Give Healers a simple DPS kit

[Sendosheng]

With the showcase of Evolved WHM at fanfest and all this discussion about wishlist changes for healers, I'd like to point out the elephant in the room.

Even if we obtain the best possible healer kit, it means less when for most fights, we're still pressing our 1 DPS move. Even if healers end up with a 1-2-3, with the evolved design, that'll still be pressing one button.

My proposal and my hope here is that they integrate the DPS move with the healing kit so that it actually has meaning beyond being a filler or trying to a hit the DPS check. As a skeleton, give all healers a 1-2-3 but like most of the jobs, have it give the healer some sort of gauge or resource that gives them access to further healing skills or support skills.

By doing this, the DPS button starts to become more favorable in all eyes, casual and raiders alike. And there's a lot you can do with it by giving healers a gauge or resource they can build up and use whenever they like.

I hope something along these lines gets implemented because as much as I love healing, every job ends up being a DPS at the higher levels. I feel like the DPS skill on healers shouldn't just be tacked on there. Give it some meaning and purpose. Please.

[ForsakenRoe]

It is entirely possible that we'll have to cover the Healing required in higher-end content with fewer tools. Our Glares broken up not by another attack, but a Healing GCD like Cure or Medica (which is later refunded via Sanctity)

The issue is the Levelling process, and lower-skill-level content like Roulettes. In those, Healing required CANNOT go up to the level that would fully justify such a system, because otherwise it could gate casual players from completing content. So, we'll be left with Levelling a WHM being 'spam Glare and GlareAgain' during solo instances, and rather than attract new players with the Evolved system, they might actually lose the attention of those same players

I'd have liked to see a system on WHM wherein you have a new 'damage neutral Healing GCD', Damage spells grant points towards the new Gauge, and Healing GCDs grant WAY more of the same Gauge, making the Healing GCDs... not fully damage neutral, but far less damage loss than they currently are. Then, being 'optimal' and being able to avoid using GCD Heals too heavily would still let you build towards the damage-neutral Healing GCD, to keep you in 'damage neutrality', but a casual player who relies on things like Medica, Regen, or even a high-end player who's 'forced' to use such actions during hardcore progression, would be able to make use of the damage neutral Healing GCD far more frequently, and retain more of their damage that way

[Sendosheng]

One of the problems healers are facing is everyone has healing tools now. Tanks are neigh unkillable unless it's Savage or higher. They just have so much sustain that a healer rarely needs to do anything for them. Then if you look at Evolved Bard, one of their songs now gives passive regen; another healing tool. I'm hoping the devs aren't just going the route of taking away healer's tools and giving them out to others, but we don't have much to go off on and what we do see doesn't look too exciting.

I agree with your second point, healing can't get any higher and that also creates a problem in of itself. People want to heal more, but it can be overwhelming for a newer or casual player. This is why I like the idea of the DPS kit just being something extra. A casual player can continue to focus solely on healing and be just fine. But a more experienced healer can manage DPS then subsequently use the gauge or resource they built up to heal. I'm imagining it like replacing our current oGCD system.

The current WHM kinda feels like that now. Lilies result in a damage neutral option (a gain on buffs but those are going away) and they build up passively without any input from the player. It would be cool to see maybe a combination of your suggestion; something like a gauge that will build naturally but build faster through the input of healing/any GCD.

[ty_taurus]

It is entirely possible that we'll have to cover the Healing required in higher-end content with fewer tools. Our Glares broken up not by another attack, but a Healing GCD like Cure or Medica (which is later refunded via Sanctity)

The issue is the Levelling process, and lower-skill-level content like Roulettes. In those, Healing required CANNOT go up to the level that would fully justify such a system, because otherwise it could gate casual players from completing content. So, we'll be left with Levelling a WHM being 'spam Glare and GlareAgain' during solo instances, and rather than attract new players with the Evolved system, they might actually lose the attention of those same players

I'd have liked to see a system on WHM wherein you have a new 'damage neutral Healing GCD', Damage spells grant points towards the new Gauge, and Healing GCDs grant WAY more of the same Gauge, making the Healing GCDs... not fully damage neutral, but far less damage loss than they currently are. Then, being 'optimal' and being able to avoid using GCD Heals too heavily would still let you build towards the damage-neutral Healing GCD, to keep you in 'damage neutrality', but a casual player who relies on things like Medica, Regen, or even a high-end player who's 'forced' to use such actions during hardcore progression, would be able to make use of the damage neutral Healing GCD far more frequently, and retain more of their damage that way

Also you have to consider all the content that isn't standard group content. Cue all the times I was doing Sage in a deep dungeon from level 1, unlocking Prognosis and thinking "great that will come in handy..." Which like, to some extend is expected but also that's 90% of the kit.

[RiseBlackheart]

I think your post is a good start and would like to add on to this,

I'm a tank main, and I enjoy a lot of dps and I have played every job, Im not speaking on authority with what will make healers better, but I may have a solution that healers can advocate for more to make the role better.

One critical difference between healer jobs and DPS/Tanks jobs is that Healers job gauges are very barebones. Think about it, What does the astrologian job gauge actually do for your job? Whitemages job gauge is basically only there to tell you when afflatus is going to be ready, sages is a hard timer and scholars is mostly just juiced for energy drain.

What I propose that healers should advocate for is, reworked job gauges for each healer that...

1.) separate the healing from the damage portions from the job so over healing is discouraged.

2.) to allow for simple rotations that interact with a job gauge like any other job.

A use case of this might be something like...

your lilies are now only for healing on white mage, you cast 5 glares which are hard casted, then you get an afflatus misery and an upgraded dot. then in your burst cycle you would have presence of mind and its follow ups which could also interact with the dps portion of the gauge.

I believe SE should make each healer similar to one of the designs for casters but more simplified so they can still perform their role in high damage fights.

Simply being against evercolds changes misses the issue with healers that has existed since storm-blood with the removal of cleric stance. A lack of engagement and decision making for the job when there is no longer damage going out. the reason every other job is engaging when theres no damage is because they have job gauges the build resources over time and cool downs that emerge 1 min and 2 min bursts respectively. Healers however are extremely repetitive and have less potential to emerge engagement when there's nothing going out.

Anyways, this isnt meant to talk down to healers, simply providing an idea that can help move the conversation to a place where SE can make definitive changes.

[Carighan]

In those, Healing required CANNOT go up to the level that would fully justify such a system, because otherwise it could gate casual players from completing content.

I mean I wouldn't want to say cannot (as there is a way, decrease passive damage reduction, massively bump raw HP count but don't increase damage dealt nor healing done, meaning you die slowly but also re-heal slowly taking lots of GCDs of healing to get done), but yeah it is quite unlikely.

[ForsakenRoe]

I mean I wouldn't want to say cannot (as there is a way, decrease passive damage reduction, massively bump raw HP count but don't increase damage dealt nor healing done, meaning you die slowly but also re-heal slowly taking lots of GCDs of healing to get done), but yeah it is quite unlikely.

I think a good way that they could feasibly increase HPS required, without adding too much more pressure to casual players, is via Healing Absorbtion effects, since they 'demand more healing from the player', but don't do so immediately like actual damage does. They could also then create interplay upon that, with interactions in the Job kits, such as Esuna instantly removing the Absorb (as a way for casual players to have a panic button of sorts), Benediction instantly clearing all remaining Absorb AND fully restoring HP (good for Tankbusters that apply it), or something like... on AST, Essential Dignity scales with missing HP, but it could also have 'considers a player with Healing Absorb to be at 1 HP' in its effect, making it far more potent at removing the debuff

They could make a new UI element to show it, too. We have a yellow-orange bar to show how much Barrier we have, do the same going from right-to-left in Purple or Dark Blue or whatever, to indicate how much 'extra healing' you have to do to get rid of it.

I did some quick maths a while back and it came out that, like, take a boss, give it a raidwide that deals 5k damage, and applies 20k Heal Absorb, every 15s, give the Heal Absorb an effect where 'if any Heal Absorb remains on a player, it drains their HP by 1% of their Max HP per second, this damage cannot reduce the player past 1 HP'. With that exceptionally simple design, any comp that doesn't have a Healer in it literally cannot deal with the mechanic, and would wipe every time, with the exception of PLD being silly with Clemency (which might not be possible with Evolved), or a Tank and 3 Dancers specifically. But with a Healer, the solution is literally just... press Medica3, or Succor, or Afflatus Rapture, once per 15s, and the mechanic's dealt with.

Obviously, those numbers would be more suited for a EX Roulette dungeon, but imagine something like... The Fixer, in M12S. It already does like 360k unmitigated, what if it did 360k unmitigated, AND also applied 100% of the damage it dealt as Heal Absorb? Mitigation would take that down to more like... 175k/175k HA, could people heal through 175k of Healing for the debuff, plus enough Healing/Barrier to survive the upcoming mechanic, before the Orbs of the next mechanic start hitting? With the kits we currently have, I think we probably could

[RaionKansen]

They do have a simple dps kit.

Pressing 111111111 and pressing 123123123123 + the few other cooldowns in both cases is all the same thing.

[ty_taurus]

They do have a simple dps kit.

Pressing 111111111 and pressing 123123123123 + the few other cooldowns in both cases is all the same thing.

I would rather let a tarantula lay eggs in my ear canal.

[Wildheaven182]

Remove vulnerability stacks below savage level. They make healing irrelevant if everyone is just on a 3 strikes youre out basis. Then you will also have the freedom to have much more damage output in boss fight content. Nonmechanical damage output that cant be avoided, both aoes and ocassionally targeting non tanks.
Thatll give healers sonething to heal so the lack of dps options isnt as important, i dont want to dps a lot when im playing healer.

And then on top of that, yes, give healers a simple dps rotation of some kind that is highly flexible so you can switch to healing at any moment without being punished.

The fanboys all just say no, all the design is perfect in my perfect game, youre the problem for having expectations instead of expressing your blind loyalty to the game.
Tired of that nonsense.