Another patch, another 4-ish months of healer suffering.

[Absurdity]

I know I sound like a naysayer, but I am genuinely trying to keep expectations at a reasonable level when it comes to future patches and expansions with our healers. A good portion of the playerbase sees the downtime as a big issue, and I believe the devs don't see it as an issue at all.

While it's reasonable to keep ones expectations realistic it doesn't solve the issue. If we don't set our expectations higher and keep complaining then nothing will ever change, we will be stuck with the same unsatisfying design for another 2 years and unless you're really into playing dps then your only other option is to simply quit this game.

[Dogempire]

Snip.

I think the big issue here is that devs seem pretty set on keeping healers as they are; boring, shallow, shadows of their former selves that have been neutered to be easier while also making them less fun. They seem to just be making everything simple, not just healers, and it's making jobs boring for the more skilled veterans of this game who want to play something engaging and complex.

Personally I've benched the only healer I'm interested in, that being scholar, since besides keeping almost all of the healing skills it doesn't have any of the qualities that made me fall in love with the job back when I was starting out in Heavensward. There isn't any complexity to it other than watching health bars and spamming fillers while keeping your dot up.

It's seriously disappointing that they removed all of the dots and bane and Miasma II and turned a seriously awesome and complex battlefield tactician into a white mage reskin but with a pet that comes with a choice of 2 colors

That being said, my hopes aren't that high either, but if healers are just silent and accept that the role has been butchered then SE will just assume we like healers the way they are and make no changes to any of the classes.

[AC9Breaker]

I am not sure why anyone would expect some kind of overhaul to healing mid-expansion. There is also no reason for you to "suffer" the remainder of this expansion. If healing is no longer your cup of tea, then play a different role. I know that sounds dismissive, but I don't have the ability to change the design of our healers, so it is the only valid advice I can give if you want to continue to enjoy PvE content within FFXIV.

I also don't know why anyone would expect an overhaul in 6.0 either. The issues the devs see with healing at the present time is likely more in line with redundant skills and passive job gauges than the downtime. Passive traits such as Maim and Mend, abilities like Repose and Fluid Aura, and granted buffs like Free Cure are very likely going to be looked at. I predict that healers will get their AoE DoTs back (in the case of AST, their first), but that's about it. I think there is a chance that updated job gauges will allow healers to build up a resource to cast a magic blast, but that is a far stretch.

I know I sound like a naysayer, but I am genuinely trying to keep expectations at a reasonable level when it comes to future patches and expansions with our healers. A good portion of the playerbase sees the downtime as a big issue, and I believe the devs don't see it as an issue at all.

I think this is the most pragmatic response in this thread and subforum. This is clearly the pattern devs have taken during each of the games cycle. Ninja didn't get fixed till 3.0 launch. MCH didn't get fixed all of 4.0. PLD didn't get fixed all of 3.0.

[AphraelAmarantha]

I’ve only played WHM so I don’t know about the other healers, but all I want is they leave WHM gameplay alone. They can change up the other healers, I don’t care. If they add some dumb complexity bs or whatever, then m dropping it. I play WHM because of its simplicity. I have problems trying to remember complex rotations and stuff (looking at you BLM and RDM). I’m terrible at dps classes and don’t ask me to tank. WHM is the only class that actually clicks for me.

[Semirhage]

I’ve only played WHM so I don’t know about the other healers, but all I want is they leave WHM gameplay alone. They can change up the other healers, I don’t care. If they add some dumb complexity bs or whatever, then m dropping it. I play WHM because of its simplicity. I have problems trying to remember complex rotations and stuff (looking at you BLM and RDM). I’m terrible at dps classes and don’t ask me to tank. WHM is the only class that actually clicks for me.

You're welcome to play Conjurer any time.

[Absurdity]

I’ve only played WHM so I don’t know about the other healers, but all I want is they leave WHM gameplay alone. They can change up the other healers, I don’t care. If they add some dumb complexity bs or whatever, then m dropping it. I play WHM because of its simplicity. I have problems trying to remember complex rotations and stuff (looking at you BLM and RDM). I’m terrible at dps classes and don’t ask me to tank. WHM is the only class that actually clicks for me.

The two examples you picked aren't exactly the best ones. BLM's complexity comes from a lot of things, the rotation is not one of them and RDM isn't rocket science either. But it doesn't matter anyway because even if WHM becomes more complex you're not FORCED to play it optimally.



That's the thing with having a bit more complexity on healers (also tanks for that matter) and raising the skill ceiling again, it's completely fine if some players want to stick to just glare and holy in dungeons, you're not gonna fail an Expert roulette because you haven't 100% mastered your job. But players who want to push themselves can do so without getting punished for it by being bored out of their mind.

[AphraelAmarantha]

snip.

Yeah, you aren’t forced to but you might as well be from all the complaining in the Tales thread and from others who I have encountered in game. If you aren’t playing optimally, you are trash is pretty much the gist of what I get from players. So I’m always trying to dps and use instaheals before using any hard cast heals and stuff, but at least WHM is easy enough that I can do that. BLM is too complex, rotation or not and RDM you really need to know what you are doing and memorize how to optimally use your mana bars else your dps is going to suffer for it. I tried doing SSS back in SB since people wanted me to help them do ex and savage content on RDM but no matter how hard I tried I could never beat the dps requirements for o1s.

I have cognitive and memory problems when it comes to patterns and spatial awareness and stuff, so stuff like e12n gives me lots of problems and all I can do is just follow what everyone else is doing because I just cannot for the life of me memorize what the patterns are and the aoes are way too fast to escape so I’m usually kissing the floor there. Again, what I like with WHM is it’s simplicity. I don’t have to worry about a rotation. Big mob pack? Holy. No? Glare. Do I have a lily up? Have I used three yet? That’s it. If I have to start worrying about a meter management thing or having to remember to use more than Holy or Glare and start doing a pattern to optimize my dps is when I will start getting lost and not be a able to play optimally which ofc will lead to up slow runs which will lead to oh, that healer is trash, vote kick and oops, can’t progress n game now cuz the class is no longer easy to play and no one wants to play with someone who can’t play their class.

[Liam_Harper]

I’ve only played WHM so I don’t know about the other healers, but all I want is they leave WHM gameplay alone. They can change up the other healers, I don’t care. If they add some dumb complexity bs or whatever, then m dropping it. I play WHM because of its simplicity. I have problems trying to remember complex rotations and stuff (looking at you BLM and RDM). I’m terrible at dps classes and don’t ask me to tank. WHM is the only class that actually clicks for me.

I don't mean this to come across as harsh, but this is exactly why they need to rework the healers. They've become a magnet for players who only want to play at a very basic level. Even in Savage I see healers who are only playing the class because it functions and gets them clears as long as they avoid mechanics, even if they just spam Medica II and do very little dps. A healer playing below half potential is less noticeable than a BLM doing half dps with the wrong rotation and players who find complex dps a headache are drawn to that.

Even WhM has complexities to play decently. You need planning. You need to know your toolkit. You need to map movement. You need to be able to react immediately in danger situations with the right combination of abilities to clutch heal. The last one is something poor healers really struggle with, hence the term "panic heal" and it hurts the group a lot even if most don't realize it.
Interestingly, AST is probably easier than WhM to play at a mediocre level. It's highly mobile, Asp Helios/Benefic are a cheaper Regen/Medica II, ED is a far better Tetra, it augments that with buckets of oGCD's, has Shields, and even if you throw your cards around randomly and miss a few you'll contribute decent raid damage as long as you get Divination out. But WhM is seen as the simple healer because you press buttons and it heals despite the fact it's the most punishing, immobile and mechanically clunky healer.

We don't need a BLM level dps kit on WhM, but it should be engaging and the clipping and weave needs to be fixed.

[Absurdity]

Yeah, you aren’t forced to but you might as well be from all the complaining in the Tales thread and from others who I have encountered in game.

I've yet to see someone call a player trash in dungeons if they are trying. Sure, you might not have 100% GCD uptime, you might have to cancel a cast for movement or even have trouble keeping someone alive because you planned your oGCDs poorly but atleast you are trying.

What people complain about is someone who is not trying at all, the cure 1 pure-healer princesses that expect you to carry them while they watch Netflix, someone that contributes less to the dungeon run than the Trust bots do.

[Deceptus]

It's seriously disappointing that they removed all of the dots and bane and Miasma II and turned a seriously awesome and complex battlefield tactician into a white mage reskin but with a pet that comes with a choice of 2 colors

Point of order:

They turned all the healer DPS into the AST DPS model (1 dot, 1 filler, 1 aoe).

And none of my AST friends would have wished that on ANYONE.