Remove the GCD cost from on-demand healing.

[Side-Eye]

Sorry but if Yoshi and co. have any real intentions to make healing the primary focus of a job, the CONTENT will change to make healing 1) less predictable, 2) more frequent, and 3) more demanding. Until then, the cost of keeping a party healed is absolutely trivial. (And begs for more creative uses of that mana potential as green dps.)

[YusiKha]

Not exactly sure hat you mean by on-demand healing? It's not like oGCDs aren't on-demand, it's not like pet heals aren't on-demand. So it's a little confusing.
Technically all the points you said you wanted are already in place in the game right now. Almost all healing can be done without GCDs.

GCD healing then. Spells with an MP cost. Always available, no timers or gauge requirement. Always there. On Demand.

Sorry but if Yoshi and co. have any real intentions to make healing the primary focus of a job, the CONTENT will change to make healing 1) less predictable, 2) more frequent, and 3) more demanding. Until then, the cost of keeping a party healed is absolutely trivial. (And begs for more creative uses of that mana potential as green dps.)

While I understand the sentiment, I also ask of you to realise that with our fixed party composition (2T/2H/4D) only 1/4 of the group is forced to care about the healing requirements, with the rest only roped in for heavy hits and lethal raidwides.
Healing checks aren't fun for non-healers, and why allocate masses more resources and changing the fundamentals of the encounter design when you can instead keep to designing major mechanics that all 8 players participate in, and minor mechanics for each role's niche.

[Kokonji]

I'm genuinely not quite get what you want, is it to :
remove all mp cost on healing spell so only dps spell has mp cost ?
or :
have a dps skill based on how many heals you done (which is whm blood lily gimmick, but now on all healer)
or :
make all healer has a healing pet (so basically take sch identity, and slap them to all healer)
or :
make all healing spell ogcd (that make healer is more like green dps than it is now)
?

[YusiKha]

I'm genuinely not quite get what you want...

I want to be able to use the most basic of my healing tools without sacrificing DPS uptime.
I want the game to subconciously teach new players, from the very start, that DPSing is free and that you should be doing it all the time.
Every other role teaches that, since Tank Stances don't cost damage any more, and healers are expected to DPS anyway. May as well have the game teach you, not someone in Duty Finder yelling at you for standing AFK between Cure 1 casts.

[Sloprano]

GCD healing then. Spells with an MP cost. Always available, no timers or gauge requirement. Always there. On Demand.

If I get you correctly, then it's tossing off the reigns of cooldowns and make us stand around a cast a bit more, and more varied, and not just always have a cooldown for everything.

In case you haven't seen it, I would recommend taking a trip down revision history for the Arcanist and Scholar wiki entries for 2016. Where we had what you are describing: Spells on mp cost. Always available, no timers or gauges. Always there.

Bio, Bio 2, Miasma, Miasma 2, Aero? No cooldown, only gcd.
Bane? 10 seconds.
Shadowflare? 3s cast, no cooldown.
Cleric stance? 5s cooldown when you enter it.
Physick, Adlo, Succor? Either weak and cheap, or powerful and expensive. Always there.
Pet hotbar? Embrace usable all the time every time.
Sustain? 1s cast, gcd.
Ruin and ruin 2? Your boilerplate or Blind-inducer.

Just those above? Those couple skills with barely any cooldown, but gave you something to ALWAYS have something to do? It made the job.

What cooldows there were not even that long:
Virus? 1 min.
Aetherflow? 1 min
Rouse? 90s
E4E? 180s.

Then we enter Heavensward and you can see SE start experimenting with oGCD cooldowns and Broil substance abuse:
Indom, Deployment tactics, Emergency Tactics, Dissipation. Four out of five new spells were oGCDs.

But that wasn't a problem: because we already had spells that cost no mp, always available, no timers or gauge requirements. So cooldowns enhanced the job. I remember every single GCD and Aetherflow I wanted to press was at odds: Can Embrace cover it or do I need to Adlo instead of refreshing a dot? How long until I need the next shield? There are 30s until Aetherflow refresh, I have one stack left, do I wanna chance it on Bane or should I keep one for Lustrate?

But now cooldowns IS the job.

Irony aside, healers who dont want to dps will just continue to do so even if all healing skills becomes ogcds. Instead of yelling at them for being afk between two cure 1 gcds, you will yell at them for being afk between two cure 1 ogcds XD

It really brings the old adage "Netflix healers" to mind. Not just because they could get away with it, but because it was such low effort and so boring one COULD finish an entire movie or half a season of Dark when doing your daily routine.

That neither the application of healing, with hypothetical fun and rewarding unique job mechanices, or the act of doing damage, with imaginary amusing and captivating exclusive features on the job, is in place when repeating the exact same steps then boredom will set in. And it is when we get bored we find ways to entertain ourselves so time goes faster. Entertain ourselves when playing a piece of entertainment.

[YusiKha]

snip

I'm not sure you understand. I just want to be able to use GCD Heals without sacrificing the DPS from the lost Glare/Broil/Malefic so that healing (our job) never interrupts dealing damage (also our job).

[Sloprano]

I'm not sure you understand. I just want to be able to use GCD Heals without sacrificing the DPS from the lost Glare/Broil/Malefic so that healing (our job) never interrupts dealing damage (also our job).

Then maybe something more akin to Chloromancer is the closest of already existing rpg jobs. Something I could see very well work here aswell: Where the general idea is the more you do damage the more you healer and comes with the limitations of being reliant on having party members (Chocobo?) around for various tethers for healing and mana regen. But also have fun stuff life constant damage leeching to the party and a debuff on an enemy and that enemy's next attack will heal their target for 200% of what the damage was. It would be a fun anti-tankbuster.

While WHM seem to have cornered the market on Lilies I think we could make room for a Chloromancer, say it's from a Garlean region of gardeners and being shit at magic find some way to to manipulate greens and growth of plants, going with the Roman theme, call it "Phytologist". Which at first was made for making it easier to grow and splice plants, the Empire naturally found a way to weaponize it.

I could envision a ton of fun with something like this: Constant leeching effect going on so one need to keep up the attacks to heal. Take root, both on self and party member's buffs, that the longer you can stand in place the more the buff grows. Chow down on seeds to grow thorn spikes, barkskin, transform arms into wood logs for melee attacks, get a sprout on top of your head with a little mini-game for growth until it's in full bloom with various effects like healing, damage or various debuffs.

From the word "go" you learn that damage = healing, so no mp bar. For when the boss fucks off can have something similar to Dissipation or use HP, tap into and cripple yourself for when you need some emergency healing.