The problem with healing

[Transient_Shadow]

Firstly I'd like to apologize. This is partly a request to SE and partly venting because I know they probably will just ignore it.

I love healing. I enjoy helping people run content and helping everyone do their best. I'll admit in my time learning my role there was a lot of salt and misunderstandings. My past threads show that (one in particular which simply refuses to die). But through all of that I've had great experiences with new faces and old friends.

However in that time I've slowly began to notice a glaring problem with the role of healer. To place it plainly we're the second class citizens of spice and variety. We've been relegated to this role of being the "pure maiden" if you will. And it has been so since ARR.

You can see it in our healing, our dps, our outfits, and even our damned quest-lines. Its nothing but the same old thing of "Oh hey I'm a calm and collected healer, lets purify the woods, lets purify society, lets purify a centuries old curse with the power of love!" its the same damned thing over and over again.

I know this isn't because of some malicious conspiracy against support players or some nonsense like that. However this trend needs to stop. We need something foul and profane for once. Something that goes beyond the black and white narrative that has been established for healing.

What I'm proposing is what I've proposed in the past and what I will continue to advocate. We need an edgy healer. Yes it sounds silly but its true. We need something with variety. Something that doesn't fall into the time honored tradition of "purity and grace" that healers are restricted to. Hell even Ascian healers are just conjurers in the Summoner Quest-line!

So I here by formally ask Square to please give us healers the variety that they've shown every other role. Give us something dark. Give us something edgy. For god sake give use something that isn't deep fried in the elder seed seers fashion sense. I don't care if its a copy paste of whm again like ast (you have to admit their healing kits are exactly the same) but with dark auras and the like. I'm just so sick of being white and fluffy.

I've seen tones of great ideas from other players about what would make a great healing class. I've seen other players echo my desire to see something other than what we've gotten for every itiration of the game thus far.

So I ask every healer here. Please! Post your ideas. Post your complaints. Post anything and everything that will get SE's attention and let them know that we need something more the next expansion other than thematic repeat of white mage!

[Squigley]

Go scholar, we're marines

“Come hells or high water!"

[Riyshn]

Specifically, if you account for the ACN questline, we're marine strategists who math and plan so thoroughly that the world itself just gives up and accepts that things are going to go our way.

[Mirch]

yes yes release healer that uses hp to cast spells instead of mp, mp is for non edgy fake healers anyway is great idea

[MuseTraveller]

Necromancer for new healer job!

[NobleWinter]

Mortician should be the next healer job. You're really just preparing the body for inevitable death. I would love to see an auto-revive to undead zombie status skill that has to be reversed manually.

[miraidensetsu]

That is one thing I dislike WHM: They're treated as some sort of priest. The result is some religious-like skills/spells names. But dammit, we, White Mages are mages! MAGES! I would like to have some WHM skills renamed as such:

Benediction to Full-Cure
Tetragrammaton to Cura (Tetragrammaton are the name of the israeli God in hebraic)
Divine Benison to Water Armor/Skin
Plenary Indulgence - Aetherial Recovery (and its stacks to Aether Node)

Or, at least, have the WHM quests and new skills to be more in line with what's going on. His quests don't touch on the war of the magi (that was battled by White Mages) or the fact that White Magic (and Black Magic) is pretty much outlawed on Eorzea, just purify, purify and purify some more. And I saw no integration with the fact WoL being healer on MSQ. He hasn't even try to heal someone who dies in front of him. He hasn't even tried to raise Haurchefant.

[MuseTraveller]

Jokes aside, I'd love some witch/forest nymph like kind of a healer that's nature themed but ain't no tree hugger! Something focused on hexes, curses, something inspired from the Slavic culture would make me happy but this also feels not very FF like.

[Braven]

Hmm, a “dark mage”, kind of like how dark knight is supposed to be the opposite of paladin. I like it.

Clothes could look all goth-like or demonic. The Ascian outfit can be their level 50 armor set. And have “evil” powers. Like transfering the health from DPS party member to give to the tank. Having a “cover” ability that works the opposite: Others forced to protect you instead of you protecting others.

Like DRK living dead, you can grant a immunity to a party member, but drop their health down to 1 hp. You must heal them back up within a certain amount of time or they die. Duration scales based on remaining hp (you have less time if they had less hp when cast).

Focus on CC/debuffs to mitigate party damage instead of “shields”. Your basic heals are more powerful than other healers, but always come with a price to balance it out. A sort of “deal with the devil” arrangement.

[AngelCheese77]

yes yes release healer that uses hp to cast spells instead of mp, mp is for non edgy fake healers anyway is great idea

Lorewise, through CNJ quests, you use your own aether/life force to heal others. So that's kinda edgy.

We need like a cross between the Inquisitor class in EQ2 and Harrow from Warframe, with nastier sounding stuff and you flagelate yourself to heal others, damaging yourself to make the heals stronger.