[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Maljinwo]

Tell that to the ff14 community.

Im not being a jerk. This is the meta. Healers who solely heal are currently the worst players in the game..

Im not asking them to stop DPSing. Healers that dps actually make the dungeon faster and help out when heals are not needed

Im only saying to stop DPS when the tank is at LESS than 20% to maybe, you know, do their job as healer

[Lane]

I don't let my tanks go below 50% if I can help it if only because I need that buffer due to lag spikes. Plus, depending on the pull, they can go from full HP to 30% in one GCD.

I got Toto-Rak as a tank yesterday. I was the only sprout and they were pushing me to do big pulls I wasn't comfortable doing. I told them I was a n00b and they backed off, but one of them said I'll get used to tanks being near invincible in low level content. Like, what? First of all, I see how much my healers are having to heal me and, having also leveled a healer, most tanks require gratuitous babysitting. I did get told I was already in the upper 50% of tanks because I was using defensive cooldowns. :P

I've been trying AST. Got into Titan (my favorite -_-), first thought was, I will not be one of those healers who gets punted. And I wasn't, one of the DPS was. Healing a 3-man on Titan with a class I'm still learning was brutal, but we did it. Surecast saved the day completely by accident. I thought it was another Swiftcast ability, but being able to spam the AoE heal with no cooldown was fantastic.

I haven't tried SCH because I like SMN and since they level together I haven't felt compelled to play it. DRK I like a lot, it and WAR are my favorite tanks. I'm hoping PLD is a late bloomer. (They're all in the 35-40 level range for reference.)

I kind of wish there were gradients of sprouts. You can't tell who's brand new or 2 quests from ShB. Like, yeah, I'm on an AST or DRK, which I unlocked like 2 days ago and have done maybe half a dozen dungeons on, don't expect a lot.

[Novaice]

I don't let my tanks go below 50% if I can help it if only because I need that buffer due to lag spikes. Plus, depending on the pull, they can go from full HP to 30% in one GCD.

I got Toto-Rak as a tank yesterday. I was the only sprout and they were pushing me to do big pulls I wasn't comfortable doing. I told them I was a n00b and they backed off, but one of them said I'll get used to tanks being near invincible in low level content. Like, what? First of all, I see how much my healers are having to heal me and, having also leveled a healer, most tanks require gratuitous babysitting. I did get told I was already in the upper 50% of tanks because I was using defensive cooldowns. :P

I've been trying AST. Got into Titan (my favorite -_-), first thought was, I will not be one of those healers who gets punted. And I wasn't, one of the DPS was. Healing a 3-man on Titan with a class I'm still learning was brutal, but we did it. Surecast saved the day completely by accident. I thought it was another Swiftcast ability, but being able to spam the AoE heal with no cooldown was fantastic.

I haven't tried SCH because I like SMN and since they level together I haven't felt compelled to play it. DRK I like a lot, it and WAR are my favorite tanks. I'm hoping PLD is a late bloomer. (They're all in the 35-40 level range for reference.)

I kind of wish there were gradients of sprouts. You can't tell who's brand new or 2 quests from ShB. Like, yeah, I'm on an AST or DRK, which I unlocked like 2 days ago and have done maybe half a dozen dungeons on, don't expect a lot.

As a healer, As long as they ask, I will allow them to do big "pulls", but give warnings about them dieing, and tell them if they do, just slow it down, unless the tank is not using proper dmg mitigations.

As a tank, I always examine the healers gear/search info on the player. Pull the first 2 groups depending on that, 90% of the time, yes. thenpay attention to how fast mobs die (DPS check) , then I will adjust what to pull basically on that.

[Frostfred]

As others have stated that can only happen in legacy dungeons (the 1.0 dungeons) that were left in the sub 50 MSQ. There aren't a ton of them, but they certainly exist and you could possibly pull way too many mobs there. You can to some degree still prevent a wipe if everyone is well geared for whatever level the dungeon is (very unlikely for sprouts) and pushes buttons as frequently as they should, but again both these traits are very rare for existing players, let alone new ones..

I'd add Bardam's Mettle to that list. While I've only been there once, the tank seemed fine in that run, judging by his gear / CDs. But he took SO MUCH damage, it was difficult to keep up, and he even died two times on larger pulls. Nothing I did before or after that came close, including sub 50 stuff.

[Granyala]

Considering my Halatali group wiped because the tank pulled more than I could heal for I don't see how anyone can say there's no such thing as overpulling.

Unless there's some secret here I'm missing to keep a low level tank up against 8 mobs as a low level healer, in which case please share.

As I said: beginners excluded.
Leveling dungeons with >real< leveling gear (not last expansions tome gear or HQ crafted gear) still hit like trucks.

[blackpink]

If I do wondrous tails this week, can I save it and hand it in on week of early access?

[Thestrawman]

If I do wondrous tails this week, can I save it and hand it in on week of early access?

No. The books only last two weeks so the book you get after Nov. 8 you can use reset week.

[BiggestNoob]

Considering my Halatali group wiped because the tank pulled more than I could heal for I don't see how anyone can say there's no such thing as overpulling.

Unless there's some secret here I'm missing to keep a low level tank up against 8 mobs as a low level healer, in which case please share.

I was leveling AST in level 3x gear, so nowhere near ilvl capped and in a pug had a tank pull everything in SV with no problems. All I did was out of combat sprint and keep up with the tank. Once they started taking significant scratch damage, dropped a regen to make sure they didn't die. This also takes aggro from some of the mobs which is fine, your HP is a resource and you can regen yourself. Once we stopped, I just healed the tank. That's all.

SCH is the only healer that struggles to deal with massive tank damage because it has potency issues, and I have no idea why SE hasn't fixed this, even if in a hacky way like a light party potency buff.

Not sure I'd get in the habit of this too much. Medica 2 is low potency, and the Regen effect much smaller than the actual Regen spell. It's also more mana than most spells, though this isn't an issue in shorter fights.

Unless there's actual group damage going out and you need an AoE heal - and you're sure the Regen won't be wasted, in which case Medica 1 is actually much better - it's not a good idea to just keep using Medica 2 constantly.

Medica 2 is 700 potency on all targets, medica is 300. Aside from rapture healing, medica 2 should be preferred unless you just used it because it saves you more than 1 GCD. The problem is people who use it when everyone is at 80%. Unless you know a hit is going to happen that will kill everyone, there's no reason to use any heal at that point, rather wait for people to get lower and then use medica 2, or use asylum or wait for assize.

[Lane]

I think I'm done with healing. Cutter's Cry just sucked what little enthusiasm I had left for it dry. I clearly have no talent for it. All the healing classes look cool, especially Sage, but this is just not fun and the first time I've felt like I don't want to play since I started. I'm not sure I ever even felt this bad when I healed in WoW.

[Wrecktangle]

Bardham is weird. I'm not sure why - people have claimed something is off with the scaling in there - but tanks really do just get smashed in there, regardless of gear.

Every expansions mid tier dungeon (like 66) is when the scaling breaks from old expansion to new (the defense and stat values usually jump by significant margins here). Not much you can do about it while leveling except the ye old git gud LOL.

[Isilrien]

I think I'm done with healing. Cutter's Cry just sucked what little enthusiasm I had left for it dry. I clearly have no talent for it. All the healing classes look cool, especially Sage, but this is just not fun and the first time I've felt like I don't want to play since I started. I'm not sure I ever even felt this bad when I healed in WoW.

I've spent the morning healing and reached the same conclusion. While healing in WoW was fun, I'm not sure why FF isn't fun as well. That's ok; I like summoner a good deal (which I know will change in November). I hope you have another job to play that you enjoy?

[Twen]

I think I'm done with healing. Cutter's Cry just sucked what little enthusiasm I had left for it dry. I clearly have no talent for it. All the healing classes look cool, especially Sage, but this is just not fun and the first time I've felt like I don't want to play since I started. I'm not sure I ever even felt this bad when I healed in WoW.

This is kinda sad to hear, so... If you really want to drop it then you should, of course, but if you're on the fence me and my friend wouldn't mind running some dungs with you if you'd be interested, see what's up. Assuming you'd happened to be on Primal or Light data center, since the world-wide travel ain't possible yet.

[BiggestNoob]

I think I'm done with healing. Cutter's Cry just sucked what little enthusiasm I had left for it dry. I clearly have no talent for it. All the healing classes look cool, especially Sage, but this is just not fun and the first time I've felt like I don't want to play since I started. I'm not sure I ever even felt this bad when I healed in WoW.

Keep going, it's much better at higher levels when you have tools. If you need advice on any of the healers I don't mind doing a run through a dungeon undergeared to show you how it works, but low level healing is absurdly bad, and I like the challenge. You get obscenely powerful tools later on. Like whm is basically garbage tier until it gets holy and medica 2, you're basically just aeroing a few things then tossing a regen on the tank and spamming cure 2. AST is probably the cleanest and most OP of the healers sub 50, while SCH is ultimate mode from around 35-49.

[Tenjen]

That's why I like about the Scholar... they theme it around strategy and tactics, and to play optimally, you actively need to know the fight you're engaging in.

exactly! I mean an SCH myself and anytime Im in a nier raid with a massive AOE phase I get to compare my people being in the ~75% hp range while the other teams are below 35% or dead.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

As far as healing in MMOs goes, I really only ever found it really fun in WoW BGs (or open world PvP with large groups), where you feel like you're a truly the pillar of the war effort. It's really engaging trying to keep your comrades alive. Unlike PvE, where the mobs just target the tank and you braindead heal him and then maybe throw out a filler spell at the enemy that hits like a wet noodle while you wait on the rest of your team to DPS them down, in PvP you cannot predict who the enemy players are going to target. Keeps you on your toes. Desperately trying to keep your team alive and turn the tide feels exhilarating. And you get to do more meaningful stuff, like trying to CC the enemy or suck their mana dry. Also, two of the WoW healers are aesthetically cool: Restoration Shaman (which places earth shields on people and heals with water), and Mistweaver Monk (which has fancy brews and mystical Chinese magic). Speaking of which, Mistweaver was really fun during MoP because it could also DPS very well. It was awesome in arenas.

Healing in FFXIV's PvE content is even more boring, because you never run out of mana and the team never takes anywhere near enough damage for you to have to try to juggle your abilities or prioritize who to save. And there is even less randomness in WoW because almost every single fight in the game is scripted on rails, so you hardly ever need to improvise like in WoW. The boss never randomly does something that catches you offguard. You never need to dispell debuffs after ARR dungeons, and if they do get poisoned or debuff, it is so negligible you don't need to bother. 90% of your time as a healer in FFXIV is spent just spamming Glare or Holy. It also doesn't help that all of the currently available healers are aesthetically boring. Conjurer used to be a little similar to a WoW shaman with their elemental themed attacks, being able to fling rocks at their enemies, or use wind magic, but then in Shadowbringers those abilities are replaced by generic light themed attacks.

Sage is looking pretty promising. It seems to play more like a Mistweaver Monk in that it has an actual DPS rotation and can heal people while DPSing (which is what healers do 90% of the time in this game anyway so you mind as well make that fun). It also looks aesthetically cool.

[Granyala]

I think I'm done with healing. Cutter's Cry just sucked what little enthusiasm I had left for it dry. I clearly have no talent for it. All the healing classes look cool, especially Sage, but this is just not fun and the first time I've felt like I don't want to play since I started. I'm not sure I ever even felt this bad when I healed in WoW.

You need time to get used to the duality of healing. Leveling content can be somewhat rough, depending on your gear and the group.
Healing in XIV is pretty much comparable with healing in the old WoW days of Wrath etc.

Until you hit endgame, when healing becomes an afterthought and you mostly play a green DPS.

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exactly! I mean an SCH myself and anytime Im in a nier raid with a massive AOE phase I get to compare my people being in the ~75% hp range while the other teams are below 35% or dead.

Except, as a WHM I don't give a shit about them being at 35%, I just cast 2 heals and bring them back up to 100. :P

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in PvP you cannot predict who the enemy players are going to target.

Actually, you can. If the PvPers have any semblance of skill or are an organized group they will target YOU first.
IIRC there are/were(?) even addons to help with that in Arena fights.

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Healing in FFXIV's PvE content is even more boring, because you never run out of mana and the team never takes anywhere near enough damage for you to have to try to juggle your abilities or prioritize who to save. And there is even less randomness in WoW because almost every single fight in the game is scripted on rails, so you hardly ever need to improvise like in WoW.

Savage raids would like to have a word with you.
Also, the boss doesn't do much random stuff in either game but your buddies sure will, which is when healing gets truly interesting. Saving asses is fun and not always possible.

I do agree that the non savage content is laughable in terms of healing required.

[Lane]

Thanks for the encouragement. Upon reflection, it may be I was too under geared for Cutter's Cry as most of my WHM pieces are below level 28. I'm not sure how I even got it in roulette since it's 10 levels above my gear score.

I still think I'm done trying to heal anything in ARR though. I'll probably finish the hunting log, level up via FATEs once I get Holy, and maybe eventually try healing HW dungeons after I've gone through them enough times as DPS to feel comfortable with it.

I've spent the morning healing and reached the same conclusion. While healing in WoW was fun, I'm not sure why FF isn't fun as well. That's ok; I like summoner a good deal (which I know will change in November). I hope you have another job to play that you enjoy?

I like SMN too. It looks even better in EW, more like what I wanted/expected out of a FF summoner, but the current playstyle is still enjoyable. I hope they add a DoT job later since they're losing those spells and Affliction warlock was one of my favorite class/specs in WoW.

DRG and MCH are my two favorites. I like RDM and DNC, but haven't played either enough yet. I've also been having fun doing FATEs on the tanks. I don't have the fortitude to tank dungeons often, so I've been trying to hone my skills on seeing how much I can handle and which bosses I manage. I wish I could do the same with the healers, but unless it's a super boss (whatever those special FATEs are that require a lot of people to take down) usually no one needs healing. Spamming Stone + Aero one mob at a time is not only tedious it doesn't teach me anything.

BLU is also a huge distraction. I've been going around learning mob abilities and it's a lot of fun.

This is kinda sad to hear, so... If you really want to drop it then you should, of course, but if you're on the fence me and my friend wouldn't mind running some dungs with you if you'd be interested, see what's up. Assuming you'd happened to be on Primal or Light data center, since the world-wide travel ain't possible yet.

Thanks for the offer, I'm on Crystal though.

Healing in XIV is pretty much comparable with healing in the old WoW days of Wrath etc.

This is the main reason I decided to try it, I liked healing in the Wrath era. At least sub-50 this is nothing like Wrath, I don't even know what part of WoW I'd compare it to, frankly.

[Twen]

Thanks for the offer, I'm on Crystal though.

Shame (my friend's all, come to Primal I will be your godmother here ) but glad to hear you're still giving it a go. Low gear was likely a big factor, gear score is not taken into consideration for leveling dungeons like max level ones for the expansion. Hopefully with better gear and more of your toolkit you'll have a more positive experience.

[Granyala]

This is the main reason I decided to try it, I liked healing in the Wrath era. At least sub-50 this is nothing like Wrath, I don't even know what part of WoW I'd compare it to, frankly.

Sub 50 is extremely limited, you basically have 1-3 buttons max. It sucks, aye.
Especially the lack of instant casts is super annoying because tanks rarely account for it.

[RohanV]

I think I'm done with healing. Cutter's Cry just sucked what little enthusiasm I had left for it dry. I clearly have no talent for it. All the healing classes look cool, especially Sage, but this is just not fun and the first time I've felt like I don't want to play since I started. I'm not sure I ever even felt this bad when I healed in WoW.

Give it a try as pure healer. Don't DPS, spam Cure I if it's only minor damage.

I disagree with lot of the normal healer advice. It's fine and correct for max-level experienced characters, but it's really hard when you're trying to learn to heal in random groups. Heck, when I do leveling roulette on my WHM, I do a lot more healing and a lot less damage than is optimal.

You need to get used to the rhythm of damage and get a feel for how much each of your spells heal for. Also, in a random group, it's very important that the other people have faith that you will keep them alive, and the best way to do that is keep them topped up.

Only then, start weaving in DoTs or Holy. I strongly believe that you need to master healing first, before you start learning how to do damage.