I'm bored when I heal because I need more complex DPS rotations

[ForsakenRoe]

Should we have Mithron's first post edited to link some important points contributed as well as other suggestions mentioned from ForsakenRoe, Ty, Sebazy and WaxSw? I also mentioned some points with combining Cure, Cure 2 and Afflatus Solace all together with maybe single oGCD heal combo buttons like Indomidability > Fey Blessing to free up spell slots without eliminating spells.

Isn't the 'post that contains the refutations to every tired 'attack the strawman' that has been done already', the thread that Recon made over in healer section?

Something like what you mention here, with combining skills to slow down action bloat, at least that we can have a discussion about the merits of various implementations. For example, on WHM, I would agree that Cure 1 can upgrade to Cure 2, but I would also disagree with adding Solace to the list, because the use cases for Solace and Cure2 are different, there may be times where you want to heal but save the mobility of the Solace for a moment. So I'd say Cure1>2, and Medica1>2, that's two buttons saved on WHM and it already has the lowest button count of the healers iirc

But it's not really possible to have a discussion when the topic is 'the solution to making healers feel more engaging is to make them heal more. Also I don't know how to go about doing that, but that's what I think, and I emphatically disagree with trying to solve the problem with more damage buttons'. I don't mind when someone says they think that 'more healing requirements' is the fix, I mind it when they say that, are completely closedminded to any alternative solution, and also don't actually present any thoughts on how to make 'more healing requirements' work, that both A: make veteran healers feel engaged in ALL content, and B: also doesn't screw casual healers and make some content unclearable for them due to lower skill level. I mind it when people say 'just do it the way I say, it's not my job to work out the logistics', because I went to university to study this kind of stuff. This IS the job I studied for, and it's why I end up typing massive essays in response to the smallest of things, because contrary to all the lemons who say 'if you don't enjoy having so few damage buttons on healer, go play a DPS' think, I want to enjoy healer again, as much as I did in previous expansions. I don't do this because I hate healer, I do it because I care about the health of the healer role. If 'just play a DPS' was the solution, I'd have swapped mains years ago

I said it before, I'll say it again. I don't mind if SE tries to make it more interesting by increasing damage button count, healing required, or both. I will mind if they just try to keep the status quo, and give us another 2 years of what we have now. SE, Yoshi-P, please. Try something new for healer design. Anything. More healing required, more damage buttons, or both, or something else entirely. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. We don't know until we try. But we do know what won't work: This. Because we're going through it now, and it's not working now. DT is going to be a new beginning in the story. Give us a new beginning in the healer design, too, thanks

Honestly, people aren't really after more complex dps rotations exactly, as much as they want this to not turn into a game of tic tac toe or checkers when it was originally chess.

IDK about others from the healer section of the forums, but my general stance is 'hey, HW was too complex, SHB was too simple, SB was the midpoint where the clunky garbo of healers (Cleric Stance, damage scaling from INT) was removed to make it more accessible to newer players. Can we look at going back to something akin to SB's healer damage design, and using that as a baseline to build off of going forward?'

As an example, I ask for WHM to get a 15s CD GCD, and 12s duration on Dia. By contrast, SB WHM had Aero2 at 18s, and Aero3 at 24s. Same button count as what I am asking for, but mine would be used more often (which means even less Stone/Glares), both Dia/the 15s CD would be instant (whereas Aero3 had a cast time longer than the GCD) which would allow more mobility options for newer players (helps them keep their damage easier while doing mechanics), etc. But both of these (me vs SB) would also open the doors on design options for the devs to add new interactions. I've long suggested a gauge on WHM which builds by using any non-lily spell, including damage. Said gauge would be spent on a new healing ability, which is itself damage-neutral, by empowering your next cast of Glare/Dia/the new button, into Quake, Tornado and Flood (since BLM has access to Flare and Freeze). Casual players could look at this and go 'oh cool strong heal, and also big cool attack animations' and feel good about using them. Optimization players, however, would be able to think 'How do I line up my healing CD plan, such that I go into the burst window with two stacks of Quake, Flood, Tornado, a Misery ready, and use them all in the right order to maximize the burst inside raidbuffs?' and that added optional depth is what we need more of

Additionally, if we also had these Quake etc be AOE with 50% damage falloff (as with many other skills in this game cough Phlegma), then we have, with just two new buttons (the 15s one, and the healing gauge spender), not only made the ST rotation more interesting, but added THREE new buttons to the AOE rotation as well (since Holy would also build gauge)! Then later expansions, the devs have so much more design space to work with, because of the addition of the gauge. Other gauge spenders, Infuriate style 'gives instant Gauge' CDs, a move that dumps ALL of the gauge currently built and scales in power based on amount used (Purgation?), the list goes on