Developers : Healer design mentality needs to change

[Dogempire]

Yeah, even my friend who mained a healer up until Shadowbringers all but abandoned AST, but he was still willing to heal if absolutely needed. And he loved AST, so it's a shame. But...he found MCH to be much more satisfying so he ended up playing that way more often before taking a break from the game. I'd be willing to bet he was far from alone.

I mained Scholar for a good 2 expansions before wanting to explore the dps and tanking roles. When 5.0 hit I wasn't completely sure which job to do the expansion with, but I took one look at the scholar changes and dropped it like a hot pocket fresh out of a microwave. Never looked back at the job, never going to touch it again unless they fix it.

[Payadopa]

Astro is actually in the best place it's been since 3.5, it's almost in that OP category again. Savage is the barometer YoshiP sets for healer parity, not dungeon content.

"Actually". lol

See, this is why we can't have nice things.
So that raiders can have their little e-peen contest while the overwhelming majority of the game gets made more boring.

I'm sorry, but as an AST main I find it laughable to say it's in the best place since 3.5.

[Miracle_Diva]

"Actually". lol

See, this is why we can't have nice things.
So that raiders can have their little e-peen contest while the overwhelming majority of the game gets made more boring.

I'm sorry, but as an AST main I find it laughable to say it's in the best place since 3.5.

As someone who's not a raider and who doesn't main AST, but uses it as a preferred healer, I agree with technole and disagree with you. Previous version was clunky and tied to random. Now AST is more efficient and you don't need to dance around hoping that you will finally get a card, fish for aoe spread card and hope that you can finally spread your cookies across the party and be a useful member of the group or skip using your buffs at all because you couldn't get anything useful.

[LisSquid]

As someone who's not a raider and who doesn't main AST, but uses it as a preferred healer, I agree with technole and disagree with you. Previous version was clunky and tied to random. Now AST is more efficient and you don't need to dance around hoping that you will finally get a card, fish for aoe spread card and hope that you can finally spread your cookies across the party and be a useful member of the group or skip using your buffs at all because you couldn't get anything useful.

I remember being AST and having an axe to grind and plopping a super arrow on the group ninja. Having buffs that are detrimental to entire jobs was really good design! /s

[Allegor]

"Actually". lol

See, this is why we can't have nice things.
So that raiders can have their little e-peen contest while the overwhelming majority of the game gets made more boring.

I'm sorry, but as an AST main I find it laughable to say it's in the best place since 3.5.

I honestly find that a very...weird point of view tbh, if it's even true. But it would explain a few things. Sadly, fun is subjective because to some people, numbers are the fun part, rather than the actual gameplay /shrug

[QooEr]

"Actually". lol

See, this is why we can't have nice things.
So that raiders can have their little e-peen contest while the overwhelming majority of the game gets made more boring.

I'm sorry, but as an AST main I find it laughable to say it's in the best place since 3.5.

i dont understand this finger pointing towards raiders whenever the devs change anything. when we parse, we have the epeen contest with whatever tools available, weak or strong. it literally doesn't matter to me if malefic does 250 or 900 potency; what i care about is how i do compared to other ast players. people are going to compare parses no matter the state the job is in.

Raiders play the game too. they probably play the battle jobs more than any other demographic. if the game gets more boring its likely because they DONT listen to people who raid, as is evident with the energy drain comments from the LL.

as for the state of ast, i still prefer old cards more because the playability of switching targets so often is awful, though i agree current cards are healthier for game balance. I also hate how overtuned ast is on the healing side because it takes all the challenge away from healing and theres little to nothing to coordinate with my cohealer if i can solo heal most fights with only ogcds

[Vickii]

I honestly find that a very...weird point of view tbh, if it's even true. But it would explain a few things. Sadly, fun is subjective because to some people, numbers are the fun part, rather than the actual gameplay /shrug

I kinda agree with him. I know a lot of people enjoy raiding and pvp etc... but this brings with it ‘balance’.

In a game like this, which is mostly a solo player game where you just join queues and 95 percent of things get cleared no matter what you do, I personally don’t care so much for balance.

I’d like a dancer to feel like a dancer rather than ranged job number 3. Or for the astrologian lore to actually have impact on the cards you play even if it makes something ‘OP’. I’d happily play an underpowered job if it were fun.

[Allegor]

So do I, which is why RDM and DNC are my go-to DPS, I don't care much about numbers (unless I'm doing horribly), I just like the ability of being a support even if my role is that of a damage dealer. Of course, I can only speak for myself, since I've seen many times people wanting for Vercure and/or Verraise to be outright removed to get rid of the "hybrid tax" [actual performance aside].

Ironically, RDM lowkey feels how healers "should" be - a DPS/support that happens to heal when needed, just like tanks are DPS who happen to not have paper armor. The pure healer gameplay simply has no place in this game no matter how much some people may fight for it. The only times I spend most of the fight healing is when content is brand new fresh out of maintenance and nobody knows mechanics.

[Dogempire]

I honestly find that a very...weird point of view tbh, if it's even true. But it would explain a few things. Sadly, fun is subjective because to some people, numbers are the fun part, rather than the actual gameplay /shrug

I mean, true, but for some people they don't care about the numbers they pull.

I raid as a machinist, but I play DRK outside of savage content because I find the job fun and satisfying despite the fact that my numbers won't stack up to the average 95th percentile Dark Knight, and that's fine IMO. The issue is when the only fun thing about a job is the numbers it pulls, and otherwise it's extremely bland and monotonous spamming 1 skill.

[Dogempire]

i dont understand this finger pointing towards raiders whenever the devs change anything. when we parse, we have the epeen contest with whatever tools available, weak or strong. it literally doesn't matter to me if malefic does 250 or 900 potency; what i care about is how i do compared to other ast players. people are going to compare parses no matter the state the job is in.

Raiders play the game too. they probably play the battle jobs more than any other demographic. if the game gets more boring its likely because they DONT listen to people who raid, as is evident with the energy drain comments from the LL.

as for the state of ast, i still prefer old cards more because the playability of switching targets so often is awful, though i agree current cards are healthier for game balance. I also hate how overtuned ast is on the healing side because it takes all the challenge away from healing and theres little to nothing to coordinate with my cohealer if i can solo heal most fights with only ogcds

I think the main issue with people mentioning class balance is that it's braindead easy to balance healers right now. Here, let me give you an example.

Remove all attack skills on all jobs, replace them with 1 single button with varying potency depending on the job:
Healer: 600 potency
Tanks: 600 potency
Ranged dps: 1000 potency
Casters: 1100 potency
Melee dps: 1150 potency

There, I just balanced all jobs numberswise, enjoy spamming 1 button