So, what's your opinion on current healer jobs

[Awha]

My issue with healers currently is not not much the kits or feel of the jobs in terms of job identity, but more so the lack of things to keep track of. I get that they will not give healers more complex dps tool kit, but I really wish they would give us back the option to use old cleric stance, not much would change in terms of raids with a static, but old cleric stance at least for me made healing dungeons and pug groups always thrilling since I was able to push myself and provided tangible feedback of how well I was doing on a personal level.

[Voross]

I haven't been a healer main since Heavensward but...

WHM feels amazing, I haven't played that job since I started back in ARR since it always felt rather bland and boring and it's rather fun now. I think it's in a good spot overall but I miss stoneskin and it desperately needs the ability to spend lilies on dps.

SCH was gutted but it makes sense since it was too strong. Art of War doesn't really fit the whole SCH theme and I think it should have a different AoE option. As a smooth brain dps main I enjoy playing SCH now since it's alot easier to understand, similarly how I enjoy SMN now because it isn't a clusterfuck of different themes, outdated abilities and weirdness overall.

AST was the only healer I ever mained and I hate what they did to my baby. I understand fishing for balance was annoying for raiders but instead of destroying everything that made it amazing with the lore and everything it would've been alot better to just simply give AST the ability to pick a card (balance) guaranteed on a cooldown similarly to how SCH's Recitation works on a 90 sec. cooldown. The seal system is neat but overall AST just feels extremely bland to me. Also why the hell did they remove the stun on celestial opposition when WHM can spam that shit with holy? Also I'm not a fan of having Draw and Play be different abilities...feels just weird and a few of ASTs abilties feel like unnecessary button bloat instead of combining or overwriting certain slots/abilties but that's a problem that a few jobs suffer from.

So I think WHM is currently in a good spot and enjoyable to play, SCH was made alot easier and streamlined which helps ME enjoy playing it, but I understand healer mains who hate how easy it is now too. AST...well they still need to do some work on that. Overall I'm curious to see what kind of healer we'll get with 6.0...and we better get one...and how SE will handle the job balance overall. I wonder if they're gonna keep healers and tanks streamlined and relatively easy due to their added responsibility of keeping the party alive or if we get some complexity back...

[PharisHanasaki]

give us back the option to use old cleric stance

Cleric Stance was gilthy of many deaths.
And I loved it. I mean, I was fine with it being gone before they butchered healers in 5.0.

These days I've been missing a lot of the old skills and mechanics. The game was challenging, frustrating at times, but fun and rewarding when you finally mastered a job.

[einschwartz]

Short response,

WHM: Much improved from SB. The most fluid to play among three healers. I miss Aero 3.
AST: Still unhappy. Still boycotting the job. I can (grudgingly) accept the card changes but stun and time dilation removed? Unacceptable.
SCH: Feels like the lesser WHM. Their kit lacks of something though idk. Need something else to spend from the Fairy gauge.

****
Longer response or more like, what my thoughts are after having all 3 healers leveled now. Before I start, allow me to talk a bit on the variety of DPS jobs.

DPS roles have wide choices from 3 casters (RDM, BLM, SMN), 3 ranged (BRD, MCH, DNC) and 4 melee (MNK, SAM, NIN, DRG). Although I only have 1/3 of them leveled, I can say for a fact that each job plays differently from each other. Some have straightforward playstyle, some have tight rotations, some dabble with resource management, and some involves busy button presses. A DPS main can find the job that suits their preferred difficulty or enjoyment.

The current healers however lacks the diversity and this is VERY apparent between WHM and SCH. AST will still be a bit different due to cards. WHM is a power healer. SCH is a shielder. In a way, they both are played differently from each other. But after having SCH maxed recently, I'm disappointed that it ends up being no different from one another.

AOE: Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Assize, Misery... Art of War, Art of War, Art of W....(Hah, don't even have additional AOE moves like WHM)
Single target: Dia, Glare, Glare, Glare.... Bio, Broil, Broil, Broil...

So brain dead. They play the same. What am I leveling another healer for?
Why am I talking about DPS skills here not healing? Well, it can't be helped since ironically, we healers spend most time casting attack spells. But that isn't my point for this post.

...SE imo should start looking into adding complexity, not dumbing down roles.

Yes. This. Very much.

In my opinion, healing jobs that have different difficulty / distinct playstyle is just as important as having a varied style of DPS jobs. SE intention for healer homogenization is supposedly to make the job accessible to more players (and easier balance adjustment I guess). While I welcome this, but not by stripping the complexity of healers which are already so limited. The dots and fairy management SCH had made them different to WHM. The simplicity of WHM made healing approachable to other players.

In last expansion, I like having to explain what options a player have when choosing a healer. For example, WHM for a beginner. AST for busy mode WHM. SCH for the most micro managing. Back then, I think WHM > AST > SCH in terms of difficulty. As a leveling healer that I was, I think it was a good estimate on how skillful a healer could be. Or how one could challenge themselves to become a better healer. Not only that, the distinct difference between 3 healer jobs in SB enables healer mains to pick one that suits their enjoyment.

Now, I would suggest people play AST if they want a less boring healer. Else, go WHM. I can't come up a good reason why one should choose SCH. The job has lost things that made the job interesting to play. It is just a WHM copy with clunky fairy on the side.

Tl;dr
Simplified healer jobs are so similar to each other upsets me the most. Need complexity to differentiate them.

[Awha]

Cleric Stance was gilthy of many deaths.
And I loved it. I mean, I was fine with it being gone before they butchered healers in 5.0.

These days I've been missing a lot of the old skills and mechanics. The game was challenging, frustrating at times, but fun and rewarding when you finally mastered a job.

Oh yeah I have let many players die learning my limits with cleric stance. "I got this, they should be able to take one more hit . . . RIP sorry" Though when you did get that clear where you were able to increase your time in cleric stance it felt great, and with every clear that time spent would only increase it was such a wonderful feeling of progression that I think is missing from a lot of jobs.

[WaxSw]

Main Sch here and I must say this is by far the worst iteration we've seen and probably one of the worst designed jobs I've seen in any game. The desing of the job focus most of the kit on the healing as if it were a major part of the role when in reality you spend more than 70-80% of the time dpsing (no matter which content you do) which has been dumbed down so much that is outright insulting like if the devs thought we can't handle more than 2 buttons. One of the things that diferentiate the job, the fairy, has been nerfed to the point where using dissipation (a skill that removes the fairy for 30s) is not risky at all, a fairy that you can't control and have less options and versatility with the removal of the second kit selene had, a fairy that has gameplay issues like delay in the actions and ghosting and thank god the devs were "kind" enough and they gave us Energy drain back because at that point the job was even worse that's without mentioning how stupid is that skills like fey union can't be used if seraph is summoned making the kit feel less cohesive and flexible.

The current iteration of Sch needs to burn and the devs should for once accept the "green dps" intead of forcing us to play on a way the content is not designed for.

[Tlachtga]

healers are fine right now i guess. devs prolly levelled them out in preparation for the 4th healer in 6.0 that they'll ram in to try placate the healer mains and spend all expac balancing...

playing devil's advocate, they tried making healers challenging and interesting (in terms of XIV) in HW and the majority of people hated it.

even today, when playing a healer is braindead, you still get people not dpsing. you still get people using Draw once every 4 mins. you still get people spamming Cure II every time the tank takes an auto.

when you have a playerbase where the majority eschew literally any form of challenging content, and where lazy play is practiced and actively encouraged by the community, why is it surprising we're only pressing 3 buttons for our dps rotations?

[Kacho_Nacho]

White mage is better than it was before. We finally have a reason to use our gauge. Current content tends to be too light on damage to let this job shine.

Scholar feels odd, like I'm playing half a class. I miss micromanaging the fairy. Eos and Selene should not be duplicates. This job needs an overhaul by people who understand healers.
Suggestion: Give the fairies two distinct sets of abilities and bring in weaving between Eos and Selene to play up the strategy factor of healing on a Scholar.

Astrologian is pretty but the job isn't my cup of tea so I cannot comment.

[Billythepancake]

healers are fine right now i guess. devs prolly levelled them out in preparation for the 4th healer in 6.0 that they'll ram in to try placate the healer mains and spend all expac balancing...

playing devil's advocate, they tried making healers challenging and interesting (in terms of XIV) in HW and the majority of people hated it.

even today, when playing a healer is braindead, you still get people not dpsing. you still get people using Draw once every 4 mins. you still get people spamming Cure II every time the tank takes an auto.

when you have a playerbase where the majority eschew literally any form of challenging content, and where lazy play is practiced and actively encouraged by the community, why is it surprising we're only pressing 3 buttons for our dps rotations?

Really? I see most people begging to go back to HW healers more than I see people saying HW healers were bad. (except for maybe launch AST, which was just laughably weak, not complex.)

[PharisHanasaki]

playing devil's advocate, they tried making healers challenging and interesting (in terms of XIV) in HW and the majority of people hated it.

Who's the majority you speak off? Most of us healer mains were fine. Other people who loved to dps hated it, but who cares, healers =/= dps.