Quote Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo View Post
I'm wondering if in FF14 we've stepped into a different territory, where "balanced" parties are still forced, but not because they actually meaningfully benefit the player; in fact, it seems like in most content, having a "balanced" party actually makes combat more difficult that in would otherwise be.

But that's just my experience, so I'm curious to hear what yours is. If you weren't forced to have a "balanced" party, would you still do it because you think that's more effective? Or would you find another party structure more optimal? Feel free to specify if you feel it's different for different types of content (especially Ultimates which I have no experience with).
Games like this already exist. Look no further than GW2 and a more direct comparison ESO.

ESO has a light trinity system. All of the classes can be every role - Tank/Healer/DPS with DPS being split into "three": magicka, staminia, and hybrid.

Both games have their own problems with this.

GW2 doesn't exactly NEED healers and for the most part you aren't exactly encouraged to bring them. Are they welcomed? Yes. Are there mechanics for them? Also yes. Are they hard required? No, because the rest of the specs (broken up by the weapons you use) can bring enough self healing to cover it. They have instead buff bots that can also side heal and get by.

The problem here is that anyone looking for a dedicated healer role is going to be a bit disappointed.

ESO is about the same but potentially more egregious. All classes have a healer spec yes, but you don't need one. Really all you need as a Restoration staff to cover any extreme end of healing. On the average a magicka DPS player can slot 2-3 heals on their dps bars and heal just as fine, as healing in ESO scales off of the same stat - magicka. Stamina dps players, tanks, hybrids and even magicka dps players can slot one skill (Vigor iirc) and also cover most damage.

The only thing that's stopping healers from being irrelevant is the Dungeon finder requires one. Except by the nature of ESO, you can change your role. So if you want to queue with randoms with a DPS set up as either Tank/Healer, you are more than able to (even if there is some backlash). And a good player (with a decent group) can even do what we would call Criterion Savage dungeons with a set up so long as they wear the right gear.

Even Veteran Raids aren't exactly excluded as some times you can drop a healer (aka make the healer into a buffer with off healing to provide higher dps).

Point is, in all of this I suppose, I've played games like this and as a Healer main, I don't enjoy my role being eroded. I don't like that FFXIV seems to be a crappy trinity MMO and I want it to go back into being a proper one where Healers/Tanks actually matter and we can have things like support dps for those who want to do less damage at the cost of being an integral part of the party.

In fact, I would go so far as to say being forced into having balanced parties (via DF) keeps my favored game play alive otherwise if it didn't exist I'd be "forced" out of it and into gameplay I hate.