#FFXIVHEALERSTRIKE

[Supersnow845]

DPS have more or less always in most games had the biggest freedom since they are more straight forward when it comes to what they do, which is dealing damage.
Healers on the other hand in other, especially in other games where there can be healers who have more utilities like buffs, debuffs, single target heals, group heals can excel over other healers depending on what might be more saught after for certain encounters.
I can almost certainly expect that if FFXIV had more of a difference between jobs we would see Meta setups when it comes to group compositions.
DRK was fairly excluded in a lot of endgame content during times when DRK was considered far inferior compared to other tanks, as an example.
And if I'm not remembering things wrong, when there was a clearer definition between pure & shield healers groups wanted 1 of each in their composition, not 2 of the same. Meaning that there was those that was shown the door if they already have one of them in their group already.
And that a DPS can survive having different complexity. I see how well that went for the VPR.

Ofc, these are simply my own opinions of the current state and where it feels like it's heading.

Your point about when pure and shield healers were more defined leading to people picking two of both isn’t really in line with reality because everyone knew double shield healer was an overpowered combo, it would have been the strongest if not for AST’s scaling buffs

Regardless a meta already exists, whether more job variety would lead to a harder meta is up for debate but the meta already exists, if the point of the beige design is to avoid a meta they’ve already failed. Go into a speedrun or ultimate high end prog group and you’ll be laughed out of the party as a WHM or a MCH for example

[Evergrey]

Your point about when pure and shield healers were more defined leading to people picking two of both isn’t really in line with reality because everyone knew double shield healer was an overpowered combo, it would have been the strongest if not for AST’s scaling buffs

Regardless a meta already exists, whether more job variety would lead to a harder meta is up for debate but the meta already exists, if the point of the beige design is to avoid a meta they’ve already failed. Go into a speedrun or ultimate high end prog group and you’ll be laughed out of the party as a WHM or a MCH for example

Ok, well if double shield healer was considered overpowered that just means that pure healers was less of a viable option. Meaning that players who played those had a smaller chance of getting to join.
Which is what I'm talking about where if something is considered better than something else people will obviously go for the "better" option.
So if jobs are more alike to one another people have less reasons to not include "everyone".

Yes, Meta will always exist to certain degrees. One can never escape it.
But I think SE simply wants to try and minimize it as much as possible to make sure that "everyone" can feel like they won't get shuned simply due to the role that they are playing.

[Supersnow845]

Ok, well if double shield healer was considered overpowered that just means that pure healers was less of a viable option. Meaning that players who played those had a smaller chance of getting to join.
Which is what I'm talking about where if something is considered better than something else people will obviously go for the "better" option.
So if jobs are more alike to one another people have less reasons to not include "everyone".

Yes, Meta will always exist to certain degrees. One can never escape it.
But I think SE simply wants to try and minimize it as much as possible to make sure that "everyone" can feel like they won't get shuned simply due to the role that they are playing.

My original point wasn’t about being “better” or “worse” it was about choice in difference of complexity———-like every other role has. You want an easy tank play WAR, you want a hard tank play GNB, you want an easy caster play SMN. You want a hard caster play BLM you want an easy phys ranged play DNC, you want a hard phys ranged play BRD, you want an easy melee play VPR, you want a hard melee play SAM. You want an easy healer play any of them, you want a hard healer go f… yourself.

This doesn’t even have to be related to performance, BLM is treated as a melee while SMN is a phys ranged yet SMN is infinitely more popular, GNB does the most tank damage but WAR is the most popular and also has its own upsides like self sustain. Healers just don’t get any sort of a sliding difficulty scale even if said difficulty scale doesn’t actually change performance

[Evergrey]

My original point wasn’t about being “better” or “worse” it was about choice in difference of complexity———-like every other role has. You want an easy tank play WAR, you want a hard tank play GNB, you want an easy caster play SMN. You want a hard caster play BLM you want an easy phys ranged play DNC, you want a hard phys ranged play BRD, you want an easy melee play VPR, you want a hard melee play SAM. You want an easy healer play any of them, you want a hard healer go f… yourself.

This doesn’t even have to be related to performance, BLM is treated as a melee while SMN is a phys ranged yet SMN is infinitely more popular, GNB does the most tank damage but WAR is the most popular and also has its own upsides like self sustain. Healers just don’t get any sort of a sliding difficulty scale even if said difficulty scale doesn’t actually change performance

Ah, I see. I must've misunderstood your point. Apologies.
Yeah, having different degress of job complexity is something I think is a good thing. Because not everyone wants to play a "simple" job, just like how there are those who don't want to play a "complex" one.
But I honestly feel like SE really have a "a game for everyone" mindset when it comes to FFXIV.
Meaning no matter the players personal skills one should feel like they can play any job they might be interested it.
Which means one job can't be too complex compared to the rest, as that could "soft lock" players from playing it.
And seeing how SE has in the past nerfed content because people have complained about how "difficult" and "impossible" it was (which is most certainly wasn't), I have the feeling that there are parts of the community that simply don't want to put the time into learning how to play better.
So SE takes the easy route and makes everything "simple enough" so that anyone can play any job. Sadly.