Quote Originally Posted by Lilseph View Post
This basically. The potential issue regarding Healers is that the devs want any healer composition to function. It's not the same as balancing the other roles from what I can understand, and the main reason why duplicates don't synergise well together. A lot of it boils down to the fact that the devs have sectioned healing into either "pure healing" or "shield healing". If they introduce a fourth healer designated as a "shield healer" and force Ast into a permanent Diurnal Sect, then you'll never be able to run with a Whm/Ast comp because it wouldn't be feasible. Similarly, making all four healers have their own niche can possibly end up with similar results.
In the majority of content (i.e. any full party Duty Finder activity, maps, hunts, etc.), it wouldn't matter, just like how things are currently with WHM/WHM or SCH/SCH. It's much easier to balance two jobs per role, and give them unique job identities and mechanics, than it is to balance four. I'd much rather have 4 healer jobs that play differently than 4 jobs that by necessity must possess the same functionality such that all possible combinations are viable. There just isn't enough development time put into job design to create a perfect world where all healers are unique yet equally capable and flexible. Look at all the job identity that's been lost over the last two expansions in the name of raid balance - SCH doesn't even remotely resemble Arcanist anymore, and it's a huge shame. SE have failed to expand upon the unique and interesting facets of jobs, for example the buff extension capabilities of old AST, and instead completely axed them in order to throw Stormblood WHM abilities into the AST kit (Celestial Intersection/Divine Benison, Horoscope/Plenary Indulgence) for the sake of job balance.

The homogenization required for complete raid balance and healer interchangeability results in jobs being neither fun nor interesting, and nothing has made that more clear than Shadowbringers.