In this video I discuss my thoughts on the current jarring healer shortage that is plaguing Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker. This is a problem that goes way deeper than simply healers not being fun, but in the core designs of end game and raid encounters themselves.
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This video nailed the exact reason why healing and tanking is so not fun In ffxiv everything is pretty much just a dps in 14
Quick and easy fix, relax the DPS check for clears, while adding light to moderate unavoidable damage, so healers get to, ya know, heal.
I feel that on the dungeon level, I really hate how they leaned into mass pulling. No use in crying over what is missed, but on the boss side you nailed it on the head, while there's stream of aoe damage, that's not the hard part…but these bosses frequently have a 2 strikes and you're out mentality. I don't like either of these things, but don't expect it to change.
I hate savage content in ffxiv. It's just a test if you memorize all the mechanics. There is no fun in clearing until you do. And if you do, you dread of the moment that you have to do it the next week again.
Me and my fc have been calling healers green DPS and tanks blue DPS for a while. Healers since storm blood and tanks since shadowbringers at least. It's changes like emity generation, removal TP, removing DPS skills from healers, homogenization of skills, cross class skill. Changes like removing flash from pld, the cone on warrior, the overabundance of aoe skills, removal of stone skin, regens on shield healers, barriers on Regen healers, waymark locking in combat, asto cards being dumbed down, adle and feint gaining dual purpose, provoke change and removing it's aoe version, removal of eye for an eye, scholar janky pet and big faerie, also eating faerie, fighting meta builds with DPS buffs, giving rdm raise. That all fight against the combat design
Ya know its crazy I have played all of the big MMO's of the past like GW, FF11, WOW, Diablo 1, 2, 3, Runescape, and even used to frequent the old MMO directory forums back in the days meaning I've played a good chunk of MMO's, and I can say without a doubt Final Fantasy 14 has given me some of the most fun, and also some of the most boring times I have ever had in a video game. The gameplay is so unfulfilling. And its crazy because I love blue mage, and I love the story, but god damn the gameplay, dumb ass vertical gear progression (which imo is a bigger waste of time than any horizontal ever was), and inability sell half your shit meaning most things don't have value is so fuckin annoying. That and the insane lack of open world content that you can do with others without having to bribe people to be your friend.
It just sucks because when its fun its really fun but man when its not it really hurts. I mean ffs I started playing an old Pokemon MMO again and I shit you not the combat in that is more engaging lmfao. Even Brian from "Work To Game" has had enough and he quit FFXIV for New World.
Counter argument, while having a one button rotation is boring AF as you say, and to which i agree to a certain extent, I remember the days of Gordias where you had to stance juggle, have a rotation to keep up with, and fight mechanics layered on top of that. What happened back then? The raid scene completely died until they dumbed down the fights, relaxed the dps checks, and basically made savage on a difficulty level that would be somewhere between normal raid and extreme trials now. Hell, people were not even able to make it past Faust because despite what people argue about jobs being boring and too easy, when they're not, only a handful of people manage to actually get a clear and the raid scene is virtually non-existent. And if you think healers are rare now, they were even rarer back then because the level of involvement and responsibility that fell on them for every. single. thing. was immense. If you died, healers fault, if you didnt make the dps check, healers didnt dps enough etc. So healers were either God Tier, or thrash with 0 in between. That bs has died down now, so wtv people think about wanting more complex job, i will quote blizzard "You think you do, but you dont". That you don't like the encounter or job design is a matter of taste and opinions, but going as far as saying it's a "problem", not by a long shot. Complex jobs were much more problematic and the meta statistic show that the most played jobs are what? The easiest ones to play in each roles which pretty much contradicts directly every argument made against 1 button jobs, because statistically, they're the most played, while the complex jobs are the least played. Whether one likes it or not, 14 devs know their audience, and its, in the vast majority, an audience of midcore-casual and it's designed with those people in mind whether the hardcores like it or not because I can assure you that the only people complaining and being vocal about this issue are the hardcores, and yet, the game has never had a more thriving player base and a raid scene this active. So for 1 hardcore, they win 10 midcore that will play the exact same content. Money speaks, and they listen, there's not much we can do about it. But one thing that i did notice, is that the people who complain the most about it have this…elitist gatekeepery kinda mindset and would like the hardcore stuff to be catered for the TRUE hardcores only and screw the other 90% of the player base. And see, that's why the game is successful. It caters to the 90% of the silent majority who think the job and fight design is just fine. You don't like it, too bad, im not gonna cry over it and neither should you.
I mean, all of my friends that played for end game raiding have quit, so I feel like that's telling enough.
It went from fun to work for them and coming home from work to work another job in learning every single mechanic doing weekly practice really drained the enjoyment out for them.
Being the only casual MMO player in my friend group sucks too, because now none of my friends play FF14 and playing it on my own after the story is just… eh.
I did start playing Guild Wars 2 again though, and man, it REALLY highlights how FF14 nowadays has basically next to no class identity. As you mentioned with the homogenization of classes. Meanwhile in GW2 every class is so unique from one another and even within that same class, picking a different elite spec changes up how that class plays and feels almost entirely, it's nuts.
Endwalkers balance patches are a joke, tanks deal more dps than any dps class… and healers aren't far off… very cool square enix.
I agree, mostly, with this video. Even in basic content, as a WHM main, I mostly spam Holy III, Regen, and the occasional Aqua Veil or Divine Benison. If they want us to dps, give us more to do (like give Aero III for WHM), OR give us more chip damage that's important to keep healed up. The final fight in Shadowbringers is a good example. In that encounter, during the final 'phase' it was basically a really easy heal check.
I do think alot of healer's problems come from the two types of healers. Shield healers have pathetic raw healing as opposed to raw healers. So encounters have to coordinated so shield healers can do something. But it still feels, I dunno, lacking. Sure, Sage is a ton of fun, but it literally leans into the whole green dps deal.
Slight nitpick: Everquest used the holy trinity, its just not obvious. Your not going to be able to do anything from level 30+ without a tank and a healer, bare minimum. The difference was Everquest had a 'support' kind of role. Enchanters, Bards, sometimes Shaman (when there's a Cleric/Druid in the group), Necromancers, ect would do things like keep buffs maintained, stun/charm extra mobs that pulled, or spent most their time applying debuffs. I know its a pedantic thing, but as an old EQ vet, saying they weren't part of the holy trinity rubbed me the wrong way.
And as an old EQ vet, my biggest problem with this game (and kind of modern MMOs as a whole) is the roller coaster mentality they have with dungeons. Its mostly decoration around mobs and the bosses. Most dungeons, up to the bosses, just feel more same-y, minus its decor. Some of the dungeon decor is awe inspiring, and I'll give credit there, but meh.
As a healer main the issue with the healer shortage has nothing to do with a lack of damage options or their seemingly boring set healing schedule only spiced up by what mechanic fires off when, but rarther how much work needs to be done within current tier content to just be borderline relevant. A lot of undue pressure on their shoulders that many would just gear up and play their side jobs instead.
This hurts PF stuff quite a lot due to their pick up group nature (especially in NA regions where it's pretty much balls to the wall after a 15 second countdown for pre-pull shenanigans).
I can't say about non JPN DCs but Japan DC has plenty of healers. Many people have a healer job either as their main or alt job. It's not uncommon to have people switch to a healer if a group doesnt work out with the current class make up.
I love 14, but I agree with alot of what you said. I miss how 11 had pure support roles too. That and I feel like boss arenas in 14 could be so much more dynamic to make fights more interesting . Always the same arena layout with no use of platforms or nooks.
Tank = DPS with an Agro button
DPS = DPS
Healer = DPS with OGCD 3 heal skill
LeL so much for healing and tanking anymore what's that.
As a healer main I stopped healing back shadow bringers cues I was bored just 2 button DPSing.
Now am RDPS main but barely play anymore as just got bored.
Fights are dry as hell mob pulls are just always same.
Lower DPS checks, make mechanics that constantly emit damage.
Make so holding Agro is a thing.
Make so Fights not always a Dance.
Make so Mob pulls are sometimes 1 add that hits like truck and patrol and you can't big pull them.
Personally, I think they're just over streamlining everything so it's making it boring. It has it's pros and cons, and was working to an extent because in older MMOs, you saw less of this specific kind of issue but the systems in games like Everquest have their own host of problems as a result of those systems, which is ultimately why so many games have rejected that system or moved away from it. FF14 wants every job in each role to be able to do everything which makes them all kind of homogenous the more they push into it, dungeons are more and more linear, you wall to wall pull everything then fight a boss like 3 times and that's it now with no real variety anymore. Healers feel boring because they all just spam one attack like 90% of the time, there is no support role or buffs/debuffs anymore aside from damage buffs really with very rare exceptions, all jobs are moving to a strict 2 minute burst which severely limits boss design and job variety even more, and pure vs barrier healers causes issues because again, they want all jobs to do everything so there isn't really a situation where one or the other truly shines or has much difference at the end of the day. I wish they leaned into the fact we can swap jobs whenever we want, made the jobs in the roles have very clear strengths and weaknesses with big differences in kits and then just change how gearing and materia works to make it easier for players within a certain role to swap within all those available jobs to fill whatever role is needed in the comp or for the fight to really broaden what jobs can do. And they need to bring back support and debuff abilities IMO, maybe even things like elemental weakness and resistance or magical vs physical(although that would be harder with job design) because it's hit the point where they're streamlining the fun and variety out of the game and it's made it so everything kind of plays out the same way more and more with only one way to do each type of content. There is almost nothing seperating jobs anymore but DPS or buffs to DPS and every job feels like it has to be basically the same as all the others in the role as a result. Give me at least one healer that actually has a DPS rotation, I remember cleric stance and all the shenanigans from back in the day, there were issues but I'd honestly take that over where it's going where the fun is getting polished out.
I will agree 2 button DPS is not fun but i'm not sure there is actually any shortage of healer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIq2VzJlM24