A summary of healer issues

[WaxSw]

Lmao what even are those radius buffs

To be fair with the increase of the hitbox of bosses, bigger arenas and mechanics that may randomly ask people to go pick flowers in Narnia, there were already some fights where the difficulty wasn't the mechanic or the healing but reaching people and it was clear that was not the dev intention so its not a negative change.

Did they overdo it? Very likely but we have to see the mechanics of Savage

There were more ellegant solutions? Absolutely but a blunt solution is better than none imo.

[AnotherPerson]

I think I see why they increased the radius. The new raids have more different encounter map layouts from just a square or circular field, so they might be experimenting with different varied boss floor layouts (which is great). I can see why they increased the radius to ensure mechanics that require party members to be far away will have no issue on receiving the buff effect for that reason. Maybe Savage fights will have a different map layout?

On another note, I really like the new collective unconscious second wave. The sfx and animation is great with the increased radius, but it sometimes randomly cancels the channel skill when I use it so I don't get the celestial ring. It's not a big issue since I plan on mostly using the skill for the snapshot, but is a bit annoying sometimes if I do want to channel a bit longer for non-targetable phases. I think the second diffused snapshot effect of collective Unconscious makes it my favorite skill out of all the healers currently due to both the nicer visual/sfx and the extra layer of nuance from giving a more pronounced effect on the usage of keeping the channel active in a smaller radius as opposed to standing far away to receive the snapshot defense buff.

Or maybe I'm just sick of everyone not being within 8y when using Collective Unconscious, and this fixes that problem entirely lol.

[Shurrikhan]

I think I see why they increased the radius. The new raids have more different encounter map layouts from just a square or circular field, so they might be experimenting with different varied boss floor layouts (which is great). I can see why they increased the radius to ensure mechanics that require party members to be far away will have no issue on receiving the buff effect for that reason. Maybe Savage fights will have a different map layout?

Except, what of when the flow of the raid in and out around particular mechanics, precisely because of that limited range, (would otherwise have) made the fights more engaging anyways?

(I guess I could see it for the more casual end or PuG side of things, but I actually like the ins and outs of combat beyond just what's provided by alternating donut and radial AoEs, and would prefer that raid timers become more regularly featured, honestly, than everything require even less thought/positioning/coordination.)

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

To be fair with the increase of the hitbox of bosses, bigger arenas and mechanics that may randomly ask people to go pick flowers in Narnia, there were already some fights where the difficulty wasn't the mechanic or the healing but reaching people and it was clear that was not the dev intention so its not a negative change.

Did they overdo it? Very likely but we have to see the mechanics of Savage

There were more ellegant solutions? Absolutely but a blunt solution is better than none imo.

After running the latest NRs, I can definitely see why they think have to give the radius buff.

But just like many previous 'fixes' they made, this is one of those times where I feel like they've overfixed. I'd like to be proven wrong when I have a taste of their savage floors, but I'm not keeping high hopes.

[WaxSw]

I feel like they've overfixed. I'd like to be proven wrong when I have a taste of their savage floors, but I'm not keeping high hopes.

Oh don't get me wrong, I feel they overfixed too and they may be stepping too much into SCH's niche of remote healing, but at the same time certain phases of ultimates and savage have started to show the necessity of a small aoe increase if they are going to maintain their design philosophy.

[Absurdity]

To be fair with the increase of the hitbox of bosses, bigger arenas and mechanics that may randomly ask people to go pick flowers in Narnia, there were already some fights where the difficulty wasn't the mechanic or the healing but reaching people and it was clear that was not the dev intention so its not a negative change.

I would simply consider "limited range" to be part of the difficulty and it certainly didn't need to be removed.

Curtain Call in P4S for example would've been an utter joke if it weren't for that limited range, limited range on melee attacks was something we previously had to consider as well, it's what made optimizing fights fun.
If everything can be done from any position in the arena it turns into a target dummy fight.

[GrimGale]

It would be funny if they reverted those Range changes to their 7 yalm radius original sizes, only to give all the healers the same new shiny button in the form of an "Increase the range of your abilities by X amount for X seconds." ability.

[Absurdity]

It would be funny if they reverted those Range changes to their 7 yalm radius original sizes, only to give all the healers the same new shiny button in the form of an "Increase the range of your abilities by X amount for X seconds." ability.

As weird as it sounds I wouldn't hate that change, although I probably wouldn't just give every healer the exact same ability. Obviously it would depend on boss mechanics but it could add some decision making.

[GrimGale]

As weird as it sounds I wouldn't hate that change, although I probably wouldn't just give every healer the exact same ability. Obviously it would depend on boss mechanics but it could add some decision making.

The thing is, I think I recall one of the devs on the liveletter previous to the release of Endwalker commenting on the fact that they had "no idea" what else to add to healers in response to the lukewarm reception to SCH's new capstone ability "Expedient" .

If there is no significant rework I can see them giving some cosmetic updates to our Nuke as per usual, increase the potency by 10 and then add said "Range extension" ability across all healers and that's it.

[Nizzi]

It would be funny if they reverted those Range changes to their 7 yalm radius original sizes, only to give all the healers the same new shiny button in the form of an "Increase the range of your abilities by X amount for X seconds." ability.

That would be a more useful role action than Repose, honestly. Wouldn't mind it probably