Predict the endwalker healing meta!

[PondHollow]

A meta of healers being hard to find in raid recruitment Discord channels.

[Saefinn]

I think the meta will be: WHM/SGE
My reasoning: I think as AST has less control over it's RNG again it's going to make rDPS a little less consistent and of course Glare spams are an easy consistent DPS, though it is more selfish in terms of DPS, but I think a meta would want more predictability. I feel like there's going to be some redundancy in the shield side of the Pure/Shield heals set up. SGE has better pure healing options than SCH and whilst SCH gets a speed buff, but I feel like it might be used more in progression runs but maybe not meta as every AoE will be avoidable without a SCH in the party and the long recast makes me think it'll be a selective use. And of course SGE has to DPS to heal and can be there to cover shields in any mechanic where that might be useful. Whilst AST can fill this niche enough, I wonder if the randomisation will affect AST DPS contributions enough for WHM to be preferred. Though I think AST is better to play from a 'feel' PoV.
Factors that might subvert my prediction: The randomisation of AST doesn't affect DPS that much then I don't think WHM has an advantage over AST and I think AST benefits well from a more rounded kit, we know WHM's status as the healiest healer is kinda redundant. And if the healing requirement gets boosted enough that shield healing becomes more useful then I think it'd mix things up be bit.

[Aword3213]

this why scholar/ast needs have tool kit nerfed hard. cause white mage never be added to the meta

Ast/scholar... Ast/sage meta

white mage is trash always be trash dont expect it to be in any savage cause not viable at all

WHM may be a liitle underpowered by comparison, but I'm pretty sure WHM will still be viable

Some people just love their job so much that they don't care about skill potencies, especially for thoese world first teir raider. Those minor potencies won't stop them for getting world first

Just look at TPS team, their TEA world first has DRK when it was considered trash among all tanks, and their E12S world first has BRD and WHM.

[Jadkay]

AST + SCH in 8 man content and SGE for 4 man content.

AST + SCH will provide the best heals and utilities for a party in any 8 man content as simple as that. AST can boost dps, SCH can boost dps every 2 min and will still be the king at shielding due to the new passive we will have in EW.

SGE should be the best in 4 man content with at least a decent party. From what I've seen, a lot of aoe DPS + enough heal to keep any decent tank alive. Not much more to say.

[Laphicet]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the meta will be zero healers for farm and solo healer for progression, probably solo-SGE or solo-AST.

Assuming they don't give every single hard content healer-targeting mechanics, and provided the party doesn't have a DRK, I'm pretty confident you could do a zero-healer party with the increased amount of support tools classes are getting in general and the increased self-healing tools every tank except DRK is getting. Worst comes to worse you just substitute double-RDM for the two healer slots since their support kit is being enhanced even further. And you can go one healer if absolutely necessary, AST being the best candidate due to its RDPS stuff with div and cards, with SGE coming in second place due to having a large heal kit that doesn't impede the DPS rotation, alongside DPS heal stuff. Plus scholar is fucking boring and Astro is an abomination of lore-destruction and no-fun-allowed changes, so I'd recommend using SGE, personally.

Of course, they could counter this by having every single piece of "hard content" include forced-healer-target mechanics. As those go random if there are no healers and most people can't adapt on the fly to that during farm situations. But something tells me that they won't. They could also raise outgoing damage but if you think they'll do that you need to stop huffing copium.

[Silver-Strider]

So optimistic. 2 RDM is overkill.

It's PLD/WAR, 4 SMN, 1 DNC and 1 RDM.

[CrimsonGunner]

So optimistic. 2 RDM is overkill.

It's PLD/WAR, 4 SMN, 1 DNC and 1 RDM.

its 3 smn and 1 RPR cause you forgot people want that extra 1% buff

[Huskie]

Since all numbers could change at launch and then further before the raid tier releases, there is no absolute tell to damage contribution from each healer in any given context.

That being said, I compare actual numbers based on what I've analyzed myself and what the other wonderful players from the Balance :tm: have said.

Healer meta changes based on the context of the situation, and most players (healers especially) aren't competent enough or can afford a good team to execute and afford the best possible performance to achieve the best results - since achieving the best results is the only reason a meta would exist in the first place. That being said, here are my takes:

For casual raid progression: anything.
- It literally does not matter at all, because you'll likely not be minimum gear by the point you get the fights that require higher gear and there will be no pressure or time limit on clearing. This could even include double of the same healer, which is abysmal for multiple reasons, but is possible.
- There are no mechanics that require special healer combinations minus big single hits from the 3rd and 4th floor of the tier, which only would reasonably need a "shield" healer.

For week 1 and racing: Likely AST/SCH.
- SCH has a the most effective mitigation and full sprint for the party, they handle split and spread party situations good, they still have chain which makes up for their lack of damaging the boss even when they cannot afford to and potential higher rDPS contribution regardless.
- AST heals relatively a ton still, they have really good spread/split party healing, same raid buff stuff just more than SCH, they have a lot of MP regen.
- Since healing the party in a still-standing spot or j-waves style mechanic is trivial with any composition I am not considering brute force or limited range healing.

For speeding: Maybe AST/SCH.
- The only thing that matters here is total raid damage, unless required healing is high enough where you warrant a healer that heals more but contributes less damage, which would likely not happen based on SHB tiers - and actual experience.
- This could change based on the viability of chain and maybe downtime adjustments that could lead to gains on SGE.

For any and all normal content in any context: none or any.
- Play what you like, don't feel pressured to do anything special, there is no meta for normals because no one cares enough about it for there to be a competition or consideration as a merit to performance. Use it as a learning opportunity to take baby steps in your growth as a player!
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My experience and knowledge comes from engaging in all raid content in HC prog, speeding/personal runs, and learning from other players that also engage in them.
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All of this could change with simple potency changes, minus the casual stuff. I can elaborate more, or correct any mistakes I may have made or overlooked.

[Rezef]

I believe it's gonna be AST/SCH. After the SGE hype dies out and we get into proper optimization phase this combination will bring the best rDPS. ASTs kit is still overtuned and 180% shield on Adlo is insane if you add it Deployment + the SCH preloton mitigation is gonna be a quite good mitigation tool. WHM/SGE will see some play ofc but I since rDPS is the most important metric (as of SHB) AST/SCH will be the most powerful combo.

[Recon1o6]

While I couldn't care less about meta, I do thinks its most likely going to be one of two things

Sage/Ast for fights with fights nowadays having lots of uptime and because big dick dps buff plz
Or its going to Sage OR Ast for solo healing because its looking very likely a 2nd healer is going to be permanently superfluous assuming no dark knight is in the party and these two roles are basically better than the other two in their categories

Healing required by the healers is going to be even lower this expansion, given 3 of the tanks have absurd self healing now and dark probably won't be used much because its hated by the devs as much as sch is. Lowest dps and fun for dark Always ;n;


Either way, I think its oging to be another expansion of "healer in need" after the initial hype has died off. IT will be either "nonsage healer" or "healer" depending on how sage goes potency wise. Toxikon needs but one buff and suddenly we have a healing job fit for the game