6.0 Healer Feedback Thread

[Silver-Strider]

Since I've been slow to experiment much on healers, I'll be brief.

SCH feels fine so far. The changes to Energy Drain and Aetherflow haven't affected how I play the class and having the weave window from Broil is nice. The Fairy Cast time change is alright for the most part. Dying however, is even more punishing than before. Since all my MP restore is now solely based on Aetherflow and Lucid, an untimely death can easily scuff a run up since I can no longer use Dissipation+E.Drain to recover MP. The same is true for WHM with the Thin Air Nerf.

AST meanwhile has been made self punishing due to the heighten RNG of its card system. While it now only punishes the AST with missing out on the effects of Astrodyne, that's precisely the problem. People don't like to feel punished by something they have no control over. By removing the RNG mitigation AST used to have, Astrodyne feels like a slap in the face every time you fail to get 3 seals and there's nothing you can do except take it on the chin and move on. That isn't exactly fun to most.

SGE is alright but something just feels off with it that I can't put my finger on.

[Alrin]

SGE is alright but something just feels off with it that I can't put my finger on.

When we vere chatting about healers in my FC I wrote something similar. I cant tell that I like it and I cant tell that I dont like it. Something about this job feels off. Cant tell why. I Just have this inner feeling.

[Maxilor]

When we vere chatting about healers in my FC I wrote something similar. I cant tell that I like it and I cant tell that I dont like it. Something about this job feels off. Cant tell why. I Just have this inner feeling.

My ONLY complaint about Sage and what feels funny to me is mana management.

On paper it seems fine, use OGCD Heals and abilities to gain 7% mana back.

But in execution a lot of the times when healing is not needed I end up almost going OOM because using a heal when no healing is needed would be a waste, but that's the only way for me to get mana back.

Essentially, Sage needs a dump like Energy Drain. The only thing we have close to that is Kerachole which can be used fairly often without being a waste but that's on a 30 sec cooldown.

[Liam_Harper]

But in execution a lot of the times when healing is not needed I end up almost going OOM because using a heal when no healing is needed would be a waste, but that's the only way for me to get mana back.

It's not a waste if you get mana back. Weave it in and get some mana. It's not the best design, sure, but there's still no reason to go OOM on it. Overheal is only a big issue if you're losing dps over it, but oGCD's are free.

[Maxilor]

It's not a waste if you get mana back. Weave it in and get some mana. It's not the best design, sure, but there's still no reason to go OOM on it. Overheal is only a big issue if you're losing dps over it, but oGCD's are free.

Yes I suppose, but every fiber of my being rebels against wasted resources like healing someone at full health.

[-BlueGreen-]

When we vere chatting about healers in my FC I wrote something similar. I cant tell that I like it and I cant tell that I dont like it. Something about this job feels off. Cant tell why. I Just have this inner feeling.

Perhaps it's one of these points that have crossed my mind:

• Spell speed increases don't help Eukrasia and the augmented spells. Those are locked to 1/1.5 GCD so that combined it's a 2.5 second GCD. This creates a problem where if your spell speed is high enough, your casting rhythm will be uneven. IMO, Eukrasia needed to be an ability and the augmented spells have standard GCDs so spell speed just works.
• If, for some reason, you're stuck needing to focus exclusively on healing (bad team, heal check, etc.), Kardia basically becomes pointless. SCH's fairy at least tries to do something during such times, but if you're not DPSing, Kardia does nothing. This also interestingly means that in tearms of healing, Diagnosis is only a +280 potency heal over just tosing out another Dosis where as a SCH could cast Physic and maybe the fairy would add to it. Basically, even though you're a healer, it feels "bad" to actually heal directly.
• Toxicon, at its current potency, is largely smoke-and-mirrors to make the job feel more interesting. Outside of the instant cast, I've found it is near pointless in boss battles, especially just building it up. You have to pay 900 MP to put up a shield that you need to break to get a "free" damage skill that does the same as Dosis. Better to just Dosis x2, let the tank eat the tank buster then come back with Druochole. It'll cost 100 less MP, deal 2x the DPS, and heal for only a little less (Eukrasion Diagnosis is 300 potency heal + 540 potency shield while a Dosis for a Kardia heal and weaving Druchole is a total of 770 potency healing for that first GCD, in the second GCD, Toxicon and a second Dosis both trigger a Kardia heal for another 170 potency heal in both contexts).

Now, trash pulls in a dungeon where you have tanks pulling wall-to-wall? Toxicon is a little less pointless as it's an AoE where it's generally better in total vs. Dyskrasia and breaks even before becoming worse for DPS only after a fairly large number of targets. Given that tanks generally do take significant damage at such times, it's usually necessary to put the full healing kit to work which means both Eukrasian Diagnosis as well as the Addersgall heals. This setup makes the alternation between DPS and healing such situations feel more natural if you can keep up with it. Reading other threads here, though, it's clear some players are struggling to switch targets rapidly enough for this to actually work.

IMO, since Phlegma is essentially melee-range to begin with, I feel like it'd help both Toxicon and Phlegma to have the same range/target as Dyskrasia so that you can use them while still targeting the tank (without the need for macros) and benefit from far less frequent target switching in big pulls. Sage would essentially just become a melee healer, which would help set it apart from the rest in terms of playstyle.

[Maxilor]

Toxicon is a little less pointless as it's an AoE where it's generally better in total vs. Dyskrasia

That would depend on how many targets there was. I'm at work so I can't do the quick math, but how many targets would it take for Dyskrasia to do more DPS than Toxicon?

Reminder that Toxicon II is 330 Potency to first target and 50% less to all others...so 330 + 165 for each extra target.

Dyskrasia II is 170 to everyone no matter what.

[-BlueGreen-]

That would depend on how many targets there was. I'm at work so I can't do the quick math, but how many targets would it take for Dyskrasia to do more DPS than Toxicon?

Reminder that Toxicon is 300 Potency to first target and 50% less to all others...so 300 + 150 for each extra target.

Dyskrasia is 160 to everyone no matter what.

I figured I probably should have just done the math to post the numbers, but because Dyskrasia has more potency than the 50% all others of Toxicon, there's a break even point:

15 target Toxicon = 300 potency for first target + 150 potency for 14 targets for 2400 total
15 target Dyskrasia = 160 * 15 = 2400 total

In other words, less than 15 targets Toxicon is always better if you have a charge of it. After that, Dyskrasia edges ahead 10 potency per additional target. Granted, how often do you have 15+ mob pulls? Just don't think about it and use Toxicon if you have it in AoE. Besides, even though in theory you could do more absolute DPS by ignoring Toxicon completely at 16+ mobs, you'd probably benefit from the MP savings if you're already using Eukrasian Diagnosis to survive such a pull.

Note: the math does change at level 82
Toxicon II = 330 primary, 165 additional
Dyskrasia II = 170 all

Toxicon II: 330 + 32 * 165 = 5610
Dyskrasia II: 33 * 170 = 5610

For that case, you'd need 33 targets to break even. (lol, does that ever happen?)

My point still stands, Toxicon edges out Dyskrasia in virtually all AoE situations assuming you aren't casting Eukrasian Diagnosis for the sole purpose of triggering Toxicon.

If you're wondering, in 2 GCDs against just 2 targets (to try to benefit Toxicon II), DPS-wise (ignoring the effect on healing):

Eukrasion Diagnosis + Toxicon II = 495 total potency for damage
Dyskrasia II x2 = 680 total potency

Now, obviously, if you don't have any OGCDs to heal with and must use a GCD on healing, Eukrasian Diagnosis -> Toxicon in an AoE setup at least gives you a partial "refund" in terms of DPS lost to healing vs. just tossing out more Dyskrasias with this effect being more noticeable with fewer targets. Additionally, using Toxicon in such situations where you had to use Eukrasian Diagnosis to cover a lack of available OGCD heals also saves you the 400 MP that Dyskrasia would have cost if you had ignored Toxicon completely.