Quote Originally Posted by Banriikku View Post
A thought i had while testing Overwatch 2.... FFXIV Healer feel like healer but the encounter design feels like a Supporter is needed NOT a healer.
Sort of, that's 2/3rds of the problem.

The other 1/3rd is that FFXIV's combat system is so rigid, there's not room for a Support either. And I mean this in two ways - there's not room for a Support ROLE and also there's not room for a Support playstyle.

In games with dedicated Support/Control roles, they tend to have a lot of things they can manage. Adds are serious threats, so crowd control is the order of the day, either pacifying enemies or mind-controlling them. Resources (MP, TP, Energy, Rage) are tightly managed, so classes with refresh are welcome. Rotations aren't rigidly optimized, so things like Haste are a boon rather than a headache. Snares/slows, stuns, sleeps, polymorphs; all valued additions. And in many games, teleports and summons (of other players to content) are also welcome, as are making food/water, and wipe recovery, especially in games with stiff death penalties and long walks back to the zone-in for the raid (or even dungeons) from the nearest graveyard.

FFXIV has literally none of that other than HAVING MP at all, but MP management isn't a thing any Job does seriously other than BLM, and in BLM's case, it's part of the rotation and the crux of the Job's design in the first place.

So the problem is three parts:

1) FFXIV Healer Jobs are designed to be, and feel like, Healers.
2) FFXIV encounter design seems to be based on having DPS and Support (even many mechanics are executed this way), not DPS, Healers, and (often) Tanks.
3) ...but FFXIV's rigid combat system doesn't really even allow for Support, it just allows for "things that are worse at DPS" but required (sometimes) by some encounter specific mechanic.

(1) isn't inherently a problem, but for the fact (2) exists; but (2) is also its own problem because of (3).