#FFXIVHEALERSTRIKE

[MAD_ARCHITECT]

I am a healer who is not participating in the strike (although I agree with every complaint,) and I would like to share my experience playing through Dawntrail so far.

My job is Scholar and I have been doing the MSQ with it, for Science (tm).

First off, the good: the first trial (I have done but one) was engaging. I am pretty good at playing the piano to keep people alive and I like to do it, especially when things go south while I am in the middle of learning the mechanics myself. I had a lot to heal and a lot of opportunities to pick people up off the ground or save them before they got offed by an upcoming mechanic. I was able to engage with the game as intended.

Now, the bad...

Of course, what the strikers already know: healers barely have a gameplay loop of any kind for either healing or dps. Right off the bat, questing in the overworld, I recalled that I have little to do vs enemies but press 1 really hard. I fully realized how awful this felt when I ran into some Hunt marks in the 96 zone and remembered that Scholar was my only mid-90s job, so I had nothing fun to switch to to kill them. Pressing 11111 to down an at-level mob alone is genuinely soul-numbing, and pressing my 2 minute cooldown for one or two overworld enemies because I am desperate to do something else is not a good feeling at all.

In Dawntrail dungeon content, if even a single other person in the party has seen the instance before and is able to avoid the telegraphed mechanics, there is very little interaction with the game for me for the full duration of the instance. I may toss out an Expedient or a Sacred Soil to feel as though I am contributing by providing my fellow players some extra breathing room, but I do not feel as though it has ever made a tangible difference. If the tank knows his job as well, there is nothing for me to do at all during pulls--in these brand new dungeons that I have never seen before, remember!--except admire the scenery, observe the mechanics, and press Art of War/Broil while my fairy casts Embraces that are overheals next to the tank's own, faster self sustain. There have been boss wipes of course, for want of knowledge, but after those, my fellows are usually converted into 'seen the fight' players and have no problem avoiding the mechanics thereafter, once again alleviating me of any need to carry out my primary duty. Or play the game.

With these experiences fresh in mind, I would describe the Dawntrail Duty Roulette healer duty as being a babysitter while players learn how to do a set of mechanics, whose greatest contribution will always be Swiftcast+Raise, and whose job usefulness disappears completely once the mechanics are learned, given a competent set of teammates. It is bad enough that, when I played through the dungeons again with my friends in premade parties to help them level alt jobs, I could see clearly that my choice of job was a burden to the speed and efficacy of the run simply because they are all good at the game and do not need such training wheels to succeed.

To be clear, I have not yet completed the MSQ. The most recent dungeon I have completed is Level 95. So, to reiterate: I haven't even finished the MSQ or gotten endgame gear yet, the game is/was in early access which means all the content was brand new. Under these conditions the experience is still this way.

We will see if the notorious Lv. x7 dungeon shakes things up at all in the honored tradition of Bardam's Mettle, but my expectations are low and my disappointment is high. I am not surprised, however. I quit healing at the start of Shadowbringers because of how bored and bothered these changes originally made me feel, and two expansions later, nothing has changed at all, except the delivery of the PvP kits--proof that the design team can give us fun, unique things, but for whatever reason will not do so for 99% of the game's content.

[Kacho_Nacho]

I wonder how many healers in this post have actually played up to 100 and taken a stab at an extreme.

For one, going into DT I was kind of in the same boat as the points raised in this post, however not all of them are correct or even properly understood/researched.

Yes, up to (and including most parts of) Endwalker - the healing was lacklustre <- for this reason I understand why one would want to form a healer strike.

However - we're now in Dawntrail and here are my thoughts:
Dungeon 1 of DT - Basically a perfect summary of what EW healing was like (there was none if people play correctly).
Every dungeon following adds more and more new and interesting mechanics AND actual heal checks (one of the post-MSQ unlocked dungeons mob pulls comes to mind).
Trials - they have back-to-back incoming damage built into them, the damage is staggered and doesn't hit all party members at the same time.
The final trial - This is where I knew - OK - the complains HAVE been heard (likely a rule for encounter designers that got put into place around 6.1 healing farce).

I just cleared the first trial (DT) in extreme - It was fantastic. If I didn't have even one of my cooldowns (SGE) - it would severaly impact our survivability and we'd likely wipe.

Even regen healers have been given purpose, thanks to bleeds, quick back to back incoming damage, unique tankbuster mechanics (Trial 1 extreme tankbuster is the coolest thing I've seen in FF).

--
So instead of shutting you all down on your complaints - I wholeheartedly agree, but I suspect what you're actually experiencing is not a problem with the game... it's actually burnout from doing normal mode dungeons/raids. You've likely played enough to grow in skill so much that you're likely ready for extreme.

I am sorry in advance - but you cannot play normal mode content for a long time, not realise that you - YOU as a healer have improved sufficiently to move up in difficulty - and then complain that the content YOU'RE PURPOSEFULLY SELECTING does not demand that you use your jobs kit while entirely ignoring the fact that the challenge you seek is in fact in the game.

Let the normal mode remain as is for those who still find it challenging and happen to be learning how to heal. Move onto something more difficult.

Wait, wait. Are you honestly dismissing the feedback of all the healers in this thread, and in the multiple posts in the Healer forums, because they haven't done the extremes of an expansion which hasn't been fully released yet?

There are no words.

[TheRealQuah]

Wait, wait. Are you honestly dismissing the feedback of all the healers in this thread, and in the multiple posts in the Healer forums, because they haven\\'t done the extremes of an expansion which hasn\\'t been fully released yet?

There are no words.

Yep, obviously no one is allowed an opinion that deviates from yours. You are the other 12 people in the healer strike are gods and we must follow your every word.

[Naouu]

What I'm gathering from this thread from anyone who does more than casual content:

-Skill expression is too limited, and needs to be improved upon for healers. I think I can agree with this- add back cleric stance and a few gcd for a dmg combo. I think this would be a good start.

As for the rest of the complaints:

I don't agree with imposing changes on other jobs if you don't dedicatedly play them. It's giving Karen energy.

[TheRealQuah]

If you want more involved damage rotations then just play dps.

[Kes13a]

If you want more involved damage rotations then just play dps.

I believe thats the entire plan. (in case you missed that along the way, it does tend to be a bit of reading)

[Isala]

If you want more involved damage rotations then just play dps.

Not for very much longer if they keep trimming them down every damned expansion.

[TsubameMikage]

What I'm gathering from this thread from anyone who does more than casual content:

-Skill expression is too limited, and needs to be improved upon for healers. I think I can agree with this- add back cleric stance and a few gcd for a dmg combo. I think this would be a good start.

I said it earlier, we have all of Eureka and Bozja as testing grounds for new abilities - give us Seraph Strike instead of Glide!

I don't agree with imposing changes on other jobs if you don't dedicatedly play them. It's giving Karen energy.

There is no reason for any DPS or tank to offer AoE healing. There is no reason for tanks to be able to heal others, at all, without a significant cost to their own survivability. I say this as someone who routinely plays as a Paladin: Clemency needs more downsides to casting, and Holy Sheltron's Knight's Benediction should only apply to the caster, not the recipient (same for WAR's Nascent Flash's Nascent Glint, GNB's Heart of Corundum's additional affect of Brutal Shell). I'm fine with them applying to themselves for self-sustain, but healing the party should be the healer's job, first and foremost.

I'm even leery of RDM and SMN having access to a targeted heal spell and a raise, even if it makes sense lore-wise.

[Naouu]

Tanks have more involved damage rotations. Why can't healers? Giving cleric stance and giving even just a 123 combo can let the ones who have mastered their class show it.

A newbie healer might not use cleric stance and focus on learning when and where to heal and use their ogcds/mits

Where as an expert would know exactly when to turn on cleric stance and sacrifice some of the unnecessary healing for a little more damage. They can cut some of the potency off skills to make it a little more balanced if need be.

My only gripe with this tho is that it infact may likely cause some gatekeeping on unskilled healers trying to learn more difficult content.

[Rolder50]

Not for very much longer if they keep trimming them down every damned expansion.

*Cries in former summoner main*