AST - Making an Easy Healer

[Recon1o6]

Renathras. You are missing the point of every whm main current and former who does not want it being left behind as you propose continuously.
If there is any healer that should be easy (IE low skill floor and ceiling and no kit interactivity) its sage as it was designed for EW's super low requirements

The other 3 healers had history and dedicated playstyles with skill ceilings that should be returned and whm was one of them. Sage is currently stealing sch and noct ast's playstyles. It has yet to carve out a niche for itself


that being said- interesting thought experiment and one that i would not be surprised to see happen at this point

[ty_taurus]

If there is any healer that should be easy (IE low skill floor and ceiling and no kit interactivity) its sage as it was designed for EW's super low requirements

I disagree with this point. From a lore standpoint, Sage is supposed to be one of if not the most challenging disciplines that we know of currently. From a gameplay standpoint, a player is required to have reached level 70 to unlock the job, and while that doesn't mean that much in practice, it does make it the least accessible to a new healer. Sage should be a lot like Gunbreaker--effective but challenging to pull off correctly. It's not just that it has a busy DPS rotation, Gunbreaker's demand for weaving makes it harder to properly position bosses, and that's an element of nuance that Gunbreaker players take pride in mastering. Perhaps that requires slashing off its Scholar imitation buttons or changing them to work differently.

I definitely feel that Astrologian should be the healer to appeal to players that don't like DPS healers, but I don't think that means it needs to be simple or the easiest to play either, and it still needs to have a solid answer to solo play.

White Mage, being immediately accessible to a new player, should be the most approachable healer. That said, I also stand vehemently against the idea that it's fine as-is, and needs to have room to optimize, but should also be forgiving.

[Renathras]

...

I'm not so much "missing the point" as I disagree on what "left behind" means. I think WHM is the only Healer right now that is more or less actually working as it is and makes the most sense to stay fun (I see the proposed changes as un-fun, not as an improvement, see), and want it to stay good instead of getting worse.

However, I also am open to alternatives.

So this thought experiment was to explore what all would have to be changed to AST before "leave it alone" would be the option.

Though I will say this:

The SECOND closest Job I'd say as the "leave it alone" option would be SGE. The problem is SGE doesn't have the option to start at level 1 for new players...if it somehow had the option to start at level 1 or level 70, though? It would probably be the most sensible option, but it would need its kit altered to be a bit more straightforward. It's easy once you get it (right now, I find it as easy to play as WHM), but it doesn't FEEL easy to most anyone picking it up for the first time, especially new Healers. That said, if it could be someone's class pick from level 1 for a new character, it'd probably instantly become the most played Healer, lol

Oh, and I will contest the WHM history point:

As demonstrated in the "Healers Then And Now" thread, WHM is about the same relative level if skill/difficulty/kit complexity now as it was in 4.0 and ARGUABLY 3.0/2.0 outside of Cleric.

I definitely feel that Astrologian should be the healer to appeal to players that don't like DPS healers, but I don't think that means it needs to be simple or the easiest to play either, and it still needs to have a solid answer to solo play.

White Mage, being immediately accessible to a new player, should be the most approachable healer. That said, I also stand vehemently against the idea that it's fine as-is, and needs to have room to optimize, but should also be forgiving.

I do agree with the lore argument.

I'd even agree with AST being an appealing option - TO THOSE WHO LIKE COMPLEXITY THAT ISN'T DAMAGE RELATED.

That doesn't make AST a good beginner option, nor does it make it what should appeal to players that don't like DPS Healers.

I've also yet to see a good argument why WHM isn't good as it is that doesn't amount to "it's boring", which is a subjective argument; and ignores that objectively WHM has the most going on in GCD terms aside from MAYBE SGE, and that WHM has the most complicated kit its had over all of FFXIV's history aside from Cleric toggling, which we generally all agree isn't coming back. It doesn't really NEED much else other than a second, shorter CD mitigation.

Conversely, making any other Healer (aside from SGE) work on that level would be a tall lift, which is why I feel SGE and AST (not as presented in this thread; just in general) both need reworks of some kind. SGE is salvageable, but would need some changes.

Alone among the Healers could current WHM be ported into 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, or 6.0 and work (and actually be an improvement over 4.X, 5.X, and 6.0 itself, and probably over 3.X and 2.X)

That's why I don't think it needs any change other than the mitigation one, making GCD heals generate Blood Lily, and probably merging Cure 1 into Cure 2.

.

Though given this thread, it's got me thinking what a similar thought experiment would be for SCH, or in reverse for WHM/SGE - what it would take to make them "complex" on the AST level......I'll have to give those some thought.