7.0 copium has got to stop

[AwesomeJr44]

Hard evidence given for people not liking the absolute state of healers

INB4 "B-b-but the people who took that 5.0 poll are just a group of malcontents in a negative echo chamber!"

Edit:

3 years old? Got any more recent data?

Reread this:

Now I’ll attach the stipulation that most of this data is old, however that is only because newer data doesn’t exist, however no event has occurred in the intervening time that seems likely to have strongly affected these results (the census seems to show that SGE just pulled from the existing pool of shrinking healers, not bringing people to healer)

[VelKallor]

Super: you are missing one key element.

The split between pure heals and barrier heal classes is quite distinct, so what you may be seeing here may have little to do with the class , but the kind of healing they enjoy.

Given a choice between SCH or SGE and then WHM / AST, Id take WHM each and every time since it suits my playstyle better. My point is that a lot of people may not LIKE the barrier heals mechanics, preferring a more reactive approach to healing.

I prefer WHM / AST because it feels smoother, more fluid.

SCH has ALWAYS felt clunky, sort of a cut down SMN from ShB to now. AST I enjoy, SGE well I levelled it but I did not like the feel of its mechanics.

This is a more personal preference and has little to do with the actual class.

So, factor that in?

[Supersnow845]

Super: you are missing one key element.

The split between pure heals and barrier heal classes is quite distinct, so what you may be seeing here may have little to do with the class , but the kind of healing they enjoy.

Given a choice between SCH or SGE and then WHM / AST, Id take WHM each and every time since it suits my playstyle better. My point is that a lot of people may not LIKE the barrier heals mechanics, preferring a more reactive approach to healing.

I prefer WHM / AST because it feels smoother, more fluid.

SCH has ALWAYS felt clunky, sort of a cut down SMN from ShB to now. AST I enjoy, SGE well I levelled it but I did not like the feel of its mechanics.

This is a more personal preference and has little to do with the actual class.

So, factor that in?

I’m not sure how the healer split changes anything considering all the healers are experiencing a deficit, if people liked regen healers and didn’t respond strongly to SGE because they don’t like shield healers then AST wouldn’t be as much of a deficit as the shield healers as well

[VelKallor]

Wait:

5.25 Job Satisfaction Survey

"JP poll on Job Satisfaction in 5.0

3 years old? Got any more recent data?

[Supersnow845]

Wait:





3 years old? Got any more recent data?

Did you even read my post or did you just see I posted something then immediately jumped to a random defence you think I didn’t cover

INB4 "B-b-but the people who took that 5.0 poll are just a group of malcontents in a negative echo chamber!"

Edit:



Reread this:

Even when I put in a stipulation I get ignored

[Lyth]

Personally, I don't think SE can make any real progress on healer design until they strip back many of the healing and mitigation tools they've given other roles, and better balance the importance of each role in content in general. Every role should need both of the other roles doing their jobs to clear content synced.

If SE's concern is "if we balance role importance and a healer dies there's no recovery while a party can recover if a tank or DPS dies because a healer can Raise them", giving other roles more healing and mitigation utility isn't the answer. The answer is to give the other roles an instant cast Raise with a 10 minute recharge timer or something similar - an "oh crap button" to get the healer up if needed without being so convenient it can be used for any death. That takes nothing away from the healer role as it's only useful after death occurs, not in helping to prevent death.

The dev team tends to avoid announcing direct nerfs whenever possible. Jobs and roles typically get stealth nerfed between expansions, when there are so many other changes happening at the same time that it's often hard for players to pinpoint that a nerf has actually happened. I think that if at all the amount of self-healing and non-healer mitigation available were to be scaled back, the 7.0 transition is the most likely time for it to happen (unannounced, of course). I would be very surprised if this will get reverted entirely, however (WAR nerfs always have major backlash).

The reason why I think that a focus on 'role importance' is less likely is because pass-fail checks tend to be reserved for more challenging fights, where there is a mandatory attendance check at the start and end of a mechanic. Easier content is designed with a greater degree of cross-compensation in mind so that you don't arbitrarily get held back by one or two players who are struggling.

Improving the damage-dealing rotation of healers would be useful, as would the addition of more actions that serve both an offensive and defensive function at the same time. Healers will always at best be second-class DPS players, though, if that's all they have on offer. And some people want to keep it like that. Why swap to Caster when you can be compared against a Healer community that isn't even trying to do damage? Big fish, small pond.

I think what hasn't been explored is the role of support actions that indirectly bolster raid and party performance. Expedient was probably the first step in the right direction with this, and I wouldn't be surprised if at least one other healer ends up with a similar tool. There are probably other ways that a healer could improve teammates uptime through support actions as well, and I think that this is the best way to improve the role (short of introducing new healer jobs that break away from the the traditional WHM/SCH archetypes). You have so many different competing interests from the community though, so I don't envy the position of anyone invested in bringing a change.

[Kazhar]

Wait:





3 years old? Got any more recent data?

Not a lot has changed for healers since 5.0, and certainly not enough to pull SCH and AST out of the abyss.

[VelKallor]

Not a lot has changed for healers since 5.0, and certainly not enough to pull SCH and AST out of the abyss.

Maybe, Kazhar, but a more recent survey would be more accurate.

[Jojoya]

I’m not sure how the healer split changes anything considering all the healers are experiencing a deficit, if people liked regen healers and didn’t respond strongly to SGE because they don’t like shield healers then AST wouldn’t be as much of a deficit as the shield healers as well

They did at least acknowledge early in the expansion that AST is a mess and needs a major rework but they wouldn't have it done until 7.0.

It also would explain why AST numbers are so low. I know several players who have leveled AST in the past but skipped it this expansion specifically because SE said early on that it was going to get the major rework. They decided it wasn't worth their time to level it until just before 7.0 gets released if they weren't going to be playing it.

I wish FFXIVCensus hadn't lost most of their older database. It would have been interesting to compare Feb 2021 chart (patch 5.45) with the current chart to see if there was a major variance in endgame job distribution.

3 years old? Got any more recent data?

There had been an interruption in the running of the FFXIVCensus website and they lost of most of their old data. It didn't start back up again until last year. Comparing now to Jan 2022 wouldn't tell us anything useful.

[VelKallor]

There had been an interruption in the running of the FFXIVCensus website and they lost of most of their old data. It didn't start back up again until last year. Comparing now to Jan 2022 wouldn't tell us anything useful.

Fair point, Jojoya. In which case , @ Supersnow, I concede the 5.4 data is the best metric for the moment.