[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Frostfred]

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.

Aye. I fully agree, and I think that is something that completely goes under in most discussions and in guides. They are usually for the endgame, e.g. the goal and the "ideal" play, and many times take into account neither the low level play, learning curve or the other people in the group. E.g. when I wanted to check some SCH guides to maybe learn something new and improve, almost all of those I found were either old and outdated, or they only described max level play in a perfect group. There's much less out there for newer players learning the ropes, for which guides actually would seem more helpful - especially in a game like FF14, which is far less focused on only doing max level stuff in comparison to for example WoW.

I guess the most common and imo very misleading advice in healing guides is "it's ok to leave the group low, keep doing damage only slowly top it off when no AOE is coming". That tip completely disregards any player mistakes that might happen, e.g. moving out of the bad.

Anyone playing healer has to find his/her own sweet spot. I always try to maximize damage. But if I'm uncomfortable in a dungeon or trial, or see that there's too much damage or dodging stuff going on than I'm comfortable with, I can also do nothing for some seconds (break the ABC rule, which seems more or less every guide puts in the beginning) and just try to get a better overview of the fight, or overheal and throw around some shields. That being said, I'm still sometimes annoyed when some healers do trivial content (like MSQ roulette with good gear) and don't cast a single damage spell in the entire instance, but instead stand around for 95% of the time.

[Poppincaps]

The more I think about it, the more that the Summoner pet change upsets me. They've effectively removed the only pet dps job in the game. Sure, you still have Bahamut and Phoenix but those are temporary summons. The whole fantasy of a pet job is getting to fight side by side with your pet. What's the point if the carbuncle just stands there next to you not doing anything?

Now, I understand why they did this. When you summon one of the 3 primals from their crystal, Carbuncle disappears. If Carbuncle had auto attacks, then you could potentially lose auto attacks depending on when you summoned the primal which would cost you damage and be super unintuitive to manage. They could fix this by just having Carbuncle not disappear when you summon the primals since they don't fight with you, but instead imbue you with their power after doing a big burst.

Regardless it feels like they heard the feedback of "Pet AI is shit" and instead of fixing it, they decided to move the game away from pet jobs. If FF14 is going to be the new MMO king, then I'm going to expect more from it. A game this popular should have proper pet AI and pet jobs. Pet jobs are super popular too. In WoW, Hunter has always been a popular class. In Guild Wars 2, Ranger is a popular class. Almost every major MMO I've tried has had pet classes in them like ESO, Rift, and Warhammer Online.

If they add Beastmaster to the game as a limited job, I might end up just playing the game for the story and give up any desire to play the game at a more serious level. Right now, I like a lot of the jobs, but there's no job that I'm really passionate about in the way I was passionate about Hunter in WoW.

[Lane]

Supposedly Yoshi-P doesn't like pet classes. I think the only reason they kept carbunkle is it's popular. They have mounts, glamours, and I think even housing items based on it.

I guess the most common and imo very misleading advice in healing guides is "it's ok to leave the group low, keep doing damage only slowly top it off when no AOE is coming". That tip completely disregards any player mistakes that might happen, e.g. moving out of the bad.

Yeah, statements like that have been throwing me off too. Tanks go from full HP to 30% in one GCD sometimes even with defensive cooldowns, there's nothing I can do but spam Cure and even that gets dicey sometimes. AST has a major leg up on WHM with Essential Dignity and Lightspeed at lower levels. Unfortunately, for the 30+ stuff I haven't figured out how to manage cards and healing. It's frustrating because that's their gimmick, but there just doesn't ever seem to be enough breathing room to do much of anything than spam heals and pop a cooldown if that's not enough.

[Isilrien]

Supposedly Yoshi-P doesn't like pet classes. I think the only reason they kept carbunkle is it's popular. They have mounts, glamours, and I think even housing items based on it.



Yeah, statements like that have been throwing me off too. Tanks go from full HP to 30% in one GCD sometimes even with defensive cooldowns, there's nothing I can do but spam Cure and even that gets dicey sometimes...

As strange as this might sound, I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing this. This morning's runs were the nail in the coffin for me as a healer because this was my experience most of the time. I've noticed that others here have encouraging words in that it gets better at 50+. I wish the best for you and that you can keep pushing until then (and that this really does get better for you). Are you going to keep trying?

I'm a little bothered by the summoner pet change, as well. We'll see what things are really like once we've had time to try the changes out. I hope they're not horrible.

[Granyala]

I strongly believe that you need to master healing first, before you start learning how to do damage.

Pretty much.
It won't take long either, since you have experience from other MMOs.
I started to DPS on the side (with Cleric stance back in the day) pretty much straight away.
Yes, you will occasionally miscalculate and people will die. Part of the process of learning.

Do mentally prepare to get dissed though, if you spam cure the entire dungeon, be it necessary or not. XIV's community does not like that.

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Supposedly Yoshi-P doesn't like pet classes. I think the only reason they kept carbunkle is it's popular. They have mounts, glamours, and I think even housing items based on it.



Yeah, statements like that have been throwing me off too. Tanks go from full HP to 30% in one GCD sometimes even with defensive cooldowns, there's nothing I can do but spam Cure and even that gets dicey sometimes. AST has a major leg up on WHM with Essential Dignity and Lightspeed at lower levels. Unfortunately, for the 30+ stuff I haven't figured out how to manage cards and healing. It's frustrating because that's their gimmick, but there just doesn't ever seem to be enough breathing room to do much of anything than spam heals and pop a cooldown if that's not enough.

Get out of the low level. Trust me, when I say that you will wish these times back when you actually felt like a healer and not a Glare bot. In the endgame non savage content, you will have nothing but breathing room, even in large pulls.

[RampageBW1]

Apparently someone saw the Job Actions trailer and thought, "Hey, this confirms my head canon that they're gonna do a collab between Kingdom Hearts and FFXIV!" (although, admittedly, I think that title is a joke)



Yeah, I guess some Paladin attacks have similar visuals, but I think that'll be the extent of it.

Though, I wouldn't mind if there were gonna be one eventually. Would make up for no Final Fantasy characters being in KH3 until RE:Mind (and even then, it was like a small part of the content).

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Well, if you really stretch it, Noctis being in FFXIV is also a KH collaboration.

Well if you want revamped animations and spell effects, check out this guy's Youtube channel. He's made animation/effect replacer mods. Want your Ninja LB3 to be like Archer's Unlimited Blade Works attack from Fate? Mod for that. Want your Gunbreaker to fight like Dante from DMC? Mod for that. Just want flashier Black Mage animations? Mod for that.

[Lane]

As strange as this might sound, I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing this. This morning's runs were the nail in the coffin for me as a healer because this was my experience most of the time. I've noticed that others here have encouraging words in that it gets better at 50+. I wish the best for you and that you can keep pushing until then (and that this really does get better for you). Are you going to keep trying?

Same! I was feeling like this was a me problem and it was upsetting. I don't think I'm a great player, but I would hope better than average. I did finish most of the Mage Tower in Legion, used to be a decent raider and PvPer (both of which I've healed in), etc. I look up guides, I learn rotations, I do whatever I can to be good at what I'm doing, to so utterly fail at something that I heard was easy has been disheartening to say the least.

I probably will try again at some point just because I want to prove to myself I can do it. It will not be in ARR though. I did MSQ roulette on RDM yesterday and gained 2 levels (Praetorium), so now I'm thinking what I might do is use the MSQ to level up at least one tank and one healer (I have the Road to 70 buff so there's a lot of EXP to go around) since leveling DPS by other means is easier. Once they're in their mid-50s at least I'll probably try queuing up for Dusk Vigil (first dungeon in HW) or whatever else seems easy along the way of the MSQ and see how it goes. Unfortunately, roulettes are off the table as the last thing I want is to be randomized into end of ARR hard modes. It sucks to not be able to take advantage of the tank/healer in need bonus, but it's just too risky.

The thing about AST is that the card mechanics are all off-global and their spells have cast times shorter than the GCD. So you always have time to weave them in, even if just spamming Benefic non-stop!

Part of the problem is I keep having to read the cards to see what they do then look at my party and figure out who'd benefit the most. Plus, my keybinds for draw, play, etc. are inefficient. There is no seamless flow in using them, but thank you for mentioning weaving because I hadn't thought of trying to make a rotation out of them. They're kind of off to the side that I use if no one's in immediate danger since they've been taking so much focus.

[ippollite]

Its definitely not a 'you' problem. I think everyone who's played a healer in that awkward 30-50 phase (holy does quite a lot to minimise the 'trash issue' but its still stressful), agrees that its a bit wonky. You really are rolling the dice on every dungeon (and likely more so given the number of sprouts playing at the moment).

The only difference between you and me is that i got super drunk and thought 'screw it! If we die, i dont g.a.f.'. Thats how i made it through to 50. Honestly, it was so stressful that i used to literally stop playing for days at a time as soon as i hit a new dungeon in the msq just to psych myself into it.

Once you hit 50 though, it all washes away and healing is arguably the easiest job in game (well, until you hit late stormblood and then the mechanics start getting more 'creative'.)

There are a couple of alternatives though. The first is obviously to just turn off level sync and see if a party pops (or you can rope in any friends). The second (and iirc, you've done shadowbringers (or at least heavensward - i remember you talking about your dragoon), in which case, get on your highest level character and level up the squadrons for a few days, then just start running dungeons with them once youve opened the option up. It'll stall your healer for a bit, but it will also give you more time to control the pulls and care less about messing up.

Oh wait! I just realised (from my own recommendation no less) that you've already beaten the msq... so its just a case of levels. What i will suggest though is that once you hit 50 do the msq roulette. It'll only choose one of praetorium and castrum, and they are about the easiest time you can have on a healer in game. It'll get your muscle memory going on medica 2, holy spam and benediction. Those three spells will carry you through a whole lot of the game before you start using lilies. Might as well throw in some regens and divine benison as well into the mix, but i think db comes in the mid 60s. (yeah, 66).

[Wrecktangle]

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.

We don't learn nearly as much from being successful as we do from making mistakes. That said if the mistakes are frequent there might be a drastic misconception in your (not you) methodology.

I'd always rather have a healer try his hardest to navigate both and fail, than "play it safe" because there were a few bad experiences. It's too bad Lane is on Crystal (notorious for some of the worst players in the game btw) and not Primal, I'd gladly tank for him.

Yeah, statements like that have been throwing me off too. Tanks go from full HP to 30% in one GCD sometimes even with defensive cooldowns, there's nothing I can do but spam Cure and even that gets dicey sometimes.

I'm the worst healer in this game probably and I don't think I've ever seen a full HP tank go to 30% in one GCD, not even when tanks tanked in DPS stances. I'm sure it can happen with egregious circumstances, but I can't imagine that's commonplace, but maybe I'm wrong?

I'm also a PLD main and I've never once got crushed like that, not even in min ilvl Bardams. That's Savage tank buster's with no CDs, not random dungeons.

[Lane]

I'm the worst healer in this game probably and I don't think I've ever seen a full HP tank go to 30% in one GCD, not even when tanks tanked in DPS stances. I'm sure it can happen with egregious circumstances, but I can't imagine that's commonplace, but maybe I'm wrong?

Pulling too much in sub-30 dungeons will do it. Most DPS don't have AoEs at that level, so the tank gets beat on much longer than usual while mobs slowly die one at a time. It only takes 3-4 mobs in my experience to go from full to half in a GCD, add on 1-2 more and there you go. The Halitali wipe, the tank tried to take on ~8 mobs, Cure spam wasn't cutting it and none of the mobs were even close to dying. I thought maybe I could've saved that as an AST but, I'm not sure I could, I think it might've just delayed the inevitable. I suppose if nothing else this is causing me to become familiar with the 'oh crap' abilities.

You're right about learning from mistakes, even though I hate it. :P I'd only heard Crystal was the unofficial RP DC, not that the players were bad. Based on the map I assumed it was an east coast DC and their servers have preferred status. It does suck that all the cool people here seem to play on other DCs.

level up the squadrons for a few days, then just start running dungeons with them once youve opened the option up.

I just unlocked the squadron area a couple of days ago. I've been sending them on missions, but isn't it a couple weeks of that until I'll be able to do dungeons with them?

What i will suggest though is that once you hit 50 do the msq roulette. It'll only choose one of praetorium and castrum, and they are about the easiest time you can have on a healer in game.

It's funny you say that since I see healers in the MSQ roulette die all the time. >_<

[Poppincaps]

The wall to wall pull mentality is so cancerous in the lower level dungeons. It doesn't even really make things go faster since many dps don't have AOE at that level.

[Frostfred]

It's funny you say that since I see healers in the MSQ roulette die all the time. >_<

MSQ roulette can be fairly dangerous as a healer, but that's mostly tied to the tanks, and (because it's so easy) not paying attention yourself. I died just a few days ago in Castrum, because a tank ran ahead and only hit one mob per pack. When we were at the wall and stopped, I had 10-15 mobs charging at me, and the tanks were too slow to pick them up. Even then, if I wouldn't have been in braindead mode myself, I could probably have survived by using some instant heals till the tanks got the aggro.
And, of course, there's always the random "being the last to teleport" deaths in Praetorium.

Otherwise, however, it's really chill to heal. It's level 50 content from the end of the 2.0 patch, not at all balanced for the higher gear available in the later patches / now. Tanks barely take any damage, and group damage - even when just standing still in random stuff - is neglectable.

[BiggestNoob]

The wall to wall pull mentality is so cancerous in the lower level dungeons. It doesn't even really make things go faster since many dps don't have AOE at that level.

Tanks do though, and the potency ramp from AoE is a big deal. With even one DPS that has an AoE the pulls will also die incredibly quickly.

[Poppincaps]

Tanks do though, and the potency ramp from AoE is a big deal. With even one DPS that has an AoE the pulls will also die incredibly quickly.

Can't do much AOE when you get your cheeks clapped by pulling 12 mobs that live for 2 minutes. Sure, if a tank and healer are experienced and have decent gear, it's probably fine, but I find that's rarely the case in my leveling roulettes.

[Shakzor]

Part of the problem is I keep having to read the cards to see what they do then look at my party and figure out who'd benefit the most. Plus, my keybinds for draw, play, etc. are inefficient. There is no seamless flow in using them, but thank you for mentioning weaving because I hadn't thought of trying to make a rotation out of them. They're kind of off to the side that I use if no one's in immediate danger since they've been taking so much focus.

You can learn it VERY quick without having to think much.
Purple = ranged/heal card, blue = melee/tank card.
Remembering which symbol is ranged/melee is also not as time consuming, because the group is sorted by you > tanks > heals > melee > ranged (and tanks/heals have their own color anyways).

The only thing you really need to pay a bit attention to, is the symbol above the cards, so you have 3 different symbols for the Divination, since as soon as you have 3 and Divination is on cooldown, you can just convert them to those bigger cards instead to have more damage AND not replace the symbols.

[Granyala]

The thing about AST is that the card mechanics are all off-global and their spells have cast times shorter than the GCD. So you always have time to weave them in, even if just spamming Benefic non-stop!

Yeah, a very annoying design, imo and I dread to see them implement it on other healers.
I just hate when the spell is shorter than the GCD because it makes continuous casting a pain in the butt.

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He's made animation/effect replacer mods. Want your Ninja LB3 to be like Archer's Unlimited Blade Works attack from Fate? Mod for that. Want your Gunbreaker to fight like Dante from DMC? Mod for that. Just want flashier Black Mage animations? Mod for that.

Haha, I didn't know mods were able to go this far.
Ballsy.

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Unfortunately, roulettes are off the table as the last thing I want is to be randomized into end of ARR hard modes. It sucks to not be able to take advantage of the tank/healer in need bonus, but it's just too risky.

May I kindly give some advice?

STOP WHINING AND MAN UP.

If you healed PvP and raids in WoW, healing leveling content (that includes "hardmode" primals but not extreme modes) in XIV should be a cakewalk to you.
Don't be fooled by the "hard" moniker, it merely means that it's a higher level version, it's not actually hard to in anyway.

I've never seen anyone as squeamish as you when it comes to simple leveling content.
I aree on the AST cards feeling clunky though. I never really liked them. Not much to read, you got two colors green and purple: one is melee and tank (don't ask me which, too long ago), the other is caster. Ignore the actual symbols, they are a relic of the past when you had 4 different cards instead of two.

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Tanks do though, and the potency ramp from AoE is a big deal. With even one DPS that has an AoE the pulls will also die incredibly quickly.

They do but usually they fail to account for a healer that has little experience and shitty leveling gear.
In that case it can actually be annoying to challenging to keep a tank alive.

Sure, if the healer is a downscaled max level player it's easy going but not everyone is.
A decent tank checks / increases the pulls gradually to see how his healer copes.

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The only thing you really need to pay a bit attention to, is the symbol above the cards, so you have 3 different symbols for the Divination, since as soon as you have 3 and Divination is on cooldown, you can just convert them to those bigger cards instead to have more damage AND not replace the symbols.

He can but lets be honest: the damage bonus is so minor that it only matters in savage raids. So for the beginning I would stick to the basics and expand when he feels more comfortable with the class.

[kaminaris]

Can't do much AOE when you get your cheeks clapped by pulling 12 mobs that live for 2 minutes. Sure, if a tank and healer are experienced and have decent gear, it's probably fine, but I find that's rarely the case in my leveling roulettes.

What the heck? [insert confused meme here]
What?

I have been recently leveling WHM (50 atm) solely on dungeons and been telling every single tank regardless of their experience or gear to pull everything. First message to party is "Hi", then "Tank you can pull everything otherwise I will die of boredom".

Then I target tank, run around with him and spam 1 button. That is not exaggeration. I don't dispel waste of time in low dungs, aoe healing sometimes but rarely and thats it. I also don't dps and dont use any other CDs like surecast etc. waste of my finger joints.

I have never met a tank that got his cheeks clapped by any amount of mobs around him. The only time tank died was when he ran away from me. Some more daring tanks also pulls mobs with boss.

[Pannonian]

What the heck? [insert confused meme here]
What?

I have been recently leveling WHM (50 atm) solely on dungeons and been telling every single tank regardless of their experience or gear to pull everything. First message to party is "Hi", then "Tank you can pull everything otherwise I will die of boredom".

Then I target tank, run around with him and spam 1 button. That is not exaggeration. I don't dispel waste of time in low dungs, aoe healing sometimes but rarely and thats it. I also don't dps and dont use any other CDs like surecast etc. waste of my finger joints.

I have never met a tank that got his cheeks clapped by any amount of mobs around him. The only time tank died was when he ran away from me. Some more daring tanks also pulls mobs with boss.

While generally i agree with you as someone who pulls everything as tank and encourages tanks to do the same as a a healer, there is this rare occasion that you get a tank who has no clue about his role and actions AND is egregiously undergeared - but that happens once in a year...

[Lane]

May I kindly give some advice?

STOP WHINING AND MAN UP.

If you healed PvP and raids in WoW, healing leveling content (that includes "hardmode" primals but not extreme modes) in XIV should be a cakewalk to you.
Don't be fooled by the "hard" moniker, it merely means that it's a higher level version, it's not actually hard to in anyway.

I've never seen anyone as squeamish as you when it comes to simple leveling content.

Not kind and not advice.

I've been open from the beginning about my anxiety and that FFXIV even requiring group content was a potential deal breaker. The fact that I've been able to do it at all, let alone heal and tank, is miraculous.

I decided to try both because people said it was on par with Wrath, which is the only time I enjoyed doing either. Stress free AoE fests. It hasn't been until recently after I expressed my difficulties that this caveat of ARR being an exception was added. I would have saved myself a lot of frustration otherwise.

I started tanking and healing 2 weeks ago, just for reference. While I do have prior experience in WoW, LFD is the main reason I quit doing both because random groups of different playstyles are toxic.

Some of the trials are nightmares, like Thornmarch Hard. Maybe I got unlucky, but I found it worse than Chrysalis. When I raided, people knew the strategy (never did LFR). Many of these encounters through DF are awful experiences unless they're Cape Westwind level easy.