Fixing Every Healer Job

[SirShady]

Who am I?
Hey, guys! I'm SirShady/Ryodin Wake. I'm technically an ARR veteran but I left the game before Heavensward was released and came back about a year before Endwalker. I'm a MMO fan, a game designer, and a savage raider who has cleared all current raids. I've played every battle class job in this game to some extent, and about half to max level. I play every role but tend to gravitate toward healers/supports in MMO's. I have every healer job at 90 and have played Sage/Astro in current savage raids. Nice to meet you!

Why do the current healers need fixes?
The current state of healers is, quite frankly, sad. It is some of the most boring healing I think I've experienced in the plethora of MMO's I've played. The better you are at healing, the less interesting your gameplay experience is. The jobs all boil down to spamming your 1 damage button and hitting ogcd's at scripted parts of the fight. Any deviation from this gameplay only comes from specific job skills like Astro's cards and White Mage's lilies, or teammates being bad to the point that you no longer have ogcds to spend and have to actually focusing on healing... As a healer. These moments, while nice, make up a miniscule part of your job, which is to spam your 1 button rotation. This playstyle alienates many players, such as myself, who are drawn to more rewarding, skill-expressive gameplay and find fun in optimizing our performance in fights, whether that is how we heal, deal damage, or support our team in any way.

What is my philosophy with these changes?
Obviously, we still want the healer job to be approachable to people. Some folks love the easy rotation and enjoy having a chill time refilling HP bars without caring for their own personal DPS. There is nothing inherently wrong with this playstyle, and it should remain in the game and be viable for all normal content. The point of these changes is to create diversity and complexity within the role for those who want it, especially those who feel they have lost much of their nuance in their kit over the past couple expansions.

The numbers are entirely subject to change and should not factor into the overall vision. I believe the general output of the jobs should be preserved but I am not here to discuss number balance. Obviously the base values of our 1-button rotations would have to be tinkered with if we want to keep similar output. Someone who is better at math can calculate values based on current class design/balance. My goal is simply to offer solutions to the lack of identity, complexity, and "fun factor" in each job. Alright! Let's begin!

[SirShady]

What is your intention with each job?
White Mage is the baseline healer, and quite frankly the "best designed" as far as job identity. It has a unique identity as the healer who is not punished for overhealing or using their GCD healing because of the lily system, which makes it very friendly for new healers. For this reason, it should remain largely the same outside of its basic damage combo. Any changes should be done carefully as the job fits its niche well and allows for a smooth healing experience. I want to preserve its more forgiving playstyle, while giving white mages something to do in their downtime besides just Glare.

Scholar needs its identity back. A tactical, DoT based healer. Quite frankly, it's time to bring old Scholar back. The changes here would raise the skill ceiling of Scholar's damage with its old DoT kit and add some support options to lean into their "battle strategist" fantasy, and offer more variety in their gameplay outside of floor smacking. Scholar's changes seek to add flavor that has been lost ever since StB.

Astrologian is lacking in meaningful support, despite that being its niche. The RNG in the job feels "empty", as Astrodyne is negligible, Crown Play is just fishing for lords, and the cards all do the same thing. Major changes are needed for its core mechanics, but overall it provides a solid baseline of what a fast-paced higher complexity job can be. I would like to avoid too much additional button bloat. Changes here will be extensive but the general idea is, provide more meaningful fun, variety, and synergy between its core supportive mechanics, and give it a little extra something to do when it has downtime to malefic spam. Also, bring back some lost time mage aspects to the job.

Sage is currently a bit anemic. Its niche as the "vampiric" Healer-DPS feels underdeveloped. It is too close to current scholar and rarely has a use for shields despite being a "shield-healer", which leads Toxicon to feel underwhelming outside of being a mobility option. I would like to focus more on Kardia as a base mechanic for its healing. I'd also like to give Pepsis more utility and usability, because as it stands now, it's just a forgettable and generally unnecessary emergency button. The fact that it destroys your shields for potential toxicon stacks is an interesting but wasted opportunity, so I'd like that to be more core to the gameplay.

To give a good balance of overall job complexity, I would suggest the overall order of lowest to highest skill ceiling of all of healer jobs should go:

White Mage > Sage > Scholar > Astro

Keep in mind, this is assuming you are playing to optimize. I don't want the base skill floor of any job to become so complicated or difficult that people can't clear the MSQ/standard roulettes with it.

[SirShady]

White Mage Changes
A lesser version of Blood Lily is now unlocked at the same time as Lilies.
Aero 3 is back.
Protect is back.
2 charges of Assize. Assize now restores 10% mana.
Gave lilies a spender for when HP is not needed.
Glare is now a part of two different 2-hit rotations. One empowers your new GCD Bloom. The other buffs your damage for 15 seconds.
Holy 2 empowers your new GCD Bloom.

New White Mage Abilities
Bud of the Blood Lily - Level 52 version of Blood Lily. Less potency. Replaced with Afflatus Misery at 74.
Aero 3 - AoE DoT. This can stack with Dia.
Refulgence - Aero 3 upgrade. Has a chance to proc Blinding Refulgence, which works like Thundercloud procs, dealing the full amount of the DoT damage. Stacks with Dia.
Afflatus Inspiratione - Spends 1 lily to grant a 200 potency shield to all party members.
Protect - Reduces damage taken by all party members by 10% for 15 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

Smite - Combos off Glare. Deals 330 potency and buffs your damage for the next 30 seconds by 10%.
Shine - Combos off Glare. Deals 350 potency and gives a stack of Lily's Petal, empowering your next Bloom by 10%.
Bloom - 30 second GCD AoE with a potency of 400. Gains 10% potency for each stack of Lily's Petal from Shine and Holy. If used with a stack of Lily's Petals, buffs the next Blood Lily's potency by 5%. This Blood Lily buff can stack up to two times.


White Mage Breakdown

As I said before, I think outside of number balancing, White Mage is the most well designed healer job as far as their identity in the healer ecosystem. It works as a good entry point for new healers, and aside from some awkward skill curves during the leveling process, it's set up well to allow healers that would otherwise be constantly panic/overhealing to still keep up with DPS just based on the merits of the lily system. I've given the job an early Blood Lily to teach White Mages how best to balance their GCD-heal focused kit with their big personal burst before the big Blood Lily we all love. I've also given back Aero 3, because why not? It was aesthetic and a nice little mixup from the traditional holy spam. It eventually turns into a light-themed version like all other White Mage damage spells, and I'm praying this is because Geomancer is going to be an upcoming magical DPS job that will take over the earth/water/aero line of spells.

The most important change, however, is the two new damage rotations and Bloom. These essentially mean that White Mage's combos focus on a series of self-enhancing buffs: one to increase personal damage by a flat 10%, one to buff Bloom, and a fully empowered Bloom will buff your next Blood Lily. This means that White Mages would be rewarded by swapping between the two combos as needed, keeping up their own personal damage buff with Smite, then swapping to the Shine combo to power up their Bloom/Blood Lily. If you use your OGCD healing wisely, you'll have enough time in order to make your stacks and optimize your DPS before the next Bloom/Blood Lily comes up.

[SirShady]

Scholar Changes
Miasma is back.
Shadow Flare is back.
Bane is back, allowing Scholar to spread their DoTs.
Chain Stratagem is now spreadable as well for AoE situations.
Scholar now has a semi-spammable mini-fester in the form of Putrefy.
Scholar now has a supportive faerie gauge spender in the form of Fey Frenzy.
Dissipation is now on a 2 minute cooldown. Now changes Fey Illumination to Fey Divination and Whispering Dawn to Fey Fury. These abilities do not share a cooldown with each other, just buttons, to avoid bloat.

New Scholar Abilities
Miasma - GCD 30 second DoT.
Shadow Flare - OGCD damages and slows all enemies in an area for 15 seconds. 60 second cooldown.
Putrefy - GCD deals damage with a potency of 200-400 to a target, and half this amount to surrounding targets. Potency is enhanced based on the number of the caster's DoTs on the target. 30 second cooldown.
Fey Frenzy - OGCD ability, costs 10 Faerie Gauge to apply a 10% cast/recast reduction to all party members for 10 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

Fey Divination and Fey Fury can only be used while under the effect of Dissipation... These abilities do not share a cooldown with Fey Illumination/Whispering Dawn but they do replace the buttons.
Fey Divination - Increases critical hit rate of party by 10% for 15 seconds. Can only be used once during Dissipation
Fey Fury - Deals 350 potency and applies a 5% vulnerability debuff in an AoE for 15 seconds. Can only be used once during Dissipation

Scholar Breakdown

Scholar is now the unofficial DoT class of the game, able to set them up, spread them, and maintain them easily. Putrefy gives more variety and synergy in your rotation, and is DPS positive as long as you maintain your DoTs. Chain Stratagem is useful outside of single target scenarios. Dissipation is now an intrinsic part of your toolkit and allows for more "battle tactician" flavor. With these changes you will be applying DoTs, keeping them rolling with Putrify, and swapping into Dissipation to unlock your full supportive potential! It's a big bag of tricks but if you can make it all work, you'll have some amazing output.

[SirShady]

Astrologian Changes
Remove Undraw.
Sleeve Draw is back.
Minor Arcana and Crown Play share the same button.
Cards have been reworked to have more variation with incentives to use them. Cards give the Fortune buff to each unique party member they are used on.
Time Dilation is back in the form of Astrodyne. This can be used in combination with your other buffs.
Divination now works off of how many unique party members have the Fortune buff.
Malign Continuum is a spell that combos off of Malefic. It deals damage and grants a buff that reduces cast/recast times as long as its cycled between Malefic.
Comet's Omen is an OGCD ability that deals damage based on how much time is left on the Astro's DoT. The less time, the more damage.

Minor Arcana's Lady of Crowns grants a buff of Lady's Favor which stacks with each subsequent draw of Lady of Crowns. Each stack increases the damage of your next Lord of Crowns by 20% potency. At three stacks, your next Lady of Crowns becomes The Queen, healing for 500 potency and dealing AoE damage for 800 potency.

Card/Divination/Astrodyne Changes
Balance gives 5% damage buff. Gives the Fortune buff if used on DPS.
Bole gives 15% damage mitigation and 15% healing potency. Gives the Fortune buff if used on tank or healer. Fortune does not stack.
Arrow reduces all cast times, recast time by 10%. Gives the Fortune buff if used on ranged. Fortune does not stack.
Spear gives 10% crit rate. Gives the Fortune buff if used on melee. Fortune does not stack.
Ewer doubles the effect of the next card on this target. Gives the Fortune buff if used on ranged. Fortune does not stack.
Tower doubles the effect of the next card on this target. Gives the Fortune buff if used on melee. Fortune does not stack.

Divination now increases damage dealt based on how many Fortune buffs are active on the party at the time. From 3% all the way to 7%, with each stack of Fortune increasing the buff's value by 1%. Once used, all Fortune buffs are spent.

Astrodyne can now be used on allies.
1 seal: regens caster's MP.
2 seals: regens caster's MP, increases the length of all your buffs on target by 5 seconds for 5 seconds.
3 seals: regens caster's MP, increases the length of all your buffs on target by 10 seconds for 10 seconds. Gives a stack of Grand Fortune. It works the same as Fortune, but CAN be stacked with it.

New Astro Abilities
Malign Continuum: Combo skill for Malefic and Gravity. Deals the same damage but applies a 5% cast/recast reduction buff which stacks up to 4 times and disappears upon using a GCD that isn't Malefic/Malign Continuum.
Comet's Omen: OGCD 30s cooldown, deals damage based on the time left on your Combust DoT. Potency becomes higher with less time, up to a maximum of 450 at 5 seconds or less. If used without Combust on a target, deals a flat 200 potency.

Astro Breakdown

Lady of Crowns isn't as bad to pick up and could potentially be better if you manage to get her three times. Yay, RNG! Unique cards are BACK, and all are useful even if they aren't the flat 6% damage since Fortune makes sure a unique spread of cards builds up to your big Divination window. Astrodyne is more supportive and is cohesive to this big buff window playstyle. Continuum gives a fast-paced machine gun time magic feel to the basic 1-2 combo. Comet's Omen is just a unique damage button for flavor. Overall Astro's support feels meaningful, varied, and more thoughtful. The controlled RNG is back with better returns. If you set your cards up right, and with a little luck, you'll be support god.

[SirShady]

Sage Changes

Physis I and II heal for the same amount. Physis II now grants the Kardia effect to everyone for 3 GCD attacks.
Holos no longer heals but grants a shield that gives Addersting upon popping. This shield can be popped with Pepsis.
Druochole shields for 300HP and grants the Kardia effect for 3 GCD attacks.
Pepsis now works with Holos's/Druochole's shields, healing for an additional potency on top of the shield potency.
Rhizomata now gives a stack of Addersting as well as Addersgall.
Phlegma does not break combos.

Duodosis - Combo with Dosis/Eukrasia Dosis. 350 potency. Can combo into Tridosis/Eukrasia Tridosis.
Eukrasia Duodosis - Combo with Dosis/Eukrasia Dosis. 300 potency. Increases the potency of your next Kardia heal by 50% (255).
Tridosis - Combo with Duodosis. 360 potency. Gives one stack of Addersting.
Eukrasia Tridosis - 380 potency. Doubles the heal of Kardia (stacks with E. Duodosis). Costs one Addersting.
Eukrasia Dyskrasia - 130 potency AoE which applies a debuff, making ALL enemies take the full amount of damage from the next Toxikon and doubling the amount of healing from Kardia with Toxikon. Can stack up to 3 times.

Sage Breakdown

COMING SOON

More lasers = More healing. More overall kit synergy. Eukrasia Dyskrasia is an incredible AoE tool. Kardia is such a cool concept, it's dumb that it's being regulated to just a fairy-replacement. A legitimate use for Pepsis.

Let me know what you think! Fun? Interesting? Too convoluted? Too busy? Not enough changes? Too many changes? Obviously, I'm not on the balance team so I don't expect this to go anywhere, but I'd love some feedback on what other people think.

[Silver-Strider]

Thorn of the Lily - 30 second GCD AoE with a potency of 340 to the first target and half that amount to additional targets (slightly more than Holy 2), gives one lily, and empowers the next Blood Lily by 10%.
Afflatus Inspiratione - Can only be used at 2 stacks of lilies. Cost 1 lily to increase the DPS of an ally by 3% (increases personal damage by 5%) and shield 400 potency for 15 seconds.

These skills would cause Lilies to suffer from the same problem as Energy Drain. Lilies would never be used for Healing again since, optimally, it would be better to utilize Inspiratione to increase DPS of the party. Also, why does it require having 2 Lilies but only uses 1?
Another "issue" would be button bloat. I personally think it's a crock of an argument but everyone and their mother will argue against adding more buttons, at least without consolidating/removing other skills to justify their inclusions.

[Semirhage]

What is your intention with each job?If there is one healer job who must have the 1-button rotation, it's White Mage.

I will never not be confused by these healer forum AST/SCH/SGE main screeds that spend paragraphs going on and on and on about how dreadfully boring mashing one button over and over again for an entire encounter is, what a wretched awful gameplay experience it is, how it's the worst design in the MMO genre.

And then conclude with "so that's why the 1 button rotation is perfect for WHM."

[Silver-Strider]

I will never not be confused by these healer forum AST/SCH/SGE main screeds that spend paragraphs going on and on and on about how dreadfully boring mashing one button over and over again for an entire encounter is, what a wretched awful gameplay experience it is, how it's the worst design in the MMO genre.

And then conclude with "so that's why the 1 button rotation is perfect for WHM."

I don't like the mentality either. You can have simple and still have more buttons.
WAR/DNC/SMN are all simple but at least have some semblance of a rotation

[SirShady]

I added two new buttons to their rotation, both of which mean you'll be hitting your blood lily more often. It just doesn't combo off of Glare.