The Healer Double Standard

[GoatOfWar]

if i need to use a healer i will pick one that still works and wait for the others to get fixed.

They all suffer from the same design problem. They are all 1 button jobs.

[Deceptus]

if i need to use a healer i will pick one that still works and wait for the others to get fixed.

Warrior it is then! (heavy /s)

[AmiableApkallu]

In savage and ultimate, they rely on instant kill aoe, to keep it interesting for healers.

I think it would be a good idea if they add a damage buff when your Hp is above a certain percentage.
And a dps debuff when the Hp drops below.

Then there is more to it than just staying alive, it will give the Hp more meaning and it will give barrier healers more responsibility.

I'd say that what makes healing interesting is unpredictability, which currently is primarily a function of the party you happen to find yourself in. Furthermore, healing is a response to what the combat environment throws at the party; a healing kit can be only as interesting as the combat environment.

Taken together, I'd like to see more unpredictability in combat: More mechanics, more variations to those mechanics, none of them according to a fixed script. Then, we can see how class designs need to adapt (or not…).

[HyoMinPark]

if i need to use a healer i will pick one that still works and wait for the others to get fixed.

The entire role has problems that need fixing.

[UOdhn]

I'd say that what makes healing interesting is unpredictability, which currently is primarily a function of the party you happen to find yourself in. Furthermore, healing is a response to what the combat environment throws at the party; a healing kit can be only as interesting as the combat environment.

Taken together, I'd like to see more unpredictability in combat: More mechanics, more variations to those mechanics, none of them according to a fixed script. Then, we can see how class designs need to adapt (or not…).

Unpredictable damage (skills on timers rather than on a script) is indeed part of what made healing fun in other games. While you can track the timers (looking at you, WoW), the order in which a boss uses skills once the cooldowns are over are random. It's this unpredictable nature of damage that adds to healer gameplay, for the most part. It may not be the be-all end-all argument, but it's there.

However, the healers for FFXIV have kits that aren't designed for that kind of gameplay style. We've had one fight that was on timers, not a script (Urth's Fount if memory serves). So I'd agree that if we had more unscripted fights, healers would need an overhaul.

Honestly, I'd like to see the removal of homogenization among the healers. As it is, all of my abilities are on the same slots no matter what healer I'm on. Medica II is on Aspected Benefic is on Physis II is on Whispering Dawn. They all have basically the same function, and it's not the only similar skill or spell between them.

[Absurdity]

There is another big problem with making fights less predictable, namely the netcode/server ticks/whatever you want to call it, the way the game detects whether or not you got hit by something.

In higher end content you often simply do not have the time to quickly react to mechanics without already knowing what is going to happen.
This would end up either making unpredictable fights either too hard because you simply don't have time to dodge it, or too easy because you have too much time.

[AmiableApkallu]

In higher end content you often simply do not have the time to quickly react to mechanics without already knowing what is going to happen.

If you already know what's about to happen, you're not reacting to anything. You're following a script.

This would end up either making unpredictable fights either too hard because you simply don't have time to dodge it

If the goal is to give healers something interesting to heal through, that sounds like a plus to me, not a minus. (I'm assuming that with unpredictable fights, mechanics are tweaked such that the fight doesn't come down to pure luck.)

Avoidable damage that everyone simply avoids as a matter of course isn't interesting. Scripted, unavoidable damage isn't interesting. That leaves unscripted, unavoidable damage — which, I don't know, is that interesting to heal through or just busy work?

[Absurdity]

If the goal is to give healers something interesting to heal through, that sounds like a plus to me, not a minus. (I'm assuming that with unpredictable fights, mechanics are tweaked such that the fight doesn't come down to pure luck.)

Avoidable damage that everyone simply avoids as a matter of course isn't interesting. Scripted, unavoidable damage isn't interesting. That leaves unscripted, unavoidable damage — which, I don't know, is that interesting to heal through or just busy work?

I'm not really disagreeing there, it is just not feasible to implement with the way the game currently works without making it either impossible to deal with or way too easy. Neither of which is good in a savage fight.

If you make the avoidable damage oneshot people and then make the mechanics unpredictable, with the wonky snapshotting that XIV has, it will entirely depend on your luck and end up frustrating.
If you make the mechanic not oneshot people or make the cast so long that you can resolve it, with both the additional time needed to figure out what mechanic the boss is doing and the wonky snapshotting, then it will be way too easy.


This game currently just can't really do mechanics that require split second reactions.

[vetch]

I'm not really disagreeing there, it is just not feasible to implement with the way the game currently works without making it either impossible to deal with or way too easy. Neither of which is good in a savage fight.

If you make the avoidable damage oneshot people and then make the mechanics unpredictable, with the wonky snapshotting that XIV has, it will entirely depend on your luck and end up frustrating.
If you make the mechanic not oneshot people or make the cast so long that you can resolve it, with both the additional time needed to figure out what mechanic the boss is doing and the wonky snapshotting, then it will be way too easy.


This game currently just can't really do mechanics that require split second reactions.

It can do automatic attacks that are light at first but compound into problems if not reacted to, though. Like slows, stacking poisons, petrification, or layering multiple attacks so that they overwhelm if you're not staying on top of them (like Urth's Fount or Karlabos). This could be a mechanic for healers specifically, or for everyone by way of a cleansing interactable/duty-specific action/consumable antidote.

Karlabos is actually a fantastic example of the kind of design we need so much more of, insofar as you can deal with his DoT+Tail Screw attack sequence in multiple ways:

-healers/bards can esuna the slime so Tail Screw is harmless
-tanks/melees can stun the Tail Screw so the slime is not fatal
-a shield can be used to give an eHP cushion against the slime since Tail Screw only reduces blue health
-or you can throw a potion/heal at the exact right second to not die before the slime ticks

[Sebazy]

I'm not really disagreeing there, it is just not feasible to implement with the way the game currently works without making it either impossible to deal with or way too easy. Neither of which is good in a savage fight.

If you make the avoidable damage oneshot people and then make the mechanics unpredictable, with the wonky snapshotting that XIV has, it will entirely depend on your luck and end up frustrating.
If you make the mechanic not oneshot people or make the cast so long that you can resolve it, with both the additional time needed to figure out what mechanic the boss is doing and the wonky snapshotting, then it will be way too easy.


This game currently just can't really do mechanics that require split second reactions.

IMHO the easiest solution there is to lean more on auto attacks persisting through casts with the ability to crit whilst also giving bosses short cooldown non-telegraphed tank busters and cleaves again.

Kaliya from Coil T11 during prog was a great example of how bosses should hit. It wasn't the hardest hitting boss of the time, but you needed both tanks to soak those cleaves initially and it was nothing like as predictable as what we have now because the bulk of the damage didn't have a huge long telegraph announcing it's arrival.

https://youtu.be/1WwRDVQotgo?t=15