AST - Making an Easy Healer

[Renathras]

I just don't understand not enjoying the DPS aspects of the healer role, and also rejecting the premise of a healer that replaces that DPS with support at the same time. Like, there are plenty of ways the later could be designed in a way that one might not enjoy, but just as many ways to interpret that concept in a way one could.

I get that. I'm not really sure how to explain it to you, though.

Part of it IS not liking complexity, and there are few ways to make a buffer that is (maybe if we had a buffing healer like Vanilla WoW's Holy Paladin, I guess?), but part of it is that I like healing and shielding not weak feeling meh damage buffs that don't appear to do anything. +3% damage isn't something I can see or feel. A yellow shield bar as large as someone's health bar - THAT I can see.

It's the same reason I hate the "damage is mitigation" argument. No, it's not. In trash packs, sure. But in a boss fight? If the boss is winding up a Tankbuster, Casting 3 Glares is NOT going to kill the boss before the Tankbuster goes off (unless it's basically already dead anyway). Sure, In an overall long run sense, the fight ends sooner. But then you aren't mitigating - the fight is just over, everyone gets their loot and moves on. I don't include "non-fight time" as part of a fight.

On the other hand, using Adlo/Eukrasian Diagnosis/Divine Benison/Celestial Intersection (or Opposition, whichever it is) on a Tank? THAT I can visibly see blunting the attack and preventing the Tank's death. Then using a heal? THAT I can also see refilling a good chunk of the Tank's health bar.

Casting a Glare? I don't have the resolution on my monitor to even see the amount of the boss' health bar that drops from a single Glare cast.

I think that's why I don't care much for damage related things - they just...don't FEEL impactful to me. Raising people, filling health bars, providing shields that prevent anyone from taking damage/much damage? Those are things I can see and thus they FEEL like they have impact. The course of battle is changed depending on if a Tank dies or is saved from death. THAT MATTERS.

But 0.0001% of a boss's health bar? Sure, in theory that matters, but it doesn't FEEL like it does. That's why it's not fun to me.

And damage buffs are the same thing. "Oh, the SAM is doing 2% more damage? /squints Nope, still can't see it..." There's no feedback that says "This is doing something meaningful" from doing damage NOR from buffing other people's damage. Well, unless you run parsers/damage meters, which I do not. Maybe other people do and so they get that "Yeah, I'm making a difference!" feeling...but I don't, and so I don't get that.

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EDIT: And as I incessantly point out - we have 4 Healers. 1 simple specializing in direct bulk heals, 1 complex focusing on party buffing, 1 complex focusing on oGCDs with direct spells being damage focused, and 1 other being some mix of the three. It's such a simple and elegant solution that's staring us in the face, so I will never understand the recalcitrance for it.

...but, that wasn't the point of this thread anyway.