The Healer Manifesto

[Stelaria]

9) Healer DPS should be MP-positive.
9a) But why, you ask? This is a somewhat complicated one. The obvious reason is that MP-tight situations do occasionally happen, and might well happen more in Shadowbringers. They're to be avoided, of course, but simply standing still waiting for Lucid Dreaming or Assize to come off cooldown is less than desirable. The white mage has its Freecure mechanic that becomes relevant in that kind of emergency situation... but the scholar has lost Energy Drain and the astrologian can no longer use its cards for emergency healing - awkward!
9b) The other reason relates to players experienced with a certain popular MMO published by Activision Blizzard. In that game, MP, particularly for healers, at least as I remember it, was very tight - tight enough that at the time there was a damage archetype with a secondary focus on providing MP to the rest of the raid. I don't know if this is still the case, but... I've seen many players in leveling content use solely Cure, Benefic or Physick. These players often object to polite suggestions that they use more of their kit, complaining about MP efficiency. I believe that DPSing being MP-positive would help to establish a different mindset regarding MP economy and help newer players feel comfortable with healing.

10) Healing should be fun, and not scary.
10a) I've noticed a lot of DPS mains talk about how they're afraid to play healer or tank. Recently, I've noticed more of them being willing to try tank, and while I have reservations about the removal of tank stances in Shadowbringers... I believe that the change is justified for that reason. Healer play is still very much to be feared, though, it seems. People have high expectations for their healers, and a lot of strange expectations about what a healer is and does. I believe that a cohesive vision for healer is important to the ongoing health of the game, and the one I've set out, while not the only one by any means, is something I have strong feelings and much confidence in.
10b) There is, unfortunately... an elephant in the room here, and that is the fact that, in a 4-man group without a summoner or red mage, the death of the healer usually means a wipe. I don't know how to solve this one. We've all got stories about how the tank (usually a warrior) managed to heroically solo a boss from some unreasonably high amount of health, and I'm sure that people will find a way to keep doing that in Shadowbringers! But, that doesn't mean this isn't a problem. And, quite honestly, I don't know how to fix it, and I'd welcome any and all suggestions that work within the overall flow of the game, the balance of high-end play, and the feel of existing jobs. It's a tricky one, though.

[Stelaria]

Addendum on cards.
As a former astrologian main (and a diehard nocturnal sect defender in the dark days of 3.2, though I've since switched to white mage), I enjoyed the paradigm of the astrologian's card mechanic a lot - even if it often just reduced to how fast one could make a spread Balance. And as such, I was as shocked as the rest of you at the changes in Shadowbringers.

However, while the new card mechanic feels awkward, I don't believe that the removal of TP, the de-emphasising of substats (the removal of crit-based mechanics from bard is very telling) and the continued position of the white mage with regard to raid utility allow for anything else.

I do, however, have one major objection. The cards that boost melee DPS should also boost the tank's damage output, while those that boost ranged DPS should also improve the healer's damage. This is because in 4-player content, players will often queue with two ranged or two melee DPS - and 'close combat' and 'ranged combat' include more than simply DPS classes. There will always be a tank and a healer available for the astrologian to buff, and a 6% bonus feels considerably more real and meaningful than a 3% bonus.

I've yet to feel out how the mechanic plays in practice, and I doubt it'll live up to the experience of the old version of the mechanic - but that change, at least, I could consider an unfortunate sacrifice if it weren't for the more drastic changes to the role as a whole.

[Anthy]

Healing has been a side-thing for me since I hit Heavensward, but Arcanist into Scholar was my first class I took to the current max level at the time, and I really enjoyed how you had a balance to both helping damage and healing others. It wasn't that deep, essentially hitting all my dot buttons and throwing out bane if it's a group of mobs, and then focusing on healing or spamming Broil, but it was interesting.

Now that I tank, I might be a little out of touch about Healing/Healers other than the occasional dungeon run where I pull out Scholar, but seeing that the only AoE damage is a single upfront damage spell is, annoying on several levels, cause now you can't throw out dots on the trash pulls and then actually focus on healing, it's actively a choice between damage or healing.

Overall, I hope points like this that Stelaria made are taken into account if changes are made prior to the release, or at least within the early steps of Shadowbringers, because as of now, as a Tank, and sometimes as a Scholar player, I really feel bad for how Healing gameplay looks, and honestly the point about bosses is one I really like as well. Bosses having exact patterns is kinda why day/week 1 gameplay for new content always felt so lively and interesting, and then grows stale later on average, having some variance would make them last a bit longer even for the average player.

[Metamyth]

I do, however, have one major objection. The cards that boost melee DPS should also boost the tank's damage output, while those that boost ranged DPS should also improve the healer's damage. This is because in 4-player content, players will often queue with two ranged or two melee DPS - and 'close combat' and 'ranged combat' include more than simply DPS classes. There will always be a tank and a healer available for the astrologian to buff, and a 6% bonus feels considerably more real and meaningful than a 3% bonus.

From what I've read in multiple places, from translated Japanese tooltips it's more akin to Melee and Ranged "Attackers" rather than "DPS." By proxy, Tanks fall under Melee Attackers while Healers fall under Ranged Attackers.

Do note, though that is from strangers on the internet interpreting a language I cannot read, so I might take that with a grain of salt.

[MrAptronym]

I am sure this will be controversial (and I think the thread title is a little misleading) but I agree here: I would love these changes. These points all seem well thought out and would lead to an overall healthier and easier to balance healer role. Right now healer is fun when things are falling apart, adding some unpredictability in-between more conventional phases could give a litte of that without actually near-wiping. A DPS rotation that is neutral to moderate amounts of healing and even slightly helps with MP would be nice. It is clearly something they've toyed with. I really like the idea of the blood lily ability on white mage, I know there are some implementation issues right now but that idea that you can regain the DPS loss you incurred by healing is a good one. (I am leveling up WHM as a probable new main job right now because of 5.0) If Scholar got some DoT maintainance tied to its own healing kit, it could allow for the job to retain some of its flavor. I would disagree on DoTs going away otherwise though. I think that DoTs have their place as a way to deal consistant damage while stopping to heal periodically. Yes, having some issues at the time you need to refresh does cause downtime, but it's much less of a loss than all the times you stop to heal.

I am a bit stumped by AST right now. They wanted to kill a lot of synergy that the AST card system worked on, so I understand them changing that system, but the new one still looks dull to me. The reduction of card mechanics alongside the implementation of the Dancer job makes it feel more like a slap in the face. The addition of seals could have provided some kind of engaging gameplay but they just... didn't do anything with them? Like, if we had different combinations that gave us an added effect on divination or something beyond just "One of each for a little extra DPS every few minutes". The addition of some kind of unique DPS mechanic on AST could help fill time better, but you'd probably want that tied to cards and I am not sure what that would be. I liked that AST felt kind of busy because of how much downtime a healer doing casual content has, and I don't feel like this system is scratching that itch for me. (I'll know in a month I guess)

[Kabooa]

Please use the spoiler tag and post editing for exceedingly long posts like this. It makes going through them less painful.

["hb]["/hb] with " removed.

1. For example

You can easily use the bolded text to declare your idea, and then use the bumper to explain further within. In this way, you can convey your information with a simple summary to start, and then back it up here. Those interested will read, those not will not, but for those on the fence, visual presentation helps.

[Pbuckley818]

Op, this thread is so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye. TY for spending the time to write this wonderful essay full of excellent thought's and critique.

I would like to add that I really want to see more heal/DPS skills like Assize or Earthly Star. Be cool if Astro got a DoT that caused the subject to pulse healing to anyone who attacked it.

I still want my cards back, though. T-T

[Seraphor]

Really, a 6% damage boost for a healer or a 3% damage boost for a DPS... is about comparable.
Tanks may be a different story though, especially as it'll help them maintain aggro too, as well as dealing more damage.

[Haxaan]

OP thank you so much for this beautifully crafted "Manifesto". It was a joy to read and gave me hope. I hope the Devs get a chance to read this.