#FFXIVHEALERSTRIKE

[PercibelTheren]

So ask them instead of making assumptions about their feelings.

Healers have always been one of the hardest roles to fill in MMORPGs and that's not because of job design. Most players have no interest in the role.

Let me rephrase what I said. I was trying to express things politely but I guess that made what I meant to say unclear. I KNOW they don't particularly love it. There is exactly one person I know of who actually loves healing and that person is a Sprout who just started Shadowbringers MSQ, so he's still in the "shiny new game" phase. Most healers I know also continue healing because that's what they're good at. It took me over two years to dare step into harder content on something that wasn't a healer because I have healed in every single MMO and it's what I'm fairly competent at. FFXIV is the only game that has made me more or less quit healing because it's in no way a fun or satisfying experience unless things are going horribly wrong.

Healers being unpopular absolutely is a job design problem. In fact, job design IS the problem making healers unpopular. Most people aren't excited at the prospect of dealing barely any damage, having very little rotation to speak of (if any) and just watching green bars go up. Because the jobs themselves are like this, the only people who stick with them are those who enjoy supporting the party. And there are very few of us to begin with - most people want to feel like the main character and, as a healer, you don't get to feel like you are.

[Tigore]

The 90 - 100 additions to the healer kits didn't really change up what I do with my play style casually either. It feels like the Medica 2, Aspected Helios, Succor and Prognosis upgrades just fizzled with the perceived usage for them. The oGCD cooldowns and unique resource systems are still sufficient to keep the party alive for the wall to wall pulls. The last 95 boss might get us to use those upgraded GCD heals, but typically just a few times. I did notice one of the expert dungeons did try to add more AoE pulses on a couple trash pulls while I was SAM for it. Since most of the group was in 700 - 720ish gear when I did it my first time, the healer seemed to be chuckling, "That's it?!" after we finished the pull.

In my opinion, the new sound effects given to the upgrades don't feel as impactful as the old sound effects. The Glare 4 additional was probably the only one that reduced the "Glare 3 spam" and it was just a small amount by 3 every 2 minutes. The other 3 healers were given oGCD versions for their damage, so their GCD usage almost didn't change at all. Although SGE at least has something new for their AoE DPS GCD filler.

Edit: I should also clarify that I was using Tengetsu, Feint / Addle as well as stuns on the trash doing the AoE pulses too. That probably contributed quite a bit to "boring" the healer as well.

[Supersnow845]

The 90 - 100 additions to the healer kits didn't really change up what I do with my play style casually either. It feels like the Medica 2, Aspected Helios, Succor and Prognosis upgrades just fizzled with the perceived usage for them. The oGCD cooldowns and unique resource systems are still sufficient to keep the party alive for the wall to wall pulls. The last 95 boss might get us to use those upgraded GCD heals, but typically just a few times. I did notice one of the expert dungeons did try to add more AoE pulses on a couple trash pulls while I was SAM for it. Since most of the group was in 700 - 720ish gear when I did it my first time, the healer seemed to be chuckling, "That's it?!" after we finished the pull.

In my opinion, the new sound effects given to the upgrades don't feel as impactful as the old sound effects. The Glare 4 additional was probably the only one that reduced the "Glare 3 spam" and it was just a small amount by 3 every 2 minutes. The other 3 healers were given oGCD versions for their damage, so their GCD usage almost didn't change at all. Although SGE at least has something new for their AoE DPS GCD filler.

i have no idea who heard the chunky “book slam” power of succor and decided the “upgrade” should sound like a fairy twinkle

[Shurrikhan]

Healers have always been one of the hardest roles to fill in MMORPGs and that's not because of job design.

One of. Out of three. For which one has the most consistent means of engagement, largest cool factor, and typically the least responsibility required of it.

So, in effect, "it's one of two non-DPS"... and for that fact we should accept utter complacency, even while far better experiences are to be had from the same role in other games?

The best information we have about what JP players think is from those that came over from the JP forums to post in this thread.

The JP forums themselves are not region-locked to view. Can head right over there and see what complaints about or defenses of the current iterations they have.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Saying the healer role would always be the one with shortage is such an odd statement to me. I remember there was a period in my limited time of playing AION where healer (Priest) numbers was fairly abundant there were more people looking for DPS classes.

Obviously that’s just an anecdote from my part and situation must’ve been different at the time, but still… lol.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Healers and Tanks will always be harder to find in MMOs, because people like to see the big damage numbers so more people with gravitate towards DPS...

But the big thing that can draw people to Tanks and Healers is if they're not just there for mechanics.
Just to use XIV as an example... Functionally tanks could do their role without ever doing damage, all they would need is Flash, provoke and all their damage mitigation to do their intended job.

Similarly, Healers to heal, we don't necessarily need damage spells, but without them healers can only sit there waiting for the enemies to do damage and that isn't really gameplay. And that's kind of the direction the team is taking healers in XIV to...

And I know this might be shocking and controversial, but most people want to play the game. And if they're designing a role that can't play the game, then people aren't going to play that role.

[Somnolence]

Healers and Tanks will always be harder to find in MMOs

Without a doubt there is surplus of tanks for PF right now. Savage would be one thing, but considering this includes DSR PF it is quite surprising.

[IDontPetLalas]

Saying the healer role would always be the one with shortage is such an odd statement to me. I remember there was a period in my limited time of playing AION where healer (Priest) numbers was fairly abundant there were more people looking for DPS classes.

Obviously that’s just an anecdote from my part and situation must’ve been different at the time, but still… lol.

Well, I played Aion for over 10 years, and clerics - healers- were one of the most played classes (jobs), and one of the most effective, when geared properly, both for healing and for DPS in both PvE and PvP.

[Doragan]

And I know this might be shocking and controversial, but most people want to play the game. And if they're designing a role that can't play the game, then people aren't going to play that role.

To be honest, they had something going with high APMs with WAR and DRK in HW, then GNB since they released. Kits with really busy rotations which kept you engaged throughout.

It's no surprise that the game has been very, very damage oriented and they keep releasing DPS jobs every single expansion without fail -- the two non-DPS jobs we got since HW are Sage and Gunbreaker, which funnily enough, are marketed as damage oriented jobs despite their different role. One definitely does it better than the other.

I would say GNB largely fulfill that role so far. That would be really neat if Sage also felt and played like a DPS job. I'm sure it would bring a lot of people to the role as a whole, because there's interest for this.

[BunnyQueen]

Well, I played Aion for over 10 years, and clerics - healers- were one of the most played classes (jobs), and one of the most effective, when geared properly, both for healing and for DPS in both PvE and PvP.

People enjoy actually healing, it is why any healers that join the game end up leaving or dropping the role around stormblood. Healer mains in MMOs want to HEAL. I am one of those that dropped the role and went warrior. Because healing sucks and healing in this was designed by a moron.