Is it fun?

[SieyaM]

I see a lot of people talking about the balance of healers and how they can make them all play evenly, but I never see people asking the better question. Are they fun to play? I have been playing healer more since the queues are faster and I enjoy it well enough but it seems over the years the more we moved towards balance of the healers, and other jobs, the less fun they become. When you log in and select your character and the world is loading, are you genuinely excited to get in the world and play your job? Or are you thinking about what kind of DPS numbers the job has and if you should just change to something with better numbers? The fact the people change back and forth between jobs nearly each patch because of the numbers suggests to me that no one is really enjoying the way each job plays, most are just doing the math and playing what has the highest DPS.

[inhaledcorn]

Not really. I don't even think about what I'm doing DPS-wise since I just know I need to smash Broil most of the time and then occasionally press Ruin II if I need to weave or hit Biolysis if I need to refresh that.

[Laphicet]

No... I keep waiting for it to be fun again or for the devs to make it more fun... but no... it's not :L

And it'd take some notable changes for them to be fun, first and foremost being the devs admitting they fucked up and going against the design changes they made in the first place, which is unlikely to happen.

[Mesarthim]

If I found healing fun this expansion I wouldn't have quit healing almost entirely since 5.2

Hopefully Endwalker will remedy this, albeit I only expect slightly.

[Coletergeist]

I find healing fun only when a party is struggling. Lmao

[SieyaM]

If I found healing fun this expansion I wouldn't have quit healing almost entirely since 5.2

Hopefully Endwalker will remedy this, albeit I only expect slightly.

I doubt that endwalker will do anything with healing that would make it more robust or interesting. With the focus being solely on balance and meta there is no way that they can design a class that will be engaging and fun to play, because they simply are not worried about that aspect of any job at the moment. If you can find it please share but I have not once heard the dev team talk about job design or changes as making them more fun or engaging. It is almost always about making them more balanced or making them viable in meta compositions.

[Mesarthim]

That's why I'm keeping my expectations low. I just didn't take too kindly to what they did to SCH and AST (the two I bounced between the most) for Shadowbringers so I'm "hoping" Sage will at least make me tolerate the role when I feel the need.

[ItMe]

Fun is what you make of it.
I think SMN is a right mess of a job, but I still have fun playing it.
Healing? Oh yeah. I've never enjoyed it more.

[SieyaM]

Fun is what you make of it.
I think SMN is a right mess of a job, but I still have fun playing it.
Healing? Oh yeah. I've never enjoyed it more.

I noticed that you said healing and not any particular healing job, which lends to my argument that jobs themselves aren't fun to play, your just playing a numbers game with different visuals. I am not asking this to be antagonistic but can you explain what it is about healing you are enjoying?

[ItMe]

I noticed that you said healing and not any particular healing job, [...] I am not asking this to be antagonistic but can you explain what it is about healing you are enjoying?

Sorry, lemme clarify:

I like AST (though I also dabble with SCH I find I only enjoy it conceptually)
AST is a lotta fun and I get that big dopamine hit when my preplanned horoscopes or stars go off at exactly the right times~
Synastry is also super groovy knowing I never need to prioritize between healing the tank or healing myself.
And with the cards there's always something to do and I never feel like I have "down time," but not in an exhausting way.
And healing in FF14 is pretty focused on optimizing oGCDs, so AST having short cast times is just... so perfect for me. Perfect to the point where I actually have a hard time playing other healers since rocking AST lol.
AST is super juicy and I like it specifically a lot ♡

Beyond simply enjoying it's kit, cohealing with your friend in voice chat is super fun. There is more teamwork there than between any two other players, especially if the other healer is an AST and you're both frantically calling out who you have a buff to so we aren't overwriting each others bluffs. But yeah, AST being a hybrid job it is also (currently) built to coheal super well in any comp. And with the homogenization and Yoshi P's interest in making any comp viable I'm not expecting AST to become bad at healing with any partner.

Other than playing it in combat, AST is just neat.
I like its lore and it's job quest storyline is one of my favorites. And the weird tarot star globe is unique and cool and lends itself to some really interesting glams.

which lends to my argument that jobs themselves aren't fun to play, your just playing a numbers game with different visuals.

Yeah, I can see why people can see healing as a numbers game with different visuals, but the inversion of how you're interacting with the numbers means a lot to me too. Being a job not about DPS, but about undoing enemy DPS makes me feel like I'm interacting with the enemies more directly and intimately than when I play as a DPS (and as a tank I largely feel like a blue DPS). But as a healer I'm engaged in a real back and forth game with the boss and that's cool to me.

but it seems over the years the more we moved towards balance of the healers, and other jobs, the less fun they become. When you log in and select your character and the world is loading, are you genuinely excited to get in the world and play your job? Or are you thinking about what kind of DPS numbers the job has and if you should just change to something with better numbers? The fact the people change back and forth between jobs nearly each patch because of the numbers suggests to me that no one is really enjoying the way each job plays, most are just doing the math and playing what has the highest DPS.

I've never been one to do that (and not just because all the balancing makes the jobs with better numbers stand out less and less as FF14 balances it's jobs further and further)
I really only care about:
-- Does it click with me?
-- Do I enjoy it?
-- What is the glam game like?
-- (And to a lesser extent if the job is at odds with my character concept)
Those are the only things I consider lol.
If anything all the balancing is helping me enjoy AST more. As I log in I don't have to wonder or worry about if I should be playing something else. I can just hop into the classes I like and go~
I never get harassed for playing something that's not meta, I just joke around with people and jam.
And since I'm not playing any job because of it's numbers I'm free to really settle in since I know I'm not going to be flippantly swapping all the time.


But yeah, healing or otherwise I almost always log in excited ; )