Why is the healer class basically a one spell dps class?

[FusionSamurai]

Part of what allows BLU to be fun is that it is 10 levels behind and can not be used for progression and party finder content. Make it level 80 and allow it to participate in Savage and players will start optimizing the fun out of it.

Blue mage is absurdly broken. If it was 80, it would annihilate savages, trivializing them. Imagine being able to diamondback any failed mechanic.

[GrimGale]

honestly this really is a problem. The players who want folks to stop having fun and play optimally. When that misses the point entirely. Fun is always more important than balance or parse numbers.

Fun is very subjective. Some people have fun when they feel like they support their party and help others succeed. Other people have fun when they bring down others, such as griefers. If I had to chose which one to team up with I'd say the first. Of course reality is not black or white but then again, if someone having "fun" gets in the way of actually overcoming the game challenge I'd probably be inclined to exclude them from my potential team mates in favor of someone that actually wants to win.

Then again the devil is in the details. Maybe "winning" is a chore. Maybe the price for winning is boredom in which case the issue lies in game design. It's more complex than that I suppose.

[Anhra]

Blue mage is absurdly broken. If it was 80, it would annihilate savages, trivializing them. Imagine being able to diamondback any failed mechanic.

Diamond Back, Instant Death and certain other Skills aside, the way how Tank/Healer BLU plays like, is imo, how those two Roles should be like.

I am not suggesting the same Skills here to be inplimented into said healers/tanks, but the way how they interact with the party and enemies, as well as the way how Bosses do overall damage to then?

That would truly be a great way of kicking healers and tanks towards the right direction.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

Part of what allows BLU to be fun is that it is 10 levels behind and can not be used for progression and party finder content. Make it level 80 and allow it to participate in Savage and players will start optimizing the fun out of it.

Even then it's still more fun to play than some actual jobs because of the sheer amount of cooldown juggling it has. Even after blowing all the cooldowns in the 15 second opener it's shortest cooldown is just a measly 30 seconds long and you also have The Rose of Destruction to use that breaks up Sonic Boom spam briefly. Blue Mage is basically just Black Mage if Fire 4's cast time was 1 second instead of 2.8 and then had a trillion cooldowns to weave between casting 1 second cast time Fire 4s with the occasional Xenoglossy being The Rose of Destruction and Matra Magic.

[Liam_Harper]

Part of what allows BLU to be fun is that it is 10 levels behind and can not be used for progression and party finder content. Make it level 80 and allow it to participate in Savage and players will start optimizing the fun out of it.

What? One of the main things to do with BLU once you have it leveled is Savage progression, because the Morbol mount is locked behind it. There's the carnival and collecting spells, but since the only rewarding content BLU has is the Morbol mount, the only point in doing those is to prep for Savage. It's a job designed for Savage prog and while it's certainly optimized it remains extremely flexible and good fun.

[Ultimatecalibur]

What? One of the main things to do with BLU once you have it leveled is Savage progression, because the Morbol mount is locked behind it. There's the carnival and collecting spells, but since the only rewarding content BLU has is the Morbol mount, the only point in doing those is to prep for Savage.

Considering all the players running around with random Blue titles that are not required for the Morbol Mount, I would hardly call the Morbol Mount the only rewarding thing.

It's a job designed for Savage prog and while it's certainly optimized it remains extremely flexible and good fun.

I would not call going back to clear 6 old and well known fights in BiS gear "Savage Progression"and BLU mage is hardly designed for it. Clearing BoCB and the 3.0 and 4.0 Savage fights with only BLUs is more a gimmick challenge mode akin to beating FFI with a party of 4 WHM. A "see what we can do" rather than a "this is how you progress through the game."

[Lyth]

Have you ever actually tried the 4 WHM/solo WHM challenge on the NES for yourself? I feel like you just completely undermined your own argument.

[Imora]

Last time I played FF1 I got to the last boss grossly underleveled and got one shot.

Never played it again. Had no idea grinding was a thing in old NES RPGs when I was a kid.

[NYCLouisGamer]

You know you screwed up when a DPS playing pretend as healer is more engaging than an actual healer lol

Very insightful. I have always found healing & rezzing on my Summoner during a Trial much more fun than being one of the actual healers. Thank you for explaining WHY I preferred it!

[Dalvy]

This question is a little complicated.. The truth is that it’s this way now for many reasons; it has been a reaction to player complaints, a result of unpopular design choices, a change from mechanics reworks, and a reduction to button bloat.

[..]

This post is the sum of all of our complaints over these past seven years. . .

WHM has been hit by the nerf bat so many times, had their unique healing skills taken away, given to other classes, that there was a period of time where nobody took them.

SCH used to be "the DPS healer" only to be whittled down into a discount Glare spammer, minus our unique fairy skills, minus our ability to spread dots, and for the second time, this class is being threatened by another Shield healer.

AST is a rollercoaster and a half, being nearly unplayable for a good chunk of SHB, besides the fact that Square took away the most unique support mechanic I've ever seen--their original card buff system

What undue nerfs will we see happen to Sage, all in the name of their "healers need to heal" homogenization philosophy?