Korean fan fest translation says ast changes balanced healers, do you agree?

[Tiva]

Obviously from my recent thread, I don't agree at all. I feel healers are at least as unbalanced as the tanks, but probably even more so. Yet all we heard about was tank changes and the generic statement:

"Concerning raid compositions, he feels that after the AST buffs, any combination of healers is currently viable, but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing changes in 4.0."

Thanks to this thread for unoffical translation: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...n_live_letter/

I know this is translated, but still, some definitions for those who want to reply-
viable (adj) : capable of working successfully; feasible.
balanced (adj) : a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.

Is it enough for healers to be "viable", a term we usually use to mean that they are acceptable (work successfully/feasible) in savage content? Or should we hold the game to a higher standard and lobby for real balance (equilibrium/equal distribution of capability for all healers and all comps)? Basically I'm saying I don't feel even astro has ever been unviable. The closest I think we came to unviable was the noct/whm comp and many people have killed everything with that comp, so even that in essence was viable. So being "viable" was never really what we wanted. It's balance we need.

To me, after they discussed some of the things they will change to affect tank balance- changing some of the tank CDs to be cross role instead of by class and also changing warriors role as OT, then they say this about healers.... I worry they have not really put much thought into the healer changes that need to occur or perhaps they are too focused on the tanks and need a wake up call that healers still need balancing!

Do you agree that healers are balanced now? Or they still need work?
Someone ask about this at PAX Q and A please!

[ToasterMan]

Is this a joke?


If SE can't recognize that their healers aren't balanced than there's not much more we can do other than stop playing them. Not much else we can do about it

[Feyona]

Obviously from my recent thread, I don't agree at all. I feel healers are at least as unbalanced as the tanks, but probably even more so. Yet all we heard about was tank changes and the generic statement:



Do you agree that healers are balanced now? Or they still need work?
Someone ask about this at PAX Q and A please!

I have all three healers and tried all three in content up to a11s. I think the healing balance seems ok. Wmg could do with something unique I guess like the other two. Its just in terms of dps scholar has too much compared to other healers, is put more into the dps support role which some think is ok, but sch I find enjoyable to heal with. It is unique. Im not that sure where you think the balance isnt right apart from that. Spells seem to balance out, substituting one op skill for another, but I think they are all viable healing wise except sch aoe weakness.

[IttyBitty]

Viable means they can all clear the content, which is true.

Are they balanced? Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

WHM is AST without cards now. Heck, AST's healing toolkit alone beats out WHM's. Spells are generally cheaper, Potencies for non-basic healing spells aren't far off, and they actually have access to worthwhile mitigation via Collective and Disable. Once you include their cards? Bye bye WHM.

Benediction and Cure 3 ain't a pile of chocobo dung in comparison.

In terms of dps scholar has too much compared to other healers

All healers have pretty close potency/GCD when it comes to single target DPS. I believe WHM and AST are actually slightly higher. SCH is just more capable of creating DPS windows and their sustain is so high that they can keep going long after a WHM has bottomed out on mana. Most of their DoTs also don't require accuracy, so even an unmelded SCH can contribute a sizeable chunk of DPS with 3/4 GCDs every so often. Their DoTs also have pretty long durations, so dropping out of Cleric's Stance to Adlo is going to hurt their output less than a WHM who has to recast Aero 2 after every 4 GCDs.

It's less that SCH does too much, and more that DPSing doesn't hurt it anywhere near as much as say, WHM (expensive DPS skills that all require meeting the accuracy cap, combined with a large portion of their mana management being tied into their healing procs).

How could they fix WHM? Couldn't tell you for sure. But the class is in dire need for some actual love and an identity outside of "big healz" (which isn't even that true). Buffs to stoneskin (lower cast time & increase HP percentage to bring more in line with Adlo) and giving native raidwide mitigation (like Disable/Soil) would make it compete better in the realm of healing toolkits. Decoupling their resource management from their healing toolkit and moving it elsewhere (or giving similar procs to DPS skills) would go a long way to improving their sustainability.

[Feyona]

Viable means they can all clear the content, which is true.

Are they balanced? Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

WHM is AST without cards now. Heck, AST's healing toolkit alone beats out WHM's. Spells are generally cheaper, Potencies for non-basic healing spells aren't far off, and they actually have access to worthwhile mitigation via Collective and Disable. Once you include their cards? Bye bye WHM.

Benediction and Cure 3 ain't a pile of chocobo dung in comparison.

Yes I guess wmg is being squeezed out by ast but as for play they all work good. 2 sch is a bit iffy though same as noct ast with sch. At least ast got diurnal for that. Poor wmg nothing unique, nothing really makes it stand out as a 'go to' healer

[Sebazy]

All 3 healers are absolutely viable and bring their own strengths to the table. (Ps SCH aoe is absolutely fine, look beyond the raw HPS pls).

However, the current lack of balance is as much down to this tier not playing to any of a WHM's considerable strengths whatsoever. The extra reach of Medica II is barely helpful at all and the incoming damage is too generously spaced out to make any real use of a WHM's stronger HPS cooldowns let alone Cure III. This is compounded by AST simply bringing too much to the table as a main heal pick and SCH doing a similar job of locking down the off heal role. An AST can generate considerable DPS for the group whilst healing full tilt through cards whilst a SCH can contribute large amounts of healing for the group whilst DPSing full tilt via the fairy. A WHM just doesn't fit into either role quite as nicely as either of the alternatives right now and this is compounded by AST being a bit too well rounded.

Personally I think WHM is actually closer to the mark than people give it credit for tho. As we saw with BCOB>SCOB>FCOB and the perceived balance between SMN and BLM, the encounters themselves can appear to make or break a job's effectiveness.

[technole]

Balance is also the clear rates, as all three healers have pretty similar clear rates this savage tier. WHM/AST is viable, it's not the optimal composition but certainly it's a way better place than it was before the end of the Midas tier.

But like Sebazy says, it's more of encounter design too. There really isn't a savage floor this tier that played to really any of White Mage's strengths or anything that Astro could do just as good or even better.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I have this lingering feeling they intend to simply add more raw healing to White Mage, which is precisely why it's been increasingly forgotten. Frankly, I think they need to embrace the idea of making fights far more heal intensive for Scholar/Astro comp. If groups want that additional DPS buff from balance, they have to deal with high amounts of incoming damage. Perhaps even have certain mechanics that force the DPS or off Tank to perform something that isn't DPSing (like Leviathan meter thing) whereas having a White Mage could theoretically allow you to heal through it.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

I have this lingering feeling they intend to simply add more raw healing to White Mage, which is precisely why it's been increasingly forgotten. Frankly, I think they need to embrace the idea of making fights far more heal intensive for Scholar/Astro comp. If groups want that additional DPS buff from balance, they have to deal with high amounts of incoming damage. Perhaps even have certain mechanics that force the DPS or off Tank to perform something that isn't DPSing (like Leviathan meter thing) whereas having a White Mage could theoretically allow you to heal through it.

But then wouldn't we just end back up with the original problem of Whm/Sch comp majority of the time. Make whm too powerful and they could even push out the 2nd healer and the playerbase just replace with a dps. This is why I can understand them not adding a new healer or tank yet. Although I hope they add one of them if not both later on into the 4.x series.

[CreinCrein]

AST does by no means having healing capabilities anywhere close to WHM. The main reason they are driven out of the meta currently is primarily due to the fact that the current raid tier requires healing checks so low that can be met by solely regens, eos and sch OGCDs alone. A8S and A3S were perfect examples of WHM viability. Progression healing through J-waves was near impossible without cure 3 and even in full 240 there was close lines were being cut, in addition to the other 999999 sources of massive back-to-back raid damage. Unless fights are tuned back to this format though, WHM will be dead in the water in 4.0 unless they are given more forms of raid utility. Right now yes, all the classes are viable, but the current content leans more in favour of the AST/SCH meta.