A summary of healer issues

[ty_taurus]

Nicely done. However, there is one thing that sticks out as a sore thumb. Complexity. You healers complain that you want healing to be "Complex" but everything that you listed is mainly not complex, at all. It's mainly buff this or bring back this. Also these changes you listed, there will still be downtime.

I don't know what you want in "Complexity" but in terms of healers, there's not much to be complex about. You're healers, you're job is to heal with minimal damage output. You're not a DPS/Tank. Should they make it more fun to play as a healer? They should try. How should they? I don't know but the things you listed certainly don't contribute much to the "Make it fun and complex" that you're wanting. As i said it's mainly "Buff this and bring this back". I feel like this list just scratches the surface. There's not much "in-depth" in terms of complexity and "Fun" of what you want. What is it that you want to change to actually make them more complex and fun? Just stating "Make it more complex" is very vague. And no, buffing skills and bringing back certain skills doesn't make a job complex and fun. The only thing that was "Complex" was Astro's original cards which you have listed. Everything else is just QoL basically with certain lines like "Change the healing style so it's not WHM-lite" - How? How do you want it changed? If you're adamant on changing healers don't list vague things and expect SE to read your mind.

Lastly, i'll revisit this thread next week and give some ideas of my own. It's been a while since i last touched my 80 WHM and in the midst of leveling my AST. I do need to touch up on my SCH as well.

Also on a side note, if i'm not mistaken - in the past live letters Yoshi stated they wanted to make things more simple so it's easier to play all around for everybody. This was for all jobs. Hence why some skills were taken away completely, etc. So asking for something to be more complex probably won't fly given the fact on how the Dev team wants to do things.

I suppose I can't speak for others, but I agree that just going back to the way things were doesn't necessarily make healing more fun or engaging. What I do think, though, is that we do need to take a look at how the healers used to be on paper and really take to heart the things that people enjoyed that were ripped away--namely the Scholar's wider access to DPS tools, Selene's and Eos' individuality, and the AST's old card system and how the highs felt while using that system.

What we need to do from there is really think about how each healer approaches their responsibilities, which in Final Fantasy XIV are:
1. Obey boss mechanics and stay alive.
2. Keep the party alive through healing, mitigation, and survival utility
3. Manage their resources so that they can continue to keep the party alive
4. Deal as much DPS as possible either directly or through support

Right now, each healer approaches each of these responsibilities in the same way.

Boss mechanics will naturally be approached the same way as healers of course, but there can be something said about the lack of unique or demanding boss mechanics that target the healers in recent content. Remember Searing Wind from Ifrit EX? Briny Mirror from Leviathan EX? What about Shinryu EX's Dragon Heads? Why not start including adds that are invulnerable and heal the boss for 30 seconds, but can be put to sleep with Repose to negate that healing? What about adding Dispel as a role action and have bosses start applying dispel-able buffs to their damage output or defense that we as healers need to remove? We talk a lot about how there isn't enough damage going out and thus too much DPS uptime for healers, but we can also add more mechanics like these to fights to give us more to do other than just DPS and heal when needed.

What about keeping the party alive and DPSing? Right now, each healer approaches these in virtually the same way when played optimally: Your GCD is for DPS unless absolutely necessary and your OGCD is for healing so that you can continue to DPS with your GCD. Why don't we experiment with different ways to approach this? What about a healer who's GCD is for healing only and their OGCD is for DPS? They don't have a GCD Glare/Broil/Malefic, but OGCD sources of damage only? It's not like they'll ever be synched down to level 1, even if you enter the weakest FATES in the game, so you can balance them around having their damage by level 4 or 6 or something. Make a healer who throws GCD DPS onto their allies to deliver so they don't have to--a healer for the players that don't want to DPS directly and can instead use their GCDs to support the party.