Dawntrail Healers need a rework

[Renathras]

Honestly?

I feel like it's more they're not sure what to do with healers, and everything they try (e.g. bleeds that require GCD Regens to be applied) gets them yelled at, so they've shifted to a "as few changes as possible/don't rock the boat" policy regarding healers. They've made some pretty big changes to healers over time, most of them in response to player feedback. But there's a big "day crowd/night crowd" effect where the people complaining about the changes ARE happy (generally) when they get them, but this just pisses off a different group of people who become vocal instead. The Devs don't know who is who, exactly (that is, who is part of which group), they only see "The players complain no matter what we do".

It's one reason I really harp on the 4 healers thing, because I genuinely DO think it's the only solution (outside of specs which would be a game change larger than healers and cause all kinds of...interesting...knock-on and balance and etc effects) that can fix this by making sure each group has something they like. While you'd still get people complaining other people have it easier/better than them or they prefer the aesthetics of another Job but want it in their playstyle, etc, the fact is, the only way to stop the Devs getting told they're wrong no matter what they do is to have an offering/content representing each group's desires in at least some way.

Otherwise, they're stuck in the rut of "any change gets us yelled at, so we'll only make tiny changes so we only get yelled at a tiny bit and people are MOSTLY happy, right?"

Same with the 2 min meta. Few people asked for it, but those that did were...vocal. Synodic Scribe just put out a video this week addressing this point and calling on compromise, noting that that requires all groups to speak AT THE SAME TIME so we can see what the whole community does want and work out something compromise with everyone accepting there will be trade-offs to getting it, but the result should give everyone something to be happy about.

[HappyHubris]

Honestly?

I feel like it's more they're not sure what to do with healers, and everything they try (e.g. bleeds that require GCD Regens to be applied) gets them yelled at, so they've shifted to a "as few changes as possible/don't rock the boat" policy regarding healers. They've made some pretty big changes to healers over time, most of them in response to player feedback. But there's a big "day crowd/night crowd" effect where the people complaining about the changes ARE happy (generally) when they get them, but this just pisses off a different group of people who become vocal instead. The Devs don't know who is who, exactly (that is, who is part of which group), they only see "The players complain no matter what we do".

Strong disagree. The devs are being exceedingly consistent:

1. • There are WAY more super-casual players than any other kind of player.
   • We can't let the least skilled players get challenged or frustrated at all, because they bring in the money.
   • As long as players can wave their hands, green sparklies appear, and health goes up, they're happy they're healing.
   • We need to add a few new skills each expansion, to create the appearance of moving forward.
   • Anyone who doesn't like this style of content can play ultimate, LOL.

People on these forums advance grandiose theories, design reworks, and publish reams of analysis, but the devs are incredibly happy with the current state of healing. And the amount of American forum/social media feedback that reaches the Japanese developers is effectively zero. Indeed, the type of person who comes here and expresses frustration at healing is likely under one percentage point of players. There are way more people who just want to buy a ticket, get on the theme park ride, go through the motions, and feel good about passing content.

Devs probably feel like providing ultimate encounters is a disproportionate use of resources for fixated players, or treat it as an expression of their passion for their game. Rebalancing content across the board or overhauling the core design of healing is a step way way way beyond that and is never going to happen. We see this in interviews and empirical class and encounter design.