What if Support Role was Added to FFXIV?

[FiliusLunae]

FFXI had legit support jobs. BRD and COR (Corsair) come to mind. BRD provided such good and strong buffs for casters and melee that parties had at least one BRD. Sometimes 2 BRDs in a 6-person party, situationally.

BRD was considered off-heal support—you were expected to aid the main healer in between singing songs, which took 4-8 seconds to play each.

COR, on the other hand, was DPS support. Its buffs were similar to BRD, but COR was expected to maximize DPS in between buffs. Neither BRD or COR would never top the charts, but their utility and the way they maximized the party was desired.

This is what I see missing from FFXIV. As a BRD in FFIX, your role was to run around the battlefield so you could buff people with the appropriate songs—casters got MP and Magic+ buffs, and the frontline got Haste, Attack+ and other melee goodies. Your rotation consisted of singings with the occasional off-heal. Your role was really to support your party. This concept doesn't exist in FFXIV.

Another role I miss is that of debuffer from FFXIV. This usually fell to RDM, who got the highest enfleebling skill and the strongest debuffs. Depending on the situation, you could opt for bringing a RDM as a main healer and sacrifice efficient healing for the strongest debuffs.

I feel that type of strategic decision making is missing in XIV.