Healers need an overhaul

[HyoMinPark]

It's not that I don't understand.
It's that I don't care that the way they function isn't the way you think they should.

So you think that healers should have a boring rotation that they spam 80 to 90% of the time, and barely heal? Because that’s how they function. It isn’t just me who thinks that the way healers play and the way they function leave much to be desired.

I have a friend who parses (don't we all ) and I enjoy out-DPSing the DPSs on a big trash pull. Perhaps you think that's inappropriate for a healer, but as I said, I run a Sage, not a "healer." And even the Endwalker trailer emphasizes a Sage doing DPS over heals.

Again, you act as if I have a problem with healers DPSing or healers doing decent personal damage. That is not the issue I have, and if you believe otherwise, there’s a site you can look me up on to see just how much time I spend dealing damage as a healer. Or you could read what I’m writing instead of knee-jerk responding with bad arguments and statements that complete miss my points.

The issues I have are two-fold: healers do very little healing, to the point that their healing kit is overkill in most content; only the hardest pieces of content actually call for the full use of it, and that is a problem. And secondly, healers, for all the time they spend casting damage abilities, have a boring-as-sin rotation that needs to be adjusted. It isn’t that hard to have a 1-2-3 combo on healers, or multiple DoTs, or more damage oGCDs. You could give each of the four something different and they would feel infinitely better than they do now.

WHM? Why not give them a 1-2-3 and work Misery into a finisher for it?

SCH? How about giving them their DoTs back that they lost?

SGE? Why not expand on their instant-casts and oGCDs? Find a way to allow more Addersting generation and create a combo or a finisher from using Addersting.

AST is actually the only one where the simple 1 DoT, 1 nuke works due to their card mini-game. But why not give them a second DoT, or an instant-cast GCD for movement since Lightspeed tends to be locked to burst windows for multiple card usages? Maybe bring back Stella?

The healers not pressing their damage buttons will continue to ignore any additional ones, so why punish those who want more buttons because some don’t want to press them? There isn’t a legitimate excuse behind the boring DPS “rotation” we have. Giving us a few extra buttons to press would not suddenly make healers have “Savage-level” gameplay or be any more difficult to play. And since they primarily heal with oGCDs when healing is needed (except WHM), then there is no worry about interrupting the combo or breaking it.

With all due respect, I don’t think you have any idea what I think is appropriate for healers and what isn’t. You can strawman arguments as much as you like; but that won’t help your case here.

FFXIV offers four classes they label as "HEALERS" and apparently none of them fit your definition of that label. But me, I judge them on what they are, not on the labels people hang on them. Same as I do with people, BTW.

I mean we certainly don’t do much healing. We are more or less “support” or “budget DPS” or “gimped damage dealers”. Might as well call us what we are.

[Niadissa]

Man, why are we still feeding the troll? This person has been arguing in bad faith for the last 3 pages. Add to ignore and move on I say.

[Semirhage]

I love these "get bad players in roulettes if you want to have fun" posts. What? How does that help? You're talking about dungeons in Final Fantasy 14, right? Because I've had some terrible runs in my time since ARR was current. Truly terrible. You know what a terrible dungeon run causes me to do when I'm healing? Press my single boring as piss damage button even more times because I'm now carrying the damage contribution on top of "healing" with a single oGCD once or twice a minute. Could even be three times a minute if the party is extra bad, ooooooo spooooooky.

I immediately peg anyone as a troll if they're talking about "higher outgoing damage" in dungeons, because don't make me laugh. What's damaging the party? The walls aren't made of lava. The boss will teleport to the center of the arena for a 10 second obviously telegraphed attack that I suppose could hit the DPS....but that's like once a minute, not some constant outgoing barrage of damage. Where is this magical supposed "higher outgoing damage" coming from? Is the party drinking poison potions? Have they discovered how to sync their level to 1 for a monent in dungeons to manually set their HP lower?

[MiaShino]

I immediately peg anyone as a troll if they're talking about "higher outgoing damage" in dungeons, because don't make me laugh. What's damaging the party? The walls aren't made of lava. The boss will teleport to the center of the arena for a 10 second obviously telegraphed attack that I suppose could hit the DPS....but that's like once a minute, not some constant outgoing barrage of damage.

Something that hath recently entered my fron because Dismal Darkhold keeps coming up in the leveling roulette. The second boss there does fairly consistent and random damage to party members throughout the fight. Was not around for the ARR stuffs when was relevant but heard healing was mostly gcd (mean.. it is at that level anyways..) and healers manage. I never see wipes to that boss and no one I know struggles there either.

Gubal book boss does this too if you are paying the attention. It will pew pew party members at times most random that are not the tank. No wind up, no cast just like like the Darkhold second boss.

There is no higher outgoing damage though. These ones are speaking of the times where someone stands in the stoopid and they must fumble for those ogcds they seldom actually press. Perhaps they fatfinger one and it creates single moment of tension. Will that person experience demise in the six seconds of windup for the tankbuster into fifteen seconds of boss afk? I do not know! But I get to press *checks kit* huh.. well actually Assize is coming off cooldown in five seconds and I will be using Asylum for that raidwide anyway. Might even throw Rapture in to spice it up! I do have to move and Rapture would allow me double weave window for Assize + Asylum. Yup! AOE heals are okay. You know.. the ones I am pressing anyway..

Worst thing that occurs is I bene the deeps or Tetra them and carry on pressing one. Do not need bene for pulls anymore in higher level dungeons because the tank is the healer now. Even Dark Knight can self bene.

[Semirhage]

Something that hath recently entered my fron because Dismal Darkhold keeps coming up in the leveling roulette. The second boss there does fairly consistent and random damage to party members throughout the fight. Was not around for the ARR stuffs when was relevant but heard healing was mostly gcd (mean.. it is at that level anyways..) and healers manage. I never see wipes to that boss and no one I know struggles there either.

Gubal book boss does this too if you are paying the attention. It will pew pew party members at times most random that are not the tank. No wind up, no cast just like like the Darkhold second boss.

It's a vanishingly rare bad party that makes me even bother healing anyone during that Darkhold boss. Even in runs where I'm solid competition with the two DPS, I've hardly ever seen one where that boss kills anyone with the random rock throws before it dies.

It blows my mind that the "I like current healing design" crowd can't wrap their heads around the idea that we think pressing Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare with an occasional healing spell thrown in once in a while is bad game design. No, doubling the amount of times I need to cast healing spells from one to two won't make it engaging. No, cutting my healing potency down so I'll need to spend 8% of my time healing instead of 4 won't make it engaging. I'd like, for once, to not do something the DPS and tanks aren't cursed with, which is cast one flippin' single spell over and over and over and over and over and over and over again hundreds of times in every single piece of content. And the developers amazingly don't understand what we could possibly find boring there either.

[Allegor]

Man, why are we still feeding the troll? This person has been arguing in bad faith for the last 3 pages. Add to ignore and move on I say.

The internet has been more accessible for at least ~20 years, you'd think at this point "Defense against internet trolls" would be something they teach at school.

[MiaShino]

It's a vanishingly rare bad party that makes me even bother healing anyone during that Darkhold boss. Even in runs where I'm solid competition with the two DPS, I've hardly ever seen one where that boss kills anyone with the random rock throws before it dies.

Yup yup! Most happy you mentioned this because am fairly confident you could triple the outgoing damage there and even with minimal kits one inexperienced healer could heal through that without issue. Now.. if you add entire hotbar full of instant cast ogcd healing buttons you have a modern dungeon only without the random damage.

Causes much of the confusion when someone cites disaster runs or inefficiency of pugs as resulting in fun. Difference often amounts to "well I actually had to press the Panhaima button and burn one of my Addersgall on vulnstaculus over there."

Would say collectively amongst the extended family and friends only about five percent of runs are true disaster runs. The kind that force you into full triage for the entire encounter. Not nearly enough to make the role stimulating. This only becomes worse when leaving more casual content for Savage or Ultimate where mistakes cannot usually be triaged. Stood in that? Welp, you are getting one shot now. Wrong person down for important mechanic? Time to wipe! Cannot heal instant wipe so.. just wall? Swift raise then back to Glare? Not many many options there.

It is okay though because my fun is less important then someone else's fun. Unsure why I keep returning to this thread because reading it kinda makes me wish to press the Bolide button. Square will see the "tis fine" comments and consistent healer engagement (that only exists because fast queues) then use that as reference for why current design is acceptable.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Tie Yoshi-P to a chair, make him "heal" Frameworker from Smileton a bunch of times.

[currentlemon]

If FFXIV had a more engaging healer/support role, I'd be on this game whenever possible. I'm a healer main, and though I enjoy my level 90 PLD, I would prefer to play a healer/support job.

I don't play Savage or Ultimate raids, and I've only done two Extreme trails so far. I'm quite a casual player that Yoshi-P would like to have on the game. But given that my preferred role is in such disarray, I don't play the game all that often as I believe I should. Right now, it's back to Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous for the time being.

[Jybril]

I've quit healing officially this expansion as a main.
I was already slowly waning off it in SB, barely played SHB because of it and now
I put up my Cane, Book, Globe and new whatever the hell Sage uses because it's boring.
Do not want to press 1111111111-2-111111111.
Please understand this IS BORING. MY 1 AND 2 KEY NEED A BREAK.

We don't need 10 of the same damn buttons. Do NOT need like 3 Heal Potency up spells.
Merge some spells such as Cure 1 and Esuna together.
GIVE US DPS BUTTONS PLEASE.

And most importantly:
PLEASE FIX AST!
DAMAGE CARDS AREN'T FUN.
I miss my Time Mage and my RNG fun cards please God lmao.
Someone give me my AST BACK. ):