Healer Suggestions Megathread

[Renathras]

Maybe merge the two speed materias into a single 'Speed' type too, which would benefit certain classes like PLD or DRK, who have some spells that are locked at 2.5 because spells do not get anything from skillspeed.

One thing they could do (I was thinking about this with RDM) is make those Jobs that use both have some kind of trait. Like for RDM, "Converts 100% of Spell Speed from equipment and Materia into Skillspeed as well", and the reverse of that for PLD/DRK. Though I think combining them into a "Haste" Materia might just work better (though they might need to rename the Eureka/Bozja gear stat, but...who cares? Just call it "Ancient/Lost Haste")

I do think Crit needs to be Sundered. It feeds into itself too much. To a point, even base Crit does, a problem WoW had for years back in the day (and maybe still does, idk). The more Crit you have, the more Crit you want, because the higher your Crit chance, the more you want to get that closer to 100%. This is distinct from other stats. Like Haste (for Healers/Casters) has an interplay with Spirit/Piety (MP regen), since too much Haste makes you OOM and you have to counteract that. It creates an interesting balance. Likewise, a stat like WoW's Mastery or generic "power" stat (which is honestly what Det is in FFXIV) has a weaker effect, but a more balanced one.

For example, you could have Crit be a stat that scales worse and worse as you get more of it, leading to a kind of plateau at some point where you have to seriously question if more is worth it, alongside this, you have Haste/Piety builds as people try to balance their MP consumption but in return are rewarded with more responsive heals and a higher DPS, and then over on the side would be Det builds for players that prefer a more general use build, since it increases your HPS and DPS like Haste does, but does so sustainably without needing to balance against the higher MP consumption.

Those could generate interesting choices in builds. In practice, one always is going to math out better (such is the nature of choice), but like in Vanilla/BC WoW, you couldn't get enough Crit for it to be reliable. Haste and Det (Spell Power back then in that game) were reliable throughput stats. Haste was more risky and had to be managed against MP5 (MP regen), but if you did so well, you were rewarded with more responsive heals allowing clutch saves (no oGCDs; oGCDs, I'm starting to think, are one of the major cancers of FFXIV Healer design). Then you had Crit, which was also risky. When you got Crits, you could adjust your healing (rotation)/plan since you now didn't need an additional cure on that Tank. But when you didn't, you needed a second heal. It introduced more dynamic and more risk-reward for those interested in pursuing such a build. But for people like me who prefer things to just work, especially as a Healer and wipe preventer, I would usually go with Spell Speed and Spirit/MP5, because I preferred more responsive heals for SHTF moments and enjoyed a slightly faster cast rate for abilities in general (SmiteSmiteSmiteSmite..."I'm going to WAND you to death!!")

The problem is Crit will always always ALWAYS feed into itself. The more you have, the more you want.

But it's EVEN WORSE when it also increases the Crit Strength, because now not only do you want more Crit Strength because those Crits you get a lot of being beefier is good, you also want more Crit chance, because you want to get those beefier crits more often. No other stat has exponential growth like that, and it devalues all other states.

I also agree DH should become a yellow Materia for the Red Jobs. And Piety could be Det without the damage (so just increases healing along with the MP thing) if they still want it to be a "choice", though honestly just being a slightly weaker Det (to not make Det meaningless) while granting the MP would work. But you're probably right that Det being removed is the easiest option.

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Healers have always been the only role that has any real option. Tanks are "defense until you have enough of it, then damage until you run out of slots", and DPS as "damage in all the slots unless a point or two of Vit can keep you alive (except FFXIV removed that in ShB)". Healers are the only role that really has an option of if you want to go for speed, crit, or general power builds. But right now, Crit just wins against everything else so hard, it's ridiculous, and because we already have so much baseline power, we don't need more general power, so healers even stock Direct Hit at this point. Which is the most boring stat possible. "Occasionally makes spam filler spells do more damage. Yay."

I do disagree with making Crit chance flat, though.

Just as allowing people to alter their speed changes the "feel" of gameplay, so can Crit with a lot of people. WoW Fire Mage or Holy Paladin being heavily Crit based while their competitors were sometimes speed or general power based was interesting and gave them a different feel. Granted, you could just give some Jobs a higher crit chance and be done with it...but then we're replacing one "this is right, all else is wrong" Materia build with a second one that has no more choice or distinction, and I'm not sure that's a good solution.