Healers of Final Fantasy XIV, you have some job changes you should be aware of, which were detailed in the latest Live Letter from the Producer stream. It focused on changes for all Jobs that’ll be implemented once FFXIV Endwalker goes live, and it was a lot. So, if you play White Mage, Astrologian, or Scholar, and plan on playing Sage once it becomes available, you’ll want to take note of our summary here.
As stated at the front of the Live Letter by director and producer Naoki Yoshida and community manager Toshio Murouchi, everything that was shown is subject to change before FFXIV Endwalker launches. But here’s what we were able to gather.
Right off the bat, each Healer Job will receive new actions that’ll apply single-target buffs for you or a party member. Casting times for offensive spells are said to be reduced (will be generally set to 1.5 seconds) in hopes of improving the flow of playing Healers. And, oh my god, yes, thank you — the Healer Limit Break range has increased to 50m, so party members are less likely to be caught outside the perimeter for that emergency raise that can save the day.
Healers will also be broken up into categories which will affect how parties are organized in Party Finder and Raid Finder. White Mage and Astrologian will be defined as “Pure Healers” while Scholar and Sage will be categorized as “Barrier Healers.” This won’t affect other matchmaking aspects such as Duty Finder.
If you also main a Tank or Melee DPS, be sure to check out our summary of all the Tank Job changes or Melee DPS changes. Now, let’s get into a few of the specifics revealed during the Live Letter stream for each Healer Job.
White Mage (WHM)
Despite the new designation, not much about White Mage has changed, but it’ll be getting some sweet new abilities.
- A functionally and visually distinct restorative field action will be added
- Higher-tier Holy spell that’ll contribute to the Lily Gauge
- Divine Benison will become a Charge action
Astrologian (AST)
Astrologian is getting several adjustments which should simplify the Job a little bit as moves closer to its “Pure Healer” designation.
- Diurnal Sect and Nocturnal Sect will be removed
- Basic healing actions will be adjusted to have same effects as they would with Diurnal Sect
- Neutral Sect will be changed to included barrier-type effects
- Divination effect will be changed, Seals to be used for new buffs applied to the player
- Redraw will no longer be a Charge action
- Every time you use Draw, you can use Redraw once
- Adjustments to Minor Arcana planned
- A new AoE spell that’ll work as both a healing and offensive ability
Scholar (SCH)
Even though Scholar is being tweaked to be more true to its new designation as “Barrier Healer,” it seems not too much is changing.
- A new Job action which can buff party movement speed even during combat
- Works like Sprint but doesn’t override it if active
- Also works as damage reduction buff (if understood correctly)
- A new powerful buff that can be targeted for a single party member
Sage (SGE)
Ah yes, the brand-new Healer coming with FFXIV Endwalker, Sage. Like the upcoming Reaper Job, we got a live demonstration of how Sage works in action, though it was limited since Yoshida-san didn’t a party member to work off of. Regardless, here’s what we know.
- Features all the necessary actions of a Barrier Healer
- Ability called Cardia is used to target enemies to attack and designate a party member to heal simultaneously
- Works like a Drain-type ability — the designated party member will receive the heals based on the damage you inflict from attacks
- Draws on unique resources (from the Sage’s Job Gauge) for healing, buffs, and attack magic
- There will be an ability that adds a chance for your attacks to inflict a DoT effect
- Adder’s Gall is a gauge that accumulates and lets you instantly cast barrier heals
- Icarus is a gap-closer ability
- Yoshida-san also showed off a sweet attack where lasers shoot out of the Sage’s Nouliths
Of course, these summaries cover what was highlighted during the stream, and Jobs are sure to add more actions as we get to level 90 in Endwalker. Still, plenty of information came out of that six-hour and 18-minute Producer Live Letter stream, and we have plenty of that FFXIV content covered. You can cop FFXIV Endwalker for PS5, PS4, and PC on November 19 if you preorder for early access. Otherwise, you can start playing on November 23.
If you’re interested in seeing the other job role changes outlined in the “Live Letter from the Producer”, you can find them right here!
