When it comes to healing, I'm not really sure that these changes are because of people screaming about high end balance, but rather I think they're based on people screaming "MY HEALER ISN'T HEALING ME AND IS ATTACKING! WTF I DIED BECAUSE NO HEALS?? FIX ITTTTTTTT" which is a persistent complaint from tank/dps players in both casual and high end content, even if it's not often times why people are dying.
This is a link to the forum post for the 5.0 job action changes, or the current design philosophy the developers have for the game. I'm linking that because I think it illustrates the point quite well, that the current healer design is not meant for high end balance (though I assume that the ease of balance because of homogenization happens to be something that quite pleases the devs) but is instead just meant because the developers do not like the idea of healers DPSing and focusing on that no matter how much the encounter design runs parallel to that.
See, for tanks they openly say "Job effectiveness will vary on player skill" which is a fair assessment and makes perfect sense, someone who is better at a job is going to be able to get more out of it than someone who isn't, right!
On top of that, the developers also said in regards to the tank role:
So they directly mention damage when it comes to tanks, and also in the same post mention how Gunbreaker might be difficult to get used to, but it's enjoyable once you do.Generally, the role of a tank will be to provide defensive buffs to protect party members, as well as using a skill rotation optimal for the battle in order to deal damage.
For DPS, well...
The jobs that received changes to their core mechanic had elements that were difficult to control or manage, and in some cases weren’t very fun to play even at a high level.DPS jobs being fun at high levels and in general is the most important aspect when it comes to their design, according to the developers that it's directly mentioned as being part of DPS job design.However, we came to the conclusion that having fun was the most important aspect, and so we’ve added Greased Lightning IV this time around, as per popular request.
Now, finally for the healing role!
"Healers will be thoroughly rebalanced to emphasize a pure healing role. Offensive actions will be reviewed." Even for Scholar, which got its DPS gutted going into ShB, they had this to say:
Not once was mastering a healer job mentioned, mentions of a healer job being fun, enjoyable or even the difficulty of a healer job; the new design is for healers to have a "heal-oriented" playstyle and that's how SE wants it. I'm not sure who originally brought up this point - I think it was Semirhage, but regardless it's something that needs to be emphasized; the developers are all DPS/Tank players who think that their enjoyment of the game comes before yours and actively design the healer role around that. You aren't meant to have an enjoyable job or a fun one; you are meant to be a good little curebot who wipes their butts immediately and lets them be greedy if they want to.However, its shield-based playstyle has been shifted to include more direct healing, and makes it easier for scholar to focus more on a heal-oriented playstyle. Instead of focusing on dealing damage while relying on the other healer to provide healing, both healers will be able support each other in the healing role.
You exist to facilitate their fun; giving you Glare/Broil/etc is just a concession so you're able to do the battle content in the game and to give you something to do when you don't have anyone to baby. Being good at mashing your 1 key over and over is the intended design; that's your intended skill ceiling and if you don't like that or think it's fun, you are genuinely meant to go play Tank/DPS, the roles that they design with the player's fun in mind. Healers are designed around making sure Tank/DPS players can have fun.
To anyone optimistic that we'll get a significant departure from this in 7.0, I genuinely hope you're right but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. I'm quitting the game after I clear the tier in 6.4 and TOP due to obligations to my static; after that I won't be coming back unless the job changes in 7.0 to healers have some much needed concessions and departure from this absolutely heinous design philosophy.
This game is not good enough nor fun enough to spend another 2-3 years spamming Broil, giving more time and thought to this role than the developers do on a forum that they neglect and giving feedback that they do not care about and are actively hostile or dismissive towards with comments such as "If you think healers aren't fun, go play Ultimate and suffer".