#FFXIVHEALERSTRIKE

[Ramiee]

More DPS is always needed for roulettes
For dungeons you need 2 DPS compared to 1 tank and 1 healer
For trials/raids you need 4 DPS compared to 2 tanks and 2 healers
For alliance raids you need 5 DPS compared to 2 healers and 1 tank.

If healers and tanks were considered well designed and fun why do DPS queues take upwards of 10-20 minutes on average when you need more DPS to fill up parties than the supports?
Clearly it's because there are less people playing them. Why are less people playing them? Because DPS is more fun.

[pschwaab]

More DPS is always needed for roulettes
For dungeons you need 2 DPS compared to 1 tank and 1 healer
For trials/raids you need 4 DPS compared to 2 tanks and 2 healers
For alliance raids you need 5 DPS compared to 2 healers and 1 tank.

If healers and tanks were considered well designed and fun why do DPS queues take upwards of 10-20 minutes on average when you need more DPS to fill up parties than the supports?
Clearly it's because there are less people playing them. Why are less people playing them? Because DPS is more fun.

I've been following this thread for a while but haven't posted yet, and wasn't planning on posting because I think people have made most of the points I could possibly make, but I saw this comment and had to post. This just sums it up. 100000% this. DPS is just more fun. This is the trouble I've been running into for a while now. Back in heavensward and stormblood while I was a DPS main I loved to play Astro from time to time because I've always loved playing healers in other MMOs (though I usually played a hybird of some kind) it was really fun going back and forth between dps and healer because they were totally different playstyles and scratched different itches for me. Whenever playing DPS got monotonous for me, I would always dip into healer. When I got bored of casting times and wanted something faster, I swapped back to DPS. Wheras today I try to play healer in dungeons (my preferred content) and I just... am so bored. I'm simply playing a way less fun DPS that sometimes heals. The playstyle doesn't feel like it's different enough from DPS to scratch that itch for me anymore. Current healer design is now just my least favorite part of healer, the incredibly boring damage rotation and then just mashing my ogcds without having to put any thought into which ones I am mashing occasionally. When I play DPS I use every button on my bar, when I play healer I don't even use half of them. DPS is designed to have a flow from one skill to the next, and it's clear there was a lot of thought and time put into making each rotation feel engaging and satisfying and... fun. Healer just... isn't that. And before anyone says it because I know someone will, those of us that don't like to do harder content deserve to have fun and be engaged too, this whole post started because of the dungeon that was soloed without healers. Some people just genuinely like dungeons, and want to have fun doing them, that doesn't make their opinion on the state of healers less valid than savage raiders. Casual dungeon enjoyers are paying the same sub price, and probably make up a much larger portion of the playerbase than savage raiders, so they shouldn't be gatekept or discounted for wanting their role to feel engaging in the content they enjoy. As things stand now I'm gonna stick to DPS, but I frequently burn out when that's all I do, which is a shame because healers should be fun.

[Punslinger]

Found this gem in the thread and just had to respond to it:

Why do we need more game play than we already have? It's more than what DPS get.

We need to heal someone? We have more than one single target heal to use. We need to heal multiple party members at the same time? We have more than one AoE heal to use.

Yes, it is so difficult choosing whether to use Cure 2, Instant Cure 2 (Afflatus Solace), oGCD Cure 2 (Tetragrammaton), or two Cure 2s in a trenchcoat (Benediction).

This is not Vanilla WoW. HPM is not a thing here, and MP is not a scarce resource. You have no Heal/Greater Heal/Flash Heal trifecta to choose from based on the situation. You have a basic GCD healing kit, and a plethora of oGCDs that all do basically the same thing. Mash one of them and move on with life.

We need to react to mechanics just as DPS do (or don't since we can always rez them if they try to greed and fail).

So do tanks, but they get a DPS rotation.

We need to watch the boss HP and cast bar to time our use of our more powerful cooldown when needed.

So do tanks, but they get a DPS rotation.

We need to watch party member HP, buffs and debuffs to know when healing is needed and how much, to know if Esuna is needed.

So do tanks (when using group mits, Cover, Heart of Corundum, etc.), but they get a DPS rotation.

The exceptional healers are even watching where party members are standing so they can Rescue them if needed and available.

So do tanks, when deciding where to bait tankbusters and position the boss, but they get a DPS rotation.

DPS game play already stops short of where healer game play does.

Which is why my DNC has Curing Waltz, Improvisation, and Second Wind, amirite?

Why aren't we hearing complaints about a lack of DPS game play?

Because DPS jobs get more than one button to press when no healing is required.

The big difference between the two is that the DPS experience is generally consistent. They rarely need to alter their focus while the healer does frequently if not constantly. The healer experience varies depending on other in the party. Skilled players mean only needing to worry about unavoidable damage. One or more lesser skill players means needing to keep more constant watch on the party (is the less skilled player standing in mechanics, are they stacking on others when they should be standing apart so more party members need healing, etc.).

Translation: Healers must all be piss-easy to play because sometimes you might get a bad party in DF and need to use all your healing skills. Healing should only be fun when the game asks you to babysit the short bus.

[ForsakenRoe]

I always wonder how paranoid people have to be in their day to day life, that when they hear someone say 'we should have a change to healers so they're more fun, in all content levels, for all skill levels of player', they just immediately jump to 'oh no they're going to turn the healers into some hyper-complex quantum mathematics thing I don't want that', like the two extremes are 'one button spam' like now, or 'literally TK Monk rotation'. No in-between state can possibly exist, apparently.

Here's an example of what I'd do to one of the healers, let's take SCH as an example:

Broil IV: 300p
Biolysis, 350p over 30s
Miasmalysis: 340p over 24s
Shadowflare: 320p over 15s

(numbers are examples and not balanced against the hypothetical potencies of other healers)

With that, you could ignore the DOTs entirely, all three of them, and just use Broil instead. Doing that would cost you a total of 560 potency over two minutes. That's right, you'd lose less than one Broil cast worth of damage per minute. The idea that 'if we increase the complexity of the DPS side of healers, it'd exclude casuals' is a long-dead strawman, because it's super easy to design systems in such a way as to 'aid the casuals', either by guiding them towards the 'correct' gameplay, or by reducing the punishment of 'incorrect' gameplay (as this does).

Here's another example. Dia is 70 damage, and then 70 per tick. If you spam it for mobility, you get the first 70 each cast. So, why not boost that to 270, and reduce the DOT tick potency by 20, keeping the total potency the same, but frontloading more of the damage, so that 'spam while moving' is less punishing?

People say 'we have to consider the casual player, and keep things casual-friendly', but I can point to many design elements that SE has put in that are incredibly 'unfriendly' to casual players

[Bobby66]

I always wonder how paranoid people have to be in their day to day life, that when they hear someone say 'we should have a change to healers so they're more fun, in all content levels, for all skill levels of player', they just immediately jump to 'oh no they're going to turn the healers into some hyper-complex quantum mathematics thing I don't want that', like the two extremes are 'one button spam' like now, or 'literally TK Monk rotation'. No in-between state can possibly exist, apparently.

Here's an example of what I'd do to one of the healers, let's take SCH as an example:

Broil IV: 300p
Biolysis, 350p over 30s
Miasmalysis: 340p over 24s
Shadowflare: 320p over 15s

With that, you could ignore the DOTs entirely, all three of them, and just use Broil instead. Doing that would cost you a total of 560 potency over two minutes. That's right, you'd lose less than one Broil cast worth of damage per minute. The idea that 'if we increase the complexity of the DPS side of healers, it'd exclude casuals' is a long-dead strawman, because it's super easy to design systems in such a way as to 'aid the casuals', either by guiding them towards the 'correct' gameplay, or by reducing the punishment of 'incorrect' gameplay (as this does).

Here's another example. Dia is 70 damage, and then 70 per tick. If you spam it for mobility, you get the first 70 each cast. So, why not boost that to 270, and reduce the DOT tick potency by 20, keeping the total potency the same, but frontloading more of the damage, so that 'spam while moving' is less punishing?

People say 'we have to consider the casual player, and keep things casual-friendly', but I can point to many design elements that SE has put in that are incredibly 'unfriendly' to casual players

I think what people are afraid of and to be fair FFXIV community has shown it can become a slave to the numbers just like any community. I think people are afraid of going back to those silly debates and topics of healers and that do damage verse those that done. People that silent kick healers for not doing damage or doing piss poor damage. Maybe I remember a different FFXIV when I played more hardcore back but yeah I could 100% could see a bunch of people shit on others for missing out of 560 potency. Hell, if I was the who I was back then I probably would be one of those people that would say shit. I also be that type of player in WoW. Maybe I have a different pov cause I was one of those toxic elitist when I was younger that expected people to play to a certain level in all forms of content.

From that perspective I can see to a degree maybe why they wish to streamline stuff more. I know you should not throw the baby out with the bathwater but sometimes shitty people do ruin things for everyone else.

Sure it is a strawman, but it is an aspect that Yoshi-P himself has mentioned is what holds him back from giving healers more damage tools even slightly. I do not think we can forget that. Sure some elements are not causal friendly, but for the most part baseline content is fairly causal friendly. Hell you probably could be normal mode content just by doing basic 123 across the board and nothing else.

[Galvuu]

I think what people are afraid of and to be fair FFXIV community has shown it can become a slave to the numbers just like any community. I think people are afraid of going back to those silly debates and topics of healers and that do damage verse those that done. People that silent kick healers for not doing damage or doing piss poor damage.

There are two things being conflated here, and I want to actually address both, because I'm strongly opinionated on them.
One is the statement that "people silent kick healers for doing piss poor damage". Regardless of your job and its theoretical damage ceiling, if you're playing so poorly that it's an active detriment to the party, then kicking that person is well within the party's right.
I've done this myself recently, though all times to dps- be it a RPR that was spamming Harpe in ex2, or a RDM spamming aoe in ex1 (both doing less damage than the healers of their respective parties). This makes the runs unnecessarily long (a clear issue in a farm party), and those two particularly, made it so enrage was a consideration (I was seeing the second Mountain Fire on the party with the RDM consistently). This also goes for a very low dps/0 dps healer- playing like that actively hinders the party. I don't think we need to protect people like that, I think it's fine to expect a minimum out of the people who should be cooperating with you.

The other statement has to do with the general idea that "people optimize the fun out of the game". I never felt this statement ever had much merit to begin with- for one, some people derive fun out of finding the optimal way to do things. The process of finding the best way to go about a problem is very rewarding. Further, some people enjoy the feeling of playing optimally. I feel really hyped when I do a raid and I feel like I played perfectly- "I played that so well". It's a common feeling in many games, just like some people feel really hyped for doing an insane outplay on a mechanically demanding champion in League or something.
Further, people aren't forced to play optimally- "good enough" works. I know most optimal builds for StQ areas, but sometimes I use "meme" action combos that are half-decent for the fun of it. Sometimes I try to cook a different opener as an experiment, knowing full well it's a damage loss. Sometimes I'm legitimately just goofing around. The fact those things aren't optimal doesn't decrease my enjoyment of them- sometimes I have fun figuring out what's best and playing as perfectly as possible afterwards, sometimes I just play to have fun in a random off-job that I only halfway understand. All of this, with the addendum that you shouldn't be doing 0 damage or griefing the party.

People who truly "optimize the fun out of the game" usually are doing content as a chore, and likely have an unhealthy relationship with the game. They don't enjoy the journey to their goal, and gameplay is often the journey. It's doing the fights, it's playing better, it's trying new stuff, not getting the loot-carrot. If the gameplay feels like a chore and all that keeps someone going is that carrot, then no matter how simple or complex, how optimized or not the gameplay is... they likely won't have fun. Especially in XIV, where you throw out most of your gear every 3 months.

[Aravell]

In my view if something has been changed asking for the change to be reverted is disingenuous because it shits on those that may enjoy that aspect for what it is in this moment and ignores the fact that for whatever reason the change from what it was before must have happened to why it is the way it is now. Just how I was raised I guess.

Sure we don't have the data points but we do have a point in history where healers were changed from something akin to what a group of people are asking for now. That change happened for some reason we cannot deny that, and I think it is silly to pretend that change did not happen or it happened in some vacuum that holds no merit what so ever.

You keep saying stuff like "it has to change for a reason", why? Why did it have to change? We were given absolutely not a single reason why it was changed, all we ever got was radio silence.

If the dev team has some grand plan in the making, maybe they should share it so people stop asking for changes, no?

Also it's perfectly normal to ask for what you enjoyed to come back. This is a game, games are meant to be enjoyed, if what you enjoyed is taken away from you, it's perfectly normal to ask to have it back.

Also, what irks me about your post is that you seem to place the people who enjoy the current design at a higher level of importance than those who enjoyed it before. Why did the entire role have to cater to this new design? Why did an entire segment of players have to be entirely alienated in order to satisfy these people? Are the people who enjoyed the old design meant to be treated as second-class citizens that should go pound sand?

This isn't affecting only one job like the SMN rework. This is affecting and entire role, with 4 jobs, it's perfectly viable to design all 4 to appeal to different people, I don't understand why only 1 group should be catered to? Is it because of this "grand vision" of theirs that they can't even be bothered to share with us? Or is it because they have no clue how to design healers to function in their game because they never play healers?

[Bobby66]

You keep saying stuff like "it has to change for a reason", why? Why did it have to change? We were given absolutely not a single reason why it was changed, all we ever got was radio silence.

If the dev team has some grand plan in the making, maybe they should share it so people stop asking for changes, no?

Also it's perfectly normal to ask for what you enjoyed to come back. This is a game, games are meant to be enjoyed, if what you enjoyed is taken away from you, it's perfectly normal to ask to have it back.

Also, what irks me about your post is that you seem to place the people who enjoy the current design at a higher level of importance than those who enjoyed it before. Why did the entire role have to cater to this new design? Why did an entire segment of players have to be entirely alienated in order to satisfy these people? Are the people who enjoyed the old design meant to be treated as second-class citizens that should go pound sand?

This isn't affecting only one job like the SMN rework. This is affecting and entire role, with 4 jobs, it's perfectly viable to design all 4 to appeal to different people, I don't understand why only 1 group should be catered to? Is it because of this "grand vision" of theirs that they can't even be bothered to share with us? Or is it because they have no clue how to design healers to function in their game because they never play healers?

See I just fail to believe the game devs just said fuck it let us just make sweeping changes for no reason. I know it may seem like that, and sure at times I also feel that way but I just cannot see that being the case it makes no sense for them to do that. Would it be nice if they gave us reasons for why they do certain things yes, but in the grand scheme the change happened the why imo is kind of moot at that point.

Because the changed happened, water under the bridge at that point. I just don't see how it is fair of me to whine and complain for something that once was to be again. If the game devs liked something for what it was they would not have changed it and leave it be for as long as they have. Idk what black magic they are using but clearly they know something we don't know and do not wish us to know as to why they are making these changes. Trust me I have a bunch of things I want back. I want more positional attacks, know I probably will not be seeing more of those. Hell I had fun with HW cleric stance even for how clunky it was, that def is not coming back. A dot based pet job sign me up, yeah that is probably also not going to happen. Aggro going back to something that was a group effort instead of just put on tank stance and forget about it, yeah good luck with that one. I guess I just don't see the point, I had my time with the class, it changed timed to move on another class or game. Let other's get a chance at enjoying it. Things change yes, and sometimes when that change happens people are left behind, but generally speaking they will be replaced by another person soon enough.

I am just a boomer, but I just don't see the point of asking for what was again. I can see the value of asking for changes that fit within the scope of their current design like with what they did with AST cards in DT. I do like them a lot more then I did EW. Still not my personal ideal but it is better.

Edit: In the end maybe I just have a different view cause I am one of those players that just plays for major updates and that is it. I have come to terms that FFXIV is not my fulltime game anymore it has gone in a different direction. I still don't see what the point was of all of this, but as I said many times I hope you guys get everything you wish and hope for. For now I am enjoying AST, and once I get my savage clear I will stop playing then come back again.

Maybe your vocal group can get the changes others have tried for 6 years.

[Sol_Seppy]

Haven't bothered to read the 763 page essay about this but I am interested. Since Dawntrail has come out, we've had time with two EXs, dungeons and normal raids.

How do the healers who originally went on strike feel about the new content? Because when I healed them I felt satisfied. I can understand both points of view from Endwalker content but I wanna know if anyone's opinions changed or if you feel the same?

[BunnyQueen]

Haven't bothered to read the 763 page essay about this but I am interested. Since Dawntrail has come out, we've had time with two EXs, dungeons and normal raids.

How do the healers who originally went on strike feel about the new content? Because when I healed them I felt satisfied. I can understand both points of view from Endwalker content but I wanna know if anyone's opinions changed or if you feel the same?

I tanked my way through DT, wasn't really different then EW. But I am warrior so....