#FFXIVHEALERSTRIKE

[Twila]

I'm gonna be honest, the first time I heard about this "strike" it caught me a bit off guard and actually made me chuckle a bit. The reason being is that from my understanding, "strike" is referred to a more aggressive opposition to something rather than simply abstaining from a certain subject or action, which would be boycotting. I am aware of the previous threads made about healer concerns and that people have been posting their concerns for years. I also understand that people are frustrated with little to no changes, and patience is thin. One thing to understand is while the Devs ask for feedback, it must be understood they will not always act upon said feedback. We can never really be 100% sure why unless we are a fly on the wall. WoW has this same problem. Personally, I quit WoW once I saw the direction it was going and the same mistakes being repeated. It was hard as I was very attached. I did not enjoy the game anymore and it felt like a chore I had to do. MMOs go through changes you might not be satisfied with. The player base grows and sometimes they have to change things to satisfy that.

I'm not telling you to quit or stop subscribing. I want the opposite. I want this game to thrive and last for a long time, as I have gotten attached to this game even more. I want you guys to be able to get some satisfaction or minor changes in the right direction, and I wish you all the luck.
This approach is not ideal. People have different opinions that can conflict which is evident in this thread, there are even people here just to taunt you and be rude in general. When responding, don't jump down their throats for an opposing opinion, not everyone is trying to get on your bad side. While text can be hard to understand the tone of, you need to be careful. Some of you came off as rude and condescending, and I'm referring to both sides. As for getting JP's side concerning this subject, you need to accept their opinions even if it's not what you want. They were rightfully anxious/turned off from responding, even from the thread title. Not all of you were rude, but a good amount were just aggressive and sarcastic when it just came to discussing the topic and responding to others in this thread. NA/EU/AU culture and language is more laid back compared to JP culture and language, they are more polite and considerate most of the time, please understand that. While you may have good intentions, your actions are what matter in the end.

If you guys don't want to queue as healer, feel free to do that. I'm certainly not gonna tell you how to play, but please try to think things more thoroughly when it comes to responding to each other. If responding to someone that just wants to cause trouble or troll, don't stoop to their level.

Honestly I would change the word 'strike' to 'boycott'. Although I'm not sure if you can change the title? Maybe change just the introduction to that to at least promote a less aggressive and more passive stance.

[Ramiee]

Honestly I would change the word 'strike' to 'boycott'. Although I'm not sure if you can change the title? Maybe change just the introduction to that to at least promote a less aggressive and more passive stance.

I've seen many people on the healing forums start off being less aggressive and expressing a desire for change "passively" and nothing has changed. However when Scholar lost energy drain and everyone aggressively wrote about how they wanted it back, suddenly it came back. I don't think being passive really works.

[XiaoShengwu]

The point is not to damage Square Enix, but to make them acknowledge the feedback healers have been giving for 5+ years and to show in their metrics what players enjoy, or rather, don't enjoy. The game is still worth every penny if you're a dps/tank player.

Oh i 100% agree. I've played since mid 2014 on multiple characters & accounts, having finally landed on this one and i've mained healer the entire time up until recently. I don't want to damage Square enix either...however, this is an issue that as you yourself have correctly stated, is 5+ years in the making. i believe that someone else above stated it expertly when they said:

I've seen many people on the healing forums start off being less aggressive and expressing a desire for change "passively" and nothing has changed. However when Scholar lost energy drain and everyone aggressively wrote about how they wanted it back, suddenly it came back. I don't think being passive really works.

....-gestures sidelong at quote-...
5+ years is too long for the select group of players on the job that is BY GAME DESIGN, is supposed to be some of the most engaged players on the game, to be heard. The quality of healing has decreased DRAMATICALLY since i started playing in ARR. HW introduced Astro, which brought in a very diverse method of healing. which immediately was squashed. Then cleric stance was removed in SHB (though my memory is fuzzy and is wear it was removed in SB. i could just be suffering from early onset alzhiemerz). I've watched the job i loved playing, drop further and further down on the priority list of being kept relevant. I do not enjoy playing it anymore. i have every healer at 90 and i can't be bothered to play it anymore because it's dull, boring and underappreciated by the very people who put it in the game. Being told, "play harder content", feels like a slap in the face. I shouldn't have to. Just as those who enjoy the harder content, shouldn't have to hear someone say, "if you want something harder, play something else". There's a middle ground that CAN be achieved, SHOULD have been achieved 2 expansions ago. But hasn't because for those 5+ years. We were passively requesting we be given some adjustment love.

After this long, i don't consider denying this MULTI-BILLION dollar company the majority of their pre-orders income, as damaging. $2.53 billion revenue in 2023, ....and we're still having to beg them to alter some aspects of the game that are affecting part of the game being unenjoyable?

[Eorzean_username]

I'm gonna be honest, the first time I heard about this "strike" it caught me a bit off guard and actually made me chuckle a bit. The reason being is that from my understanding, "strike" is referred to a more aggressive opposition to something rather than simply abstaining from a certain subject or action, which would be boycotting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action
"Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike and industrial action in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott
"A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest."

https://www.dictionary.com/e/strike-vs-boycott/
"The key to remembering the difference between boycott and strike is to figure out who is taking action: the consumer or the employee? Workers strike against their employers while consumers opt against financially or physically supporting something as a way of peacefully protesting against it. Consumers boycott."

Healers do not benefit from their own fulfillment of the Healing Slot in a queue, they provide it. In this analogy, Healers are "workers", not "consumers", and the "employer" is SE/CBU3, providing design-incentives for Healers to exchange their time for other benefits (such as EXP, Tomestones or, hypothetically, "fun").

Non-Healer Players "consume" the benefits provided by Healers.

If other Roles refused to group with Healers, that would be a "Healer Boycott".

[Kayokane]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action
"Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike and industrial action in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott
"A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest."

https://www.dictionary.com/e/strike-vs-boycott/
"The key to remembering the difference between boycott and strike is to figure out who is taking action: the consumer or the employee? Workers strike against their employers while consumers opt against financially or physically supporting something as a way of peacefully protesting against it. Consumers boycott."

Healers do not benefit from their own fulfillment of the Healing Slot in a queue, they provide it. In this analogy, Healers are "workers", not "consumers", and the "employer" is SE/CBU3, providing design-incentives for Healers to exchange their time for other benefits (such as EXP, Tomestones or, hypothetically, "fun").

Non-Healer Players "consume" the benefits provided by Healers.

If other Roles refused to group with Healers, that would be a "Healer Boycott".

Actually we are not workers, SE is not our employer, we have no employment contract with SE, and we receive no renumeration for our 'work' as healers.


even if you consider tomes/exp as renumeration, you can argue we are paid to do nothing.

[Eorzean_username]

Actually we are not workers, SE is not our employer, we have no employment contract with SE, and we receive no renumeration for our 'work' as healers.

This isn't a literal labor-law situation, and I don't think anyone is confused about that.

However, language and communication sometimes requires people to adapt words to best-match a concept which may not have a precise word for it yet, or in order to provide a less-convoluted way of quickly referring to something.

In this case, "strike" is a commonly-used and well-accepted colloquialism for "people mutually-refusing to do something".

Furthermore, if you abstract-out your thinking even slightly, queuing for a Duty as Healer absolutely is a form of "contract" with "the designers", wherein you agree to:

• Enter the instance in a timely manner when your queue notification arrives
• Participate in the content to the (hypothetically) best of your ability
• Coordinate with your Party as-necessary to complete mechanics
• Provide all necessary services of the Healer Role

In exchange for complying with these expectations, you are rewarded with compensation such as:

• Approval to continue your Quest Storyline
• EXP
• Currencies
• Equipment
• Cosmetics
• (etc)

Potentially, some people do this "solely for fun". However, I suspect that if Duties were not required for Storylines, and both baseline Duties and Roulettes offered absolutely zero rewards besides "gameplay experience", then queue times would probably reach the order of days or months.

ie — Duty Finder is obviously perceived, and used, as a compensated service, in which Players agree to do something in exchange for a promised reward. Furthermore, this is implicitly expected to be done on a regular schedule, in order to ensure the overall functioning of a wider system.

This is close enough to a system of "work" — if not formal employment, then at the very least, "gig work" — that it is not unreasonable to apply labour-related terms to contextualise it.

In fact, it's something of a commentary on how dreary the experience has become for many Healers in FFXIV that they intuitively jumped to "labour" terminology when deciding how to refer to the situation.

even if you consider tomes/exp as renumeration, you can argue we are paid to do nothing.

Fantastic, it has even more in-common with a lot of real-world jobs, then.

[OgruMogru]

This isn't a literal labor-law situation, and I don't think anyone is confused about that.

However, language and communication sometimes requires people to adapt words to best-match a concept which may not have a precise word for it yet, or in order to provide a less-convoluted way of quickly referring to something.

In this case, "strike" is a commonly-used and well-accepted colloquialism for "people mutually-refusing to do something".

Furthermore, if you abstract-out your thinking even slightly, queuing for a Duty as Healer absolutely is a form of "contract" with "the designers", wherein you agree to:

• Enter the instance in a timely manner when your queue notification arrives
• Participate in the content to the (hypothetically) best of your ability
• Coordinate with your Party as-necessary to complete mechanics
• Provide all necessary services of the Healer Role

In exchange for complying with these expectations, you are rewarded with compensation such as:

• Approval to continue your Quest Storyline
• EXP
• Currencies
• Equipment
• Cosmetics
• (etc)

Potentially, some people do this "solely for fun". However, I suspect that if Duties were not required for Storylines, and both baseline Duties and Roulettes offered absolutely zero rewards besides "gameplay experience", then queue times would probably reach the order of days or months.

ie — Duty Finder is obviously perceived, and used, as a compensated service, in which Players agree to do something in exchange for a promised reward. Furthermore, this is implicitly expected to be done on a regular schedule, in order to ensure the overall functioning of a wider system.

This is close enough to a system of "work" — if not formal employment, then at the very least, "gig work" — that it is not unreasonable to apply labour-related terms to contextualise it.

In fact, it's something of a commentary on how dreary the experience has become for many Healers in FFXIV that they intuitively jumped to "labour" terminology when deciding how to refer to the situation.

Fantastic, it has even more in-common with a lot of real-world jobs, then.

Even overlooking this extremely well thought out reply. They're called JOBS. The clues in the naaaaaaaame!

[Kayokane]

This isn't a literal labor-law situation, and I don't think anyone is confused about that.

However, language and communication sometimes requires people to adapt words to best-match a concept which may not have a precise word for it yet, or in order to provide a less-convoluted way of quickly referring to something.

In this case, "strike" is a commonly-used and well-accepted colloquialism for "people mutually-refusing to do something".

Furthermore, if you abstract-out your thinking even slightly, queuing for a Duty as Healer absolutely is a form of "contract" with "the designers", wherein you agree to:

• Enter the instance in a timely manner when your queue notification arrives
• Participate in the content to the (hypothetically) best of your ability
• Coordinate with your Party as-necessary to complete mechanics
• Provide all necessary services of the Healer Role

In exchange for complying with these expectations, you are rewarded with compensation such as:

• Approval to continue your Quest Storyline
• EXP
• Currencies
• Equipment
• Cosmetics
• (etc)

Potentially, some people do this "solely for fun". However, I suspect that if Duties were not required for Storylines, and both baseline Duties and Roulettes offered absolutely zero rewards besides "gameplay experience", then queue times would probably reach the order of days or months.

ie — Duty Finder is obviously perceived, and used, as a compensated service, in which Players agree to do something in exchange for a promised reward. Furthermore, this is implicitly expected to be done on a regular schedule, in order to ensure the overall functioning of a wider system.

This is close enough to a system of "work" — if not formal employment, then at the very least, "gig work" — that it is not unreasonable to apply labour-related terms to contextualise it.

In fact, it's something of a commentary on how dreary the experience has become for many Healers in FFXIV that they intuitively jumped to "labour" terminology when deciding how to refer to the situation.

Fantastic, it has even more in-common with a lot of real-world jobs, then.

In the end WE are consumers of a product, those who are 'striking' are cutting out a portion of the content and saying we aren't going to interact with this portion of the product we are paying for until it is fixed* to our satisfaction. It is in the end still closer to a boycott than a strike.


*varies between player, but general consensus seems to be, better dps rotation, (not as complex as a true dps, but more interactive than 1, button occasional 2) and nerfing the other jobs sustaining abilities in order to make the healing side of the kit more important in content