Do we really need two healers per alliance in 24 mans?

[SargeTheSeagull]

So I ran Aglaia tonight as sage. Throughout the raid I would be preparing to heal the party and my cohealer, an Astro in a full crafted set (I say this so nobody thinks they were in full BiS or anything) would instantly get everyone back to full HP. Aside from a few raises and a couple uses of ixochole/pneuma, I didn’t have to heal anyone at all. This makes me genuinely wonder, do we actually need two healers per alliance in alliance raids? I did it as sage on release day and I recall it being pretty easy to heal even when nobody knew any mechanics. Thoughts?

[JacobNewblood]

I say we do for a few reasons:
1: raises, if you have no SMN or RDMs, once healer goes down unless other parties wipe ya up ya done for.
2: in that scenario, AST was probably overhealing, not letting regens or you do your thing. not saying any of ya are bad healers.
3: what if a party gets a healer like I saw once in an A-Raid who refused to heal anyone who took avoidable damage. or anyone in general? the party is on its own.
4: resource management, some A-raids fight can be a slog, and lets take TGC for example, a 1hp doom mech can be a pain to solo heal
~
Youre right that its probably unneeded in most environments, but there are cases where a backup healer can be beneficial!

[ForteNightshade]

I say we do for a few reasons:
1: raises, if you have no SMN or RDMs, once healer goes down unless other parties wipe ya up ya done for.

While I agree. This statement alone highlights how terribly designed healers are right now. They exist to basically make content like 24 mans not an absolute chore to run through instead of actually being a fun and engaging experience for the player opting to play that role. A skilled DPS player will benefit a run by making up for less experienced players while still enjoying their role themselves. A healer has no such privilege. You either hope for a disaster so there's actually a reason to bring two healers or you're a gimped DPS spamming one button endlessly. Maybe if the job design team were forced to run 24 mans every day for a month or two, they'd come to realize how dreadfully boring spamming Dosis III gets.

[UkcsAlias]

1: raises, if you have no SMN or RDMs, once healer goes down unless other parties wipe ya up ya done for.

I think this is part of a general issue anyway. The diffirence of a DPS being able to rez is quite big. It negates the need for a double healer as the DPS can always rez the healer if needed. But without it, you need the 2nd healer, or the duty relies on just that healer. Thats why i think it would be better if all classes have a rez option, except with further restrictions (standing close and requiring an interact with cast time). The more this is unified in the DPS, the better those roles can be balanced.

Having 2 healers in an alliance raid to just cover this feels flaw to me like bad design. For 8man duties it makes sense as there are no other parties to cover you, and even then depending on the duty it can vary a lot (but this is the same with tanks, they might have to just go for pure dps when the other tank can manage the agro fine).

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

As far what numbers tells us? I'd say no. No alliance raids in this game that justifies the need to bring in 2 healers as none of them dishing out enough incoming damage to overwhelm any healers' output.

Imho, the existence of 2nd healer is a mere foolproof in the event 1 healer is simply prone to making bad decisions that costs their party several deaths & potential wipes; even moreso if the party is filled with clown fiesta. A 2nd healer can easily mitigate that. In a pug setting, that will be either handy or downright unnecessary.

[RayneBoemir]

Well bad groups do happen so having two healers reduces the chances of a wipe which while I haven’t seen wipes in Aglaia but they do happen.

[Amenara]

The difficulty for 24 mans is meant for everyone to be able to do it and clear it without many/any issues. With 2 healers it gives a bit of redundancy for the small healer "checks" which unfortunately makes it easy and less satisfying for experienced healers. However for newer healers dipping their toes in raiding it lets them have a safety blanket of a second healer to help share the load.

That being said, yes the content is really easy for 1 healer, even more so now that everyone knows the mechanics and mostly dodges aoes.

[RayneBoemir]

Well bad groups do happen so having two healers reduces the chances of a wipe which while I haven’t seen wipes in Aglaia but they do happen.

With what I said above though I have seen healers ignore healing and raising while dpsing their brains out even though raising and healing would have prevented a wipe, so I guess having two reduces the chances of that.

[ThorneDynasty]

No. If they say made phoenix downs usable in combat and the 2nd healer would be redundant even without rez mages. You are there to raise and smash 1.

[Risvertasashi]

In terms of healing requirements, no, 2 are not needed. Just like even 1 healer is not really needed for a lot of 4-person content. But it guarantees you have a rez, and provides something of a safety net.