Just wanna say, I really enjoy healing in this game.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

[…]Though, I know I know, everyone has self-heal now. It'd still be cool to help the group out with healing.

We can still do though, albeit with less power. Otherwise, I agree with everything you’ve wrote.

It’s always fun to throw out well used Aquaveil on that DNC who got cc’ed. Gives them ample, short window of respite to hopefully dash away from their enemies. Maybe throw in one or two Cure IIs tooto help out from afar.
It’s always satisfying to help out your WAR who’s semi-stunlocking/tanking enemy crowd by plunging in with Seraph Strike, buffing them with damage reduction & throw out well used Cure III.
It always feels great to see Macrocosmos healed decent amount of health in addition to helping or probably even scoring some kills with it in conjunction to their Gravities, cards, and LB.
It always feels awesome to catch that WHM who tried to stun whole group off guard while party is under the effect of Seraph’s Flight as a SCH.
It feels very rewarding to pull out well timed Mesotes to completely annihilate unsuspecting opposing team in CC.

The list goes on. Gosh, all the decisions making…

[D6Damager]

As an ex-WoW refugee, where I was healer main since release, I enjoy healing in this game sooooo much better. I appreciate how much more relaxed and less stressful the role is compared to other MMO games. Also, how every healing job is viable which is not the case in other MMO's to the point where you wouldn't get picked to do endgame activities.

[LeonKeyh]

I normally hate healing in MMOs; There was 1 exception, Chloromancer in RIFT. Chloromancer was basically a (better) Sage style class where you healed by doing damage. You selected a target and that target would be healed a % of the damage you dealt. It was great fun trying to keep up my friend, our tank, by not casting any healing spells and just dealing damage.

I do enjoy healing in FFXIV. Mainly because the meta game is basically "Don't use heals that you don't have to." and really is about DPSing to kill stuff quicker. But, despite enjoying myself while playing I can see the 2 main complaints about healers and those complaints make for a "worse" role, especially for those who actually typically like healing.

1. Spamming the same ability. 70%-80% of your button presses are the same ability. 2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-[...]-2. That's kind of bad design and I feel like there should be more to it. I feel like adding complexity to the DPS kit doesn't affect those people who are happy that it is "simple", because most of them don't DPS anyway, and the ones who do could probably be above average players by just keeping their DoT up if things change.

2. Somewhat related, but healer is basically DPS who needs to occasionally throw out a heal here or there. Aglaia is ridiculous with just how limit damage goes out unless someone makes a mistake. I can absolutely see people who enjoy healing being bummed out that they're spending most of the time DPSing (and that is compounded by point #1).

Basically, I enjoy healing despite not liking healing. It's safe to say that means that people who typically like healing won't necessarily like healing in FFXIV because of the same thing, it's missing what I dislike and they like.

In my opinion, despite enjoying it, I think that it is extremely important to have a DIVERSE set of play styles to get diverse people with diverse tastes. We don't need a healing role that is mostly DPS, that's what the DPS role is for.

[Leonerdo]

I gotta say I am really impressed with how many people piped up to share some positivity of their own. It took a lot longer than I expected for the jaded veterans to arrive with the usual complaints. Even then, I see y'all appreciating the good aspects of healers alongside the complaints. It's very heartening to see.

I had originally started this thread because I was sick of all the negativity around healers. I wanted to challenge (or troll) the naysayers, and to see how people would react. I'm glad it wasn't ignored, and it didn't turn out as antagonistic as I was expecting. Instead I got to share with y'all a nice respite -- reminiscing and appreciating instead of bickering and campaigning.

And don't get me wrong there's still good reasons to complain. It took a little effort to focus on the positive things in my original post, and keep it genuine. Because there are always caveats and shortcomings. I don't want to deny that, but I wanted to put it in contrast to the good things about healers. We gotta keep in mind what drew us to the role in the first place. I much prefer talking about how healers are cool but they could be better, rather than how they are rotting away and need to be saved from ignominy.

Anyways, thanks for putting up with my sappiness. Keep up the good work, fellas.

[IDontPetLalas]

I gotta say I am really impressed with how many people piped up to share some positivity of their own. It took a lot longer than I expected for the jaded veterans to arrive with the usual complaints. Even then, I see y'all appreciating the good aspects of healers alongside the complaints. It's very heartening to see.

I had originally started this thread because I was sick of all the negativity around healers. I wanted to challenge (or troll) the naysayers, and to see how people would react. I'm glad it wasn't ignored, and it didn't turn out as antagonistic as I was expecting. Instead I got to share with y'all a nice respite -- reminiscing and appreciating instead of bickering and campaigning.

And don't get me wrong there's still good reasons to complain. It took a little effort to focus on the positive things in my original post, and keep it genuine. Because there are always caveats and shortcomings. I don't want to deny that, but I wanted to put it in contrast to the good things about healers. We gotta keep in mind what drew us to the role in the first place. I much prefer talking about how healers are cool but they could be better, rather than how they are rotting away and need to be saved from ignominy.

Anyways, thanks for putting up with my sappiness. Keep up the good work, fellas.

well, perhaps i'm wrong, but a fair amount of the half of the remarks were about how people 'used' to enjoy healing, and how people enjoy healing in pvp.

As someone whose first healer was a sch in heavensward, I agree- that was really fun. I also enjoy healing now- or more accurately - being a support dps - pvp. pve can deal with quite a bit of improvement.

as you say, there are reasons for complaints, as long as they are constructive i would object to anyone framing as coming from 'jaded veterans', just as i understand that some people may be perfectly happy with the status quo.

[SargeTheSeagull]

Healing in 14 is insanely fun. In PvP. Aside from balance issues like WHM getting LB way too quick, I genuinely have no complaints at all. Couldn’t find a fault with them if I had to. PvE on the other hand is downright brain dead. I don’t want it to be as tryhard as healing in WoW where all you do is spam heal the tank and some greedy dps players (tho I do like how varied healer kits are in that game) but a little variety in kits would be nice. Especially in downtime where all there is to do is press one button.

[SargeTheSeagull]

As an ex-WoW refugee, where I was healer main since release, I enjoy healing in this game sooooo much better. I appreciate how much more relaxed and less stressful the role is compared to other MMO games. Also, how every healing job is viable which is not the case in other MMO's to the point where you wouldn't get picked to do endgame activities.

Ya know it’s interesting. A LOT of WoW refugees really like healing in 14. Conversely, a lot of 14 vets who try healing in WoW as I have recently greatly prefer healing in that game. I think part of it is as “grass is greener” thing where WoW vets like 14 healing because it isn’t so constantly high strung. Whereas 14 players like healing in WoW because you have to actually keep track of your party, really focus on keeping people topped off instead of just alive. Plus you can’t just spam your AoE heal and clear. I think both games could benefit from adopting a bit of the other’s philosophy on healer design.

[Amenara]

I enjoy healing for the 10-15 minutes it takes to do an expert when it happens to be healer role instead of tank.

[Renathras]

Here we go again...

So far we've got "Healing is engaging in Ultimate", "Healing is fun if you stop trying to play well" and "WHM is the simple healer, buttons are bad". The usual.

I'm noping out of this one, we've been here a hundred times.

You realize people can just have a different opinion than you and be valid and justified in it, right? Also, do you have any idea what caricature and straw man fallacies are?

There's so much negativity on this board, it's nice to see that people DO enjoy healing.

EDIT:

about only thing I miss are, "spamable" heals. Though, I know I know, everyone has self-heal now. It'd still be cool to help the group out with healing.

Yeah, hard agree on this. I liked the old PvP Cure 1 where it had no CD or MP cost and could be spammed, though didn't heal THAT much. I like being able to top people off or offer support healing, and you can't do that in PvP anymore which has me kind of hate healing in PvP because you aren't really a healer at all, you're a DPS with a could of support CDs, and that's boring and annoying. SGE is worse, though. I tried SGE first with the new healing and was actually livid. It has NO heals. Yes, it has Kardia but literally nothing else. If your team kills the local enemy, you can't heal anyone or anything.

Though what I think I hate the most is that PvP healers are forced into MELEE. I have no idea who thought this was a good idea, but all the healers do it, I believe (haven't played AST much, but the other three have it). I hate that. It's bad enough that damage spells always feel so short range, but then you have to get into MELEE with healer health pools (which are the lowest of all the Jobs in PvP, SGE is the lowest there is). At least with SGE, you can in theory get in and out with Icarus, but because the rampant CC, that only happens when the enemy team is utterly incompetent. With SCH/WHM, I've just gotten to where I play and ignore those buttons existing entirely. The only time I use Seraph Strike is to try a last ditch suicide attempt to keep the enemy off a node in Seal Rock a bit longer (and yes, it's pretty much ALWAYS a suicide mission) or when there's a lone enemy that one of our tanks pulled as they tried to escape with their party that I can safely hit while staying behind friendly front lines.

Healers just don't have the staying power to effectively engage in melee without dying, and SGE is the only one with a gap opener escape tool, albeit dependent on a nearby friendly player to jump to and not being bound - which is a tall order considering how jank Purify and Guard are these days.

Don't get me wrong, I love how SCH plays as a buff/debuffer a lot, and I like WHM okay. I even like the idea behind SGE's ultimate which can be useful for some stuff. But I really don't like that EVERY healer in PvP is a melee warrior for some gods unknown reason without having a melee kit or melee levels of defense, and I hate not having even a token spamable heal.

In my opinion, despite enjoying it, I think that it is extremely important to have a DIVERSE set of play styles to get diverse people with diverse tastes. We don't need a healing role that is mostly DPS, that's what the DPS role is for.

This is my position as well. I feel that with four different - or at least two if we split them into barrier and pure - healer Jobs, we could have a bit more diversity. I hate DoTs and every healer has one. I know some people want more complex rotations, with some preferring a more rigid 1-2-3, others more juggling procs and buffs, and still others loving DoTs to death. Still others love the current design where they can focus their mental energy on healing and fight mechanics and just have a simple spam button to hit when nothing else demands their attention. With four healers, it seems like we could accommodate all those preferences and let people pick they one they like best, thus letting everyone be happy and gravitate to the playstyle/complexity level they enjoy.

[IDontPetLalas]

[QUOTE=Renathras;5989882]

EDIT:

Though what I think I hate the most is that PvP healers are forced into MELEE. I have no idea who thought this was a good idea, but all the healers do it, I believe (haven't played AST much, but the other three have it). I hate that. It's bad enough that damage spells always feel so short range, but then you have to get into MELEE with healer health pools (which are the lowest of all the Jobs in PvP, SGE is the lowest there is). CH/WHM, I've just gotten to where I play and ignore those buttons existing entirely. The only time I use Seraph Strike is to try a last ditch suicide attempt to keep the enemy off a node in Seal Rock a bit longer (and yes, it's pretty much ALWAYS a suicide mission)
Healers just don't have the staying power to effectively engage in melee without dying, and SGE is the only one with a gap opener escape tool, albeit dependent on a nearby friendly player to jump to and not being bound -
Don't get me wrong, I love how SCH plays as a buff/debuffer a lot, and I like WHM okay. I even like the idea behind SGE's ultimate which can be useful for some stuff. But I really don't like that EVERY healer in PvP is a melee warrior for some gods unknown reason without having a melee kit or melee levels of defense, and I hate not having even a token spamable heal.
snip (length)
If you ignore the skills that put you in melee range in PVP because that makes you uncomfortable, they you will potentially miss out on many opportunities to help your team - you are missing out on major support heals. That being said, the way to play is going to vary depending upon whether you're in CC or FL and these changes were clearly made with CC in mind, we know that, and some change will be forthcoming for FL.
It's a question of risk vs reward, if your Seraph Strike is well aimed and well timed you're going to be of a lot of help in CC - it is not a "suicide mission there" but a judgement call , as your reference was FL , (entirely up to you) your utility will likely be more into CC and making the best use of your LB. In FL, one of your priorities is usually to CC those jobs that are going to blast you down such as SMN and BLMs, or if they aren't there- anyone with some very effective group debuffs.

Regarding healers being forced into melee? I prefer not to play my SGE, but AST isn't forced into melee, SCH is in order to use mummification, which may or may not seem fair (I would say yes) and SGE needs to get into melee for phlegma- so someone who mains SGE in PVP (I don't ) may know how painful that is or isn"t.

So this view that every healer is a melee warrior in PVP? No, we have a lot of flexibility in where and how we play , you need to have situational awareness, use your sprint , stay with your group, and sometimes, select the best healing job according to your party. That's why the new PVP changes are now fun, because each healing job has interesting and different options.