Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
While Healer's Staff certainly carries bonuses of 20%, the maximum MAG stat on a Nirvana built from a Healer's Staff is 424 comopared to Hope's best weapon which carries 917. With this in mind, combined with the 1700/1900 split on base magic from the crystarium...

Vanille: 1700 (Crystarium) + 424 (Healer's Staff upgraded to Nirvana) = 2124 Magic + 20% = 2548.8 Magic
Hope: 1900 (Crystarium) + 917 (best magic weapon upgraded to Nue) = 2817 Magic

It would then come down to exactly how the magic stat factored into healing, and if that 20% is based on magic alone or is actually adding to heals, etc. Either way, just because she has a 20% bonus on that weapon doesn't mean she's instantly the best healer. I mean, you could get a 20% defence bonus on a weapon for Hope but it won't make him the best Sentinel.

Once you come down to it, while Vanille potentially could be the best healer, it's really not as cut and dry as you might think and saying that it's sexism is something I would call out as wrong in this case. Hope is actually identified by SE as the better healer in the official guide, where it notes that Vanille's advantage over him as a medic comes from her additional HP. Vanille's primary role in the long run is, for me, Saboteur.
For me, Hope has always been my primary medic. While they are incredibly close run, your stat analysis is quite impressive but also it's got something to do with their crystarium growth. Looking at the Medic abilities and where they get them...

Stage One

Cure: They both get it straight off the bat. Simple.

Stage Four

Cura: Only Vanille gets Cura here, and she also gets...

Esuna: ...again, Vanille only here.

Stage Five

Cura: Hope gets it here, a full stage later. He also gets...

Esuna: ...here as well. So far, Vanille has the "ability advantage" so to speak.

Stage Six

Renew: Both Vanille and Hope gets this here.

Raise: Yup, Vanille only!

Stage Eight

Raise: Hope FINALLY gets Raise.

Curasa: Hope gets this here, as does Vanille.

Curaja: Vanille gets this only. Sorry Hope.

Stage Nine

Curaja: Hope finally gets Curaja.


Sorry if that seemed long-winded, but basically, Vanille gets her abilities generally earlier than Hope, not to mention that Hope has to wait until deep into Stage Nine to get his final Cure ability, Curaja. This isn't the only factor to take into account though, all abilities being equal I still find Hope better for me because of his rapid casting speed; I find Vanille's initial hop to the side and orgasmic motioning to be slightly slower, which, being a crucial role isn't ideal. Hope meanwhile does an amazing job at spamming heals.

I think the developers intended tomake Vanille the better medic because her ravager abilities are generally inferior to Hope who has the entire command of the elements, so as a balance tried to make her a better medic as a balance. Still, I do prefer Hope if given the choice.

Sorry for derailing the thread sort of!