How can we really define Healers?

[ty_taurus]

My problem with "defining healers" is that healers generally have a weird design in the game, They do pretty good damage for a "healer" role so a DPS such as Red Mage or dancer having a strong "healer" utility isn't really really a bad thing in my opinion?

Current Healer design (what defines them) generally has, a Simple one button rotation, Lots of OGCD heals, A GCD Heal with a Aoe counterpart, Giving a red mage a Aoe heal wouldn't really make it a "healer" but giving red mage a general healer kit would turn it into a functional healer, it becomes a problem when you can replace RDM with healers in hard content

I much rather have healers be a sort of spec option for general designs lets say "RDM/PLD/DNC" could theoretically spec into a Healer role with selectable abilities (that would generally hurt your dps), this would apply to other roles possibly having tanking specs or dps specs ect, I feel like allowing jobs to be more flexible instead of forced into a single category would be pretty fun, but I know it wouldn't really happen, because it would be too drastic from the rigid formula we got, I think the general rigid design really doesn't help a lot of jobs in Identity.

I like design that makes Jobs more flexible, Current red mage can't replace a healer in healing in hard content, i think it becomes a problem if it could (with current design anyway), I personally would like looser "roles" like "PLD has to be a tank" "RDM Has to be a DPS" "Sage has to be a healer" Obviously this would cause a lot of imbalance anyway so again it wouldn't happen I just wish it was less rigid then current.

I would argue that the ability to change your job takes the place of your ability to choose different specs within your class. A WoW class offers different paths to choose from, but in FFXIV, every job is available to you and that takes the place of your ability to spec. The issue is moreso that we're not taking advantage of that concept as effectively as we should be with the healers, and it's not just within the healer job design. Gear is shared between each healer, but what gear, and what materia each healer wants differs since each healer has a different preference for spell speed. As for kits, there are small strengths each healer does offer that give them minor advantages for certain fights and mechanics. AST has Macrocosmos and raid buffs, SCH has expedient and raid buffs, SGE has the largest amount of mitigation, including Panhaima, and WHM has the strongest burst window for damage contributions. It could definitely be more defined, and this doesn't take into consideration how gameplay feels, but I don't think each job having a fixed toolkit isn't a bad thing inandof itself.

EDIT: I meant to say it isn't a bad thing inandof itself.