Healer design is still terrible and I'm tired of apologizing for it.

[Gemina]

First post, been a lurker here for years.

My initial experiences with Endwalker has of course been on the new shiny job, Sage, because healing and support is where (traditionally) most of my enjoyment in this game has come from. I was hoping for a shift in direction for the healing role or at least an expansion on the philosophy from Shb, since I profoundly hate the current paradigm of 1 button spam for healers. It seems like SE just doubled down on that paradigm and I'm so frustrated with it it's brought me out of the shadows to complain about it on the forums.

For the life of me, I can't fathom why SE would design the healing role around being completely unnecessary if the tank is pressing 1-2-3 correctly. It's like SE is so frightened about having any healers (or tanks for that matter) be required to play their role they balance group content around 75% of people being afk, all for what? Appease those who would rather stare at pretty particle effects instead of playing a videogame? It feels patronizing, quite honestly.

Needless to say I'm very disappointed and my enjoyment of the game has incredibly diminished because job design in general has seemed to have taken a big hit post-Shb with no meaningful plus side. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way and I wish SE would at least give the appearance they're listening like they have done so well in the past.

Firstly, welcome to the forums.

Next is I wish my response to your entry wasn't along the lines of telling you that you are preaching to the choir. A lot, and I do mean a lot of people here on the forums will agree with you. Unfortunately when that is the case, then it also becomes very difficult for you to provide a fresh perspective on the matter, and to interact with those who do oppose your views. In case you are not aware, there are many healers who support current healer design. Crazy, right?

The other thing I will mention is the devs do not create this false expectation that the players carry into every expansion. This is created by the players themselves, and I would even go as far to say the devs make sure to let the players know that encounter design isn't changing. Yet, they will still carry the expectation regardless.

Anyone who thought Sage would be this breakout healer that would "change the game" is the epitome of that false expectation. Most knew that despite all the fancy animations and a few more DPS options, SGE was still a healer at the end of the day. It is those players who are enjoying this job right now. It is also those players who have actually noticed that while the core concept of the job is the same, the manner which a SGE supports the party actually has them drawing upon their resources differently. In that sense, it has changed how a healer prioritizes their skills, which can make it feel quite different and take some getting used to. Just ask the many tanks who ate the floor with a SGE healer this past week (many of whom anticipated it).

I assure you, SE isn't frightened about anything. That's the echo chamber influencing your thoughts. They are however, conscious of how fallible human beings are, and that the very nature of the healer role is reactionary as a result of that. Healer is not the best role - nor should even be in contention, when it comes to optimization. There is another role in this game that is purely designed entirely around that concept and you know which one it is.

[Semirhage]

The other thing I will mention is the devs do not create this false expectation that the players carry into every expansion. This is created by the players themselves, and I would even go as far to say the devs make sure to let the players know that encounter design isn't changing. Yet, they will still carry the expectation regardless.

Silly players, expecting to have "fun" while "playing a game". That's a flight of fancy created by the playerbase. The developers know real healers would rather press one button over and over and over again for 80% of an encounter than do something so outlandish as "enjoy playing the game".

[Gemina]

Silly players, expecting to have "fun" while "playing a game". That's a flight of fancy created by the playerbase. The developers know real healers would rather press one button over and over and over again for 80% of an encounter than do something so outlandish as "enjoy playing the game".

When "one button for 80% of the encounter" makes up 80% of the arguments of why healing should be changed, it is indeed a flight of fancy created by the playerbase. They couldn't have been more stern and stagnant to their approach to the healers in FFXIV; yet here you are. Still pining for the change because you somehow know that every healer in this game is suffering and oppressed by their god forsaken one button rotation.

Again, a view about this cannot even be challenged as it is outright blasphemy to even remotely mention that healing can be enjoyable. If your rebuttal for that argument is, "So you enjoy pushing one button 80% of the encounter?" My response to that is, "You bet. Love it!"

Define a "real" healer. Seriously, I want to hear your perspective. If you're implying the devs don't know what one is, I would like to find out. It would also clue me in on how long I've been doing it wrong.

[Vivix]

Even if every fight required more healing I still wouldn't like FF14's style of healing as much as I enjoy healing in other games. It's the overwhelming number of instant cast abilities. I wish instant healing was rare or on very very long cooldowns. If people are going to keep saying the challenge in FF14 comes from fight mechanics rather than the job rotations we should rely more on hard casting heals which punishes positioning more.

As for enjoying 1111 spam I doubt anyone does but it's preferable to standing around not contributing.

[OtakuSempai]

Firstly, welcome to the forums.

Next is I wish my response to your entry wasn't along the lines of telling you that you are preaching to the choir. A lot, and I do mean a lot of people here on the forums will agree with you. Unfortunately when that is the case, then it also becomes very difficult for you to provide a fresh perspective on the matter, and to interact with those who do oppose your views. In case you are not aware, there are many healers who support current healer design. Crazy, right?

The other thing I will mention is the devs do not create this false expectation that the players carry into every expansion. This is created by the players themselves, and I would even go as far to say the devs make sure to let the players know that encounter design isn't changing. Yet, they will still carry the expectation regardless.

Anyone who thought Sage would be this breakout healer that would "change the game" is the epitome of that false expectation. Most knew that despite all the fancy animations and a few more DPS options, SGE was still a healer at the end of the day. It is those players who are enjoying this job right now. It is also those players who have actually noticed that while the core concept of the job is the same, the manner which a SGE supports the party actually has them drawing upon their resources differently. In that sense, it has changed how a healer prioritizes their skills, which can make it feel quite different and take some getting used to. Just ask the many tanks who ate the floor with a SGE healer this past week (many of whom anticipated it).

I assure you, SE isn't frightened about anything. That's the echo chamber influencing your thoughts. They are however, conscious of how fallible human beings are, and that the very nature of the healer role is reactionary as a result of that. Healer is not the best role - nor should even be in contention, when it comes to optimization. There is another role in this game that is purely designed entirely around that concept and you know which one it is.

I appreciate your input and taking the time to reply. However I'm not sure what you're arguing here, because a lot of us are disappointed that means we had unreasonable expectations? Is it really unreasonable to expect a well designed role in a multiplayer RPG?

Of course there are plenty of people who enjoy it the way it is. They don't care enough to post on the forums frequently however, and it's quite obvious why since most players are not engaged enough with the game and its mechanics to even pay attention or care about these things. The folks here who take time out their day to explain why something isn't enjoyable or counterintuitive to play are generally people who understand the game enough to give a valid opinion. Sure call it an echo chamber, but who would you rather listen to when getting your car fixed, a forum full of drivers or a forum full of mechanics?

[OtakuSempai]

Even if every fight required more healing I still wouldn't like FF14's style of healing as much as I enjoy healing in other games. It's the overwhelming number of instant cast abilities. I wish instant healing was rare or on very very long cooldowns. If people are going to keep saying the challenge in FF14 comes from fight mechanics rather than the job rotations we should rely more on hard casting heals which punishes positioning more.

As for enjoying 1111 spam I doubt anyone does but it's preferable to standing around not contributing.

Raking my face across a bush filled with poison ivy is much more preferable to doing it across a patch of hot coals, doesn't mean I'd want to do either one.

[OtakuSempai]

When "one button for 80% of the encounter" makes up 80% of the arguments of why healing should be changed, it is indeed a flight of fancy created by the playerbase. They couldn't have been more stern and stagnant to their approach to the healers in FFXIV; yet here you are. Still pining for the change because you somehow know that every healer in this game is suffering and oppressed by their god forsaken one button rotation.

Again, a view about this cannot even be challenged as it is outright blasphemy to even remotely mention that healing can be enjoyable. If your rebuttal for that argument is, "So you enjoy pushing one button 80% of the encounter?" My response to that is, "You bet. Love it!"

Define a "real" healer. Seriously, I want to hear your perspective. If you're implying the devs don't know what one is, I would like to find out. It would also clue me in on how long I've been doing it wrong.

So what do you presume people who are not satisfied with the current status quo do, shut up and be quiet because the infallible SE decreed their current "vision" is absolute and should not be questioned? We're all paying customers here, and we all have an equal opportunity to give feedback even if it is opposed what SE wants for the direction of their game.

[Sebazy]

When "one button for 80% of the encounter" makes up 80% of the arguments of why healing should be changed, it is indeed a flight of fancy created by the playerbase. They couldn't have been more stern and stagnant to their approach to the healers in FFXIV; yet here you are. Still pining for the change because you somehow know that every healer in this game is suffering and oppressed by their god forsaken one button rotation.

Again, a view about this cannot even be challenged as it is outright blasphemy to even remotely mention that healing can be enjoyable. If your rebuttal for that argument is, "So you enjoy pushing one button 80% of the encounter?" My response to that is, "You bet. Love it!"

Define a "real" healer. Seriously, I want to hear your perspective. If you're implying the devs don't know what one is, I would like to find out. It would also clue me in on how long I've been doing it wrong.

I can heal any content you do with 2 buttons. Dungeons I suspect I could do it with 1.

Taken in isolation our kit is ‘fine’

Taken in isolation the content is ‘fine’

But they are world apart from each other.

[Liam_Harper]

For me, it's not even the 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 that I dislike the most. It's the overall design and how obvious it is that they just don't know what to do with healers. The lack of a healer designer is felt so strongly.

-Why is there so little to heal in so many encounters?
-Why is Piety unchanged?
-Why did the weakest healer WHM, get a mana nerf and hardly any new toys and AST get even stronger?
-"We didn't know what to add to SCH ...but we had plenty of ideas for Sage!"
-Wtf is Astrodyne and MA? That's really the best they could do? Why the button bloat for no reason?
-Why do SCH and WHM lose roughly 100 potency for each of their main heals while AST/SGE do it free?
-Why is Star, the best aoe heal in the game, buffed yet rubbish like Cure III are untouched?
-Why is Freecure still a thing?
-Why does Undraw exist?
-Why is Holy the only aoe you have to clip with and why aren't WHM/SCH's GCD heals 1.5 sec like AST/SGE?
-Why does Assize not have charges?
-Why are AST GCD heals cheaper than WHM?
-Why does the SCH fairy still have no clear strength, despite improvements to AI it's still just oGCD's with a disadvantage that vanish for 30 sec windows.
-Why is WHM the only healer with no access to it's main resource (lilies) until 30 sec into a fight despite having very few raid oGCD heals?
-Is Toxicon design really their best?

...And so on, I could keep listing them for a while. Healers overall are just a badly designed mess and all the effort the devs seem to put in is making sure they "function" in raids and dungeons. Balance, fun and smooth gameplay just isn't enough of a concern. Healers seem to exist as a necessary role to fill, not as a role to enjoy.

[Gemina]

I appreciate your input and taking the time to reply. However I'm not sure what you're arguing here, because a lot of us are disappointed that means we had unreasonable expectations? Is it really unreasonable to expect a well designed role in a multiplayer RPG?

Of course there are plenty of people who enjoy it the way it is. They don't care enough to post on the forums frequently however, and it's quite obvious why since most players are not engaged enough with the game and its mechanics to even pay attention or care about these things. The folks here who take time out their day to explain why something isn't enjoyable or counterintuitive to play are generally people who understand the game enough to give a valid opinion. Sure call it an echo chamber, but who would you rather listen to when getting your car fixed, a forum full of drivers or a forum full of mechanics?

In one sentence you ask, "Because a lot of us are disappointed, means we have unreasonable expectations?" as if I am making an assumption. Then you go on to say this, "Of course there are plenty of people who enjoy it the way it is. They don't care enough to post on the forums frequently however, and it's quite obvious why since most players are not engaged enough with the game and its mechanics to even pay attention or care about these things."

Do you even have an idea what that insinuates? You are implying that basically anyone who disagrees does not understand game mechanics, and doesn't care enough to be engaged with the game and its issues. That's hogwash bud. A player's assessment and opinion on the state of the game or mechanics within are not invalidated simply because do don't agree with you. My issue is with this mentality FAR more than ST spam when I play a healer.

As for your analogy. If something is wrong with my car, I am going to value the assessment of a mechanic over the opinions of those who just drive the car. You can drive a car for years; learn a thing or two about what makes it go, and even troubleshoot it a bit. That doesn't make you a mechanic. Furthermore, if mechanic after mechanic, or in this case driver after driver continues to insist that what is wrong with my car is it does not go fast enough, and I try to explain to them that the issue is not how fast it can go, and there are other cars out there designed to go fast; it quickly becomes a waste of time an energy trying to find any common ground with them.

My main point here is if you operate under a mentality that feels it knows what is good for the game and anyone who disagrees just doesn't know the game or their class, then you will continue to not only be disappointed with the healer role in FFXIV, but also with many people who choose to play that role as well. This doesn't prohibit you or anyone from stating an opinion, or making suggestions on how to improve the game. However, it needs to be understood that it is an opinion, and at best arbitrary. I honestly don't know where some of you get the audacity to think that doing things like adding more complex DPS rotation or increasing healing requirements (IOW change encounter design) somehow magically makes the game fun for everyone. That kind of authoritarianism has no place anywhere.