Every problem with the current iteration of healers.

[AphraelAmarantha]

Which would be fine... if the game necessitated frequent healing. It doesn't. Many healers want either a greater emphasise on healing or buff management in lieu of simply DPS. Unfortunately, FFXIV just doesn't allow for it. If you primarily want to focus on healing, you will more than likely be playing the job inefficiency.

More than likely I probably do play rather inefficiently. Never said I was a GOOD healer lol. I always try to keep everyone topped out, with the tank being my main priority. If I start letting the tank's hp drop below 70 to 80 percent, a wipe is usually imminent lol x_x (especially if its the dreaded huge pulls). So I just make sure everyone is capped and regen magicks are in place before I start holy spamming.

[MPNZ]

1

i don't agree with that point of view.
the white mage does miss in mitigation skills(shell and protect were always a white mage first core spells in ff),but shield isn't mitigation its more extra hp.
healers shouldn't be able to do what the other does,otherwise whats the point in different classes.
each class need to be with their own unique kit and be able to do the things they can do.
AST kit allow him to pick which he wants regen/heal before battle(probably a symbol of controlling and guiding fate) but the shield isn't omnipotent skill just absorbs a certain amount damage and i think its even smaller then what scholar grants also if i remember correctly SCH have their share of healing problems(not including that gigantic chaotic mess of a kit they have).
while AST and SCH have shield,it doesn't mean WHM need to be identical to them. WHM kit is more heal oriented,SCH is more shield oriented,AST is more of versatility/replacement.

WHM is(and always will be) the more straightforward healer, AST and SCH play style offer versatility and have more to offer then just shields/regens..
it definitely not mean that WHM suddenly need to be able to spam shield like those two,each class needs to stay true to what defines her and have their own unique take on healing and supporting the party.

Um, no. SCH was differentied by it's various enfeeblement and dots, and the abilities of the unique fairies compared to WHM "pure HLR" design which remained as interesting as sword and board PLD. And, was like a big reason a lot of people became interested in AST. AST was very flexible with various impactful and malleable cards that players could modify their effect combined with a game of chance. AST's design was really fun to play! Everything added to WHM though was just totally boring, and offered nothing to both players and the party besides more healing, and lilies were uninteresting because they were mostly just potency buffers. It would be more interesting to see jobs expand on the how and the way they heal. Or, even implementing spells like re-life/reraise and float, or solid HP barriers, damage reduction wards, layered barriers, maintenance, multiple limited resources, and reflection. Or even trickery

[Dreggit]

Would adding a role skill debuff on enemies help resolve the issue? I will admit I am fairly new to healing (been leveling the jobs when AiN bonus is Healer)

Role Action: L60 Reverse
Target enemy receives damage from healing effects for 30s
Cooldown 5min

The only restriction I would add to the debuff is that full heal effects would either not work -or- do potency damage of 750 or so to account for the cooldown... the idea is that it's a debuff you give to a target enemy and is not a buff to the player, so that noone can troll others with it and you don't mistakenly kill your party... The ability itself I think would provide a great burst damage phase for healers and can utilize their lesser used heal kit tools in a meaningful way intead of using the same broil/glare/stone/malefic spell forever.

In my leveling the healers... it has been rather dull, though sch was interesting with shields... speaking of shields. It'd make sense that shields don't deal damage since the shield isn't a healing effect but a damage bubble of sorts

Of course... this could lead to bonkers dps that dps role community would be super against.... but hey, it's an alternative solution that might be interesting giving the problem currently

[Ubbernaut]

Everyone appears all so focused on how to make Healers into Green DPS, rather than healers.
Yes, one of the possible solutions is to embrace the Green DPS and then the true major healing issues can be mostly ignored. Nothing advanced but properly flair'ed basic DPS tools, maybe some fun interactions between DPS skills and healing spells!

However, the more difficult but potentially healthier change is to have Healers heal. AND NOT BY REMOVING OUR DPS SKILLS IN A FORCED ATTEMPT TO BORE US AWAY FROM IT, SE -.-

It's by addressing the main issue healing currently has:

1. Healer oGCDs are WAY too powerful relative to the amount of incoming damage. When healers can solo-heal UCoB and UwU, and when GCD heals are a last resort instead of a bread-and-butter tool, that is a clear sign that something is wrong. (Credit to Punslinger earlier in the thread)

This can be applied to healing overall, as with the ludicrous potency of Cure 2/Ben 2/SCH Shield heal, a single cast usually heals at the very least a third of the tanks HP if not half. The weaker heals GCD is effectively pointless, as there's not enough threat behind enemy attacks that would require to make sure the tank is topped off at all points.

oGCD heals are super fun, but they've gotten so absurdly out of hand and SE wonders why healers dont heal? Because our heals are instant and happen between our dps spells! -.-

[EpicOverlord85]

Just give me back my DPS skills on Scholar Square. I don’t care what the potencies are, just give me my stuff back. Art of War is boring and single target DoTing everything sucks.

Also undo what you did to poor Selene.

[nalol]

I think perhaps the attitude you have with playing a job has some affect on how it feels to play. A DPS spirited player may not sit well in a job designed as a healer. I've never been interested in big damage output/numbers, and I've generally found it more suitable/enjoyable to play as healer. It's not like you can't change your temperament for playing a certain role either. A couple days ago I kind of changed my focus and the way I felt being white mage away from the DPS/pure-efficiency madness because I'm bored of it. So I relaxed out of it, and resolved more into living the job and feeling the environments and events, rather than using it as tool to abuse in order to reach somewhere (which is ultimately no where).

still, you have to appeal to all styles.
the ones who wanna dps ... and the ones who are less hard core and the ones who don't/barely want to dps.

SE has to adapt for each attitudes, and not us to adapt to what SE wants

Everyone appears all so focused on how to make Healers into Green DPS, rather than healers.
-

again, that's how SE designed fights/healing that allows healers to be green dps. now if they want us to focus more on healing, it's not by giving more heals but maybe creating heal rotation, more complexe healing mechanics for each healer with procs like dps have and increase damage or lover a bit healing potencies so we have to focus more.

also another way it to allow us to dps a bit through healing, but it's all about how they design fights and class that make us feel as green dps. coz u don't need to heal much .. especially the better your gear is ... so what do we do ? dps or get bored and letting tank die coz we fell asleep





And u always have to take into acount early xpac and late xpac for healers (and/or good/bad tank). early xpac, u focus on healing, late u don't need to heal as much so u need to keep healing job interesting even if there is less healing to do. and not just press 2 dps skills .. and a just afflatus for whm to get lillies and fey skills for sch to keep all af for ed.

[tikiwiki]

Everyone appears all so focused on how to make Healers into Green DPS, rather than healers.
Yes, one of the possible solutions is to embrace the Green DPS and then the true major healing issues can be mostly ignored. Nothing advanced but properly flair'ed basic DPS tools, maybe some fun interactions between DPS skills and healing spells!

However, the more difficult but potentially healthier change is to have Healers heal. AND NOT BY REMOVING OUR DPS SKILLS IN A FORCED ATTEMPT TO BORE US AWAY FROM IT, SE -.-

It's by addressing the main issue healing currently has:

1. Healer oGCDs are WAY too powerful relative to the amount of incoming damage. When healers can solo-heal UCoB and UwU, and when GCD heals are a last resort instead of a bread-and-butter tool, that is a clear sign that something is wrong. (Credit to Punslinger earlier in the thread)

This can be applied to healing overall, as with the ludicrous potency of Cure 2/Ben 2/SCH Shield heal, a single cast usually heals at the very least a third of the tanks HP if not half. The weaker heals GCD is effectively pointless, as there's not enough threat behind enemy attacks that would require to make sure the tank is topped off at all points.

oGCD heals are super fun, but they've gotten so absurdly out of hand and SE wonders why healers dont heal? Because our heals are instant and happen between our dps spells! -.-

weve always had a major dps focus in this game i want them to design for what the game is and not keep failing to reach this constant gcd heal spam game some people want

[DiznypKC]

I've taken my time reading this post, seeing everyone's thoughts, and considering my own. I've finally drummed up enough courage to chime in.

To start, I've been maining White Mage since 2.0, and have played every Healer since then. I have not gotten into Savage fights, though that is mostly an issue of scheduling. I would not consider myself an "expert," per se, but I do have plenty of experience with FFXIV, and the Final Fantasy franchise in general.

The Good:

Accessibility: healing in FFXIV is accessible to players of all skill levels. If someone is brand new and trying out different roles to see what fits them, nothing about healing in FFXIV could be considered difficult. As long as the player can reason out the various tooltips, they will do their job just fine.

Adaptability: you can play a classic MMO "pure healer" (aka Healbot) or push yourself to maximize the full extent of the kit.

Nostalgia: the three healer jobs have all been seen, in some way, in earlier Final Fantasy games, lending nostalgia to a lot of their players. For example, I have been a fan of the White Mage since I first played the original Final Fantasy on the NES as a child. It is arguably my favorite class in the entire series. More on that later.

[DiznypKC]

(part two)

The Bad:

Healing Overkill: particularly for the White Mage, there are too many abilities that allow you to heal, heal more, and increase the healing that you heal as you heal heal heal. In earlier expect, I have loved that I had a spell for literally any situation; a well placed Cure III was my jam. In Shadowbringers, I wonder why it's still there, along with Medica. The same goes for Scholar with their multitude of ways to heal either by themselves, through their fairy, and do so instantly.

Oversimplified DPS Kit: conversely, the healers struggle with a standardized 1 nuke, 1 DoT, 1 AoE "rotation" that they use for the majority of all content. Which leads to:

Stale Play: healers have the same mechanics from level 1-80, which makes leveling a chore. Keep in mind that not all players choose to level other jobs, and will stick with a single main for which they have to do hunts, solo duties, and other content outside of the Duty /Party Finder.

"Pure" vs "Shields": this is a tired concept, and I'm not going to go into it.

Forgotten Identity: all three jobs, Astrologian in particular, have lost who they are despite the lore that has been written for them. This, more than anything, is what frustrates me the most. A lot of times I feel the developers are at odds with how they want these jobs to be perceived, and how they are actually designed. Case in point: consider, once again, our friend the Astrologian. A certain Scion of the Seventh Dawn is constantly seen lobbing cards at enemies in cutscenes. When *clap* has *clap* the *clap* job *clap* EVER *clap* done *clap* that?! Do they even know?

Stripped Support: the obvious fix would be to make healers a full support role, but that opportunity has been taken away from them and given almost exclusively to the Dancer. Separate issue, but why, oh dear why, do they have Curing Waltz and Shield Samba? These two abilities make little to no difference with their vast CD's, even in solo content. Trust me, I've leveled the job to 80. I can't tell you how many times I had to leave my Chocobo in Healer stance just to survive. But I digress.

Skill Spread: take a look through any of the official job guides. Here is the White Mage one, for reference. Each expansion, some of our abilities are siphoned away, repackaged, and given back to us at higher levels. Temperance? You mean Divine Seal (Largesse) plus Protect? This causes lower level content to become vastly more difficult compared to end game content. Have you tried healing a level 45-50 dungeon where the tank wants to pull wall to wall? You end up spamming you highest level heal just to keep them alive, and sometimes that doesn't even work out, since you run out of MP too quickly. If you look at our abilities, they really haven't changed or enhanced since 2.0, they've merely been spread out.

[DiznypKC]

(part three)

The Fix:

Honestly, I believe the healers are "just okay" where they are currently at; they're playable. Boring, but playable. If I were to be brutally honest, I think all three of them need a top to bottom redesign, much like Machinist had this time around, with a much heavier dose of their respective lore and much more creativity. The Developers are concerned with two things, mostly: 1) that healers "focus" on healing, and 2) all healers can clear available content. Unfortunately, the first concern lends itself to encounter design, and until that changes, healers will be forced to either stand around waiting for incoming damage or DPS.

My solution:

1) All healers must have a fully functional, viable kit by level 50. This includes: ST heal, AoE heal, enhanced healing ability, damage mitigation, and a simple DPS rotation that does not suffer if dropped.

2) With each expansion, abilities should either be enhanced or built upon in order to feel as though the class is evolving, which will keep players engaged.

3) Each healer should feel unique while being able to fill the same role, and should work in any combination.