Concerned about changes to healers

[Katz_McKatz]

So I'm new to FFXIV (played a couple of months now). This may just be rumors or may be the norm here so forgive any ignorance on my part.

I've been leveling all three of the healers because I enjoy playing them. I do MSQ and most other quests mostly with my DPS. I do dungeons, trials, and raids with my healers. I've found that I enjoy my Astrologian the most. I enjoy that I can change my emphasis from rejuvenation to shields depending on if the other healer is a white mage or a scholar. I enjoy that if it is another Astrologian, we can coordinate which one uses the regen and which the shields. I'm working on learning how to use the cards and other skills effectively as I want to become proficient.

I've read that they are taking shields away from the Astrologian. Do we know that is happening? I almost always play with using shields unless I'm paired with a scholar.

I'm asking because I may want to stop concentrating on gearing/leveling the Astrologian if it is becoming less useful or fun to play.

What I would like to know is this: going forward, what is the role for each of the healers?

It was clear to me before, white mage was regen, scholar was shields, and astrologian could move between those. I realize that they have other skills and that is a simplified description but I'm unclear of how it will work out.

[ICountFrom0]

Check the live letters.

Yes, astrologian is being stripped down, it's joining WHM as the regen based healer.
It's going to be 2 shield healers and 2 regen healers.

The good news is, other then the main equipped weapon, anything you equip as a healer, will be fine on any healer, once you level them.


And yes, you are not the only one worried, they've been taking away more and more from healers over the years, asking less and less of them, it's a diminishment that can be easily felt.

[Grimoire-M]

Yes, astrologian is being stripped down, it's joining sage as the other shield only healer.

This is flat out wrong. It’s White Mage that AST will be emulating. Sage has been announced as a shield healer while Scholar is remaining as one as well. SE does want a 2/2 split so Nocturnal Sect’s shield effects are going away entirely so that AST can become a Regen healer like WHM. It wouldn’t be out of the question to see a card rework either.

[Katz_McKatz]

So they are reworking Astrologians and Scholars (pets are being changed?). Are they changing White Mages too? I'm not sure where to find the live letters talking about the classes. The ones I've looked at were talking about other things.

[Acece]

So they are reworking Astrologians and Scholars (pets are being changed?). Are they changing White Mages too? I'm not sure where to find the live letters talking about the classes. The ones I've looked at were talking about other things.

I'm 90% sure that they'll just leave whm as it is. Much to my disappointment.

[Mesarthim]

They'll find a new way to nerf Fluid Aura.

[Mortex]

Ironic that they made healer into regen and shield but they gave all tanks the options too main tank. Can’t wait for the reduced limit break gain when you would run astro and whm or sage and sch. If it’s not mandatory too run extreme or savage I don’t care but I don’t have high hopes after all these heal changes.

[Grimoire-M]

So they are reworking Astrologians and Scholars (pets are being changed?). Are they changing White Mages too? I'm not sure where to find the live letters talking about the classes. The ones I've looked at were talking about other things.

It’s likely there will be some restructuring to account for the differences between the Shield and Regen healer split. How that pans out has yet to be seen. I’m assuming the worst (nonsensical ability trimming, new stuff functionally replaces multiple old buttons while actual additions remain small), because then I can at least be surprised by stuff like ShB WHM, but I would not expect much change to anyone’s kits. The only sure-fire thing is Endwalker AST will be similar to Diurnal Sect AST and White Mage will likely remain the least changed of the three given its rework was well received.

[Reiryuu]

They'll find a new way to nerf Fluid Aura.

Funny that. I've had this dread feeling they will "remove" Fluid Aura at 15 and give us "Watery Aura" or some BS that's the same as Fluid Aura in 2.0 but is now a level 90 spell -_-;

[Liam_Harper]

If it’s not mandatory too run extreme or savage I don’t care but I don’t have high hopes after all these heal changes.

Even if it wasn't mandatory, expect the community to make it mandatory. This is the same community that insists on running Noct in Normal mode because there's a WHM or puts One-per-job restrictions on Emerald EX where you can't even reach lb3. They won't let facts get in the way.

Most likely every PF group will put up a WHM/AST slot and a SCH/SGE slot regardless of whether other combinations function fine, or even better.

Overall you're right they did indeed make tanks flexible on the MT/OT spot, which is a positive. For healers, this is a step backwards.