Concerns About Healing Balance in the Dawntrail Expansion

[Lailani_Fey]

Having looked through the skills introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, I notice no indication that the issue of excessive healing abilities in the game is being addressed. Instead, the problem seems to be exacerbated by new abilities like SMN’s Lux Solaris and Picto’s Tempera Grassa. It feels like DPS and Tanks are prioritized in design, and healers are left to cope with the consequences.

In case CBU3 is not aware:

• Giving a 30-second cooldown, 250 potency oGCD group shield to a DPS does not assist healers; it makes them feel even more redundant. If healing were to become a group responsibility, then shielding and mitigating should be primarily within the healer's domain.

It seems there are two possible intentions here:

1. That having heals, mitigations, and shields on everyone is meant to diversify the healer's experience in otherwise very rigid encounter designs.
2. That healers are intended to be somewhat 'carried,' with SMN and PCT saving them GCDs for dps.

However, neither of these points seems to work favorably. It mostly leads to overhealing in many situations. While preventing overhealing could arguably be a form of skill expression, ultimately not playing your role at all is not enjoyable.

• Increasing tank sustain makes the game more monotonous for healers. Tank Busters + Invulnerability windows were already dead times where healers had nothing to do. Tanks needing even less attention will only worsen this issue. I wonder if the developers see having nothing to do as a positive experience for healers, but let me assure you: It is not. In DSR, healers already had nothing to do for the first minute of the fight (P2) because there was only a single TB that was invulned.
  

• Adding more healing to Barrier Healers and more mitigations and shields to Pure Healers blurs the PH/BH distinction, which is ironic and nonsensical. This separation seemed like the only real development for healers with EW, and now it’s being partially reverted. Why?

• Providing single-target actions to healers in 2024, when everyone and their chocobo has an inflated support kit, seems outdated. Aquaveil was already regarded as a placebo skill that could be used but ultimately wouldn’t make a difference. Now AST is getting weaker versions of skills like Aquaveil and a third ED charge. Giving skills multiple charges was interesting because the cooldown could be kept rolling, but a third charge without a reduced cooldown? This is beyond pointless.

Things I'd have liked seeing:

• Multiple charges on Swiftcast
• Means to save someone from a deadly hit that isn't Rescue
• Less contention in healing, more precise and distinct role definition and the ability to assess incoming damage without the need for external tools

[GrimGale]

Judging by the very first dungeon bosses there has been no increase in the amount of unavoidable damage. I counted 6 unavoidable party wide effects on the last boss in a 3 minute fight.

[Sylvain]

Judging by the very first dungeon bosses there has been no increase in the amount of unavoidable damage. I counted 6 unavoidable party wide effects on the last boss in a 3 minute fight.

Isn't 6 actually much more? There's usually only 2-3 unavoidable. Or maybe I don't recall properly

But anyway, one every 30s... considering the tools we have, a bit more wouldn't hurt. I really don't see how any healer could struggle healing a dungeon provided the players don't eat up every single avoidable AoE.
They litterally could be healed with the kit of a lv 30 healer with no real effort.

[KageTokage]

Yeah...the dungeon enemies/bosses still hit like wet noodles so I'd like to think this isn't going to apply to the trials and raids as well.

One group of testers already did a no healers run of the dungeon for kicks and just personal CDs were enough to keep everyone up through all the damage with a one tank/three DPS party.

[awhitet]

Let's be real here, they're not going to make the first dungeon of an expansion, which it's mandatory through MSQ, hard. We have to wait and see lv 100 content. I've had a look at the dungeon and it looked more interesting that we've got nowadays.

[KageTokage]

I don't think "You have to actually use your healing/tank cooldowns to not die" is a high bar to set for people at this point in the game.

[GrimGale]

Let's be real here, they're not going to make the first dungeon of an expansion, which it's mandatory through MSQ, hard. We have to wait and see lv 100 content. I've had a look at the dungeon and it looked more interesting that we've got nowadays.

ah the old "wait and see"

third time is the charm

[Flay_wind]

Let's be real here, they're not going to make the first dungeon of an expansion, which it's mandatory through MSQ, hard. We have to wait and see lv 100 content. I've had a look at the dungeon and it looked more interesting that we've got nowadays.

Zot would like a word. It's unironically one of the hardest dungeons in EW.

[Lailani_Fey]

The Tower of Zot featured a rather challenging final boss fight that set high expectations, only for the subsequent dungeons to fall short of those expectations.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Both Zot & Holminster should’ve been the standard dungeon experience above 65+