Has anyone quit healing?

[LariaKirin]

No. Now that we got Energy Drain back, I think SCH is better than before.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I'm having the time of my life as a healer in Shadowbringers. I see no reason to stop playing a healer now. I've just about leveled all three. WHM is my favorite but I enjoy SCH and AST as well.

[Hatstand]

I have not. I’ve spent considerably more time dabbling in other classes than I did before the expansion, but haven’t found something that suits me better yet. I have spent a lot more time on my crafters, though.

[Seraphor]

my healer was AST. I quit playing it in serious content until yesterday, now I'm playing it again.

[Ghishlain]

I have been a healer main since 2.0 and will continue to do so, regardless of the changes that may or may not occur. As long as healer continues to be the largest backbone of the party, I will continue to play it. My enjoyment from the job comes from (1) optimization and (2) reveling in the hectic fights that occurs when playing with new / lesser skilled players. There is a immense level of satisfaction found when being able to carry an extremely heavy burden in the party and not faltering in that responsibility. That will never change for me and healing has always given me that satisfaction in this game.

[Misutoraru]

WHM in 2.0
AST in 3.0 and 4.0
but switch to MCH in 5.0
Me dumping healing role have little to do with how AST cars change but more the obsession of DPS in general from community and DEV.

Every single expansion I lose a little bit of green and gain little bit more of red. In 5.0 our cars change so drastic that it focus on 1 thing only, dps gain. And I was told 5.0 will bring back the balance of our heal and dps, with all those powerful oGCD heal and cars change, I feel we are more a dps with some heal skill than a heal that could buff, cleanse and occasionally dps. 5.0 was the chosen one it was supposed to bring back balance not destroy it

[Ramziez]

I dropped healing as my main class. I used to main scholar but the absolute gutting they got fit Shadowbringers I had to drop it. Removing most of the Scholar downtime kit was too much for me to simply smile and grit my teeth to endure. I picked up dancer like many and have been loving it to death.

I did level up my scholar after capping dancer since I knew I wouldn't have to go over the main story with scholar which would bore me to tears, and honestly the healer role quests were all the confirmation I needed to see that my assumption on that was right since pretty much every single healer role quest was a bore combat wise. Scholar at 80 is... Okay at best the healing feels fine but everything else just feels empty and lifeless to me. It's too bad that I think white mage is an incredibly boring class to be since they seem like the most interesting healer right now. I tried to get white mage to 70 but stopped at 60 because of how boring I found it.

So I still heal a bit, but really just for the instant queues for roulettes or to help friends.

[CupidCrux]

Honestly i'm a thread away from quitting AST. I was a Noct for trash Dia for boss AST and now it HAS to be Diurnal the entire time (dont get me started on getting agro from a left over regen on tanks in this game........)
In FFXI My mains were DNC, SCH, PUP. I dont even know what SCH is in this game with the fairy and no strategems and what they did this patch. If DNC didn't come out honestly i'd have quit the game. I'm an omni crafter but that's not exactly riveting excitement. What WAS exciting was in the midst of battle while keeping people alive was also 'gambling' the mini game of the cards. That's entirely gone now for the sake of a VERY few "MUH DEEPS" we (an entire community who learned and fell in love with a specific job) got an entire overhaul. Try that on a DPS job, change all their identity to "mantra", more healing potency. See how that goes. My AST stopped at 78. My jaw hurts from gritting teeth trying to even be viable, before AND after update. My DNC 70 will finish the MSQ and job.

[Connor]

It really seems like healers who were ‘mains’ in the role have generally stuck with the role regardless of the changes, and with the Astrologian changes even that feels much better to play (card effects aside). Not that it matters but I had been a DPS main until Shadowbringers and I changed to Scholar main (though Dancer is definitely a close second lol). I’ve always played Scholar a lot, but I never had a desire to have it as my ‘main’ job until now.

It’s not a fair thing to say, but honestly I feel like players who have quit healing altogether because of the changes are players who weren’t particularly interested in healing anyway. Healers playstyles really haven’t changed significantly outside of damage over time spell consolidation, and with Energy Drain returned both Scholar and White Mage essentially have ‘DPS rotations’, even if they are very simplified. You can still spam Broil/Glare/Malefic like you did in previous expansions, you can still do a lot of your healing with oGCD usage to extend DPS windows, and (personally )feel like every job now has an interesting healing kit that’s actually engaging to use. Even if you’re completely minimising healing output you still have tools to help the party with DPS or healing at no cost, whether it’s Asylum, Assize, Sacred Soil, Earthly Star, Chain Stratagem, etc. Even when you’re not healing you can still proactively use your toolkit to further reduce the amount of healing needed, which is rewarded with Afflatus Misery / Energy Drain windows / windows to comfortably use cards without having to clip healing oGCDs.

(As an aside I do understand that Astrologian’s cards are too undertuned, I’m not arguing that healers are completely perfect and balanced, just that personally I don’t think any of the playstyles are less satisfying than before)

[CupidCrux]

but honestly I feel like players who have quit healing altogether because of the changes are players who weren’t particularly interested in healing anyway.

You lost me with this. It's people who have mained a healer job, who pay a monthly subscription for exactly a specific job and know it inside and out, and got gutted and/or completely overhauled...were the ones MOST interested in healing and now have no desire for it.