Dps que times

[Hitsuzen]

Interesting point. Buttt I am happy with the 1/1/2 ratio.

Brings up a question though. Why don't 14 players want to play tank or healer classes? They have shorter queue times and they get bonus rewards. It's almost less optimal to play dps in a way, yet most people still only play dps.

[Astrus]

Brings up a question though. Why don't 14 players want to play tank or healer classes? They have shorter queue times and they get bonus rewards. It's almost less optimal to play dps in a way, yet most people still only play dps.

Because not everyone likes to play every role for varying reasons.

I have a friend who exclusively plays tanks and nothing else. They like being important and setting the pace for the runs they're leading.
I almost never play tanks because running in front and leading the way is not my thing.
Another friend gravitates to healers because as a healer every fight is slightly different even if you've done the encounter a hundred times already.
In other games I too almost always play healers but in FFXIV they just feel uncomfortable to me. Which is a problem they share with casters in this game, something about them just feels wrong to me. So this is the one game where I main melee DPS.
One of the Bards I played with before HW exclusively played Bard because of the range and mobility giving her an edge at dodging out of bad while keeping up dps. Or counteract her slow reaction times more likely.

Additional incentives to tank or heal like shorter queues or bonus rewards can help bribe people into the roles but for others the "hassle" of playing a role they don't enjoy will outweight the incentives.

[Zojha]

Why don't 14 players want to play tank or healer classes?

Why don't 14 players play WoW or Wildstar instead?

Because they don't like it for one reason or the other >.>
It's not rocket science.

[Kaethra]

Brings up a question though. Why don't 14 players want to play tank or healer classes? They have shorter queue times and they get bonus rewards. It's almost less optimal to play dps in a way, yet most people still only play dps.

Let me ask you this. Lets say you play a healer. And you get 260 geared and get your relic or kinna weapon. What then?

You're done. Unless you get lucky and there's a Savage/Extreme slot open for you. Otherwise you end up rerolling DPS because that's what is needed at that level of play. You could start your own, and look for DPS. And try to compete with others who are also recruiting for DPS.

THAT is why you don't see many Healers and Tanks leveling up. Because lets face it. Healing and Tanking is the easiest thing to do. You said it. You get bonuses you get shorter queues. Its great right? Yeah until you're done with 4 man stuff and need to do higher. Or.. maybe you don't. Maybe thats as far as you want to go.

But... you're done on the healer in this example. So.. you could do Tank or another healer. But theres many more DPS classes. And DPS classes are much different than healing where you small heal spam until you proc or need a bigger one and occasionally do a group heal (lets face it, that's all 4 man stuff requires). And tanking is literally 123 with a some ranged attack pulling and some aoe threat things put in. You have defensive cooldowns, but we all know those aren't really needed, even in expert dungeons.

So.. many (like me) who do Heal or Tank, would like to play something different on occassion. And some even want to go a bit further and do more than just 4 man stuff.

And that is what I base my flex idea on. There is NO shortage of Healers or Tanks in the 24 man queues. Check it for yourself. You're waiting on DPS as you need 15 of them and only 6 healers and 3 tanks.

We don't need incentives to get people to play tanks or healers. We have 3 tanks, 3 healers, and 7 (soon to be 9) DPS. We need to just allow people to play what they want to play. Flexing the queues even if its just the leveling queue (I personally have 5 minute queues on expert with DPS) would help with that. And it hurts no one.

[Vidu]

Let me ask you this. Lets say you play a healer. And you get 260 geared and get your relic or kinna weapon. What then?

You're done. Unless you get lucky and there's a Savage/Extreme slot open for you. Otherwise you end up rerolling DPS because that's what is needed at that level of play. You could start your own, and look for DPS. And try to compete with others who are also recruiting for DPS.

Last time I checked, people were still doing EX-primals and Savage with tanks and heals in the party...? And people are also looking for tanks and heals for their raidgroups? Its not as if they'd become completly useless once you reach endgame-content.
(Sidenote: If people are looking for DPS for their statics, they're often looking for very specific dps aswell - caster, ranged, melee. So even if it might seem as if there would be more DPS-slots open, in essence those are also only filled by two or three classes)

So, no, I really disagree with your statment that people dont level up tanks and heals because they cant use them in endgame-content. Thats nonsense - not only because you still need them, but also because the actual raiding-community is pretty small - 10% of the playerbase might be actually into serious raiding (I havent checked that number again but it seems to stay the same). That leaves 90% not be effected by your theory.

Someone who mains a tank or healer will most likely agree with you that those are pretty easy jobs - I main paladin and I often feel as if I have the easiest job on the field. If I switch to my scholar to heal some EX-primal/raid I have never healed before, that quickly changes and it feels like proper hardwork - because I'm not used to it. If you say "tanking and healing is the easiest part of the game" you're biased because you're used to those classes.

The reality is simply: Healers and tanks have more responsibility and thats already noticeable in 4 man dungeons.
A lot of people consider tanking stressful - keeping aggro on everything, pulling properly, setting the pace of the run and taking on the leader-role isnt for everyone.
Same goes for healing - with tanks who are speedrunning, healing can get quite stressful aswell (specially in leveling dungeons!)
(I'm also under the impression that a lot of people are pretty fixated on seeing high damage-numbers - something thats easier to achieve witha Fire IV than a Stone III)

I also dont understand your last point - everyone is allowed to play what they want? You can change your class anytime outside a dungeon and play something else?

[Kaethra]

Last time I checked, people were still doing EX-primals and Savage with tanks and heals in the party...?

Absolutely. They've already got them. That's where you misunderstood the point. Most statics are recruiting DPS because they've already got their tank and healer roles filled.