Quote Originally Posted by FoxCh40s View Post
It started out as a simple but deeply complex game, where the skill Mastery and ceiling was high but the entry was easy. The jobs gradually got more complex and demanded more of you as a game should as you progress through the levels. Later on in ARR, it became less about the simple kit, and really truly trying to understand how to apply it.

Heavensward hit, and in my opinion, the job was at peak complexity and enjoyment. It was not without its issues for sure, they most certainly pale in comparison as to the issues we have now, we just had no idea what was to come.

Healers were absolutely beautiful in Heavensward, Scholar especially was just this beautiful mess of skills that synergized exceptionally well but cohesively made zero sense when talked about separately.

And then the Stormblood Nation attacked, and signaled the doom of the role in a way we couldn't have possibly comprehended. Maybe if we had been even more vocal back then, we may have been able to stop the travesty that is Shadowbringers Healer Iteration? I honestly don't know anymore. I worry that I'm terms of Story Cohesion and Well Designed Battle Mechanics overall 14 has peaked at Heavensward.

We have yet to have an excellent Story coincide with Excellent tuning and combat, and sadly, I just don't think it's in this current teams capabilites without some serious hiring, which I doubt will ever come without something similar happening to Dps as did Healers.
Heavensward wasn’t special. ARR through SB Scholar was absolutely broken though. It had too much free healing. And warped the other two around it. Micromanaging the fairy wasn’t worth the carpal tunnel at high ping imo. I’m fine with the nerfs it got in Shadowbringers. I’m not okay with the trim on their DPS kit. Any changes I want on the healing side are baseline throughput nerfs that come coupled with flexibility focused buffs. Mostly because I want to widen the gap between Scholar’s min and max throughput.

All Heavensward really had was consistent tank damage that actually cut into Embrace and Regens through a combination of omni-present autos, mini busters/cleaves, crits, and actual factual tank busters. Stormblood Scholar had a sheer excess of tank auto tools. Shadowbringers gave everyone Tank Mastery instead of killing aggro reduction from non-tanks and took away the mini busters and consistent autos for less frequent periods of slightly heavier auto damage contingent on each fight. Those changes resulted in more consistent damage intake, that is overall lower than previous expansions when you finally factor in relative gear scaling into the equation.