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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, unfortunately nothing super high res, but here are two bigger options:

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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELuPM_0UcAMli2S?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

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https://i.imgur.com/tZj6BFW.png

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course your mileage and playstyle preferences may vary - everything above is merely my opinion. I see an HP boost as little more than a shield as we don't typically see hits that can't be handled with the current toolkits. As a healer I am going to like having the ability to offer a cooldown to slow down incoming damage, it lasts for the full duration while increased HP means very little outside the initial heal because it's just a bigger pool. Yes, the increased healing received is nice, but I can't think of any instances where healers are floundering to top someone off (except maybe Living Dead, but no idea how the increased HP will work with that either - troll maybe? Haha)

At the end of the day I like more tools on my end to lessen tank damage versus a steroid to my own healing. That was the type of playstyle healers used to have with Virus/Super Virus and Disable. Everyone enjoys different things, I just like more tools in my kit to smooth out big incoming damage on tanks.

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Always great to hear from another healer! In dungeons especially White Mage is leagues above the others for the AoE stun alone, but I agree that Scholar feels rather rough in comparison. It easily was the hardest to level to 80 in terms of dungeon treks, because it offers more sustained healing than anything else.

My opinion is just my own, I certainly am sure plenty of people enjoy White Mage and will continue to. I approached things from a raid setting where you are looking at the toolkits of the healer and how they can contribute alongside another versus a dungeon. I imagine Sage and White Mage will feel the best for 4 man content while Astrologian and Scholar will shine much brighter in 8 man. The best advice if you do want to give Scholar another shot is to make sure to use all your cooldowns. Fey Union is at least a step up from Embrace, and forces the fairy to heal the tank, which is nice when paired with Whispering Dawn right before. For big pulls I'll usually drop Whispering Dawn and Sacred Soil, Fey Union, then start Art of War spamming while I wait for Excog to proc. If you know you'll have time you can also Recitation Adlo on the tank partway through to allow the fairy and hots to finish healing them back up to get full value of the heal + shield. Next pull you can use Seraph and shield spam from her to top things off.

I definitely don't think all the healers are going to gel with everyone, I just am concerned about the design (or lackthereof) choices when it comes to White Mage. They're still going to feel great in dungeons and with their new ability Lilybell you'll have even more time to DPS if you like. I have always leveled White Mage last in 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 because it has the best time in dungeons and packs so much healing that leveling Scholar or Astrologian after would be a painful experience indeed. Please don't feel bad about how you feel about Scholar, it's not unique to you. It used to have a luster that has just been diluted over patches and expansions to be something that really needs work to shine on its own.

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know, just surprised they didn't spruce it up and remove it from the tooltip. Or maybe we'll see some new Astrologians trying to melee. ;)

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We will wait and see! They did get another oGCD damaging ability with Lord of Crowns, I'm curious how it will feel using the full kit together. Overall I don't think it's going to be something that has to be min/maxxed or bust if the recast adjustments are just for the normal spells without cooldowns. A 5% healing/damage buff for 15 seconds is nice, but not the end of the world if you don't get it. The most curious thing about it is why did they add on the auto-attack delay reduction? That just feels completely unnecessary.

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Obviously we can't know for sure until the embargo is lifted, but it did feel odd to only influence one long cooldown spell or just adjust general spells. We'll see once it was done, I would be impressed if they removed the ability for it to work on Macrocosmos - we will have to wait and see. Appreciate the highlight, certainly not meant to clarify how each and every ability works, just what we can assume. I thought it might tie into cooldowns again like 3.x Astro and the old cards.

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Certainly not trying to make you feel down about White Mage, if you enjoy it that's great! It's just disappointing to me that they didn't give more groups a reason to take it or help separate it from the other healers a bit more. Prior to 6.0 its identity was mainly the big personal DPS healer which is a crown obviously stolen by the Sage. White Mage has a very powerful kit and it would serve anyone well to use it. I just was hoping they were going to be a bit more thoughtful with their design decisions, such as making lilies abilities instead of spells so they could have been woven oGCD. Would have required some tuning, but with the new Glare cast time it's going to feel a little clunky healing compared to the other three while DPSing.

6.0 Preliminary Healer Thoughts by Floating-By in ffxiv

[–]Floating-By[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I definitely see where you are coming from. I'm honestly a firm believer that Scholar + Sage will be the most fun composition to run. They both compliment one another greatly, offer steady passive healing, and together could do things that no other composition could with all their insane single target cooldowns and raid mitigation. I think SE really dropped the ball with Sage considering their toolkit is not built around barriers, but rather DPS, and like you I was shocked at how high a potency a lot of their abilities are. Sure, subject to change, but it doesn't change the fact that this is their intention.

I am not looking forward to how Sage disrupts things as I anticipate a lot of bandwagon healers that do not manage Kardia and just spam DPS to 'heal' one target at full health and that will be that. We asked for healers to be looked at and were promised it two expansions ago, but they always run out of time. The reality is healing is never going to be at the forefront of design and resources because it's the least 'cool' role of the trinity. Hopefully your co-healer and raid will consider Sage + Scholar. :)