Are you guys finally going to DPS and help your party?

[Belhi]

Simple: DPS is the ultimate goal of every party, and we don't want the role that does the most damage wasting their GCDs on unnecessary healing actions, and we certainly don't want them getting cleaved, tank-busted, or forced to abandon positionals.

Healing isn't the kind of task that needs 100% uptime, and the healer role is extremely efficient at healing if played correctly, which means crazy downtime if only healing actions are used.

Then realistically why bother with healing classes at all and instead just go with support dps with healing support options? If healers are designed around healing but spend a large portion of their time not healing then most of the Job design goes to waste.

Personally I think healing gameplay is underdeveloped in FF14 and the healing potency of spells is too high. That is the reason healers get so much down time. They have too many fire and forget spells and to few mechanics which require constant maintenance.

[Cynfael]

Then realistically why bother with healing classes at all and instead just go with support dps with healing support options? If healers are designed around healing but spend a large portion of their time not healing then most of the Job design goes to waste.

Personally I think healing gameplay is underdeveloped in FF14 and the healing potency of spells is too high. That is the reason healers get so much down time. They have too many fire and forget spells and to few mechanics which require constant maintenance.

Many games have moved away from the pure healer model. The games I remember playing with dedicated healers who couldn't so much as solo a field mob had extremely small healer populations, most of which were boxed since a live healer was necessary only for PvP and maybe the odd raid. Healers who only heal in these games are either playing whack-a-mole nonstop while everyone else takes it easy or they are bored off their asses because they barely need to heal and can't damage anything.

FFXIV at least has a viable hybrid model where healers have useful actions to perform when healing requirements are low or intermittent. Increasing the damage inflicted on players would not make the game more engaging or fun from a healing perspective since the game itself is extremely choreographed. If the mob damage output were increased to the point where healers truly needed to heal heavily and frequently, fatigue would set in; hitting Cure twice as often is not any more enjoyable than weaving it with DPS.

SE could provide further options for healers by introducing a larger variety of powerful support skills, provided that they are at least comparable in benefit to the DPS option. I do agree that there is opportunity in deepening the gameplay from a supporting role perspective.

[Belhi]

Many games have moved away from the pure healer model. The games I remember playing with dedicated healers who couldn't so much as solo a field mob had extremely small healer populations, most of which were boxed since a live healer was necessary only for PvP and maybe the odd raid. Healers who only heal in these games are either playing whack-a-mole nonstop while everyone else takes it easy or they are bored off their asses because they barely need to heal and can't damage anything.

FFXIV at least has a viable hybrid model where healers have useful actions to perform when healing requirements are low or intermittent. Increasing the damage inflicted on players would not make the game more engaging or fun from a healing perspective since the game itself is extremely choreographed. If the mob damage output were increased to the point where healers truly needed to heal heavily and frequently, fatigue would set in; hitting Cure twice as often is not any more enjoyable than weaving it with DPS.

SE could provide further options for healers by introducing a larger variety of powerful support skills, provided that they are at least comparable in benefit to the DPS option. I do agree that there is opportunity in deepening the gameplay from a supporting role perspective.

I would be happy if they chose to do that but the way they are talking about it that isn't what we are getting, with WHM at least. Ironically new healing spells is the last thing WHMs need now. How am I supposed to get excited about a new flashy heal if I have more heals than I need with the list I already have? Combined with just removing Cleric stance and its pushing WHM in the complete opposite direction to the one you are talking about.

They need their design philosophy to match their game design and currently it doesn't. No wonder they are having problems balancing healers if they haven't noticed that issue yet. It is extremely frustrating, especially after all their talk on putting extra effort into balancing tanks and healers. At least PLD seems to be heading in the right direction.

[Cynfael]

I would be happy if they chose to do that but the way they are talking about it that isn't what we are getting, with WHM at least. Ironically new healing spells is the last thing WHMs need now. How am I supposed to get excited about a new flashy heal if I have more heals than I need with the list I already have? Combined with just removing Cleric stance and its pushing WHM in the complete opposite direction to the one you are talking about.

They need their design philosophy to match their game design and currently it doesn't. No wonder they are having problems balancing healers if they haven't noticed that issue yet. It is extremely frustrating, especially after all their talk on putting extra effort into balancing tanks and healers. At least PLD seems to be heading in the right direction.

While I still think that the current CS adds extremely minimal value to gameplay in and of itself (aside from forcing healers to learn about timing and priority), I completely agree that WHM design philosophy seems to run counter to what is actually fun and engaging for healers in this game.

I'm really hoping that there is something about 4.0+ WHM gameplay that we don't know yet, because I think players are right to be concerned that WHM could continue in the vein of being the strongest and most simplistic HP battery in a game that increasingly values utility and direct damage contribution.

[Ashua]

If you run a static or pre formed group expecting the most of everyone's ability that is one thing but getting mad at a healer in random groups is not right. You queue with intention of pugging a run with the mindset of finishing a dungeon. As long as you are being healed in a pug expecting more is imo a drive in futility.

[RukiaFae]

Personally I think healing gameplay is underdeveloped in FF14 and the healing potency of spells is too high. That is the reason healers get so much down time. They have too many fire and forget spells and to few mechanics which require constant maintenance.

No the issue is gear. We are over geared for new dungeons the moment they are released. Try playing the last two dungeons with minimum ilvl players. If the tank anf healer are near 230 it makes for bad time. The last dungeons are great for the item level they were created for and the damage is high. The issue is most players are sitting at 260-270 so the dungeon is a lot easier. They need to cut back on the power creep of our gear and this would solve a problems. It would keep things more relevant and challenging.

[Ashua]

They could introduce i level sync with max level dungeons/raids but then that would aggrevate 90% of the player population who do the carrot on the stick grind to be able to be above that strength during the runs. They talk about 3 difficulty modes in certain instances so maybe the hardest mode of all raids/dungeons could be a barrier on i level as well.

[RopeDrink]

I spent 10 years playing WoW and during my time(s) as a Healer (which, in most games back then, were designed to hit like wet noodles by default), aggression was still required to succeed regardless of whether it was PvE or PvP (especially PvP), yet over here in FFXIV, I see so many people wallowing in this mysterious stigma that "Healer" translates to "Healing-Only required" despite it being more embracing of damage-capable healers compared to many past games that dumbed healer damage so low that you'd need dual-spec to effectively level. You can't imagine how good I felt when, having played Shadow Priest for the majority of my time elsewhere, something like "Cleric Stance" found its way onto my hotbar. I love having a diverse toolkit that can multitask (without the need to swap to a whole different class/spec/character), so you can bet your chocobo I immediately went full-aggressive healer mode and loved everything about it.

With that in mind, you can guess how I feel about the 'lazy' healers who seem to think shredding their toolkit in half because the role "Healer" gives off a certain impression is somehow acceptable. No, it's not. What is being asked for applies to EVERY role, even tanks. What surprises me the most about this whole debacle is that DPS'ing as a Healer over here is so damn simple to perform. Boggles my mind why so many shun simplistic ways of contributing to the team effort (which everyone, regardless of role, should be doing) because "Oh, sorry, last I checked my role was to just heal people". If you enjoy playing like you randomly lost half of your HUD/toolbar, that's fine - just don't expect people to like or accept this, especially for end-game where it is commonly expected that people should be awake and remotely aware of their own class-capabilities and putting them to some form of use.

[gumas]

For me its depend on the party itself, say i go heal only and they dont mind about it? Sure why not, even better if they are a friendly (chatty) bunch. I dont know how it go on west server but, in east server most people dont mind with healer that go "heal only" mode.

[Cynfael]

For me its depend on the party itself, say i go heal only and they dont mind about it? Sure why not, even better if they are a friendly (chatty) bunch. I dont know how it go on west server but, in east server most people dont mind with healer that go "heal only" mode.

Or, like me, they don't want to risk turning a subpar run into a downright painful one by daring to suggest that a healer do something other than wait to heal.

I'd rather be quietly resigned to the presence of the healing-only healer than spark a tirade of self-righteous excuses as to why they're entitled to play poorly.