How scared should I be about DPS?

[Malkria]

I'll try to keep that in mind. Though I will admit so far this community is far better then the steam one. There it seemed all about two or three people circling around insulting each other more then actually talking.

[EaMett]

I don't think parsers are against the rules. Calling other players out on their dps is however a no go. I personally think using a parser is great for optimizing play. It serves as a good measuring stick and provides a lot of information you can use to compare yourself to other players on fflogs (and try and figure out what they do differently).

Also something that wasn't mentioned but there are some healing patterns that can be used to increase your dps uptime. Might be useful to have some astro mains give you their usual pull patterns on the off chance you could learn anything from them.

All in all, dps is something you should do during your healing downtime. You get to chose when it's right to heal so people won't complain. It only really becomes an issue in content where your group really needs you to dps strong. Like some progression encounters or speed runs.

[Shurrikhan]

To put it simply: the only point of HP that counts is the last.

You should being doing the most DPS you can while keeping people alive. The trick is that pre-healing can often save you more effective DPS uptime than waiting until the last moment. It's a fine balance, but one you'll only learn with practice in which you know your capabilities but reasonably -- not timidly -- challenge yourself.

[Tridus]

I don't think parsers are against the rules. Calling other players out on their dps is however a no go. I personally think using a parser is great for optimizing play. It serves as a good measuring stick and provides a lot of information you can use to compare yourself to other players on fflogs (and try and figure out what they do differently).

Parsers are in fact against the rules. However, SE treats them as a "see no evil, hear no evil" thing. If you don't mention in game that you have a parser, they don't care if you have one. If you do mention it and someone reports you, expect to hear from a GM. Yes, this does mean you can't kick someone and tell them it's because they have low DPS, but you can kick someone for no reason whatsoever ("different play styles").

[Tridus]

I have been kicked from a dungeon exactly one time in this game, and I've been playing for three years. I was kicked because I didn't want to give the bard a Balance card when he was busy berating the dragoon. So it was more a conduct thing, really.

Don't base this game's community on Facebook groups, the forums on here or Steam, or really any other online community. On the whole, people are understanding and at the end of the day, they just want the clear. If you're a polite person and you do your best, you're not going to have any problems. There's no need for a parser or anything. Every once in a while you'll get that person with the terrible attitude but all you can really do is shrug and move on. It's best to just not engage them.

^ This. Outside of wiping on high end content due to enrages, this is an almost purely discussion group problem that barely exists in game. People want to get their clear. If you keep them alive and they get it, they're not going to bother you.

So I have to admit, I'm coming from the steam forums where people are....opinionated? But while I know healer DPS is something you should do because it makes the job less boring and helps your team. There was a guy over there that kept claiming that healing DPS is a bonus and your main role is to heal, so you should focus on that before worrying about DPS.

He's correct. You should be focused on three things, in order:
1. Not dying
2. Healing
3. DPS

If you're contributing DPS when you can, then you're doing the right thing.

But two others kept shouting him down and saying they blacklist lazy healers who aren't doing their absolute best.

Those people are keyboard warriors who like to talk big while hiding behind the safety of the forums. You'd be amazed how often those people can't back it up in game. Ignore them.

I am just now starting to get my gear into I guess a decent place, since I can run all the raids with my gear score. How stressed should I be about putting out top DPS as a healer? Because frankly in roulettes sometimes even when I focus on healing it's all I can do to keep groups up, let alone worrying about trying to put out top DPS.

Frankly? Not very. If your goal is to keep people alive and then contribute DPS when you can, you've got the right mindset. "When you can" varies based on the encounter, group composition, your gear, and your confidence level. A good group will give you more DPS uptime than a bad group (because they need less healing), and as you learn the fights you'll start to recognize the low risk periods with little incoming damage where you can really open up with DPS.

If you're trying to add DPS without letting people die, you're already halfway there. The rest just comes with practice. So don't stress it.

[Malkria]

If you're trying to add DPS without letting people die, you're already halfway there. The rest just comes with practice. So don't stress it.

I am, also trying to 'stance dance' between sects to make healing more efficient as an AST as well. Though my gear is only 328 at the moment.

[Rufalus]

Basically when you're struggling to keep people up it means you're busy; keep on doing that healing and it's perfectly fine. Rational people only get peeved if you aren't doing dps during the downtime when healing isn't required. They're only asking that people please don't stand around doing nothing during a battle.

[HPDelron]

So I have to admit, I'm coming from the steam forums where people ~ frankly in roulettes sometimes even when I focus on healing it's all I can do to keep groups up, let alone worrying about trying to put out top DPS.

Healer DPS is nice, but it doesn't make or break a group. You should do what you're comfortable with. If you can work on finding larger comfort zone that's great. That said, if you're struggling to keep groups up regularly something is likely going wrong. Even on AST it should only take a handful of GCDs to keep everyone alive. All matters of DPS aside, there may be some value in working out why you're on the razor's edge so much.

[Taika]

Healer DPS is nice, but it doesn't make or break a group.

This is not really true in the context of content with challenging enrages where healer DPS is required to beat the DPS. And even in content in which healer DPS is not required, it makes sense to expect healers to participate at the same level of effort than the rest of their team members (not allowing healers to participate at 40% activity/effort level while asking your DDs and tanks to participate with 90% activity/effort level, for example).

[Capn_Goggles]

Healer DPS in casual content really, really isn't so important as to stress about it, and if you're raiding or doing savage then you're at least familiar enough with the game by that point where DPS is second-nature. Okay that latter part might be an exaggeration, since I've raided with some truly, TRULY awful people, but you get the idea.