I'm bored when I heal because I need more complex DPS rotations

[Connor]

snip

Yeah, I do agree that based on their past records it’s hard to see the developers actually making these kinds of decisions. If anything things will become even more ‘streamlined’ (which is a terrifying thought lol), for all roles. Which is sad, because I think encouraging players to coordinate and consider each other during combat can actually create a sense of group cohesion that otherwise is lost.

Like, if players had more reasons to help each other, whether meaningful support/debuff options, dps being able to relieve healer pressure, tanks having more meaningful and less ‘superfluous’ party defensive and healing, I think there’d be much less of a ‘Me vs Them’ mentality that many players end up developing.

I only played FFXI way after it was actually relevant lol, but my understanding that it was this kind of thing that solidified the strong sense of community the game had (albeit perhaps too strong lol, where ‘Me vs Them’ verged on becoming ‘Us vs Them’). The importance of each member in the party doing their part, whether healing, buffing, debuffing, dealing damage, defending the party, meant that people came out of the fights feeling like they’ve overcome it together, and not just themselves with 7 other people present (if that makes sense lol).

Basically having players do things to work together as a group, rather than just a collection of 8 players, can foster a better community spirit. I think.