Animist, a simple but engaging healer job proposal with melee elements

[PondHollow]

Click this link for the action list:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...2-U/edit#gid=0

So though I call this Animist (after anima, the soul, rather than the Animist in Fantasy Fantasy Tactics Advance), I also think it could be described as a monk or spiritualist. It also takes some influence in theme from spirit mysticism, ie real-world animism.

Animist has a very low skill floor. It would be the only job that doesn't punish you for not doing anything, panicking, or being slow. You can sit around, let Focus drain all of your MP, and then do one attack and and try to work your MP back up. I specifically avoid introducing any kind of job gauge or resource. Time is a resource inherent to the medium. Beyond that I have made a point of making MP a minigame.

It does have a very big weakness in AOE healing. You don't cast AOE heals - you cast Spirit Conduit when everyone is together and then you heal one person. Or, as this Animist has one column aoe heal, you ask everyone to corral together and heal them there.

It probably has a high ceiling. The numbers may have to be adjusted to put all of its DPS skills into use. I have not done any of the math. This is mostly a conceptual proposal. It has a big payoff in the form of cosmic terror, and it rewards healer responsibilities with a few extra moves in case things are rough.

Its attacks are mostly melee attacks, point blanks or column AOES, and its heals have shorter ranges than most healers'. Accordingly it has several mobility solutions. There are two positionals, but I didn't want to get carried away.

It's intended to be simple with a little variety, eg, there are two weaving options depending on what you want to weave. There are no contrived combos. Some of the attacks in that proposal are admittedly a bit of a mess but they can be tweaked around.

There's a 240s cooldown that's OP in raids and just moderately useful otherwise. ... Presumably all cooldown resets move at triple speed outside of combat, so you get to use it in dungeons, but that should probably be a thing for all jobs.

[ItMe]

No melee healers thank you.
If I saw one while pugging I'd legit just bounce. Healers shouldn't need to worry about uptime.
I can't imagine one being anything but a burden, especially in raids like E3S.

[ty_taurus]

No melee healers thank you.
If I saw one while pugging I'd legit just bounce. Healers shouldn't need to worry about uptime.
I can't imagine one being anything but a burden, especially in raids like E3S.

Wow, what a rude and arrogant response.

[Metsonm]

While I like the idea of a healer doing something differently (I was all for DNC being a potential melee healer), melee shouldn't be their primary trait. There are a lot of mechanics that expect healers to be able to be anywhere in the arena for them to work. Even without swapping out a melee DPS for another ranged/caster to take their spot, some mechanics specifically target a healer to get them to disengage. Because of this they'll be near useless in some fight, or if they're balanced for that, busted OP in those fights that don't require it.

Maybe if their special hits/cures were melee only that would work, but not their bread and butter.

They also need a more readily accessible instant heal. The only one I can see is one that's as strong as Cure 2, but with the cost of Raise. It's ok to have a focus on HoTs, and I like the multiple mini Asylum idea, but sometimes you need a little more a little quicker. Also some of the buff numbers seem a bit much in comparison to other healers, especially with the numbers on their attacks. Their primary attack is 10 potency lower than AST, but they're still throwing out old school 20% balances.

Overall I feel the focus is a bit skewed and the numbers need tweaking, but it has some ideas I really like. Especially the idea of multiple placed bubbles with different effects, though if I remember my old scholar, that likely won't be possible because of how they work: we couldn't have Sacred Soil and Shadow Flare at the same time.

[PondHollow]

Thank you so much for reading the proposal! While this is an exercise in pipedreamery, it does seem excessively so, I agree. And while it is mainly an idea, I have tried to fix it so it is less bad, based on the feedback. The same link at the top of the thread now has two sheets - the first draft and a revision.

I doubt there will be any good from a second revision, and won't bother with further fine-tuning. I've changed some potencies on damage skills beyond the main changes listed below, but really one would have to test this to fine-tune them, and that exceeds the scope of a proposal here. But I feel compelled to repay the regard from the people who took the time to appraise the list. Thanks again.

List:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Main Revisions

1. Rework to reduce need for standing in melee range of boss. Added Atma Mirror, a vodun puppet thing of the target that the Animist can summon and (only the animist can) attack. It is on Row 19 in the sheet. Otherwise this list is ordered as items appear on spreadsheet.
2. Focus revised completely to incentivize using it (standing still to boost action potency).
3. Magnificat Anima damage buff reduced from 20% to 4%.
4. Exuberance damage reduced from 300 per Obelisk to 120 per Obelisk.
5. Support Network cooldown reduced from 120s to 60s to make it a core feature.
6. Leap to Aid Add 3 charges for the 'accessible cure 2' type heal, but reduced Potency to just less than Cure 2. Added a delayed self-damage mechanic as part of its cost, inspired by psychological stress.
7. Added Overexert, a modest GCD AOE Heal, and the same self-damage cost as Leap to Aid. The effects of using these stack, but are not purely linear.
8. Added Meditate, which can be used to cancel the damage from Overexert and Leap to Aid at the cost of 2 GCDs.
9. Somatic Totem duration reduced from 20s to 15s. It now destroys all Obelisks.
10. Deleted four less interesting offensives. Made De Profundis - the friendly clone - a lot more common, and cut many potencies to compensate.