And maybe how you can love it too! Healer gets snubbed in Final Fantasy XIV—some people think it’s boring, but I’ve come around to it through huge hits of copium and now I genuinely think it’s actually fun (in its own way*). I don’t go into the jobs much here, but rather as a Healer main why I enjoy the role itself. It should be obvious through the occasional clipped GCD in the footage, but I’m not a top player by any means. I’m just like, a guy with some Savage and (incomplete) Ultimate experience.
Hopefully you learn something and feel inspired to get out there and kill some tanks!
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Personally always loved playing as a healer in every game I've played. Definitely agree with your mindset, healing this tier is lots of fun. So many mechanics going out which requires more constant heals going out. I feel more like a healer now more than I ever did the last 5 years of playing ffxiv. Great video 👍
I started as archer then went on to become both bard and RDM where DPS buttons started to overwhelm me so I picked up AST in HW coz I wanted to "heal" as RDM but it didn't go well and guess what, I was hooked.
It might look stressful that I have to manage cards distribution, heal, buff and dps but I find it more engaging and I can focus on the whole thing that's happening on the floor instead of worrying what's my next attack combo should be
I am now a healer main with AST, Sage, and WHM
as a person that PFed this savage tier, same for the previous ones, in several roles, I would say, you are not all the mit in the group, for example WHM has minimal tools to mitigate a hit, but your random NIN9000 has a feint that could be put to good use
I felt SO called out when you said the line about "games that trick your brain into thinking you're a productive human being" 😂 I've been a healer main since ARR and you've done a great job putting into words why I love the role so much
I much prefer healing over tanking. I don’t like leading the group lol
what boots are you using as glam at 7:50?
Healer's difficulty curve has two factors that impact it. Your level, and the IQ of your team.
If you've got a freestyle Samurai, a thunder mage, and a warrior that doesn't know that they have other cool-downs besides Shake it Off, its gonna be a bad time no matter how good you are at your class of choice :V
I’m that one newbie whose level 35 run went terribly. To be fair, it’s because I’m terrible at moving and am still figuring out Keybinds etc., but I’m learning, so I guess all’s well what will, in time get better
I generally refer to my role as a healer main as Idiot management. My job is not to kiss every scrape better, its to make sure the idiots are on their feet and poking the enemies. I'm a generous and benevolent goddess though and will generally keep them above half health… unless the first thing I see in party chat is "does your husband know you're dressed like that" then.. I'm sorry you are going to die repeatedly. Healing in ff14 is half god complex and half masochistic 'why the hell do i do this to myself' but.. having played many an mmo it does strike a very nice balance.
I usually play all roles and always wonder why healer is so hated despite being BLM with extra steps(and no BEEG DAMAGE). I mean, it's all about optimizing your postioning, using your resources properly and coordinating with the other healer in order to enable the party to do said BEEG DAMAGE. You always have something to do when it comes to hard content, especially in PF. Babysitting and adjusting is the fun part. Ofc, there's always a point when it's not you who has to do so when the DPS and the Tank don't hit any defensives, but it's largely what you're meant to do.
Imagine if you could do DPS by healing.
finally a video on healing that's actually relatable ;3; tysm for this ♥
there was actually a fair comparison between BLM gameplay and healer gameplay prior to Endwalker: that being, restricted movement, scarce weaving windows, and tools to work around those. Before 6.0, AST was the only healer with a 1.5 second cast time. WHM and SCH were essentially BLM-lite, with their DPS spells taking up the entire GCD. Your job was to be a Glare/Broil/Malefic turret that was BEGGING for a chance to weave heals (without losing a DPS cast, or clipping). Each healer had a unique method of working around this problem:
– White Mage probably had this issue the worst. Now that healer DoTs last 30 seconds, that meant you only got ONE free movement/weave window every 30 seconds. The only other instant cast you had was Lily heals. Afflatus spells felt like gasping for air while you've been drowning the entire fight. But WHM being encouraged to use their heals for movement/weaving sounds perfectly fine, right? It would've been, if Afflatus Misery didn't happen to be a DPS loss (at the time). You lost one Glare cast for every Misery you used. This is how we ended up with a situation where optimal WHMs wanted to heal as little as possible, while their co-healer picked up most of the slack. Both because WHM lacks the powerful oGCD heals SCH/AST have, AND the windows to actually use them freely.
– Scholar was in a similar situation, since Broil had the same long cast time. Thankfully, you had Ruin II as your instant cast alternative. It was a potency loss over Broil, but you could at least continue doing damage while using your oGCD abilities and moving. On top of that, weaving Energy Drain after Ruin II actually turned it into a (very tiny) potency GAIN over Broil. So optimization was a game of doing as much as you could within these Ruin II windows, and using as many Aetherflow stacks on Energy Drain as possible.
– Astrologian, again, had the 1.5 second cast time before anyone else. One free oGCD per Malefic cast. This was downright necessary because of the sheer amount of buttons AST presses. However, many times even that wasn't enough. Between the healing oGCDs, Redraw spam (you had three charges and could redraw the same seal every time), and Sleeve Draw throwing THREE extra cards at you during burst, you still needed more weaves. This is where Lightspeed really shined, and still does today
and obviously, every healer had Swiftcast and slidecasting available, so you'd be using those for some BLM-style shenanigans
All that being said, while all of this added some more depth to the 111121111 healer gameplay, I wouldn't say this was a substitute for a proper rotation. The higher skill ceiling was fun, but it felt bad going through hoops just to use your cooldowns. This is why everyone got their hopes up for Sage, thinking it would be the Gunbreaker of healers… Only for it to be more of the same. No rotation to speak of. It does, however, have what I want to see more of: stacking oGCDs with synergy. I don't necessarily want a full on tank rotation, but I DO enjoy pressing multiple buttons to make good things happen. I can only hope that the devs lean into trying to make this direction more interesting
Same. I dont mind healer being simple either. Current raid tier is a killer if your support roles (tanks and healers) arent up to snuf, so a simplified rotation isnt that bad. Personally, I have no problem doing GDC heals. They are part of my kit and if the others are on cd, well, than they are on cd. I wont go to FF14-jail and I wont have to pay a fine when I do when the boss is dead and the team still stands. Parse and optimization can be fun if thats the kind of gameplay for you, but personally, I just want the boss dead. And if I waste a GCD to get there, then, hell yeah, Imma waste that GCD 😀
the only thing i hate about ff14 comunity is MENTORS, my brother in law started as a summoner, but played scholar allot since i was a paladin so we get super fast dungeon queues, EVERY mentor we had belittled him that he also has dmg spells and he shouldnt just heal me, meanwhile they pulled more than i was comfortable with and where out there to kill me, while my bro struggled to even heal.
so in the end he stopped playing for like 4 months, and when he came back he is now a tank/dps main and doesent even wanna play healer anymore.
"Not satisfy any AFK mercy mains" YOU MADE ME CACKLE. TAKE A SUB.
3:29 I'm gonna disagree there. Most modern content is designed to give the OPTION to pull wall to wall to wall, but if you try that with sub par gear your gonna get bodied no matter how many CDs you use. and with how gearing in this game works you may not have an option BUT to go in and do it with small pulls. Your getting that impression from that sweet sweet blue tome gear your probably running as well as the tank is probably running. Not from the actual design of the dungeon. You might say "well yeah gear properly duh" but if the game says "If you have the iLevel to enter you should be able to clear" then where are we? If the dev meant for you to do large pulls they would spawn large pull on you. Giving the players "the out" so to speak proves that the devs intend for you to do what ever pull method works to get you through the dungeon.
Since Stormblood I was main tank and I was like nah I dont need to use rampart the healer can handle the damage but now that I am main healer I know undertand the importance of teamwork and communication. I fell in love with healer I would adore to have at least a continuation combo of my single target but it is a great role. Nice Video keep growing friend.
The problem about healer is that the entire job category is a challenge to get used too at the start. But after doing healer for some time and learning the good use of ogcd you effectively become a 1 button spam machine with no good ways of optimization. As dps or tank have situations we’re you can hold raid buffs for specific situations or greed for more gcds we’re as healer you have these sleep moment because you know the fight and realize there is year of downtime between aoe attacks the boss does. Like even with 1 or 2 dead people in extrem or savage fights you have almost always the time too pick people up before you reach the big mechanics. And even then quick thinking does nothing as healer if the mechanic wipes you with less then 8 people alive. Fun thing as a healer is learning the fight and plan ogcds and sadly that’s mostly it.
I’m a DPS main (mainly Reaper) but being the way I am, I don’t want to be stuck in tunnel vision with roles, so I also want to feel comfortable on healer and tank. I’m pretty comfortable on my lvl 90 Sage now at least in content up to Shadowbringers (am yet to try Endwalker dungeons on Sage as I’m mostly playing with my boyfriend who’s leveling another job at the moment, and with two friends who are still sprouts and not yet in Endwalker) and I even heal alliance raids now despite saying I’d never run them as anything else than DPS just weeks ago 😅 Working a bit on GNB as well at the moment but I’m nowhere near as comfortable on tank as on DPS or healing. I’m not yet raiding, but do intent to get there eventually as well. I’m only just about to reach 6 months of playing FFXIV without having previous experience from similar games so there’s a lot to learn both with roles and mechanics for me.
And Sage is a lot of fun, there’s even a chance it might be my new main or may become the job I main. Also makes it easier for friends when there’s a designated healer on the party when we do dailies so no one has to change jobs for us to run a party of four
loved the healer speech at the end. picked up sage for the aesthetic after maining RDM till endwalker and havent looked back.i love popping barriers to make a mechanics almost trivial.
but i do hope they add some more love to the dps rotation. even a single ogcd or a combo, just something
Your view on the healer role is exactly like mine. I don't ear it worded as you do often. It's crazy how many players are afraid or uninterested in the role while to me it feels so easy and comfortable in casual content / roulettes.
"Find a job that comes in brown or blue"
Huhhhhhh……???
I'm a healer in absolutely every game I play that offers healer roles. The green dps philosophy is the one thing that kills my interest in playing FF14 every time I start playing it as soon as I reach max lvl.
I love early game dungeons where you still actively heal but as soon as you get to 70 or so and all you do is 21,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1,1. It get's soooo boring. Imho the game would be better if they would just give everyone a way for self health generation and remove healers. Would solve so many problems.
I moved away from main healer because I think he is far away from a engaged experience. I don't play savage, but I would prefer do healers be almost like dancers.
I stared WHM, played til 70 basically just that. Since branching out a lot, I feel like there's literally a healer for anyone. WHM is the most "chill", even in higher content your usually the team "Oh S*it" button. SCH really relies on Galvanize and OGCds, so they feel pretty active. AST for if you constantly want to be doing something basically at all times. SGE feels the most like a DPS class, especially with Toxikon and Phlegma, but also it's reliance on shielding.
One odd note is that SGE doesn't have a DOT until Eukrasia, level 30, so it's awfully boring to play synced.
Ended up becoming a healer main in ShB and then again later now in EW. I think they made healing more fun between the 4 jobs. My only issue is I wish they’d make DPS more interesting, since that’s still what you’re pressing most often. Even something like SMN’s burst phase would be cool. L I’ve know healers who stopped playing because they found the DPS boring, which is apparent anytime you’re doing things solo like quests or Trusts.
I would say it also depends on the healer class too because all four are different from each other. I remember how when Sage was announced to be the new 'shield healer', I thought I would be completely fine with it since I main Scholar… I was totally wrong, lol. I now find Sage kinda… Like a mix between Scholar and White Mage weirdly enough. It's not a bad class at all, I'm just not used to of it yet. Also, when testing a class at the beginning, the feel for it is a completely different feeling from when you get fully used to of it. I remember I didn't really like White Mage back then, but now, I'm completely fine with it. The healer classes, even though the same role, they have a somewhat different way of playing them and you still need to have plenty of practice before you can truly get good at it. Even if you are a main healer.
But yeah, I honestly agree with your video. In fact, what you said made me realize why I love playing Scholar so much. On how you'll have times when you have to do something right away in a short amount of time because someone messed something up. The feeling of being the group's hero when you saved them from a wipe truly feels good when you are always nervous on how well you will do (especially those times when it's that one trial that you haven't done in a few years and you aren't sure you can remember all the mechanics). But yeah, the healer class is definitely for those thrill seeking players, but also for any players who are unsure about themselves who wants a confidence boost when they find out they are doing fine (And probably better than some other players).
I agree with your view of healer I went from low use of my healer classes to now playing mostly white mage and loving the fact that there so much chaos going on and the responsibility to keep everyone up and creating more of it
You explain exactly why I love healing in this game!!
It's a nice sentiment and all, but why is no-one talking about how this absolute deviant has his map BETWEEN his hotbars?!?!
Nice video and lovely bunny!🥰
My first class was a pugilist then Monk. Realize I had no idea what I was doing so I chose healer to learn the game a little better. I am so much more powerful now and they will all pay…..
Healing is easy until it isn't. That's the best way I can describe it.
Wait… healer is hated?
As a 3700 bap Lucio main healing is fun in this game. I will say your mercy main remark fits as I see who cant juggle the in between.
I sometimes see people freeze up when they play healer not knowing what they should be doing when the damage comes in hot and heavy. I personally go with an ordered list of importance for who gets it first.
1: ME, if I am dead I'm not healing anybody.
2: The TANK, if they are dead then I become enemy number one and suddenly I fail at item number one.
3: Any Redmage in the group, Pocket rezbot FTW. Co-healers also fit into this slot if there are any in the group.
4: EVERYBODY ELSE.
Once your party is put into that ordered list its easy to know who gets your heals first and who its ok to let die if it will save somebody higher on that list. And if nobody on that list is going to die in the next 5 seconds then ITS RAINING FLASHBANGS!… erm.. I mean Holy spam at least twice (spaced out to take advantage of stun duration) and then glare em down when the pack is under 4 mobs remaining.
I both agree and disagree with this, and this is my personal opinion. To me, healing's only ever been exciting in uncontrolled environments like Party Finder or random queues because you don't know what to expect from the people around you, it's sad to say but for me the only time I feel particularly excited playing healer (as I've done for Savage, Week 1 Savage and Ultimate) is when a pull is scuffed, multiple people are dying and everyone's screaming. THEN and only then does the healer class require me to make spot decisions, quickly coordinate revives and decide which cooldowns you can use within barely enough time for the next mechanic.
In controlled environments like statics, and the time-line scripted boss mechanics, my healing rotation demands about as much thought as my DPS rotation, which is to say, it requires none. I look at a fight's timeline, discuss with my co-healer where I'll be using what, and then press that button when the time rolls around to do so. Since boss mechanics are scripted the way they are, I know for a FACT that I do NOT require that specific cooldown at any other point while it is on cooldown, making the 'oh but you need to be thinking about how to do DPS while healing' almost completely irrelevant because it is just a static rotation of set cooldown intervals that you keep to.
This counts for both Savage AND Ultimate, and is also why I heavily dislike Yoshi-P's comment of "Just play Ultimate if I want to derive pleasure from playing healer", Ultimate isn't designed any differently from other content, nor are the healing checks in there. It feels like a really shallow and ignorant way to wave off some of the troubles people have been having with FFXIV's healer design following Shadowbringers and onward.
To me it is an unfortunate combination of Square Enix' method of designing healer classes and the way fights are designed in this game. I love playing healer, I play healer or support in almost every other game I play, but I just can't find the same measure of enjoyment out of FFXIV's healing than out of other games. I still play it because it's my primary class and I'll always be a support oriented player, but I find it a huge shame that rather than expand on Healers, SE's decision for the past few expansions has been to burn away healer complexity almost completely.
Before I get called out, I'm not trying to undermine anyone's enjoyment. I'm just stating my observations and experiences as a healer player playing healer in FFXIV. I am of course open to discuss (if its civil) because I love talking about stuff like this.
What's your glam shoes?
That's why I also love healing but sometimes I like to just afk mode and I've never dps mained before so went dragoon this time around! I justify it because I provide buffs AND my "utility" is melting things so it goes faster. I also love the none instant ques I can level BLU or crafting while I wait.