White Mage: You should DPS and here's why.

[Tanaya]

I've been noticing a trend in dungeons where healers will often just stand there because the party doesn't need to be healed. Some will even jump around in a circle to lol and go "I'm bored D:". Initially, I was only a PLD so I figure as long as I'm healed, everything is good. Now that I've played White Mage to 50 (undoubtely my second favorite job), this is my new response.

So today I'd like to show some insight on what a White Mage can do in dungeons. The abilities highlighted here will be Divine Seal, Stone II, Holy, and Cleric Stance.

Divine Seal

Why do I not see this ability used more? Why? WHY!?

It's a 60 second recast. That means this ability will almost always be up and ready to use once per pull. This is a 30% Heal Boost to all healing abilities, including HoTs. You see where I'm going with this?

Regen on the Tank after he uses Flash/Overpower, and never see his HP drop below 90% because you're awesome. Depending on what you're fighting he might take a bit more damage, but that becomes a non-issue once a mob or two dies.

Cleric Stance

"Tanaya you're crazy! That lowers my healing by--"



Since you have a Divine Seal'd Regen up, you have plenty of time to pull up Cleric Stance and DPS. Cleric Stance swaps MND and INT values while increasing your damage of attack spells by 10%. Since your MND is very well-stacked, your damage takes a considerable jump.

"But what if I need to heal!? D:"

Turn it off.

Stone II

At 170 Potency, it's not as potent as what one would like, but when you consider the cast time (one full GCD), you realize that this skill is actually really strong. When you're able to DPS for a large period over time, the damage adds up to satiable numbers.

This is the main spell to use for trash mobs and boss fights. Use it and love it.

Holy

By far our strongest spell. 240 Potency(!!!) and is AoE. This is Divine Retribution, The Reckoning, the spell that parties hates so much.

But while it is strong, it costs a lot of MP. At level 50, the MP cost is 532. Doesn't sound like much at first, but with too much overuse, it can drain your MP fast, which is a no-no regardless of your playstyle. This also, ironically, has the tendency to pull threat off your tank because they need time to build enmity (or they don't Flash/Overpower enough). This is why unless the party is coordinated to go AoE heavy (2-3 pulls at once), I don't use Holy unless I have Shroud of Saints ready to lower my enmity.

Role Discrepancy

"Tanaya, shouldn't the DPS be the one dealing the damage and the Healers just heal?"

This is a fair question, one that I'll answer without a snarky remark.

There are two things damage does that people subconsciously knows but doesn't acknowledge.

-More damage means you don't need to heal as much.
-More damage means faster clear times in dungeons.

On the case with Holy, this spell strongly emphasizes these two points. Being able to kill a mob, while the rest of mobs are at below half their HP means significantly less healing overall. With Holy's stun effect, you don't have to worry about your tank taking more damage than necessary. Stone II does this as well but on a lesser basis. It's a safer spell to use thanks to it's cast time and low MP cost.

To put it in shorter words: You're a healer. Your role is to heal, but you also have the tools to deal damage. If your contribution makes a difference, you should find ways to use it.

I wouldn't expect (and advise against) White Mages going DPS mode at all on Titan HM or Coil, because it requires you to watch your entire party's HP pool and heal effectively. But dungeons like AK/WP or even dungeons like Satasha when you don't even have Regen, the focus on healing is considerably less.

Analyze your party, and your situation. Figure out what you need to do. I feel this is the best way to play White Mage.

Random Tips

-Presence of Mind is a 50% Spell Speed increase. Use this at the beginning of every boss battle to frontload your Stone II damage.
-Aero II and Aero are DoTs, and their combined damage deals more than a single Stone II. Using this before you switch out of Cleric Stance is a good way to keep damage going while you have to heal.
-You can turn off Cleric Stance as soon as the cast bar completes. You do not need to wait for the animation to finish.
-Swiftcast is on a 1 minute timer. Use it for more than just Raise. (And if you don't have it, why are you playing White Mage?)

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I'd like to add a few disclaimers to my controversial choice of words. The two quotes below sums it up.

She just likes to give the tanks a challenge, tossing out Holy when I'm barely holding aggro on five pulls in SV. :P

I am now nearly a lvl 50 WHM. Since putting all my stats in MND and using cleric stance, I do double (haven't done the exact math - don't care to) my PLD's DPS (put all my stats in VIT) just using Stone 2.

WHMs, remember that when you see me struggling to hold aggro as PLD.

As PLD, I watch as the healer stands there, looking for chests, doing the moon walk because they are bored: main reason I tank in dungeons rather than heal. If you want to contribute to DPS, cool. I think Tanaya's reasoning is sound, but Tanaya is also an experienced healer. If you're new to healing and do not know all the ramifications of your actions, just heal me.

Thanks

It depends a lot on your gear. If you are just barely ok with whatever dungeon you run you don't want to dps and use your MP pool if you struggle with it to begin with. It also depends on what level you are. Generally if you just hit Brayflox level you don't really have time to dps unless you outgear the dungeon. Or the rest if your group outgears the dungeon.

The same is true for lvl 50 dungeons.
I am at a point now where I can easily DPS on trash and on bosses in AK but I am switching in and out of Cleric Stance and it's due to my gear and the gear of the rest of pugs at this point.
So, while your advice is valid it's mostly valid if you don't have to deal with tanks getting hit by a lot of damage constantly and if you don't have to deal with MP issues.
Again, it depends on gear and level but I agree that a healer should not stand around and suck their thumbs if they have a lot of downtime. I also don't see why anyone would do this. It's boring as hell and makes me feel like the group is carrying me.

On top, as mentioned above, it also really depends on how confident you are in reading incoming damage, encounters and how experienced you are as a healer.