/Flautist - This is an odd one since Bard exists, but Bard's more 80% archery, 20% music. It could be cool to have an exclusive musician playing healing songs.
Dreamweaver - Since the BLU has introduced the Whalaquee people of the New World, perhaps we could have someone traveling to Eorzea from there teaching people the art of healing through dreams? Random thought, but I would die for the aesthetic.
Drain Healer - I'd say "Necromancer" falls into this category, which others have also talked about. I'm not really sure how much I like that name though, since that is a fairly traditional class in RPGs that is essentially the opposite of a healer. Something along the lines of that or a Vampire (as seen by Bravely Default) could be feasible.

[Wundermotte]

I'd really like to see the Chemist like a scientist and brewing experiment class.
Like Ninja with their Mudra.
For example:
Using the Skill A + B will result in some reaction (predictable by the user of course) and there would be another skill to throw it!
Elixirs and Potions are pretty good tho, but they lack in healing power, which i rather believe that in Chemist it should be stronger.
Otherwise a Chemist that work with new different kind of concentrated potions, distorted elixirs and umbral ethers.

[Wundermotte]

I'm a very fan of artistic and performance classes in games.
That's why i highly vote for separating the BRD concept from the Archer. Going for Sharpshooter instead.

1 - BRD/MSC: New job based on elements of music to accelerate the pace on the battlefield. Bringing melodic tunes to heal and aid the low-spirited fighters.
The new bard would succeed in the Healer archetype and would fulfill more the idea of a singing, performance class. Pairing very well with AST.
2 - Necromancer / NCM: Channeling the dark arts of necromancy, this new Healer oriented class balances itself on life and death purposes. Using lifelines,
spiritual bonds and necrotic barriers would be a great class to manage damage nullifying, like SCH.
3 - Arithmetician / AMT: Using calculation to fulfill with exact certain their strategy any AMT is a formidable ally and a terrifying enemy. Foreseeing incoming
damage. Reverting, mathematically, any hypothesis of death threat the AMT would be a good friend for WHM enthusiasts.

[MerlinCross]

I'd really like to see the Chemist like a scientist and brewing experiment class.
Like Ninja with their Mudra.
For example:
Using the Skill A + B will result in some reaction (predictable by the user of course) and there would be another skill to throw it!
Elixirs and Potions are pretty good tho, but they lack in healing power, which i rather believe that in Chemist it should be stronger.
Otherwise a Chemist that work with new different kind of concentrated potions, distorted elixirs and umbral ethers.

Gadgeteer/Engineer. Make it a tech/chemical healer from the Empire as they don’t like White Magic. Sure the conscripts use it but full blooded Garleans need a way to heal without it.

[Saefinn]

On the note of WHM and elements, personally I’d rather see them return rather than given to another job. WHM is the counterpart to BLM. They have an dark and light thing going, which means one gets a light focus and certain elements associated (stone, air and water) and the other a dark focus and the elements associated (thunder, fire and ice) and to push the holy focus at the loss of elements feels like a departure to WHM’s theme, whilst BLM is there embracing theirs.

So ,y argument is to bring back rocks and aero and finally give a decent water spell. Glare and Dia should be additional spells not upgrades. And by adding a few extra stuff spells WHM would also suddenly have more to and solve that problem.

[Limonia]

WHM and AST make good candidates for the passive healers. These should be designed to appeal to the "thou shalt not DPS" healers where their kits should minimize their reliance on offensive spells.

I don't like this idea at all.
I love WHM thematically and aesthetically. But I also love the idea of doing a lot of dps as a healer. So I would be forced to give up the class I like the design of the most just because it probably wouldn't be fun to play anymore. No thank you. I'd rather have more interesting dps options as WHM. Especially as WHM because it already is the simplest healing job, so it wouldn't become too complicated if you give it something like a dps combo or something like that. Don't make it even simpler and even more passive.

[Risvertasashi]

I don't like this idea at all.

Not only that - SE seemed to be of a similar mindset to ty_taurus for a while and it nearly killed WHM in the raid scene.

[Rasikko]

The concept of DPSing and healing is not rocket science..

[Gemina]

But the cynic in me, past experience and looking at where we are with healers and the damning silence from the devs on it agrees more with Billy. My biggest concern with a 4th healer is that it'll be subject to the same issues we've got and be a bit 'meh'. It'll likely feel good to begin with because new healer role to learn with new shinies, but once the initial novelty goes and the healer problems set in, it'll not feel worth having the 4th healer. I'd prefer them to address the big problem of how healers play. It feels like this problem needs dealing with first IMO.

Ripped the words right out of my mouth. The thing is, the fourth healer will always be subject to the healer status quo. If we don't want that with the current state of healers, it's imperative that it changes.

Unfortunately, I don't think the devs see the biggest healer gripes (can all be boiled down to the amount of downtime the role has) as a problem. I think the way healers are designed now gives them a lot of flexibility with how to design encounters, and giving healers more to do will tighten those windows. In short, encounters would indeed become more difficult and I don't think they are willing to go there. At least not yet. I believe they would like to get the percentage up of those who participate in EX and Savage before they do that. This is just speculation on my part though.

Even though I think the current state of healers should be resolved before bringing in a 4th, I seriously doubt that it's gating the devs from making that decision. I think there is a lot of pressure on SE to bring in a 4th healer in 6.0 or it will be riot in the streets. I believe it's coming whether or not the game is ready.

The issue then becomes why they cannot give us more to do DPS-wise if they are not going to change up encounter design and/or healing requirements. Well, in an official statement (though not word for word) they said that the reason for not giving healers a more complex DPS rotation was because they don't want healers losing focus from their primary function in a party, which is something data retrieval would show, and could easily be pulled up for them if they looked into encounters of all types prior to ShB.

It's tough for me not to side with the devs here. I'm willing to wager they do have that conclusive data that shows KOs happening that could have been prevented. It's likely happened to all of us when not playing a healer, or unable to sustain ourselves when playing a healer: We see our health sub 50% with an incoming attack, and the healer chooses an offensive GCD instead of a restorative one; or when we are lying on the ground waiting for a rez, and go-go happy healer is DPSing away with a full bar of mana. This happens even today as of patch 5.25 despite the lack of things for healers to do.

Every expansion has shown a repetition in healers and their behaviour, and from a bird's eye view, it would seem that DPS skills have gradually and continuously been stripped away from healers in response. There is a direct contradiction with how a large demographic of the playerbase wants healers to play with how the devs themselves envision healers in FFXIV. In short, 6.0 doesn't look good for the healers of that mindset. Again though, this is all purely speculation based on what I've observed over the years. I've never taken a healer into relevant savage or ultimate, and its these encounters that SE will base everything on, and let the rest snowball down into the casual stuff.

[ty_taurus]

I don't like this idea at all.
I love WHM thematically and aesthetically. But I also love the idea of doing a lot of dps as a healer. So I would be forced to give up the class I like the design of the most just because it probably wouldn't be fun to play anymore. No thank you. I'd rather have more interesting dps options as WHM. Especially as WHM because it already is the simplest healing job, so it wouldn't become too complicated if you give it something like a dps combo or something like that. Don't make it even simpler and even more passive.

What I suggested for WHM though wasn't less DPS overall. Just instead of standing there and mashing Glare into oblivion, you focus on healing, then blast the enemy with potentially a stronger Afflatus spell, then try and get lilies back so you can keep blasting that spell.