Can we have a healer on the next expansion boxart please?

[Rongway]

Shadowbringers had DRK. Endwalker had PLD. SE doesn't need a new healer in order to feature one.

Urianger is AST and Alphinaud is sage. That leaves only WHM and SCH and neither of these has Derplander poster job vibes. As a healer, he could only ever be a new job.

[CVXIV]

Urianger is AST and Alphinaud is sage. That leaves only WHM and SCH and neither of these has Derplander poster job vibes. As a healer, he could only ever be a new job.

technically Y'shtola fits the WHM role as conjurer and Alphinaud was a scholar, he just used a carbuncle instead of a fairy
So while they weren't actually the jobs as we know them they still fit that sort of vibe

[AmiableApkallu]

That leaves only WHM and SCH and neither of these has Derplander poster job vibes.

A mage in a hooded cloak literally has poster job vibes. Just gotta let it do something other than heal 297 ways. And maybe return to the days when it was more about an adventuring ensemble, and not the main character and their entourage.

[Rekh]

Green Mage as new healer and the main expansion job? I'm all for it.

[Zarkovitch]

No offence, but healers arent cool enough. Each time I see a healer on videogame, it always the most boring character or they design to be hella sex apeal to make them ''interesting''.

[PercibelTheren]

No offence, but healers arent cool enough. Each time I see a healer on videogame, it always the most boring character or they design to be hella sex apeal to make them ''interesting''.

They COULD be cool, though, if designers weren't cowards and flexed their creativity every once in a while. Healer's don't have to be mages in white robes with canes who throw around water/light/glitter.

[lolnotacat]

They COULD be cool, though, if designers weren't cowards and flexed their creativity every once in a while. Healer's don't have to be mages in white robes with canes who throw around water/light/glitter.

I used to love playing a battle Mercy in Overwatch. Nobody ever expects to get a face full of pistol.

[Loggos]

They COULD be cool, though, if designers weren't cowards and flexed their creativity every once in a while. Healer's don't have to be mages in white robes with canes who throw around water/light/glitter.

I completely agree, especially if you lean into their themes beyond healing. Every healer has interesting magical motives that you can build on to create epic (looking) gameplay, (promo) artwork, and cool outfits beyond robes/flowy dresses without having to rely on fanservice as the "only possible" solution to make them look interesting.
If you think those are boring then you are essentially saying that magic/mages are boring. Yes, the "archetype" of a cool poster boy is a character with a sword, or a sword and a shield, or a big sword or a big axe. But I don't think this means we need to repeat these tropes ad infinitum because we fear nothing else could ever be cool.

And what about knight-based healers like Jean from Genshin Impact or other melee healer ideas? There are so many interesting game play ideas.

Also, since someone mentioned Overwatch: A lot of healers in Overwatch are pretty cool and iconic. Moira, Ana, Baptiste, Kiriko, Zenyatta or Lucio are far from boring in terms of design and gameplay and are often featured in artwork. They demonstrate perfectly that you don't need to design healers as tender little wall-flowers.

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Sage: I think sage has everything to be The cool healer. You literally have telekinetic laser guns and futuristic aesthetics while also (in theory) being the one who relies on aggressiveness/DPS to heal. So you are essentially a DPS ("cool"), your damage is just funnelled back into the health pool of your party. It's the execution that prevents its great concept from shining. On the box art you don't see the heals. Just show the sage doing some epic DPS move with lasers and there you go. Cool.


Astro: You can heavily capitalise on the star mage theme. If a black mage can be epic or a picto can be cool and quirky, then I really don't see why a mage with celestial aesthetics and powers full of galactic gravity (I'm not funny, I know) wouldn't be a banger. You don't see the heals on the box art anyway but a mage who is depicted casting some big star magic always looks cool. (And you can also throw in some occult themes of life, fate and death bc tarot cards.)
In terms of game play aesthetics but also regarding promo art/box art stars and space lend themselves very well for grandeur. You can easily do some "out of this world" motives.
Current astro is underwhelming/conservative and boring with its gameplay, visual effects and cast movements. You can do so much more with it, SE just doesn't want to.
And you can also use the star theme to design outfits that don't stick to the "dress and pointy hat" formula.


Sch: You could lean heavily into the war mage/tactitian theme because in the end that's what scholars are. They aren't really academics, they are war strategists. I wouldn't remove the fairy, I do think it makes them very unique. But I think the whole war theme can be used for some gritty designs and depictions.
Or you can put some more focus on the fairy theme for more mythical aesthetics.


Whm: Even though Whm is the stereotypical healer in white robes I don't think this means it can't be cool. You could emphasise their angelic aspects and use those for some epic/otherworldly illustrations/promo arts/animations etc. Think of intense, dramatic and overwhelming religious artwork. (Overwatch does it all the time with those iconic scenes of Mercy descending framed by heavenly light.)
Something with strong lighting, perspective (ascension-like angels), with the character casting some big spells that feel like transcendence.
Whm is the reversal of a black mage. If you can make a blm look dramatic casting flare you can also use the same visual tropes "in white" to make a whm look dramatic casting some scorching, blinding mega glare. White light/white colours serving as strong and intense visuals has already been proven to work in Shadowbringers where they made the scary, terrible, world-destroying demons white/light instead of black/dark and yet this design choice was great and effective to make them appear cold and terrifying. If you give the whm a more interesting outfit than the standard robe I think you got something good there.

[CaptainLagbeard]

No offence, but healers arent cool enough. Each time I see a healer on videogame, it always the most boring character or they design to be hella sex apeal to make them ''interesting''.

Healers are rarely cool, and rarely get the chance to show off in anything... But at the same time, in a well designed system they're the backbone of the party.
In a well designed system, without a healer you don't stand a chance to do any real group content as even tanks shouldn't be able to just outlast a boss alone.

Though FFXIV has moved away from that and turned healers more in DPS, without giving them the ability to deal damage.

[tsuchii]

TBH it's 10+ years, Derek Derplander should have picked a healer class by now. Hopefully they create a healer that would thematically fit to be mascot main character's job in the next expansion.