So one thing we're talking about a lot is downtime from healing and how we have way too much of it. In most of the game's content, if things are running smoothly, the healers are stuck mashing Glare/Broil/Malefic like it's a hack and slash game. We can talk about adding more raid wide damage to fights or reducing the number of OGCD healing or the potency of OGCD healing to combat this, but adding other jobs for healers to accomplish can also work too. Here are some ideas:
Esuna:
We have the ability to dispel debuffs, but debuffs are rarely impactful in fights unless they're punishments for failing mechanics and thus cannot be removed by Esuna, but why not add more of these conditions during segments of the fight where there's less damage being done to the party? One argument is that many healers simply ignore these unless they're doom, but I think that also has to do with the lack of clarity about who is debuffed, with what, and for how long. The icons are there, but they're very small. One thing that I think could encourage players to be more aware of debuffs is to change how they're displayed on the UI. Take a look at this:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fi...20120304003129
In Final Fantasy 12, debuffs are displayed largely and clearly over the afflicted party member's name and it blinks. We could change how cleansable debuffs are displayed by making them follow this system, possibly with an added countdown on the time remaining. Healers are already focused on the party member, so doing this would really help especially newer players understand what is removable through Esuna and respond appropriately. If this were done, we can justify making cleanseable debuffs more common.
Dispel:
Much like how adding removable debuffs is a thing, why not incorporate removable buffs on bosses and add a new Role action in Dispel? We've seen this mechanic get introduced with Blue Mage, but I think it has the potential to help give us some added objectives to look out for in encounters. Obviously not all buffs need to be removable, such as ones that are attached to mechanics, but adding in buffs that increase an enemy's damage output or reduce the damage they receive for short duration that can be removed through a healer's Dispel is another simple way to add more reoccuring tasks to be done.
Repose:
Just like how we've seen Dispel mechanics be used for the Blue Mage, we've also seen Sleep be used in the Blue Carnivale and in the healer Role Quests in Shadowbringers. Imagine that some bosses start summoning adds that cannot be damaged that stick around for 30 seconds and maybe pulsate damage or heal the boss that can be placated with Repose to negate their presence? We can even make specific adds--disrupted aether, that are designed for healers to put to sleep and cannot be harmed in other means. If this becomes the standard of how these adds are handled, it becomes easier for healers to recognize what these adds are and what they need to do to handle them while also making their use more universal so more bosses can justify using them.
Briny Mirror:
Back during the ARR days of 2.X, I did quite a bit of farming Leviathan EX who has a mechanic that applies a debuff called "Briny Mirror" to the off tank. This mirror debuffs healers that heal that target with reduced range on their spells including AoE heals. If you healed that tank too much, you actually would become unable to heal anyone but yourself until the debuff expired, and a part of being a healer for that fight was managing that debuff with your co healer. This was actually a really cool mechanic, and I'd love to see that concept return for more fights.
Healing 3rd Party Targets:
We've seen these a few times, such as Estinien during The Aery and Shinryu EX's dragon heads where the healer needs to heal a 3rd party target, either to keep them alive or having to heal them to full. This is a great way to give healers a role-specific objective while also giving other jobs like Bard (Nature's Minne) and Dancer (Cure Waltz), a way to help the healers do this more quickly.
I don't want to imply that this would fix all the healer problems, but encounter design has nearly as much of an impact on the engagement of playing a healer as their kits do. I know there's a bit of a fear about making any role have intimidating responsibilities, but we also don't need to have all of these mechanics in every fight, and for dungeon bosses and hard trials, they can be less common and more forgiving.
Do you like these concepts, and are there any others you think could be worth looking into?
Continue reading...
Esuna:
We have the ability to dispel debuffs, but debuffs are rarely impactful in fights unless they're punishments for failing mechanics and thus cannot be removed by Esuna, but why not add more of these conditions during segments of the fight where there's less damage being done to the party? One argument is that many healers simply ignore these unless they're doom, but I think that also has to do with the lack of clarity about who is debuffed, with what, and for how long. The icons are there, but they're very small. One thing that I think could encourage players to be more aware of debuffs is to change how they're displayed on the UI. Take a look at this:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fi...20120304003129
In Final Fantasy 12, debuffs are displayed largely and clearly over the afflicted party member's name and it blinks. We could change how cleansable debuffs are displayed by making them follow this system, possibly with an added countdown on the time remaining. Healers are already focused on the party member, so doing this would really help especially newer players understand what is removable through Esuna and respond appropriately. If this were done, we can justify making cleanseable debuffs more common.
Dispel:
Much like how adding removable debuffs is a thing, why not incorporate removable buffs on bosses and add a new Role action in Dispel? We've seen this mechanic get introduced with Blue Mage, but I think it has the potential to help give us some added objectives to look out for in encounters. Obviously not all buffs need to be removable, such as ones that are attached to mechanics, but adding in buffs that increase an enemy's damage output or reduce the damage they receive for short duration that can be removed through a healer's Dispel is another simple way to add more reoccuring tasks to be done.
Repose:
Just like how we've seen Dispel mechanics be used for the Blue Mage, we've also seen Sleep be used in the Blue Carnivale and in the healer Role Quests in Shadowbringers. Imagine that some bosses start summoning adds that cannot be damaged that stick around for 30 seconds and maybe pulsate damage or heal the boss that can be placated with Repose to negate their presence? We can even make specific adds--disrupted aether, that are designed for healers to put to sleep and cannot be harmed in other means. If this becomes the standard of how these adds are handled, it becomes easier for healers to recognize what these adds are and what they need to do to handle them while also making their use more universal so more bosses can justify using them.
Briny Mirror:
Back during the ARR days of 2.X, I did quite a bit of farming Leviathan EX who has a mechanic that applies a debuff called "Briny Mirror" to the off tank. This mirror debuffs healers that heal that target with reduced range on their spells including AoE heals. If you healed that tank too much, you actually would become unable to heal anyone but yourself until the debuff expired, and a part of being a healer for that fight was managing that debuff with your co healer. This was actually a really cool mechanic, and I'd love to see that concept return for more fights.
Healing 3rd Party Targets:
We've seen these a few times, such as Estinien during The Aery and Shinryu EX's dragon heads where the healer needs to heal a 3rd party target, either to keep them alive or having to heal them to full. This is a great way to give healers a role-specific objective while also giving other jobs like Bard (Nature's Minne) and Dancer (Cure Waltz), a way to help the healers do this more quickly.
I don't want to imply that this would fix all the healer problems, but encounter design has nearly as much of an impact on the engagement of playing a healer as their kits do. I know there's a bit of a fear about making any role have intimidating responsibilities, but we also don't need to have all of these mechanics in every fight, and for dungeon bosses and hard trials, they can be less common and more forgiving.
Do you like these concepts, and are there any others you think could be worth looking into?
Continue reading...