Why is the healer class basically a one spell dps class?

[Cidel]

consequently, the healer playerbase has plummeted, the skill of healers on average has plummeted, and very few people pick up the jobs to replace them and witht he lack of difficulty or challenge

I have to wonder, are we playing the same game or do I just have (bad) luck? I see this assertion get thrown around here and there, and it seems like hyperbole. Oftentimes in current content, healers are everywhere. It is not uncommon to get invited into parties with 3+ healers out in Bozja, get matched with parties with 4+ healers in DR, and in the active weeks following a new EX trial's release, it can be an actual race to join a PF with a free healer spot... The only place I actively see people avoid healer like the plague is in PvP.

[Recon1o6]

I have to wonder, are we playing the same game or do I just have (bad) luck? I see this assertion get thrown around here and there, and it seems like hyperbole. Oftentimes in current content, healers are everywhere. It is not uncommon to get invited into parties with 3+ healers out in Bozja, get matched with parties with 4+ healers in DR, and in the active weeks following a new EX trial's release, it can be an actual race to join a PF with a free healer spot... The only place I actively see people avoid healer like the plague is in PvP.

You seem to have luck, yesterday I was waiting for almost an hour for a healer for a diamond ex party. In addition multiple POTD runs i been suffering lately in the name of silver coffers turned up no healers. Finally we aren't long after a patch, numbers are always upticking in the first two weeks. Its in between patches where the lack of healers becomes a fundamental problem.

Bozja is the place where there are most healers because of seraph strike, chainspell, burst and some other attack actions that are available that take away some of the monotony of a 1 button dps "rotation"
in addition there is the super powerful lost death+repose+ordained wisdom combo thats exclusive to healers that is useful for 1 shotting * mobs

[Kabooa]

I have to wonder, are we playing the same game or do I just have (bad) luck? I see this assertion get thrown around here and there, and it seems like hyperbole. Oftentimes in current content, healers are everywhere. It is not uncommon to get invited into parties with 3+ healers out in Bozja, get matched with parties with 4+ healers in DR, and in the active weeks following a new EX trial's release, it can be an actual race to join a PF with a free healer spot... The only place I actively see people avoid healer like the plague is in PvP.

They're often baseless statements, but they sound good for trying to prove a point.

People will play what is the most effective in given content. Bozja is a strange example, because due to the way healers are balanced, and how lost actions function and interact, they are among your highest DPS options with minimal lost action investment. Aetherweaver + Lost Seraph + Burst is an AoE option that is more powerful than Black Mage's single target, outside Delibrum Essence, Chain Spell, and Lost Font. Some of these actions are far easier to get than the others, and one job still has access to a full suite of a healing toolkit, and the other is still among the least able to support the party in the game.