General Community Resistant to Healer Damage?

[Morningstar1337]

I don’t think they would since the game and playerbase are so DPS centric it would be the only healer anyone would ever want. Everyone would want it for everything from dungeons PUGs to statics; why take any other healer when this one could get the clear faster than the rest since its whole kit is (theoretically) focused on damage?

They could go the other route and balance their output to be slightly higher than the other healers for balance but then people would rightfully complain about the low payoff for their efforts; why play this healer when you get the same amount of damage the others get from hitting one button?

It just seems like too much of a balancing nightmare for them to consider it.

Ironically this is one area of healing that homogenization might help them, or at least help some of them. Of course there still needs to be some balance.

[Granyala]

While a support GCD isnt a terrible idea, it does nothing for solo quests and instances.

Nothing needs to be done for solo quests (I level as WHM, so yeah I do know what I am talking about) and why wouldn't group support work in 4 man groups?
AST Cards work there too and are a nice change of pace.

[Deceptus]

Nothing needs to be done for solo quests (I level as WHM, so yeah I do know what I am talking about) and why wouldn't group support work in 4 man groups?
AST Cards work there too and are a nice change of pace.

Agreed.

All of the buff / debuff abilities need to be taken from the DPS and given to healers.

Imagine if instead of trying to balance around regen / shield based healers they could balance around buff / debuff based healers. Next expansion: 2 buff based healers, 2 debuff based healers.

And the reason I can justify asking for the utility to be removed from DPS:

The amount of times I've actually seen them use it has been minimal. Look, if SE wants healers to focus less on DPS they HAVE to give us something to do during the downtime. And if it's not going to be DPS, as a healer I want to be support.

[JohnSpawnVFX]

And the reason I can justify asking for the utility to be removed from DPS:

The amount of times I've actually seen them use it has been minimal. Look, if SE wants healers to focus less on DPS they HAVE to give us something to do during the downtime. And if it's not going to be DPS, as a healer I want to be support.

Why do you think they took away most DPS tools from healers? The amount of times they've actually use it is minimal. They've squandered it, so SE took it away.

(this is how ridiculous taking support from DPS sounds. you don't balance classes having in mind the worst players. that's how they currently ruined healers).

[Granyala]

Another example is if you've ever been dead against a boss that has ample HP left only to watch your team clear it anyway despite no heals from you because you're Ko'd.

That's pretty normal for content you outgear to triviality.
Sadly, that is the case with dungeons even if they are brand new, because they tune them to very old gear.
If you run them with the minimal item level setting, you will notice that creatures hit a bit harder.

[Morningstar1337]

That's pretty normal for content you outgear to triviality.
Sadly, that is the case with dungeons even if they are brand new, because they tune them to very old gear.
If you run them with the minimal item level setting, you will notice that creatures hit a bit harder.

I'm certian the tuning was so that newer players can catch up to the raiders, as the current dungeon gear is around the mininum ilevel for Eden's Verse. which means as long as players have got the capped tome or raid gear, then they are gonna out gear, I'm also certain that this has been consistent though the game's lifecycle, which had....interesting effects on places like Prae, LOTA or ST

[Gemina]

That's pretty normal for content you outgear to triviality.
Sadly, that is the case with dungeons even if they are brand new, because they tune them to very old gear.
If you run them with the minimal item level setting, you will notice that creatures hit a bit harder.

This can happen in any dungeon where the boss spends the majority of his time casting abilities that can be avoided. I can think of instances as early as Coincounter in Aurum Vale, to as recent as the Grid boss in Mt. Gulg. Even E7N requires very little healing despite having the standard Tank Buster, Raid Buster, and split damage markers, and that's 8-man content, so the excuses end right there.

Tuning dungeons to a lower ilv isn't really the reason, but contributes to it. All this really does is give the group more sustainability through defensive and offensive power against large numbers of trash mobs that are auto attacking the tank like there is no tomorrow. I am well aware of how "normal" it is, and actually dungeon bosses in general can be cleared without much healing. What this does is exemplifies what I'm talking about, because the issue with healers in just about all content (I'll exclude 24-man) is it requires the least amount of demand from them compared to the other roles. Yes, they indeed do need flexibility during encounters; more so than the other two roles, but current encounter design doesn't warrant the lack of demand the game requires from healers.

[Sylve]

Look, if SE wants healers to focus less on DPS they HAVE to give us something to do during the downtime. And if it's not going to be DPS, as a healer I want to be support.

No, The answer is to remove the downtime. While i wont say no to a more support oriented Healer, I want Healing to be engaging throughout the fight rather than something that sometimes gets cast between the Malefic spams.

Constant damage pressure to the team is the answer. Give me damage to heal through the entire encounter, not just in blocks during specific mechanics.

[Granyala]

I'm also certain that this has been consistent though the game's lifecycle

Correct. They mainly use later dungeons and 24mans for catch-up purposes. Hence the low difficulty.

Imho, that is lame design. You should not cater the majority of the non raiding content to returning folks.

No, The answer is to remove the downtime. While i wont say no to a more support oriented Healer, I want Healing to be engaging throughout the fight rather than something that sometimes gets cast between the Malefic spams.

Constant damage pressure to the team is the answer. Give me damage to heal through the entire encounter, not just in blocks during specific mechanics.

To be perfectly frank: I don't think constant pressure would feel much different, I come from WoW, where healing is (was? been a few years) designed more as a full time occupation. It can be fun, it can be intense (esp at lower item level when every extra heal puts you in conflict with your mana) but in easier content it feels no different than damage spam. Whether I mash the Cure II button or the Glare button is pretty irrelevant to me.

Content needs to engage and that only works with mechanics that require you to think and react. You could design a boss with mad pulsing AoE, so the healer would be healing like there is no tomorrow to compensate for it but it would not be more engaging or fun than designing the boss w/o the pulse and let the healer DPS between the spikes.

[GrimGale]

To be perfectly frank: I don't think constant pressure would feel much different, I come from WoW, where healing is (was? been a few years) designed more as a full time occupation. It can be fun, it can be intense (esp at lower item level when every extra heal puts you in conflict with your mana) but in easier content it feels no different than damage spam. Whether I mash the Cure II button or the Glare button is pretty irrelevant to me.

I agree. That's why I am in favor of mixing things up with healer design. You heal, you dps and you support (I varying degrees). AST is the busiest and most interesting healer because you balance these three acts during your gameplay. You might argue the support part of their kit needs some reviewing to regain some of its depth, but it doesn't change the fact that AST's skill set allows you to constantly be on your toes regarding your contribution to the party.

Considering how boring and basic healing and dpsing effects are in this game (No synergy, single target flat heal or damage, heal or damage over time and point blank aoe damage or healing.) with a few interesting exceptions that happen once every minute or so (Excogitation, Earthly star, Asylum, Assize, Sacred Soil etc.), expanding on each job's secondary identity (SCH as a debuffer, WHM as a Heal/Damage weaver nuker and AST as a buffer.) could be a potential way to differentiate the jobs without hindering their healing capabilities.