Healing in Final Fantasy XIV is very rewarding

The first thing I did when I set foot in Foundation, the central global hub for Final Fantasy XIVHeavensward’s Heavensward Extension was to enroll in the Astrologian and Dark Knight Class of Employment. This is extremely unusual for me as I only play damage dealers in MMOs, and Astrolgian and Dark Knight are healer and tank classes respectively. But part of the beauty of Final Fantasy XIV is that you can play all classes on one character – no need to create a new character and start the game over like you would in other MMOs. I figured I would do a tank and heal and if I didn’t like that I could go back to one of my three damage classes. But now I think I will be an astrologer forever.

This happens a lot – the damage dealer walks through to see how the other roles live and finds a world full of wonder and excitement. In this regard, my experience in trying a healing course for the first time is not out of the ordinary. But what was so interesting and fun for me, this is how changing class has become not only an enjoyable gaming experience, but also a narrative experience.

I’m playing Final Fantasy XIV to take advantage of its history. Although I’m not on a server known for role-playing, nor in a non-role-playing business, I like to play alone in my head. After The events of A kingdom reborn, my miqo’te is angry, depressed and lonely. (Yes, Tataru and Alphinaud are there with her, but the one she hates and the other has never been more than the adorable administrative assistant who works in a completely different department, so these are at best just sweet acquaintances.) She arrived at the Foundation looking for answers, trying to make sense of all the shit she had to go through. His dark mage mentor offered no advice. All his bard teachers did was bicker as they secretly argued behind the chocobo stables. And his samurai sensei only seemed interested in righting the wrongs of the past with his best Robin Hood impression. At every turn, my character received no solace until she fell into the Athenaerium Astrologicum.

After a series of quests, my character was on his way to becoming a powerful astrologer, and at every step, her teachers taught her to look to the stars for guidance when things were not clear or difficult. For such a wounded character, becoming an astrologer and having the ability to find the answers she needed in the stars was personally rewarding. I’m not one of those types of astrology in real life. I don’t know my birth charts and have no idea what my rising sign is – I’m a Leo that’s all I want to know. But since I was a child, I have been totally fascinated by the stars. Most of my tattoo ideas are stars. I search Etsy for star-themed artwork, even my Twitter name “adashtra” is a mix of my name and the Latin “per aspera, ad astra” or “through hardships, to the stars”. The stars are kind of my thing, so it made me happy to see something that I enjoy in real life comforting my character.

From a gameplay perspective, Astrologers are really cool. They fight with ornate-looking devices called star globes that hover in their hands as a deck of tarot cards magically orbit. It’s so creative and unexpected and I love it. None of it tired Harry potter or the Lord of the Rings bullshit, fighting with wands and sticks we do extreme fantasy shit, fighting with the power of Tarot. I mean, look at me, doesn’t that look absolutely messy!

The prospect of recovery was and still is difficult. My DPS wired brain is struggling to adjust to the mindset of a healer. Before, I barely had to know a boss’s strats – but don’t stay in the “X” where “X” is the area damage spell a boss will do in the field. Now from lower level dungeons to higher raids, I need to know everything or people will die. I’ve walked through Stone Vigil’s dungeon as a damage dealer maybe a dozen times not knowing anything more than “don’t stay in the ice”. It was only as a healer that I learned that you have to use cannons to kill the dragon adds in the second boss. Passing damage to the healer was like asking me to learn Carl Sagan level astrophysics in adolescence fresh out of Algebra I.

The stress of being in charge of a successful dungeon run was killer. And with me, people died a lot. Even though I’m a healer, I’m still expected to lend some of my damage to help kill mobs. But sometimes while doing damage I notice that the health of the tank is decreasing. I’m going to cast a healing spell and keep casting healing spells wondering why they aren’t improving until I finally notice that I haven’t changed targets – I was casting those healing spells on crowds. I will quickly switch targets, but it is already far too late – the tank is dead. This happened once at Haukke Manor and I was so embarrassed that I faked a disconnection and immediately logged out.

I have improved a lot. Being a healer is great if you want to develop your leadership skills. I have progressed to the point where I am the only one leading new players in the lower dungeons, ordering people not to attack the explosion plugs in the Copperbell mines and to jump at the right time while fighting Titan. It is as if the stars, in their all cosmic power, have invested my character with the knowledge and confidence he needs to guide others.

The truth is that I have never been so engaged in Final Fantasy XIV like I play a healer. I was on autopilot for 50 levels and now that I have to use my brain I don’t want to go back. I understand that my damage classes get more complex as my level increases, and I look forward to the challenges they offer, but I am thinking of making my astrologer my main class. It fits my character’s story, it’s fun to play, and I never have to wait more than two seconds in a dungeon queue. Oh yeah, I never give up on that.