Pipe Dreams: Expanding the healer pool

[Felis]

Hmm, a new healer class ... Chemist
He would be able to pitch support potions to other party members and DoT potions to the enemy (ranged ability). But he can't just pitch the potions at the beginning with level 1. Each potion type need a skill that the chemist need to learn first.

For more information about Chemist see Final Fantasy Tactics

[Eldaena]

I'm looking forward to Arcanist and their support role. If they came out with a Chemist class I could see that being fun, but expensive! lol I feel like White Mage will probably always be the well-rounded healer, but I could only imagine making a class/job similar to it would require making something completely new so there aren't identity crises. An example I thought of was maybe in order to have a class/job with similar healing potency to a white mage you could make a class that plays up the weaknesses of white mage.

How about a sacrificial mage? I have no idea any previous lore for a class/job like this, but here is my ideas: The class/job would actual be durable as far as hp and def are concerned. However, not only do their heal spells require mp, they require hp. This could lead to having even bigger and badder cures than a white mage, but at the risk of the user. Their damaging spells could be absorption based for both mp and hp from the monsters we fight. They could also have a hold of all the old Thaumaturge spells that we liked to play around with. (Sacrifice, Siphon MP, Siphon HP, all the absorb spells and the ability to transfer them to another.)

I like this idea because they are similar to white mage, but they have different strengths while still being a lead healer/support class. It's just an idea, but I think it sort of satisfies a bit of what people want here. They don't want a class/job stepping on the toes of another, and they are both separate enough to actually exist in the same world. Instead of having 2 white mages per party, I could see people doing 1 white mage and 1 sacrificial mage to get the benefits of both. That's what would be ideal for those seeking other class/jobs with healing/support roles, right?

[Felis]

Maybe SE should give THM the healer role back? ^^
He was the best healer (and a good DD and sometimes also a good tank) before the big skill changes, thanks to his cone AoE.

[Lady]

Maybe SE should give THM the healer role back? ^^
He was the best healer (and a good DD and sometimes also a good tank) before the big skill changes, thanks to his cone AoE.

Best healer was a combination of THM & CNJ skills originally.

[strallaalaa]

all i don't want to see is dps healers, i don't ever want to be in a situation where i have to wonder if a con or whm is a healer or dps. if i get to a place and be like why aren't you healing and he be like cause i'm dps, i'll have to rage quit. heck even ffxiv when it first came out, i had gladiator in party and i'm like why not voke and he says cause i'm a dps not tank. lol ok, i'll just keep taking hate and getting damaged in our grind party instead so you can put out half the dps. or hey thm and con in party but none of them healing? yeah we are both dps. lol get fuk'd.

also important for healer and support classes. i want the whole, buff people, debuff mobs, enfeebles and dispel. i like having to be on the mark and paying attention when it comes to my healer and support class. without these things it's just not final fantasy to me. if they make it so we do damage instead of this then i will hate my favorite class and i'd say it would be a cop out as well.

[Exn]

They could've made a Bard a healer but I don't know why Archer connected to bard. :P

This. I wish they woulda just went back and fixed the whole Archer -> Bard thing and created a supplemental healing/support class to transition into the Bard job. Then Archer woulda been free to evolve into a fully ranged physical DPS job, with some other mechanism/gimmick more in line with the class.

[Feln]

I really like the idea of spreading all of the spectrums out a bit. Including healing: It would be a pretty boss job, one that could strip and direct health from an enemy, to one/all of his allies - Not one as efficient as a white mage, mind you, but one that could deal and heal sounds like the type of mage that a punchy guy, such as myself, would actually not be bored to tears of.

The ideas just pour out from there, and a million are flooding into my brain as I write it, so now I am forcing you to read one of them. Not just health, but perhaps a certain buff/affinity could be applied to those who are the target of this transfusion, based on the monster's class/race/size/religion/pantsucolor/whatever. Infuse your tank with some blood from a Coblin, and he not only gains health, but perhaps a physical defense bonus, or an earthen affinity that positively affects his performance against thunder based monsters, but at the same time gives negative feedback against wind type opponents.

[Wolfie]

With DPS, the different types are (at a basic level) ranged, magic, and melee. You could even consider sub-divisions such as piercing, slashing, blunt, etc, or combinations (if RDMs in XI were actually able to melee with En-spells in XI, Enhancement Shamans or Paladins (don't they get 10% light damage and some light magic?) in WoW). The mobs have several different defenses for each of those. Healing, at a base level, is always going to give someone their health back. En masse (i.e. a raid/endgame event), it doesn't really matter what denomination over what amount of time--100 every second will equal out to 500 every 5 seconds, etc, whereas different types of attacks will not necessarily balance out.

Devil's advocate, but why is there "different kinds of DPS"? Why do we need it? Why can't we have one DPS that just has all the tools, and all of the monsters have no weaknesses or strengths? At the "base level", all DPS does is make the monster HP go down, who cares how they do it, right? You can simplify every job and class to it's one thing, and if you're saying that some roles only need to have one play style, then why shouldn't the others?

I think it's a good idea to invent multiple kinds of healing, but I don't see a plausible way to differentiate between them where either 1) they're all not doing EXACTLY the same thing or 2) one becomes the only option.

There are tons of ways you can differentiate a healer or tank class in terms of mechanics and aesthetics. There are heal over time spells, pets, damage shields, whatever. The list of things you can make your character do to accomplish its role is only limited by you (or the devs') imagination.

That said, there is already competition among DD classes, but I think that imbalance is something people typically complain about, not try to increase. Why should we create it among healing classes?

Why not? Are healers privileged in that they shouldn't have to deal with competition?

Or why not remove the imbalance from DPS by only having one DPS class?

It's the developers' job to give us both multiple options for a role we want to do, and to have the classes that do those roles be balanced enough that people aren't left out.

[Momita]

Why You want variety for Healer Role? Just because "others" do it?
So let's fail like others MMO

Seriously, WHM don't need another Healer Role, Just because WHM can do his job really well. I don't wanna see this:

LFG 1 Healer AV WHM onry.


No, Please.

[Exn]

I don't wanna see this:
LFG 1 Healer AV WHM onry.
No, Please.

Uh, that's how it is already...

If your looking for a healer.. currently, its WHM onry..
If they add an additional balanced healing/strong support class, then you don't need WHM onry..