Quote Originally Posted by AmeliaVerves View Post
Can't speak for other MMOs, but in XIV shield potencies are always inferior to direct healing. This knowledge is little known tho I think, which is also the reason ppl go nuts if you play diurnal AST when paired with a WHM even tho it's perfectly viable if the fight does not require any shielding to survive mechanics. (Which is 90% of all fights in this game btw)

The only unique thing shields actually bring to the table is the increase of effective HP, which makes you survive a mechanic that would otherwise kill you. Beyond that they are plain useless, because direct heals are stronger and cheaper.
So if you know that your party can survive damage without shields, don't apply them but rather use heals/HoTs afterwards.
I mean I'll still use Recitation for Indom unless I'm absolutely hurting for mana, so I do acknowledge that. But the thing about mitigation is that while mathematically inferior to raw or over time heal. It does smooth out damage to more manageable levels. I understand from an optimization standpoint how they're bad, but not everything or everyone is playing at that level so the stabilization helps, such as giving players some margin of error by as you said, increasing their max HP.