I mean, personally I haven't seen Rescue misused the way in PUGs other people seem to describe, so I don't think it's as widespread as people seem to make it out to be. And when it works, it's invaluable to keep folks alive during unfamiliar mechanics in early content; if you view a healer's responsibility as 'keep the party alive', then it's not only useful towards that end goal, but also in terms of MP preservation; anyone I can rescue behind shelter in fights which have shelter mechanics is someone I do not have to spend 2400 MP on getting back upright (and at a DPS loss due to Weakness).

But I definitely understand how irritating and disorienting it could be if misused.

Quote Originally Posted by Seraphor View Post
If there's a setting to turn off rescue, then everyone will turn off rescue, and the skill will be dead. No one will bother using it, because they'll know it won't work.
Honestly, it's worse than that; it wouldn't be everyone, but it would be a non-zero amount, so healers would never know if it would work or not. So some people would turn it off (resulting in a healer getting an error 'DONK' noise and an Invalid Target error if they tried to use Rescue on them or whatever), while others would leave it on and then be upset they weren't rescued into safety on certain mechanics.

Never knowing if it would work or not, I'd just never bother using it as a healer. I mean, if you have an ability that would only work maybe 60% of the time, why would you use it in a weaving spot instead of something guaranteed to be useful? I wouldn't bother; at that point, it'll just cause more headaches than removing it outright would.

But I also don't use Rescue often as it is, and when I do it's almost always either planned and pre-discussed (a'la Susano DPS uptime cheese), or to resolve a mechanic in early content. Pull someone behind an ice block during Amon, behind a boulder during Behemoth, onto the pad during Phlegethon, onto the glowy Doom-cleansing bit during Anghra Mainyu, behind Irminsul to shelter from Sawtooth's explosion in Void Ark, etc. In short, it's maybe once every two months. Or right now, with lots of people grinding the alliance raids, it's maybe twice a month. (Which feels frequent in comparison to the usual, I grant.)

And let's be honest, Rescue's mechanics are so wonky that despite an instant cast, the movement is processed late enough that half the time even when used right the person dies en route to safety anyway.

So if Rescue's gone, fine, it doesn't affect me much on a day-to-day basis; it's one less thing for me to worry about with in terms of "can I save the sprout in Syrcus" or whatever, and if someone's gonna die to a raidwide they should've sheltered against or a Doom they should've cleansed with a floor-spot... well, there was literally nothing I could do.

But I do think it'd be a shame in some ways, though, since Rescue is one of the very few things that's unique to healers as a role, and when it's useful, it can be very useful. So if they did take Rescue away, they ought to give healers something else in return as a utility ability. Heck, you could reverse it and make it something that moves the healer instead; give healers a way to zip to someone a'la black mage's Aetherial Manipulation (so they can cast AoE heals where most needed).

I certainly wouldn't mind not having to pelt across an arena to throw out Celestial Opposition or Afflatus Rapture; I would probably use that ability A LOT MORE.

(Or give healers an interrupt. Please. *waves her 'Make Fluid Aura Relevant: Turn It Into an Interrupt' sign around more*)