Why don't we have more DPS abilities ?

[Azurarok]

I really don't see it making much of a difference since it doesn't change the one button spam, especially if we're saying they should be the exact same otherwise.

PCT, PLD, and DRK's all also differ in potencies per step, but that only works because PCT and PLD have ways to adjust what step of the combo they'll be at when buffs come around, while with DRK it's exclusively used as a burst tool like PLD's Confiteor combo.

[Supersnow845]

Exactly PCT’s filler would be boring as dirt if it was just fire in red, aero in green and water in blue. Its filler works because it’s 4 seperate parts that interact with each other

[Azurarok]

Exactly PCT’s filler would be boring as dirt if it was just fire in red, aero in green and water in blue. Its filler works because it’s 4 seperate parts that interact with each other

It's interesting that's how most combos work in PvP. I think they're largely not designed to interact with the rest of their job's kit since its encounters are way faster and unpredictable. You're never guaranteed to actually be able to execute them fully so they can't put much behind it.

Their idea behind healers probably also runs under a similar notion, incoming damage should be at varying rates and amounts via content design and human error, leaving less room for a real rotation, but content design is very static and they also don't leave room for human error in harder content, where it's more likely to happen.

[Katish]

I still believe less heal buttons actually ADDs more complexity to the job than having more...I herald blu mage nowadays as the best iteration of what a healer could be. Having to use GCDs when needed feels great...and having the option to have 70%+ of your kit be dps buttons you can use adds to the complexity of having to weave in those skills with heals.

The problem with having a bloated healing kit is they are never going to make enough mechanics that utilize all those skills, and even should they, what is the point when every skill can be used to answer said mechanic? Their solutions to "make healers heal" are just as boring as their current healer(s) design, and the dps kit has only suffered over it because the devs think the boring kit is 100% needed\justified as a healer...when I think again it has no need to be so bloated. The ridiculous amount of healing skills further detracts from what complexity could be added to the job as you now have even more skills to answer the same mechanic any of your existing other healing skills could have already answered. The downside also being the damage and or buffing\debuffing capabilities begin to lessen even more to make way for useless healing skills


Personally would love a mix of both where more unique skills were thought out such as a shield that reflects damage that you would put up whenever your shield would break for a new form of DoT or a heal that changed operation under some "form" like reverse healing that does damage. The point I am making though is their job design is fundamentally flawed if they think more is better when it comes to solely healing. It is rare you need to reach for a gcd heal....the new raid design showcases this even more...and they showed they aren't changing their minds on it. So why does the dps kit need to suffer if the design remains to be the same and no new mechanics are being added? We see the same old flares, meteors, stacks, etc. all answered the same way.

[Carighan]

The problem with having a bloated healing kit is they are never going to make enough mechanics that utilize all those skills, and even should they, what is the point when every skill can be used to answer said mechanic?

Exactly.

Or, if an expansive kit is desired for job-identity-reasons, it ought to work in an augmentative way. So instead of having an oGCD ability that performs the exact same heal+HoT as the casted GCD one (just maybe a tad weaker and of course on a CD), the oGCD adds the instant heal to the GCD which is otherwise just a HoT (or any other such example), because then you can add multiple such oGCDs, mutually exclusive and/or stackable as desired, with different effects. But ultimately you always cast that one GCD to apply the base HoT + the secondary effects from the oGCDs. The "effective kit" stays small, even with lots of supportive abilities built around it.

The most extreme case of this would be something like... I think it was the bonedancer from DAoC? They had carrier spells that designated the "type" (strong + slow cast, instant cast but weak, AoE, etc etc), and then while casting that had time to attach one or more "rider" effects onto the carrier, which otherwise didn't really do anything. This would reduce a class to maybe 4-5 actual abilities, but with the option to have 10-20 extra hotbar buttons, and also - I love that conceptually - have their nukes and heals be the same basic buttons.

You press Slow Cast, but then you decide to go for the main effect Damage and the secondary effect DoT. Next GCD you press PBAE as your base, main effect Heal, secondary effect Damage Reduction, etc etc. The riders could all have individual CDs as needed, the carrier spells naturally would not.

[Carighan]

The more I think about it, the more I'd love for a healer to actually be based on carrier + rider spell combinations.

This job has in effect only three spells, that's it:

* A 3,5s casting spell that has a very strong effect.
* A 1,5s casting spell with a moderate effect.
* A delayed instant that happens 1,5s after you press the button, with a weak effect.

These are the only spells the char has. If used on a friendly target, it'll always be a heal, on an enemy it'll be a damage spell.

Then there's the riders. These are split into primary and secondary riders. Note that due to the way the riders cycle their shorter GCD, the 1,5s spell and the instant can only have one, while the long-casting spell can have two but you can only press each rider once, then it greys out. You can't double-press the same rider into the long-casting spell. You use these while the spell is casting, and for the instant, while it's animation is cycling for 1,5s before the effect hits.

Primary riders are:

* Dispersion: Reduces output but causes it to reach every same-type (friendly/enemy) target in a certain radius around the main target.
* Inversion: Reduces output greatly but causes it to hit the other type of target in the same radius as Dispersion around the main target - but for the opposite base effect.
* Piercing: Reduces output (say, less than Dispersion) but hits everyone in a line from you through the main target to a certain distance out.
* Chaining: Redduces output like Inversion but it intelligently chains to two same-type targets from the main one, preferring low-health targets within jumping distance.

Secondary riders are:

* Lasting: Effect is 3x as strong but happens over 30s. DoT / HoT, basically.
* Sapping: If hitting an enemy, drains health to you. If hitting a friendly target, gives them a 1-shot buff that on their next instance of damage they deal, they drain a fixed amount of health back from it.
* Shielding: If hitting an enemy, places a debuff for X seconds (base ability!) that makes that enemy deal Y% less damage (again, base ability) against friendly targets you used this on in the last 60 seconds. So you can do big but short lasting mitigation by using a 3,5s casting Piercing Shielding hit on your team, then an instant Shielding one on the enemy.
* Etc...

Ideally there are only a small portion of target/reach/type selections (the "primary" riders) and an expanding selection of effect/interaction selections (the "secondary" riders). But all the same, just 3 base buttons.

The big thing here would be that this job has in a way exactly as many damage as healing buttons. And vice versa, of course. And also as many damage types/options as it has healing options. And vice versa.

[ElysiumDragon]

Because you're a WHM.

WHM is the 'easy' healer, that's the job's entire identity. No frills, no card shenanigans, no pet jank. Just raw healing and a little DPS. It even has an unconditional dash like Dancer.

If you want big-brain DPS stuff, Sage exists, and is actually pretty fun. I'll use WHM to learn a fight, but Sage to have fun doing that same fight.

[Supersnow845]

Because you're a WHM.

WHM is the 'easy' healer, that's the job's entire identity. No frills, no card shenanigans, no pet jank. Just raw healing and a little DPS. It even has an unconditional dash like Dancer.

If you want big-brain DPS stuff, Sage exists, and is actually pretty fun. I'll use WHM to learn a fight, but Sage to have fun doing that same fight.

SGE has 5 meaningful DPS buttons, WHM has 5 as well. What is so gigabrained about SGE, it’s the same dosis spam as WHM glare spam.

Not to mention the actual gigabrain healer in modern 14 (as far as you can call any healer gigabrain) SCH……..also has 5 damage buttons

If WHM is the easy healer why does it have arguably the highest non glare ratio of any healer

[Docteur_Fluttershy]

Because you're a WHM.

WHM is the 'easy' healer, that's the job's entire identity. No frills, no card shenanigans, no pet jank. Just raw healing and a little DPS. It even has an unconditional dash like Dancer.

If you want big-brain DPS stuff, Sage exists, and is actually pretty fun. I'll use WHM to learn a fight, but Sage to have fun doing that same fight.

WHM is the most straight forward. That doesn't directly translate in "easiest" from that alone.
You will have a greater success of learning a fight in SGE rather than WHM, mostly because SGE has more tools and a way better movement capacity. It allows for more 'screw up' situations.

For example, if you have a healer that can only use one spell to heal, and not potencialy a great one, it's gonna be the 'easiest' to understand sure. But he will be probably the hardest to play since his 'one button' won't cut it for every situation. having more tools and more powerfull ones, with great mobility, is what make a class easier compared to another one.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Sage probably has the best DPS gameplay of the healers... But at the same time, SCH is just the better designed Job purely because of Chain Stratagem and Energy Drain.

If they took all the spells and abilities of all the healers and put them onto one singular Job, you could end with one actually well designed Healer job... Though it might still need some boost to their attack's potency...