Fixing Every Healer Job

[SirShady]

Who am I?
Hey, guys! I'm SirShady/Ryodin Wake. I'm technically an ARR veteran but I left the game before Heavensward was released and came back about a year before Endwalker. I'm a MMO fan, a game designer, and a savage raider who has cleared all current raids. I've played every battle class job in this game to some extent, and about half to max level. I play every role but tend to gravitate toward healers/supports in MMO's. I have every healer job at 90 and have played Sage/Astro in current savage raids. Nice to meet you!

Why do the current healers need fixes?
The current state of healers is, quite frankly, sad. It is some of the most boring healing I think I've experienced in the plethora of MMO's I've played. The better you are at healing, the less interesting your gameplay experience is. The jobs all boil down to spamming your 1 damage button and hitting ogcd's at scripted parts of the fight. Any deviation from this gameplay only comes from specific job skills like Astro's cards and White Mage's lilies, or teammates being bad to the point that you no longer have ogcds to spend and have to actually focusing on healing... As a healer. These moments, while nice, make up a miniscule part of your job, which is to spam your 1 button rotation. This playstyle alienates many players, such as myself, who are drawn to more rewarding, skill-expressive gameplay and find fun in optimizing our performance in fights, whether that is how we heal, deal damage, or support our team in any way.

What is my philosophy with these changes?
Obviously, we still want the healer job to be approachable to people. Some folks love the easy rotation and enjoy having a chill time refilling HP bars without caring for their own personal DPS. There is nothing inherently wrong with this playstyle, and it should remain in the game and be viable for all normal content. The point of these changes is to create diversity and complexity within the role for those who want it, especially those who feel they have lost much of their nuance in their kit over the past couple expansions.

The numbers are entirely subject to change and should not factor into the overall vision. I believe the general output of the jobs should be preserved but I am not here to discuss number balance. Obviously the base values of our 1-button rotations would have to be tinkered with if we want to keep similar output. Someone who is better at math can calculate values based on current class design/balance. My goal is simply to offer solutions to the lack of identity, complexity, and "fun factor" in each job. Alright! Let's begin!

[SirShady]

What is your intention with each job?
White Mage is the baseline healer, and quite frankly the "best designed" as far as job identity. It has a unique identity as the healer who is not punished for overhealing or using their GCD healing because of the lily system, which makes it very friendly for new healers. For this reason, it should remain largely the same outside of its basic damage combo. Any changes should be done carefully as the job fits its niche well and allows for a smooth healing experience. I want to preserve its more forgiving playstyle, while giving white mages something to do in their downtime besides just Glare.

Scholar needs its identity back. A tactical, DoT based healer. Quite frankly, it's time to bring old Scholar back. The changes here would raise the skill ceiling of Scholar's damage with its old DoT kit and add some support options to lean into their "battle strategist" fantasy, and offer more variety in their gameplay outside of floor smacking. Scholar's changes seek to add flavor that has been lost ever since StB.

Astrologian is lacking in meaningful support, despite that being its niche. The RNG in the job feels "empty", as Astrodyne is negligible, Crown Play is just fishing for lords, and the cards all do the same thing. Major changes are needed for its core mechanics, but overall it provides a solid baseline of what a fast-paced higher complexity job can be. I would like to avoid too much additional button bloat. Changes here will be extensive but the general idea is, provide more meaningful fun, variety, and synergy between its core supportive mechanics, and give it a little extra something to do when it has downtime to malefic spam. Also, bring back some lost time mage aspects to the job.

Sage is currently a bit anemic. Its niche as the "vampiric" Healer-DPS feels underdeveloped. It is too close to current scholar and rarely has a use for shields despite being a "shield-healer", which leads Toxicon to feel underwhelming outside of being a mobility option. I would like to focus more on Kardia as a base mechanic for its healing. I'd also like to give Pepsis more utility and usability, because as it stands now, it's just a forgettable and generally unnecessary emergency button. The fact that it destroys your shields for potential toxicon stacks is an interesting but wasted opportunity, so I'd like that to be more core to the gameplay.

To give a good balance of overall job complexity, I would suggest the overall order of lowest to highest skill ceiling of all of healer jobs should go:

White Mage > Sage > Scholar > Astro

Keep in mind, this is assuming you are playing to optimize. I don't want the base skill floor of any job to become so complicated or difficult that people can't clear the MSQ/standard roulettes with it.

[SirShady]

White Mage Changes
A lesser version of Blood Lily is now unlocked at the same time as Lilies.
Aero 3 is back.
Protect is back.
2 charges of Assize. Assize now restores 10% mana.
Gave lilies a spender for when HP is not needed.
Glare is now a part of two different 2-hit rotations. One empowers your new GCD Bloom. The other buffs your damage for 15 seconds.
Holy 2 empowers your new GCD Bloom.

New White Mage Abilities
Bud of the Blood Lily - Level 52 version of Blood Lily. Less potency. Replaced with Afflatus Misery at 74.
Aero 3 - AoE DoT. This can stack with Dia.
Refulgence - Aero 3 upgrade. Has a chance to proc Blinding Refulgence, which works like Thundercloud procs, dealing the full amount of the DoT damage. Stacks with Dia.
Afflatus Inspiratione - Spends 1 lily to grant a 200 potency shield to all party members.
Protect - Reduces damage taken by all party members by 10% for 15 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

Smite - Combos off Glare. Deals 330 potency and buffs your damage for the next 30 seconds by 10%.
Shine - Combos off Glare. Deals 350 potency and gives a stack of Lily's Petal, empowering your next Bloom by 10%.
Bloom - 30 second GCD AoE with a potency of 400. Gains 10% potency for each stack of Lily's Petal from Shine and Holy. If used with a stack of Lily's Petals, buffs the next Blood Lily's potency by 5%. This Blood Lily buff can stack up to two times.


White Mage Breakdown

As I said before, I think outside of number balancing, White Mage is the most well designed healer job as far as their identity in the healer ecosystem. It works as a good entry point for new healers, and aside from some awkward skill curves during the leveling process, it's set up well to allow healers that would otherwise be constantly panic/overhealing to still keep up with DPS just based on the merits of the lily system. I've given the job an early Blood Lily to teach White Mages how best to balance their GCD-heal focused kit with their big personal burst before the big Blood Lily we all love. I've also given back Aero 3, because why not? It was aesthetic and a nice little mixup from the traditional holy spam. It eventually turns into a light-themed version like all other White Mage damage spells, and I'm praying this is because Geomancer is going to be an upcoming magical DPS job that will take over the earth/water/aero line of spells.

The most important change, however, is the two new damage rotations and Bloom. These essentially mean that White Mage's combos focus on a series of self-enhancing buffs: one to increase personal damage by a flat 10%, one to buff Bloom, and a fully empowered Bloom will buff your next Blood Lily. This means that White Mages would be rewarded by swapping between the two combos as needed, keeping up their own personal damage buff with Smite, then swapping to the Shine combo to power up their Bloom/Blood Lily. If you use your OGCD healing wisely, you'll have enough time in order to make your stacks and optimize your DPS before the next Bloom/Blood Lily comes up.

[SirShady]

Astrologian Changes
Remove Undraw.
Sleeve Draw is back.
Minor Arcana and Crown Play share the same button.
Cards have been reworked to have more variation with incentives to use them. Cards give the Fortune buff to each unique party member they are used on.
Time Dilation is back in the form of Astrodyne. This can be used in combination with your other buffs.
Divination now works off of how many unique party members have the Fortune buff.
Malign Continuum is a spell that combos off of Malefic. It deals damage and grants a buff that reduces cast/recast times as long as its cycled between Malefic.
Comet's Omen is an OGCD ability that deals damage based on how much time is left on the Astro's DoT. The less time, the more damage.

Minor Arcana's Lady of Crowns grants a buff of Lady's Favor which stacks with each subsequent draw of Lady of Crowns. Each stack increases the damage of your next Lord of Crowns by 20% potency. At three stacks, your next Lady of Crowns becomes The Queen, healing for 500 potency and dealing AoE damage for 800 potency.

Card/Divination/Astrodyne Changes
Balance gives 5% damage buff. Gives the Fortune buff if used on DPS.
Bole gives 15% damage mitigation and 15% healing potency. Gives the Fortune buff if used on tank or healer. Fortune does not stack.
Arrow reduces all cast times, recast time by 10%. Gives the Fortune buff if used on ranged. Fortune does not stack.
Spear gives 10% crit rate. Gives the Fortune buff if used on melee. Fortune does not stack.
Ewer doubles the effect of the next card on this target. Gives the Fortune buff if used on ranged. Fortune does not stack.
Tower doubles the effect of the next card on this target. Gives the Fortune buff if used on melee. Fortune does not stack.

Divination now increases damage dealt based on how many Fortune buffs are active on the party at the time. From 3% all the way to 7%, with each stack of Fortune increasing the buff's value by 1%. Once used, all Fortune buffs are spent.

Astrodyne can now be used on allies.
1 seal: regens caster's MP.
2 seals: regens caster's MP, increases the length of all your buffs on target by 5 seconds for 5 seconds.
3 seals: regens caster's MP, increases the length of all your buffs on target by 10 seconds for 10 seconds. Gives a stack of Grand Fortune. It works the same as Fortune, but CAN be stacked with it.

New Astro Abilities
Malign Continuum: Combo skill for Malefic and Gravity. Deals the same damage but applies a 5% cast/recast reduction buff which stacks up to 4 times and disappears upon using a GCD that isn't Malefic/Malign Continuum.
Comet's Omen: OGCD 30s cooldown, deals damage based on the time left on your Combust DoT. Potency becomes higher with less time, up to a maximum of 450 at 5 seconds or less. If used without Combust on a target, deals a flat 200 potency.

Astro Breakdown

Lady of Crowns isn't as bad to pick up and could potentially be better if you manage to get her three times. Yay, RNG! Unique cards are BACK, and all are useful even if they aren't the flat 6% damage since Fortune makes sure a unique spread of cards builds up to your big Divination window. Astrodyne is more supportive and is cohesive to this big buff window playstyle. Continuum gives a fast-paced machine gun time magic feel to the basic 1-2 combo. Comet's Omen is just a unique damage button for flavor. Overall Astro's support feels meaningful, varied, and more thoughtful. The controlled RNG is back with better returns. If you set your cards up right, and with a little luck, you'll be support god.

[SirShady]

Sage Changes

Physis I and II heal for the same amount. Physis II now grants the Kardia effect to everyone for 3 GCD attacks.
Holos no longer heals but grants a shield that gives Addersting upon popping. This shield can be popped with Pepsis.
Druochole shields for 300HP and grants the Kardia effect for 3 GCD attacks.
Pepsis now works with Holos's/Druochole's shields, healing for an additional potency on top of the shield potency.
Rhizomata now gives a stack of Addersting as well as Addersgall.
Phlegma does not break combos.

Duodosis - Combo with Dosis/Eukrasia Dosis. 350 potency. Can combo into Tridosis/Eukrasia Tridosis.
Eukrasia Duodosis - Combo with Dosis/Eukrasia Dosis. 300 potency. Increases the potency of your next Kardia heal by 50% (255).
Tridosis - Combo with Duodosis. 360 potency. Gives one stack of Addersting.
Eukrasia Tridosis - 380 potency. Doubles the heal of Kardia (stacks with E. Duodosis). Costs one Addersting.
Eukrasia Dyskrasia - 130 potency AoE which applies a debuff, making ALL enemies take the full amount of damage from the next Toxikon and doubling the amount of healing from Kardia with Toxikon. Can stack up to 3 times.

Sage Breakdown

COMING SOON

More lasers = More healing. More overall kit synergy. Eukrasia Dyskrasia is an incredible AoE tool. Kardia is such a cool concept, it's dumb that it's being regulated to just a fairy-replacement. A legitimate use for Pepsis.

Let me know what you think! Fun? Interesting? Too convoluted? Too busy? Not enough changes? Too many changes? Obviously, I'm not on the balance team so I don't expect this to go anywhere, but I'd love some feedback on what other people think.

[Vatom]

Sage Changes

Physis no longer heals over time, but grants everyone Kardia's effect for 15 seconds.
Ixochole no longer heals but grants a 400 HP shield.
Druochole no longer heals but grants a 300 HP shield and Kardia's the target for 15 seconds. Can stack with Kardia for double healing.
Pepsis now works with Ixochole's shield, healing for an additional 150 potency on top of the shield potency.
Toxicon now heals an additional 50% potency to your Kardia'd partner.

Duodosis - Combo with Dosis. 370 potency.
Eukrasia Duodosis - Combo with Dosis. 200 potency. Kardia value is tripled.

Sage Breakdown

COMING SOON

More lasers = More healing. More overall kit synergy. Kardia is such a cool concept, it's dumb that it's being regulated to just a fairy-replacement. A legitimate use for Pepsis.

Let me know what you think! Fun? Interesting? Too convoluted? Too busy? Not enough changes? Too many changes? Obviously, I'm not on the balance team so I don't expect this to go anywhere, but I'd love some feedback on what other people think.

Like the idea but might not work since Doom and downtime exist
I would love to see a pneuma synergy since there isn't much that interacts with it
also there is alot of shields and thats cool I like the idea but could you stack them since your losing heals
A OGC dmg ability would be nice instead of another GCD spell feel like that would make the feeling of dps from SGE better (Maybe uses the addersting gauge doesn't have to be Toxicon)
they have the most attacks already so another GCD doesn't seem necessary to me but for other healers yeah

[SirShady]

Like the idea but might not work since Doom and downtime exist
I would love to see a pneuma synergy since there isn't much that interacts with it
also there is alot of shields and thats cool I like the idea but could you stack them since your losing heals
A OGC dmg ability would be nice instead of another GCD spell feel like that would make the feeling of dps from SGE better (Maybe uses the addersting gauge doesn't have to be Toxicon)
they have the most attacks already so another GCD doesn't seem necessary to me but for other healers yeah

Hey Vatom! Honestly, the Sage changes were a WIP and I probably should have specified that before I posted it. I ran out of steam typing all this stuff out yesterday... You and WaxSw have given me a lot to think about! I'm going to try to incorporate the new buttons better into the current kit. I like the idea of another addersting spender as well so I'll play around with that. Appreciate the feedback!

[Leonerdo]

White Mage Changes
Aero 3 is back.
A lesser version of Blood Lily is now unlocked at the same time as Lilies.
Glare is now a part of a 3-hit rotation. The Glare combo reduces the cooldown of their new damage GCD, Bloom, by 1 second per cast.
2 charges of Assize. Assize now restores 10% mana.
Gave lilies a spender for when HP is not needed.

New White Mage Abilities
Bud of the Blood Lily - Level 52 version of Blood Lily. Less potency. Replaced with Afflatus Misery at 74.
Shine - Combos off Glare. Deals 310 potency and reduces the cooldown of Bloom by 1 seconds. Combos into...
Smite - Combos off Shine. Deals 330 potency and reduces the cooldown of Bloom by 1 seconds.
Bloom - 30 second GCD AoE with a potency of 400 and empowers the next Blood Lily by 10%. Can not stack. Its cooldown is reduced by 1 seconds for each cast of Holy II and Shine/Smite.
Aero 3 - AoE DoT.
Refulgence - The upgrade to Aero 3. AoE Dia. Has a chance to proc Blinding Refulgence, which works like Thundercloud procs, dealing the full amount of the DoT and reapplying it. This works for Dia as well.
Afflatus Inspiratione - Spends 1 lily to grant a 300 potency shield to all party members.

I guess I'll just throw my feedback on the pile. In the quote, I've bolded the parts that I like. Criticisms first, followed by positive stuff:

Aero 3/Refulgence is okay, but it's not worth an extra button slot. It's just 1 button you press once after mobs are grouped up. People already use Dia on the first pack while running to the next one, and this would overwrite that for almost no gain. You'd just be replacing Dia spam with one Refulgence, and then you have nothing to cast while running. Besides, WHM already has plenty of AoE buttons (especially if Bloom is AoE).

Thundercloud only works on BLM because it's used for movement, filler during Ice phase, or DPS. Balancing those 3 applications makes it interesting. Thundercloud on Dia would change nothing: you would still try to reapply the DoT every 30 seconds.

Afflatus Inspiratione is debatable, but at the very least it needs to be weaker than that. At 300 potency, it's nearly the value of a Succor shield, almost for free (just 1 lily charge, and we have a plenty of lily charges nowadays). For Ultimate and early Savage prog, mitigation is very important, and this could provide an extra mitigation on every single big raidwide. I already think Collective Unconscious on AST is maybe too much mitigation for a pure healer, and this is better than that. Maybe it would be balanced at 200 potency, but it's still feels like an out-of-place ability to throw on WHM. It adds shielding output, but doesn't add interactivity in the kit. (Although it would make WHM/AST a more viable team, to match SCH/SGE. Not sure if that's good or bad.)

On to the positives. Misery is definitely crucial to end-game WHM gameplay, because it shifts a huge amount of power (and fun) into the lily system. As a side-effect, this also make WHM much more flexible because lilies can be used for movement. Making a version of that available at level 52 would help a lot. Being a little conservative though, I would say it's not needed until level 62+. WHM gets a lot in HW, and almost nothing in StB.

The GCD Combo into Bloom I think is pretty much what I would expect SQEX to add to healers. Because it adds a little depth/busywork for the veterans, but ultimately is not very impactful (i.e. casuals can ignore it and not lose much). Maybe that sounds like a complaint, but I think it's good because it gives veterans something extra to track, and you can get very precise about it, but it doesn't hurt much if you drift cooldowns or screw up the combo. (While using Shine/Smite, you want to pay extra attention to the Bloom cooldown, in case the reduction makes it come off cooldown early.) I'd just make Smite reduce the cooldown by 2 seconds to differentiate it from Shine.

The 10% blood lily buff isn't super necessary, but if it's a short buff (like 5 sec), it could be interesting trying to align it with Misery and burst windows. Mixed feelings on that though. It might be one-too-many things to optimize at once, and thus might be frustrating when things can't be aligned properly. I would want to test it before concluding anything.

Oh and I almost forgot. I've advocated for 2 charges on Assize in the past. It's an easy win-win-win. It can be used back-to-back for big burst, so it's fun. It would be available for healing more often (even when trying to use both charges in raid buff windows), so it improves the versatility of WHM. And it's easier to avoid drifting the cooldown, so it lowers the skill floor.

Overall good post, OP. Some of your ideas are crazy, but I like the initiative.

[Sebazy]

I guess I'll just throw my feedback on the pile. In the quote, I've bolded the parts that I like. Criticisms first, followed by positive stuff:

Aero 3/Refulgence is okay, but it's not worth an extra button slot. It's just 1 button you press once after mobs are grouped up. People already use Dia on the first pack while running to the next one, and this would overwrite that for almost no gain. You'd just be replacing Dia spam with one Refulgence, and then you have nothing to cast while running. Besides, WHM already has plenty of AoE buttons (especially if Bloom is AoE).

I assume that SirShady's suggestion of Aero 3 would be as it was back in the day, aka it could stack with Dia. Timing it to land during trash pulls in dungeons was a pretty neat mini game in itself, especially if you didn't want to use swiftcast on it. I could be wrong OFC but that would certainly be my preference.

[SirShady]

I assume that SirShady's suggestion of Aero 3 would be as it was back in the day, aka it could stack with Dia. Timing it to land during trash pulls in dungeons was a pretty neat mini game in itself, especially if you didn't want to use swiftcast on it. I could be wrong OFC but that would certainly be my preference.

Yep! This was what I had in mind, so stacking Dia during pulls would still be your general gameplan, then hit them all with a nice Aero 3/Refulgence and get into your Holy spam, using Bloom, Refulgence procs, and Blood Lily when you can for max damage. Still a simple rotation, but a lot more room for optimizing.