A summary of healer issues

[Recon1o6]

So the devs want to incentive us healing more by further nerfing dps. All that's done is anger everyone and nerfed scholar below 72.

/clap

I genuinely fail to see why its taken so long to get monk back to its ARR state albeit improved. But it certainly doesn't give me hopes for this list of healer issues

[YusiKha]

So the devs want to incentive us healing more by further nerfing dps. All that's done is anger everyone and nerfed scholar below 72.

The +200pot/min on Biolysis makes up for the ED nerf, and that’s before you consider the Broil buff.

Dissipation is now more of a maybe-hold-for-movement tool instead of use-on-cooldown-for-dps.

And the ED nerf is to reduce the punishment for using Aetherflow heals. More power to them, my only complaint is that they didn’t go any further with the nerf and buff up Ruin2 to compensate.

But yeah the flat nerf pre-72 is a bit of a slap in the face, I 100% agree.

[Absurdity]

The +200pot/min on Biolysis makes up for the ED nerf, and that’s before you consider the Broil buff.

Dissipation is now more of a maybe-hold-for-movement tool instead of use-on-cooldown-for-dps.

And the ED nerf is to reduce the punishment for using Aetherflow heals. More power to them, my only complaint is that they didn’t go any further with the nerf and buff up Ruin2 to compensate.

But yeah the flat nerf pre-72 is a bit of a slap in the face, I 100% agree.

Sure, it's mathematically a buff to SCH dps, but that increased dps comes from more Broil III spam, which is the most out of touch buff I've ever seen. On top of that it actually PUNISHES weaving Aetherflow heals outside of Biolysis refreshes even harder than before unless you doubleweave it with the nerfed Energy Drain for a whole 10 potency gained over Broil III.

[Rymi64]

So I started at the end of HW and by the time i leveled a healer to max it was SB so what exactly did you guys lose inbetween HW and SB?

[Semirhage]

So I started at the end of HW and by the time i leveled a healer to max it was SB so what exactly did you guys lose inbetween HW and SB?

HW -> SB was prior to the Great Gutting of SCH and AST. They lost several things, but most of it was SB -> SHB. Off the top of my head, things like Shadowflare and Stella went away. A few damage/utility options mostly. SCH had some ugly MP nerfs that were fixed pretty quickly. WHM lost similar options, partially due to the upgrade traits for damage spells being introduced (i.e. lost the ability to apply heavy from Stone 1 or the extra DoT from Aero 1 because the levels of Stone and Aero got compacted together). Fluid Aura lost its damage.

The main red flag from SB was job identity/gauges, specifically WHM. AST and SCH gauges were easy to guess; they already had build/spend resources tied to their job identities, and tracking those resources was the logical place to go...even if tracking something you already have isn't exactly cool or new. WHM had no such gimmick to keep track of, so Square Enix invented the dreaded Healing Lilies. There are threads on this forum with more in-depth detailing what dreadful design they were. They fixed exactly zero of the problems career WHMs in Heavensward were complaining about. They worked in a way that made ignoring them more efficient than using them at all. And as Shadowbringers design can attest, they were the beginning of Square's wretched "pure healer" prototype. WHM, aside from Thin Air, got effectively no updates to its capabilities in Stormblood.

Heavensward -> Stormblood didn't have the biggest cuts to healer kits, but it did have the big red flag warning us about Shadowbringers.

[Absurdity]

Heavensward -> Stormblood didn't have the biggest cuts to healer kits, but it did have the big red flag warning us about Shadowbringers.

This was the big red flag for me at the end of Stormblood
Well, mainly the SCH & Astro part.

[Semirhage]

This was the big red flag for me at the end of Stormblood
Well, mainly the SCH & Astro part.

Oh, that was the nuclear fallout. We should have been terrified when we heard the phrase "pure healer". And even more terrified when we told them that was an awful idea, and they doubled down on WHM. AST and SCH were on borrowed time by that point.

[Recon1o6]

In SB

Everyone lost crossclass, one of the worst design decisions in the game. It was apparently unbalanced for savage- well just ask for restriction from savage not destroy a good incentive for players to level alt jobs. It gave job customisation, something lots of players are asking for now.
Everyone also had dots consolidated

Whm lost about a dozen abilities in SB, and got forced into being a "Pure healer" somehting that is unacceptable to play in ffxiv's encounter environment and had a pointless gauge to boot
Astro lost Stellar, Disable and its mp recovery (luckily it still had old ewer which a good astro needed)
Sch lost eye for an eye and another ability i dont recall the name of.

in Shb

Astro lost its cards, Time dilation, Celestial opposition time+stun effects, bubble effects and received nothing but nerfs and redundant heals
Whm lost aero 3, but then again they had already been destroyed in SB
Sch lost its pet, dots, shadowflare and energy drain but they were forced to give energy drain back because it broke the job.

[Crushnight]

So I started at the end of HW and by the time i leveled a healer to max it was SB so what exactly did you guys lose inbetween HW and SB?

The good changes:

Malefic/aero/ruin-Broil actions were consolidated to 1 action on the hotbar that changes based on level.
New actions for Sch and Ast complimented their kits with earthly star/excog as most beneficial.
Ast gauge was the best designed of the three, simple and got the info you need.
Whm getting Thin air
Sch got quickened Aetherflow which rewarded skilled play

The bad:

Aero 2, Combust 2 were consolidated into a single DoT rather than separate DoTs from combust/aero, fairy was nerfed again at start
Loss of actions such as shadowflare, miasma 2(which they returned later), stella(If fluid aura is still around stella should be), disable(a dmg reduction and looked awesome)
Whm Lily system(it originally had that you needed 1 Lily to use benison and to get a Lily required a gcd heal AND get lucky as it was a proc)

The meh:
Sch gauge, it is the same as is now
Pet system was the same (got improved later SB to the best version of the pet system the game ever had)
New nukes DoTs were same as old just new animations

[AceofRains]

I finally have gotten around to picking up my other healers in Shadowbringer. The changes as the consensus seems to be is that they are off-putting to say it mildly. While there are some changes I do like, I agree that gutting the flourishing identity of these jobs really killed my excitement to be a healer. After reviewing OP’s suggestions upon many other threads, as well as brushing up on the healers my self, I feel more ready to give my own input. The change list I’m proposing would have to be done for the expansion. It would take role skills out of their own category and directly place them on a job so they can be selectively modified by traits. This should happen for all jobs. I placed a lot of emphasis on the DPS aspects of each of these jobs, and while you won’t necessarily stop having your bread and butter attack spell and DoT, you will have more decisions to weave in between, and more meaningful decisions over all.

Edits: To prove that Medica and Helios should be consolidated to thier aspected counterparts, I have neglected to use these spells at all while leveling. The fact is, I can do all the healing I need to without these spells, and I can get the job done without them. Additionally, to prove that Celestial Opposition should be returned to its original form, I have neglected to use this spell at all. There’s no reason to jam pack so many OGC raidwide heals into a kit, when the same effect can by achieved by spamming Aspected Helios or following up with Synastry and Lightspeed with little detriment to my MP.


White Mage - these changes to White Mage keep it in line with the pure healer archetype. With the addition of Protect and Shell and short duration defense boots, it serves to mitigate damage as well. It still retains the great amount of healing options it has, but can now choose to use some of those offensively without the Tactical commitment featured in Scholar. This is also something of a callback to being able to damage undead enemies with heals. This is a job for people who like the basic healing concept.

-Repose upgrades to Break, inflicting Petrify instead of Sleep.
-Medica upgrades to Medica II
-Esuna upgrades to Esuna II, allowing for raid-wide debuff removals.
-Fluid Aura now can either damage or heal, depending on the target.
-Fluid Aura upgrades to Tetragrammaton
-Tetragrammaton can be used to damage or heal a single target.
-Enemies and allies hit by Assize will now spread Aero or Dia to all other nearby enemies, or Regen to all nearby allies.
-Protect and Shell return, briefly increase physical or magical defense respectively.
-Cure now upgrades to Cure II.
-Dispell now removes a beneficial effect from an enemy.

Level 90 Additions
Holy II - Increase Potency
Cure IV - Upgrade Cure III, now also damages nearby enemies.
Sacred Prism - Changes the next use of Protect, Shell, or Divine Benison into an AoE.

Scholar - These changes not only bring Scholar back to what it should be as a DPS orientated healer, but shift the power window of the fairy to be dependent on the Fae Gauge. This is a job for people who want to make commitment to offensive or defense decisions.

-Rescue upgrades to Lifesaver and will additionally grant a Barrier.
-Leeches upgrades from Esuna and grants a stack of Aetherflow and increases the Fairy Gauge when removing a negative effect.
-Selene is a DPS Fairy
-Embrace: Basic heal.
-Whispering Dusk: DoT AoE
-Fey Dreamdust: AoE Sleep, less duration than Repose.
-Fey Wind Fey Circle: Localized AoE Party Haste (Like Ley Lines, but rather Fey Lines)
-Aetherpact is now free of cost and only forces a fairy to focus the unionized target.
Fairy’s are now instant Summoned like Summoner.
All Fey actions now require cost to Fey Gauge. Aetherflow Actions grant 20 points per use.
-Seraphic Illumination now grants 10% Magic Damage reduction.
Seraph will always summon as a healing Fairy.

Level 90 Additions
Dissipation: Tabula Rasa - Changes Ruin II and Physic into Kaustra and Embrava Respectively depending on if Eos or Selene was dissipated.
-Embrava: High potency Regen and Haste, no cast time.
-Kaustra: Higher potency than Broil, no cast time.
Chain Stratagem: Distribution - Spread Biolysis to all nearby enemies when using Chain Stratagem.
Sacred Soil: High Ground - Increases damage dealt by Art of War while inside of Sacred Soil.
Enhanced Aetherflow - Allows for a 4th Stack of Aetherflow.

Astrologian - Astrologian has been given back its unique card effects as well as Royal road and Spread. Creative strategies with a 3 Card Spread make for a more compelling AST experience. They also will be more involved with managing the duration of status effects. This is a job for people who like to make the most of the hand they’re dealt.

-Repose upgrades to Stasis inflicting Petrify instead of Sleep.
-Helios upgrades into Aspected Helios
-Revert Celestial Opposition to a Stun and gives it timer refresh to AST specific debuffs and buffs.
-Horoscope grants the effect of Horoscope and dishes everyone out a Random arcana. It is no longer modified by Helios, but still reactivates for an AoE heal. Any card replaced during the effect of horoscope will also heal.
-Exhalted Dertriment upgrades from Esuna and now increases the duration of beneficial effects when removing a negative effect.
-Remove Undraw, return Royal Road
-Remove Play, return Spread
-Gravity now inflicts Heavy.

Solar Lord Balance - Determination - RR Duration
Solar Lady Bole - Defense - RR AoE
Celestial Lady Spire - Direct Hit - RR Duration
Celestial Lord Spear - Critical Hit - RR AoE
Lunar Lord Arrow - Skill Speed - RR Duration
Lunar Lady Ewer - Spell Speed - RR AoE

Lord and Lady retain the same effect as now where one directly increases damage of melee and the other increases damage of ranged.

Level 90 Additions
Enhanced Benefics - Upgrade Benefic to Benefic III and Benefic II to Benefic IV
The Knave - 50% chance the Lord or Lady will instead appear as the Knave, increasing damage dealt to an enemy by 5%. The Knave can not appear again for 120 seconds.
Gravity II - Increases the potency of Gravity.
Constellation (Stella) - Sends a damaging chain between all enemies afflicted by Combust and refreshes the DoT.