Lately, there have been a few posts related to how 6.0 will affect healers, as well as discussing the current issues with playing healers (generally boring), and the possibilities of a potential (likely?) fourth healing job being added, and I’d like to put my 2 cents in on the subject, particularly as to why playing healers often feels so much less fulfilling than other jobs.
I think it comes down to a conflict between role expectations, job kits, and how gameplay actually plays out.
First, lets look at DPS jobs. The expectation of a DPS player is to (1) do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible and; (2) avoid mechanics/not die. An examination of the DPS player kit (not including role actions), shows that approximately 95% of job actions are dedicated to either doing or increasing damage. DPS players who don’t get themselves killed dedicate 100% of their uptime to damage.
Next, we’ll look at tanks. Tanks are expected to (1) Mitigate damage done to parties and; (2) do as much damage as possible. Tank job kits (again, not including role actions) show approximately 75% of job actions dedicated to damage, with the remaining 25% related to mitigating party damage. In game, this is accomplished, firstly, by being the tank and, as such, being the player taking the bulk of the damage, using various abilities to reduce incoming damage. Tanks also have abilities than can reduce damage received by the entire party or individual players. With one exception, all mitigation abilities are oGCD. As such, tanks also spend approximately 100% of their uptime doing damage.
Finally, lets take a look at healers. Healers are expected to (1) keep players from dying; and; (2) do as much damage as possible. Healer job kits are much different from the above, with only approximately 25% of job actions dedicated to damage, while around 75% is dedicated to keeping players alive. Healers fulfill their primary duty by using a number of direct GCD heals, HoTs, and oGCD heals. The higher in level a player is, the fewer GCD heals are used, until, ideally, they are completely ignored. Depending on level and how well geared the healer and other party members are, a healer will likely spend 75-90% of their time doing damage, maybe more.
This is where the problems lays. Healer kits completely disregard how the game plays out.
Healers spend most of their time pressing the same button (e.g. Glare or Holy) over and over again.
Doesn’t sound like it’s all that fun.
tl;dr – The number of buttons a healer can press to keep players alive is hugely unbalanced compared to the actual amount of time they need to dedicate to keeping said players alive.
submitted by /u/Gorkraven
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I think it comes down to a conflict between role expectations, job kits, and how gameplay actually plays out.
First, lets look at DPS jobs. The expectation of a DPS player is to (1) do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible and; (2) avoid mechanics/not die. An examination of the DPS player kit (not including role actions), shows that approximately 95% of job actions are dedicated to either doing or increasing damage. DPS players who don’t get themselves killed dedicate 100% of their uptime to damage.
Next, we’ll look at tanks. Tanks are expected to (1) Mitigate damage done to parties and; (2) do as much damage as possible. Tank job kits (again, not including role actions) show approximately 75% of job actions dedicated to damage, with the remaining 25% related to mitigating party damage. In game, this is accomplished, firstly, by being the tank and, as such, being the player taking the bulk of the damage, using various abilities to reduce incoming damage. Tanks also have abilities than can reduce damage received by the entire party or individual players. With one exception, all mitigation abilities are oGCD. As such, tanks also spend approximately 100% of their uptime doing damage.
Finally, lets take a look at healers. Healers are expected to (1) keep players from dying; and; (2) do as much damage as possible. Healer job kits are much different from the above, with only approximately 25% of job actions dedicated to damage, while around 75% is dedicated to keeping players alive. Healers fulfill their primary duty by using a number of direct GCD heals, HoTs, and oGCD heals. The higher in level a player is, the fewer GCD heals are used, until, ideally, they are completely ignored. Depending on level and how well geared the healer and other party members are, a healer will likely spend 75-90% of their time doing damage, maybe more.
This is where the problems lays. Healer kits completely disregard how the game plays out.
Healers spend most of their time pressing the same button (e.g. Glare or Holy) over and over again.
Doesn’t sound like it’s all that fun.
tl;dr – The number of buttons a healer can press to keep players alive is hugely unbalanced compared to the actual amount of time they need to dedicate to keeping said players alive.
submitted by /u/Gorkraven
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...