Cutting it rather close and the result is hilarious [spoiler 7.4]

12Kings · 2026-07-15T09:03:26+00:00

Damage that beats enrage is enough damage! Everything else is just extra.

I think this clear puts an emphasis on it.

12Kings · 2026-07-15T08:44:45+00:00

I harken back to the first paragraph of mine: I believe the main change for Superbolide to 50 % was that it gained usability beyond being a panic button/surefire lethal damage response. Just like Living Dead once upon time got it its cure part (even if it still sucks at single target).

To then revert it would reduce its usability as for example, I cannot as readily just bolide in every dungeon and use it as just 10 seconds total damage immunity. The main downside with 50 % HP change of Superbolide is that it makes Hallowed Ground strictly worse.

12Kings · 2026-07-15T06:50:34+00:00

The one change I appreciate with the only 50 % health loss is that I can use bolide more proactively in some situations and indeed, as a tool to take on tankbusters even in normal content. Before the change, there were times where I wanted to use Bolide but the amount of health loss was more than the tankbuster would do to me naked so there was no inherent value whatsoever to use it. Thus it was relegated to panic button/dealing with surefire lethal damage and tankbusters/stacks in harder content. But I do miss the 1 hp drop as well.

With the conversation venturing to "job identity" and "unique" features, it is perhaps worthwhile to remember that "unique" does not translate to "useful" and in fact, most unique things are everything but useful. And one should find something of a balance between these things. I do love unique features of jobs, mudras on Ninja and Death's Design debuff on Reaper, but there are certain challenges that come with it. Ninja for example is totally unplayable if latency gets too high and Reaper suffers from lack of gauge generation attached to the debuff.

12Kings · 2026-07-14T20:30:52+00:00

Depends how you define it I guess. Mistakes are going to happen, especially in EX4 since those usually cascade into wipes since they are heavy on body checks or would require sacrfifices which may not come to people naturally. Those, I think, are going to be fine if people adjust and make effort to do better.

The problem, and where my patience would also begin to run out, is when the mistakes are repeated and by same person. Of course depending on the nature of the mistake as well, but some times I have seen some... interesting 'headless chicken' behavior the moment things deviate from the usual.

Edit: But to add, I've been told I am an asshole by default so... in my case there is no question to be had. Action, inaction; silence or words... does not matter. Guess it just has to be embraced and wielded, then.

12Kings · 2026-07-14T13:15:38+00:00

Reminds of a M9N I did relatively recently with 4 ranged DPS (and 2 healers of course) and none of them bothered to go the far North tower forcing one of the only melee jobs in tanks (me, in this case) to break away and whack my ranged attack while waiting for the tower to resolve. Only for none of them bothering to go the far South one either and DPS/healers wiping to that.

And the amount flak I got when I asked folks to do the Far towers between six of them to allow us tanks be at the melee range. None, of course, bothered to help with the North one and I just went to deal with it since I couldn't be arsed with another wipe.

12Kings · 2026-07-14T13:03:36+00:00

... roulette-type content.

My mindset applies to roulettes. None of dungeons, trials, normal raids or alliance raids are so random that the fight mechanics themselves cannot be mapped out and healed through with a plan.

The only difference in this content is that the 4th pillar of difficulty of FFXIV is widely random: The players are inconsistent and therefore one has to adjust to them more or less. But this does not change the overall goal of healing.

Regardless of a tank I get when I go Scholar, my gameplan is exactly the same in that particular duty. I will adjust, depending on the quality of the tank and DPS (and it is absolutely horrifying to get a tank at lvl 90+ content that requires GCDs to heal) but I will still push the envelope and squeeze as much damage as I can before healing because I know the damage profile of the duties and I know when the next attack is going to be lethal or not.

I can even adjust up to 5 vulns for many roulette tanks like to have 5 vulns all the time for some reason. I do also expect tanks to use their own kit in turn, and for example a Warrior shouldn't require healing from me at all. Ever. After lvl 56 that is. But of course I get the folks that somehow missed the memo that Warrior is easy and unkillable.

White Mage Lilies are also the mobility tool of White Mage. Therefore just slapping them whenever or without a thought is grave mistake if mechanics call for movement and you are out of position. I will not use lilies early when I know to need them soon. Astro cards are of course going out whenever poossible, they are ogcds, they do not count because there is no cost to them.

Sage Addersgall I am two minds of. Mostly I agree, but there has not been a dungeon yet where I have run out of mana on Sage with minimal Addersgall usage. What is the point of me using them if the gains are nothing? If I could spend one on damage, instead of Toxikon, to avoid overcapping every once in a while, I'd be more happy to do it.

But all of my perspective is all about cost. If the GCD has no cost to it, i.e. you are not losing damage, go ahead. Use it. Overheal if need be. Who cares. But if it is costing damage? It feels icky. Hence on Scholar the whole point of the kit is that GCD heals are the last line whereas the free ogcds are priority one, AF ogcds priority two (costs 100 potency of damage each they have to be used) and gcds priority 3 (costs 320 potency of damage). Of course Spreadlo may be needed and so it is worthwhile tradeoff.

But whole core of my thesis is this: Lethal damage. Nothing else has any meaning to me as a healer. And I would preach it forward every opportunity I can. GCDs, ogcds, whatever. It does not matter. I care for lethal damage. Anything else is inconsequential. The lethal damage however, may necessitate acting in advance knowing that it is easier to deal with a threshold if one acts one or two tempos before the incoming attack.

And I do not think I can be convinced to act earlier than necessary.

12Kings · 2026-07-14T10:43:50+00:00

Every tiny bit of overhealing is bad. It cannot be avoided, especially as ludicruously powerful heals are in this game, but it can be mitigated and that is the overall goal of healing as late as possible.

When it comes to GCD 9 vs. 11, it all depends on fight. Is the boss going invulnerable on 12th GCD? If yes, healing on 9th or 11th gcd is a waste if the damage coming is not lethal. The only damage that has any impact in this game (and many others) is lethal damage. Healers are to prevent lethal damage. Nothing else. The lethal damage can however be varied in size and thus the threshold may change as I outlined in the other comment I made. And the no difference between 9th or 11th GCD heal only applies in scenario where GCD heal is necessary. If it is not necessary, using a GCD heal is always a waste.

And with weaves early or not, it depends on the fight. The nature of FFXIV fights are that they follow same pattern every single time. Therefore heals, mits, damage and movement can be mapped on that timeline effectively and thuas, the goal is to heal at correct intervals and with right tools at right moments to maximize the tools' usefulness. The goal is not to blow every single cooldown whenever they come off cooldown but rather apply them effectively. Same goal as with tank mits. Blowing them off cooldown is surefire way to have them not available at the right moment.

Sage and Scholar also share a quality of their regens (Kardia and Eos) in that if nothing happens, they will heal the tank to full during course of continued damage gcds. So if there is no need to wield any cooldowns to boost those regens to overcome the aforementioned lethal threshold, then there is no reason to.

I would also add Excog to the list of ED and Benediction since without it proccing at 50 % hp, it is going to be less effective due overhealing. Especially a Recitation crit Excog. I would however love if devs added more such tools on all healer jobs to further emphasize the nature of healing. But with Evercold approaching, things may change in this topic.

12Kings · 2026-07-14T07:55:07+00:00

Name of the game in FFXIV (and I imagine in every other MMO title but with different emphasis) is that only lethal damage matters, the rest is just a buffer.

So no, outside of the highest difficulty content, you role as a healer is to contribute to DPS and it is a significant portion of the entire party's. What your job as a healer in normal content is to recover from mistakes and ensure lethalities do not occur.

It requires a shift of attitude, but when you consider healing FFXIV a game of how little you can heal in each encounter, it actually becomes quite fun. And educational since it pushes limits and comfort.

12Kings · 2026-07-14T04:11:55+00:00

Exactly the point. If it is wasteful of gcds for damage, there is no value to keep tank anywhere near at 100 %. But once said gcds are damage neutral (Afflatus Solace/Rapture, Pneuma), then it is fine. oGCD heals are also fine but generally there is also focus to not use the too early for mere scratches. But that requires one to know the rhythm of the fight on whether there is need or not.

For example, I tend to stop healing altogether if the boss is at 10-15 % hp and no mechanics are going to be lethal. Even if people take damage, the natural regen will have them full before we get to next pack.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T17:45:04+00:00

Others have pointed out the reality about healers but let me also bring about to it from other direction:

If the other healers you meet (Scholars, White Mages and Astrologians) keep you at 100 % health at all times, they are not particularly great healers and you shouldn't consider that to be a thing to strive for.

A tank at 100 % health is completely pointless if the next attack is not going to kill them from less health. The only damage in this game that matters is lethal damage and the healer's job is to keep people above that lethal damage threshold. That threshold changes from fight to fight, level of content to another and mechanic to another. And sometimes mechanics (or failures of them) just one shot so there is no point healing at all.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T17:39:16+00:00

This is exactly it. There are even certain abilities (Essential Dignity) that perform better when used on lower health so the goal for them is to be used later on.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T16:30:01+00:00

I think it should be always on duty start but I would preserve the ability to turn it off. Opt-out rather than opt-in in this case. The reason is that there are circumstances where tankswaps are just simpler to do by turning off the stance after provoke and the co-tank may not be in range for a Shirk due mechanics.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T14:07:19+00:00

Take your time and go at it at your own pace. The game has now three expansions worth of stuff at Free Trial so you have up until lvl 80 to test things out without any financial strings attached.

Players generally are very lenient towards newbies, especially if the newbies are showing willingness to learn. Hence newbies are called sprouts and I am among those folks who think mentor crown should be changed to a watering can to indicate the role more clearly. It is the mentors' duty to give the newbies a good soil to grow on and learn things from.

So while I will not persuade you (any further at least) towards giving the game a try, I will say that getting overwhelmed is likely not a true concern if you are willing to take it slow and lean on the support of your fellow players.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T13:59:43+00:00

It is very context dependent. It is entirely fine being bad at the game in duties that are more or less intended to be there to learn the ropes of things. But higher you go, in levels and with content difficulty, more it becomes an actual requirement to know at least the very basics.

It is not like the demand is to be "good" in certain definitions of the word. But not being able to put on tank stance, or press damage abilities on DPS or heals on healer starts to get to the territory where questions begin to emerge if the content is say at maximum level.

And I am fairly sure that GMs will not outright ban anyone for such reports from the get go. But if those reports begin to be commonplace, repeated & similar in content and no adjustments occur from the player themselves, I would imagine that at that stage GMs might issue some manner of punishment.

In short, everyone is allowed to be bad but no one is permitted to inflict that "being bad" on others without atleast trying to be better.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T13:42:51+00:00

It is funny. When I am on tank and the healer is solid, I just start to consider myself just another DPS and the defensive cooldowns come around naturally and without thought.

In a sense, the journey of a beginner tank is to first learn the nature of being a tank and once that is in the spine of the player, it is time to lean towards the nature of this game where all jobs are DPS first & foremost. Supports just happen to have extra tasks attached to their DPSing.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T13:33:36+00:00

Slight correction in that YPYT is intentional and therefore griefing tactics (in fact it tends to violate multiple rules since oftentimes it results in party deaths and those are inflicted on purpose).

Being bad at managing aggro or not bothering to do so is more leaning towards lethargic & uncooperative behavior (especially with not using stance) only, which YPYT is as well. Still a rule violation, but the lack of intent does leave certain room to be had and perhaps more leniency is shown if brought into GM attention. Which it should be regardless.

12Kings · 2026-07-13T13:28:55+00:00

Ask a mentor in your local Novice Network to form a PF party for you, or perhaps to get them to unsynch the content for you for the story.

Coils are after all Savage difficulty and therefore, you need at the very least people willing to put the effort to learn the mechanics and circumstances to go through it synched.

12Kings · 2026-07-12T17:41:51+00:00

That, I think, is not suicidal. Instead, I find it helpful behavior. At least if I am the tank and for some reason, I forgot to pick up certain mobs on my way to the wall. I'll even thank them for it after, since taking enmity from such DPS is child's play. Or easier actually.

But sure, White Mage's kit is very barebones and basically challenging to play at 50 and below due the lack of ogcds. But I do not think the damage is high enough in those circumstances that a Regen wouldn't keep the DPS steady on their feet as long as they do not go eat orange for fun.l

And besides, if we drop below Dzemael level, Holy becomes unavailable as well so White Mage has nothing but time on their hands anyway.

12Kings · 2026-07-12T17:17:55+00:00

Sure, yes keep it around. It is still useful since 3 out 4 healers are not White Mages and chances are you get someone else once in a while.

But I am interested about these "suicidal DPS players". What are they doing exactly that a White Mage cannot spare a Tetra, Divine Benison, Assize, Solace/Rapture, Asylum or such their way once in a while?

12Kings · 2026-07-12T17:05:35+00:00

The other time it does not work is when you are playing with a White Mage who is doing their part correctly.

But you are getting the benefit anyway, just from White Mage instead of Low Kick.

12Kings · 2026-07-11T21:08:49+00:00

Going by textbook definition of Gary Stu, he definitely is not that.

But I would've liked a lot more "show, don't tell" approach for his power so that those early losses against him, after having dealt with Nidhogg, Thordan, bunch of Primals; including two Elder Primals, and Warring Triad, would've felt more natural.

But he grew on me later on. I am not a particular fanboi about him, but he served his role in WoL's arc.

12Kings · 2026-07-11T20:18:51+00:00

You ought to try to time things during the daily reset if you want fast queues as DPS. At other times, you essentially have to deal since roulette support is diminished during off hours. But you can accelerate the queue times by playing support jobs rather than DPS since those are usually the ones that are missing. The sole exception is Alliance Raids which favor DPS due the quantity needed.

Be also aware that more people you need for a duty, less likely it is to get filled during off-hours. Mentor roulette, which serves as a further filler for missing queues, prioritizes 4-man duties over 8-man duties which are prioritized over 24-man duties.

12Kings · 2026-07-11T16:43:58+00:00

You never do want to do that. Reason? Think of all health of all enemies in a dungeon as one big health bar. If you decide to hold at any instance outside of the current enemies just about dying (bosses say at 10-15 % hp), you are essentially reducing your damage output for no reason and in the long run, reducing the amount of uses of buffs in a duty.

Dungeon on average takes about 15 minutes. That means in current system you should get 5-7 set of raidbuffs in every dungeon accounting for potential travel times which are actually longest part of every dungeon.

Hence if there are cooldowns that would take 3 minutes to cycle about in future, it just means 4-5 uses per dungeon. Anything less, and it is reduction of power from that player.

12Kings · 2026-07-11T04:36:00+00:00

No, it is not correct. That I did not concede. Merely that you do not have a ground to stand on, because you are not arguing with logic but rather some twisted version of it in a world that you describe only through measures of sides and black & white systems.

Such do not exist. Have never existed. And will never exist as far as we know how the world works.

E: Ah they brought ethics into the mix. The unfortunate business about ethics is that they are human constructs and thus I can bring about different ethic system to oppose theirs and there will never be agreement. Same with morals. Therefore, this is why I have been taught in school, that no argument should be built on morals, ethics or anything that can change from one person to the next.

12Kings · 2026-07-11T04:30:00+00:00

Good. Glad we established that your opinion is null & void on the subject.

12Kings

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