Could a melee Healer work?

[Aword3213]

Just musing out loud.

I don't have one theorycrafted or anything, but suffice it to say by melee I of course don't mean the actual healing part of its skillset (or... do I?), I'm imagining it just being its damage-dealing abilities. I think it could make for a novel addition to the game's roster even then.

What brought this about was my pondering the kind of Job they might give Gaia in the future since although she's a MRD/WAR in terms of (roughly) weapon type and stance, nothing else about it matches her particular skillset. Making her a Tank still doesn't feel right (even if a time skip were involved), and then it struck me! A melee Healer that uses time magic to halt or rewind damage! After all, there's a strong connection between maces/hammers and clerics and the like (admittedly mostly in western media e.g. Warhammer Fantasy), and aligning it with Darkness would make for a fun twist, I think.

Damn it, I really want this now...

I would love to have a melee healer, but I can't think of any ways for it to work without harming content design. Although we can have 3 ranged DPS with 1 melee DPS to make room for melee healers, melee healers would still have trouble healing parties that are spread across the map.

If the only thing that makes a healer a melee healer is its damage dealing abilities, it makes little to no difference to what we have now. People, especially veterans, always hug the boss regardless of their roles. It's always optimal, especially for healers, to stay at melee range near the boss becuase it makes dodging mechanics easier. The further away from the boss, the bigger the cone aoe, which in turn makes it harder to dodge. You'll also have hard time switching position with other teammates if boss mechanic requires you to do so. For healers, staying at melee range near the boss also ensures that everyone in the party get healed.

For me, the only thing that makes the concept of melee healer interesting must be about healing the team with its melee damaging kits. If not, melee healers are just current healers with extra clunck and downtime. Hardly interesting. One can also say WAR already fits the difinitition pf melee healer perfectly