Quote Originally Posted by Alaray View Post
I'd say BRD/DNC are likely the closest XIV will get to a support class, even if it's ultimately just a DPS class that doesn't really interact in a way more traditional support classes would. Granted, to be fair, support classes were generally difficult to find a healthy balance for (either they were too weak and not taken, or too powerful and too required).
You're absolutely correct. Balance is a key issue here as the devs have made a considerable amount of effort to make all jobs viable in end game content. Instead of a support class, we have support abilities like SMN's rez, WAR's shake it off, DNC curing waltz, various mitigation skills disseminated across all roles, etc. Jobs that have zero support abilities, and just bring raw damage are actually very rare in FFXIV. This is what works for the current encounter design.

Healers are actually the game's closest to a true support class, as 90% of their kits are comprised of support abilities. They have no damage rotation, and very few ways to optimize the offensive skills they do have. At the end of the day, they are still healers though with the primary duty of keeping the party healthy. DNC/BRD are without question DPS jobs whose output has to be reduced due their ability to increase the party's damage consistently throughout the encounter.