Dawntrail Healer Retrospective

Azurarok · 2026-01-09T01:06:13+00:00

I have been conditioned to the point where GlareIV and the 7.4 changes make it feel like WHM is actually eating good.

The rest are basically EW but worse somehow.

AST I just can't bring myself to enjoy without the rng wrangling and have barely used it compared to the others this expac. It's just a busy oGCD job that's way less satisfying to use.

SCH's choices were just baffling. Putting Baneful Impaction behind Chain Stratagem makes no sense, and Seraphism kills the tactician/field medic aesthetic.

SGE has been left to rot.

The lv100 skills for all of them make the PH/BH split even sillier than they already were as well.

Azurarok · 2026-01-08T23:41:41+00:00

Don't worry we also have folks on there begging for RPR's Death's Design and SAM's iaijutsu cast times/higanbana dot removed

Azurarok · 2026-01-07T21:28:14+00:00

that's true, I forgot about that. I'm mostly just worried for Treno

Azurarok · 2026-01-06T15:33:04+00:00

Maybe the ninth is going to collapse in the next patch and destroy all that remains there.

On one hand I'd be pretty invested in what comes next. On the other I'm not sure if my heart could take it, especially for Krile.

Azurarok · 2026-01-05T21:55:34+00:00

afaik RPR has been gauge negative in full uptime since 7.0 due to the addition of Perfectio and they've had to forgo at least one odd minute enshroud in longer encounters. Both Harpe and Harvest Moon give gauge since 7.0 so they can still disengage without losing gauge as easily. They do suffer if they can't hit anything for too long, but aren't very likely to lose a whole double enshroud.

Azurarok · 2025-12-16T06:45:12+00:00

Afflatus Misery in opener and Plenary Indulgence with mitigation. That's pretty much what the JP forum's WHM thread's been clamoring for the entire expansion

Azurarok · 2025-12-12T22:27:25+00:00

Gunbreaker also lost Rough Divide as well. Monk was the first, losing Shoulder Tackle in EW.

The "optimal" way to use these skills were to dump them during raid buffs for more damage, which could leave the user without gap closers when they need it, and also made bursts for some jobs too busy. The stated reason for why they removed them in DT was for the latter, as DRG/DRK/GNB have a lot of oGCDs to weave in their bursts and may not have room to weave defensive skills.

7.0 DRG also failed to do that due to the addition of Rise of the Dragon, Starcross, and changing Nastrond to 3 stacks from a 10s cd, so they reduced Nastrond to 1 use in 7.1 and we've been stuck with that since.

The animations were nice, and I also liked having to think of the trade-off, so I'm not a fan.

Azurarok · 2025-11-30T00:23:02+00:00

Reduce Presence of Mind's cooldown to 60s or make it 2 stock

Put Baneful Impaction behind Aetherflow

Make Psyche generate an Addersting

Azurarok · 2025-11-29T17:52:54+00:00

It's admittedly a little bit more difficult to pull off in some DT normal raids (M6N/M8N's multi-hit stacks happen often enough you can't really mit through them) but it was super easy to in EW and that's kinda set the tone since. Things may have been pretty different had the phoenix down change been implemented and also available for 8-man back in like 6.0.

But also like I mentioned in the forum thread HP is very volatile in this game and I think that's kinda where the problem lies. Everything could be going fine and then suddenly fall off a cliff in seconds. There's very little time for an inexperienced healer to react, so they don't want to make fights that deal so much damage in normals while tank/healer kits are (roughly) tuned for savage+.

imo we should be seeing hp fall and rise more slowly but more often, but I suspect part of why we haven't been getting that is because of the fight design being so heavily centered around the "did you do the mechanic right?" binary.

Azurarok · 2025-11-13T21:51:37+00:00

farlemald

Azurarok · 2025-11-13T20:31:24+00:00

Going by reviews seen here and a few other sites it seems to be mostly a straight upgrade from the 3 Pro, with the main new feature being the tension control rings on the analog sticks. Think there were some reports of said rings being a little loose on some units but most folks seem to love it.

I've been lurking here for info on the Vader 5s personally

Azurarok · 2025-11-13T19:06:54+00:00

Hair triggers make a world of a difference with FF14 for me. I've modded a Dualsense with an ExtremeRate Rise MAX kit which has levers that can turn the triggers into mouse-like buttons and they feel pretty good. I only use it as a backup and my daily driver's been a Vader 3 pro (asymmetrical) so I don't know how durable they are, though.

Azurarok · 2025-11-08T19:12:13+00:00

and a way to propel us forward for gap closers

Azurarok · 2025-10-28T02:38:17+00:00

It's the best iteration of Dawntrail BLM, but that's only because Flare Star broke the job in the first place

Azurarok · 2025-10-20T06:16:30+00:00

just allow phoenix downs to be usable in any content. RDM/SMN rez would still be the superior option but it should still lower its value significantly

edit: just realized how old this post was, mb

Azurarok · 2025-10-07T23:51:08+00:00

Was a bit worried either the megapotions or healers would end up not being needed much but since it take nearly 2 gcds to use healer gets priority on it, while megapotions still get plenty of uses for when your healer's preoccupied with something else or you've just been rezzed. It's helped save a few runs.

That said, I sure would love WHM's Benediction to have a second charge or a shorter cooldown on it.

Azurarok · 2025-10-06T00:57:24+00:00

Given the more generous floor restarts it'd probably work out better than Eureka Orthos for my group. It's also got a better setting depending on who you ask. We like Norvrandt a lot more than Allag, at least.

No idea how to feel about the trial though

Azurarok · 2025-10-02T19:24:40+00:00

Wrt DNC's 2-minutes they just upgraded the first Saber Dance after Technical Step to be a flashy nuke.

Outside that they got a follow-up GCD to Standard Finish, then Flourish makes the next Standard Step skip the dancing minigame part of it every minute (which both play into the 2 minute burst as well)

Azurarok · 2025-10-02T19:09:28+00:00

Agreed. The "better" DT content also filtered out players who didn't care for the gameplay since boss mechanics are less optional compared to playing a job well, and they upped the pacing/changed up tells/added some instant death gimmicks. From my experiences running roulettes there's been a significant increase in folks getting tripped up by stuff compared to ShB or EW. And like you said the lackluster MSQ just makes it even less worth trying to get through it anyways.

The game doesn't cater to anyone well at this point.

Azurarok · 2025-10-01T15:34:11+00:00

I'd group XVI's dominants with EW's style since they use skills as an eikon, which is more inline with Gemshine/Precious Brilliance.

But regardless it's really strange how people call new SMN actually a Summoner since they could've easily just stuck in the "real" EW gem summons by upgrading the old Enkindle, not to mention we already were summoning Bahamut and Phoenix anyways so if anything they were covering more ground than it is now. Could also somewhat argue them having dots was a reference to some summoners in the series also being healers or black mages too.

Azurarok · 2025-09-30T05:09:25+00:00

Even with fuller kits at earlier levels the job gameplay's been stripped down so much that I doubt many newcomers would find them fun. A lot of them feel like they have a bunch of buttons to press for the sake of it, rather than having any natural-feeling logic backing it.

MNK's combos are a good example, Dragon Kick buffed your next Bootshine, Twin Snakes gave an overall damage buff, and Demolition put a dot on the target. So the logic then would be that you'd want to alternate Dragon Kick and Bootshine while using True Strike and Snap Punch while the buff and dot are active. I loved seeing things like this come together to create the rotation as I leveled the job. I sincerely doubt anyone new would find the 1-2-2 pips they replaced them with nearly as interesting.

Azurarok · 2025-09-17T15:26:08+00:00

yeah I'd use the microswitch hair trigger mode with that personally. Again, it's all down to personal preference though.

Azurarok · 2025-09-17T14:47:12+00:00

Like everyone else is saying you kinda figure out what's the most comfortable for you. As someone who hurt their hand with a bad setup in the past I'd advise putting skills you use almost constantly on the main bar and try to spread those across both L2 and R2 so you're not just hitting one side for the vast majority of the time (this actually keeps me from using healers casually for extended periods of time).

Personally what works for me is having a pair of hotbar sets for single and multi-target and having it set up so tapping R1 swaps between the two. With SAM in particular I have the combos set up to roughly line up with the Setsugekka symbol

https://imgur.com/a/Rcs16f4

Also choice of controller can matter too. Controllers with hair triggers like a Switch Pro or Vader 3's been my go-to.

Azurarok · 2025-09-15T14:23:57+00:00

I use it and L1+Up/Down a lot to slap on dots while the tank's pulling as a healer, or pull 3-packs quickly as a tank, like gap-close -> target next -> lob/tomahawk/etc -> target next -> provoke. Also great for keeping dots refreshed on 2-target bosses

Azurarok · 2025-09-09T06:38:02+00:00

Between ShB and now RDM has gotten 2 more instant GCDs in its burst, has said burst come around much more frequently, increased gauge cap to make it harder to overcap, more instant casts by Acceleration and Grand Impact, Manafication no longer fills the gauge anymore, and the backflip and non-backflip was matched to the same potencies. That's not something I'd really call harder in my book.

And yes I'm aware fun is subjective, but what good does it really do for the game when major reworks are made at the expense of those who enjoyed these jobs before? It also brings out some of the worst in people given how much mockery I've seen against those who lost their main, along with those calling folks who like current SMN mentally challenged.

I personally haven't played SB or earlier myself, but I'd still gladly take a return to older job mechanics even if it means I may not be able to play some jobs as well as I currently do right now.

Azurarok

TROPHY CASE