Can Healer Balance Survive a 4th Healer?

[Liam_Harper]

It's less of a logical statement and more one born from frustration. I suggested the same thing before, not because it would be a great idea but because DPS players make up a majority of the playerbase, so if we dumbed them down to the point that dps start complaining we might actually get some changes done.

I can understand frustration, but we have to keep our feedback realistic and sensible or the Devs will simply look to the forums, see a convoluted mess of bad ideas and mixed opinions and decide we have no clue what we want and that it's better they decide for us.

There are too many crazy suggestions, full reworks that could never work with the game engine, requests to rework the entire game structure and wildly conflicting opinions here. We need to be simple, straightforward, and highlight the core issues that can be easily corrected.

[ty_taurus]

Usually, I'm a huge balance fiend. I love things to be balanced, and it's something I think about a lot for a lot of games, but FF14 is a game where I feel like I've shifted to care about balance less. We've seen what militant fixation on balance has done to the healers as of Shadowbringers, and you know what? I don't really care if a 4th healer ends up breaking the balance. What's worse?

Having a meta where some healers are valued above others for endgame content while the ones less favored but still not only able to do the content, but realistically won't be barred from it?
Or refusing to add new content or develop the existing healers in different ways out of fear of breaking that balance?

I'm not saying balance isn't important, because it is, but I can't help but hate the "I don't want a 4th healer until they fix the current healers" argument with a searing rage. 14 has been incredibly good at ensuring all jobs are capable within a decent margin of clearing any content.

[Deceptus]

Or refusing to add new content or develop the existing healers in different ways out of fear of breaking that balance?

Sadly, this is where healers are in FFXIV. While other jobs are moving forward, the healer role got reduced to square one.

[Raikai]

I've been wondering this for a while since it has been a topic raised by some of my friend circles in-game and in Discord. Can Healers survive a fourth healer coming into the game next expansion?

Because honestly, let's be real - they've butchered healers to nothing except oGCD Heals and 1 Attack and 1 DoT. I don't know how they'll be able to shoehorn in a 4th Healer given how the dichotomy works either; unless they do something about shielding and fix SCH's issues. It's really tough to even balance healers right now as is.

I don't think they'll just add the fourth healer.

They'll probably do that and ework some aspects of the healers that we have already, because if they don't, this new healer will be either too good or too bad, given the stability of the trio we have right now.

If they rework AST's stances to do something else, and rebalance some things, they can have 4 different niches of one healer per healing focus, for example:
- Direct heals (WHM or AST)
- HoT heals (WHM or AST or new healer)
- Shields (SCH)
- Damage reduction (AST or new healer)

[glamazon]

Class healing focus. Flavor focus
SCH. Shields Debuffs
AST. Hot. Buffs
WHM. Direct heals. Damage
CHM. Dmg reduce. Stuns

[Payadopa]

Pretty much this. In normal dungeon or Ex content I rarely if EVER see Feint, Addle, Shield Samba, or Tactician used.

"But Deceptus, they're not needed!"

To that I say, Practice like you Play. The only way to develop good habits is to do them, in all aspects of play.

Whoops, I dunno why I quoted this. Butter fingers. <.<'

lol

In all seriousness, though, that's the main issue I have with XIV. On one hand the combat is stupidly easy so you develop bad habits like not caring about AoEs or feeling the need to challenging yourself even a little bit as tank so now we must all wall to wall pull or die of boredom and then 'suddenly' the combat does get hard and everything falls apart because you've been conditioned from 1 to 70+ to just ignore everything and DPS (badly, even).

And it's the same with healing. I'm a bit tired of the notion that casual = stupid. So it follows, by that logic, that combat must remain easy to keep the revenue from casuals. I'm a mid-core casual myself but that doesnt mean I poke my nose while playing.

If the next healer turns out to be the same but with different particle effects SE might as well make it limited 'cause to me it certainly is.

[Payadopa]

Class healing focus. Flavor focus
SCH. Shields Debuffs
AST. Hot. Buffs
WHM. Direct heals. Damage
CHM. Dmg reduce. Stuns

Yeah, but that's not working in the current climate, now is it?

Stun doesn't work with bosses and reducing damage can never be a requirement since without a CHM you wouldn't be able to clear.

Everybody would use AST for buffs (=DMG) and WHM for additional damage.

That's the big problem with not allowing class diversity and focusing solely on DPS.

And fight need to be more than Dance Dance Revolution and DPS. The current system is just too simplistic. Even the illusion of choice gets shattered almost instantly in this game.

[Heilstos]

My Idea for Healer in 6.0:

WHM: I think here is SE going to make a longer DPS Rotation. So the idea for a DPS healer is to see. But pls change something on Fluid Aura. Make it to a pvp spell give the WHM something new with water. A change that fits better with the other healer (2min CDs) is Presence of Mind 150s -> 120s. I think this change would be welcome in the Comunity.

SCH: Is the Pet healer with some Shilds. Some Debuffs and thats it. But the Ätherflow system need a rework. The Ätherflow stacks should only for healing, BUT Energy Drain is like it is a 3s OGCs (that do not use the stacks). I think that could be funny to use. DMG and Mana reg. can balance.

AST: I think the hole Power from SHB to fokus on the Secs was not bad I think the fokus on it. And I belive SE is happy with the stances, because the freedom the player have to heal. Throwing that all over the place wouldn't make sense. Both stances feel their job too well for that. But I think the Cards will change. If it stays that way that the cards reinforce DPS, a support component will definitely be added. Or playing cards seems stressful and boring for many. I know the devs focus on the "draw" and "play out from" cards in SHB. Here I think a change is coming.

New Healer (Timemage/Ether technician aka. Chemist):

I think this healer has no strong heals. I see more that he can stagger inc. dmg that he can negate in the way to heal or make dps. Maybe extend Hots like the old AST. I am curious if we will see more on February 2nd.

However, what is important to me is that we do not see the opinion of the devs on the healers. The whole philosophy of many jobs becomes apparent through us as a comuntity. But for healers these scraps are what Yoshida dares to pull out. I think that would also help us to give feedback if we knew where the developers are going.

[Deceptus]

Class healing focus. Flavor focus
SCH. Shields Debuffs
AST. Hot. Buffs
WHM. Direct heals. Damage
CHM. Dmg reduce. Stuns

Stuns can't be a flavor bonus because they don't work on bosses.

That's why Personally I think they should have a class focus (Regen, Shields) and a Debuff / Buff off focus.

[ItMe]

Class healing focus. Flavor focus
SCH. Shields Debuffs
AST. Hot. Buffs
WHM. Direct heals. Damage
CHM. Dmg reduce. Stuns

There's a neat idea here, but I'm not sure "stuns" rounds things out.
SCH - debuff the boss so they take more damage
AST - buff the party so they deal more damage
WHM - have higher personal DPS
CHM - ... nothing contributing to party output.