Mourning Healers (and all)

[ParadoxHealer]

When I started FFXIV, I had been a healer for years, DnD role playing, the original text MMOs, SWTOR, TSW, etc.
I loved FFXIV. I learned more about honing my skills and roles through FFXIV than any other game. I also found the most fun and challenging healing class I have found to this day, Astrologian (original cards).
Then, like so many other games, FFXIV started down the homogenization path. The healers prior to this were so district. SCH, WHM, and AST, all had their strengths and weakness, but when you went into dungeons, trials, and raids, you knew when you had a healer who knew their job and excelled at utilizing the strength of that job (mitigation of damage, refreshing heals, or support). There was a challenge to healing (and the other jobs). When I was in Aurum Vale and the tank died, I knew it was not healing issues as much as group issues. In the Vault, you knew that the group died because people were not paying attention to the fight. Those dungeons showed that if the team did not work, the dungeon could not be conquered. Trials and raids were more conclusive, but they also showed that it took more than one person to drop the party; fights were won because DPS dropped the health, tank controlled enmity, and healers minimized damage.
Then, everything changed, we lost cross class skills, jobs became more homogenized, and while raids still had a challenge, more and more the individual issues were covered by the group.
Now, we have new content that can be soloed without healers, and often times the party members can be covered by others in the group with an effort that is less collaborative and carried by a few. It is just sad.
There should be a challenge to all roles and jobs. While healers especially have been dumbed down, all the jobs have lost their character and history. This game, that presented some of the most challenging and team working content when I started, now focuses on accessibility rather than challenge or lore.
Sure, healers may no longer be the most needed in the queue for leveling, people who do not main certain roles/jobs may be able to cover in the harder/est content, but is the game as satisfying as it once was? Are the different jobs as exciting to level as they once were? Do dungeons like Aurum Vale and the Vault still show if a group can be cohesive, let alone end game content?
I mourn for this game and the people who loved the original challenges.

**Yes, I have an alt at full level, I post with my neglected main

[NobleWinter]

I can feel this so much. Playing really well just doesn't feel as rewarding anymore and it's definitely a major pain point for healing. It really sucks when you look at the outgoing damage and you realize that without being in the party as a healer everyone would be just fine. The role used to be where you put your most experienced players and now it's reversed to the point where casual healing is so simple it's common to find the least skilled person in the party spamming medica 2 non stop and eating every aoe. The party clears the duty just fine anyway. The game has definitely moved very far from the holy trinity of healing, tanking, and DPS all being necessary for different things. Healing and mitigation has been given to every role in abundance and personally I don't mind that aside from the fact it has only made being an actual healer less and less fun with each expansion. I want to have fun as a healer and right now the only time I really enjoy wearing the job stone is when I'm doing a housing commission ������