Why healing is broken and terrible, and how to fix it...

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Originally Posted by Taika

The way you're describing healer play in raiding doesn't seem any familiar to me as a person who's actually raided in this game as a healer.

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I'm not just talking about raiding: I want healer play to be engaging across the board, not only when doing the most challenging content in the game (like I said in the OP).

Doing omega has been more fun for healing than any content prior, true, but there's still an awful lot of standing around.

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Originally Posted by Gun-Cat

Never been the case in all the time I have been playing this game.

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Good for you.

In other news, I'm cold, so global warming is clearly a hoax. :P

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

But yes, you CAN blame them. They craft the game in a certain way and the entire reason I've posted this is because they've designed encounters and abilities in such a way that healers spend most of their time standing there having to decide whether to DPS or conserve mana instead of healing because there's no healing to do.



Yes, but it would also be more fun and engaging if part of being a healer wasn't just standing around, allowing mana to regen.

Hell, DRKs have abilities to restore their mana through dealing damage. I'd LOVE to have something like that as a healer...



I'm not trivializing them: I'm ENVYING them. I've leveled a tank to cap in HW and I would've preferred to tank but my static didn't need one.

I usually heal in MMOs, but I prefer tanking/DPSing because it's dramatically more engaging than healing is.



You can memorize when DPS are going to screw up and stand in an AoE? Lucky you! :P



I C wut U did thar. :D



There are literally, right now, two threads in the healer forum front page: one complaining that healers don't DPS, and the other complaining that healers DPS too much.

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Did you read my post at all? you don't have to "conserve mana", unless again, people are dying left and right from always standing in bad, with an undergeared tank that don't know how to use defense CDs while overpulling. Even then the healer that has MP issues first is WHM (4.0 it did shift to SCH for a bit) and thin air helps with holy spam/raises. AST should not be having MP issues, there is no "thinking" you simply learn the fight and learn what to do, so people are correct in saying it is a git gud issue, along with being aware of your other party memebers. A lot of times in leveling dungeons, healing issues is due to the tank overpulling with weak DPS where the tank does not use CDs or even attempts to DPS stance mid-size pulls (war is the most common to do this with) and that is the reason I hate most war tanks. Also learn abilities of other classes, ask for refresh/manashift when you need it, sometimes I ask for it during my low moments just so I can dps more till Lucid Dreaming is ready again.

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Originally Posted by Avatre

I was (sort of) yelled at for DPSing as a WHM. Was spamming Holy on a the second pull(the 6-7 enemies before that path opens) of Keeper a while back, and the tank(who wasn't anywhere NEAR close to death) said "rly?". Decided not to DPS for a while...they didn't like that and got frustrated until I started DPSing again.

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Yeah it does happen, rare but it does. It could be simply trolling though. I have AST to 70, whm to 70, SCH to 60, and all the times I got complaining for DPS had to do with WHM with holy. I mean.. I just do not get it.. do people have holyphobia? It was that and early 2.0 (not a complaint more like a concern) saying I had cleric stance on. I simply said I know and I take it off when I need to heal.

So youre either a bad tank or a DPS that is upset you dont get praise, because no one can be serious with a post like this. And ive literally never once seen a healer scolded for NOT DPS'ing.
Please.

As long as a healer is doing their job and nobody is dying ..especially the Tank and the group is beating all the content. Then anybody who actually gives the healer a hard time is completelly wrong. Healers do not need to DPS. If they get time to it is at their option. IN fact Healers trying to do damage is why groups will wipe and problems will arise sometimes because they either run out of Mana or they are not paying attention to their healing duties.

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Originally Posted by ArcanoJones

As long as a healer is doing their job and nobody is dying ..especially the Tank and the group is beating all the content. Then anybody who actually gives the healer a hard time is completelly wrong. Healers do not need to DPS. If they get time to it is at their option. IN fact Healers trying to do damage is why groups will wipe and problems will arise sometimes because they either run out of Mana or they are not paying attention to their healing duties.

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I think you're a new player in this game? There is in fact content where healers do need to DPS so that the party would be able to beat it (I think both OS3 and OS4 fall in this category right now: see this post about OS4 DPS calculations as a reference), and in the content where healing isn't strictly required, the healing requirements are so low that if the healer would be only healing, they would be completely inactive most of the time. So it's highly encouraged most of the time, and in some cases even demanded in this game. :)

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Originally Posted by ArcanoJones

And which instances would those be..The only time I can think of where extra DPS would be required is if you need to kill something very quickly and those instances would be very short.

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I listed them right there: OS3 and OS4 at least, OS2 for the majority of the players too (Omega Savage instances). Additionally, in a level 60 dungeon there's a mechanic where both DD players are unable to do anything until tank and healer free them with DPS, and there are also certain time frames in dungeons and raids when there's no incoming damage at all but party DPS is required (so healers are obviously meant to DPS and not just stand there and watch while their party is doing stuff).

And which instances would those be..The only time I can think of where extra DPS would be required is if you need to kill something very quickly and those instances would be very short.

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Originally Posted by ArcanoJones

And which instances would those be..The only time I can think of where extra DPS would be required is if you need to kill something very quickly and those instances would be very short.

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Undergeared Savage Raiding, basically.

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Originally Posted by ArcanoJones

And which instances would those be..The only time I can think of where extra DPS would be required is if you need to kill something very quickly and those instances would be very short.

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It's not even necessarily about whether a healer is *required* to do damage to beat the content, it's about whether you *should* or even can.

Healer damage is no joke, and can greatly speed up runs, from dungeons all the way up to raids. Yes, it takes a degree of comfort and experience with the class and the dungeon/boss in question, but nobody's going to expect perfection from you outside of the hardest content. The more comfortable and experienced you get, the more damage you'll be able to contribute without letting people die.

Deciding straight up that since it's only your job to heal that you're only going to heal is lazy. It would be the same as a tank walking into a pack of mobs, establishing emnity, and then pressing no buttons until the pack is dead. It's only their job to hold aggro, nobody said they had to deal damage, right? Or what about a DPS deciding they're only doing one combo and not making use of self buffs or cooldowns either? They're doing damage, nobody said they had to do good damage.

You wouldn't let either of those other situations fly, so healers shouldn't really be getting a free pass either. You'll often get that free pass in easier content because most people just don't care enough or don't want to waste time with potential tantrums (since trying to help people play better is often poorly recieved, no matter how you phrase it); but if you care about your personal performance then you shouldn't be willing to settle for only doing the bare minimum expected of you.

Only read the tl'dr, but I have literally never been chastised for DPSing as a healer.

Why?

Because I'm not awful, and only an idiot would complain about extra damage going out. As long as people don't die, no one tends to care.

Healing in XIV is fine as it is.

It was made easier to accommodate people who couldn't handle stance dancing, and if I am completely honest, it feels a lot more streamlined without having to (potentially) gamble on Cleric Stance.

People aren't struggling with content that doesn't matter. If healers want to go ham with the DPS in roulettes, what does it matter so long as everyone lives? If healers want to be lazy and do the Manderville throughout the duration of the roulette, kick them or deal with your slow clear.

SE isn't going to go back and re-work healer to make it HARDER after just making it easier. Hell, mana management is one of the few things that has become "harder" on healer, and even that tends to be pretty negligible (outside of needing to raise 482 people as a result of them dying to stupid).

I mean, if they wanted to add a harder healer class, I guess they could? People are still raging trash piles on healer as it is though, so it seems kind of pointless.

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Originally Posted by Nhisso

So youre either a bad tank or a DPS that is upset you dont get praise, because no one can be serious with a post like this. And ive literally never once seen a healer scolded for NOT DPS'ing.
Please.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-who-don-t-DPS

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Originally Posted by missybee

SE isn't going to go back and re-work healer to make it HARDER after just making it easier.

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It's not difficulty that was the issue for me so much as the job not being very engaging.

Raids are okay because there's at least more to watch out for, but doing daily Ex as a healer is like driving nails into my skull.

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Originally Posted by Cenerae

Or what about a DPS deciding they're only doing one combo and not making use of self buffs or cooldowns either? They're doing damage, nobody said they had to do good damage.

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Pretty sure I run in to that pretty often, actually.

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Originally Posted by ArcanoJones

As long as a healer is doing their job and nobody is dying ..especially the Tank and the group is beating all the content. Then anybody who actually gives the healer a hard time is completelly wrong. Healers do not need to DPS. If they get time to it is at their option. IN fact Healers trying to do damage is why groups will wipe and problems will arise sometimes because they either run out of Mana or they are not paying attention to their healing duties.

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You're preaching to the choir, but it still happens.

This is one of the more polite examples I've seen:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-who-don-t-DPS

Either way, the way damage happens in this game is ultimately responsible for this situation. If healers were always (or nearly always) using their mana to heal, no one would even consider suggesting they DPS.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

Either way, the way damage happens in this game is ultimately responsible for this situation. If healers were always (or nearly always) using their mana to heal, no one would even consider suggesting they DPS.

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No, it's because of healers not paying attention, which can happen regardless of whether or not they're doing damage.

Please stop trying to blame mechanics for lack of player skill. Again, admitting is the first step, and it's okay not to be good at healing in this game.

K so it's another complaint based on somebody that played 1 healing job recently, AST. Sry but I actually like it on WHM, I don't have mp problems and I can be very flexible with the way I am playing, I can even carry whole groups and even the worst tanks, you know the ones that pull 10000 mobs and not use 1 cool down etc. without having to sacrifice healing over dps and vice versa. I can do both. Maybe instead of complaining you should give WHM a try, or at least change the header to : Why AST's mp/dps in general is broken and how terrible I am at the job, please fix it.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-who-don-t-DPS



It's not difficulty that was the issue for me so much as the job not being very engaging.

Raids are okay because there's at least more to watch out for, but doing daily Ex as a healer is like driving nails into my skull.

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What people are referring to is what happens in the game, it is rare for people to tell a healer is not doing enough dps, as well as doing DPS. I can't remember if it was on my DRK? most likely was since it was recent and I know I did not see it on my sam. Anyways I had this healer that did literally ZERO DPS.. THE FULL leveling DF at 65.. not even using Assize!!! and no one said anything. (I was not going to cuz I am tried of the 'don't tell me how play my job you do not pay for my sub!!!!!)

SO ya.. it is rare... (also why ya ignoring my posts? I got WHM and AST to 70 =/ and the only thing I ran into was complaining about DPS as WHM (using holy) like that other poster, it is very rare and I think they where just trolling anyway.)

AST does not typically have MP problems, it takes a lot for them to do so.. where you even using Nocturnal Sect? or any sect? sects buff ast raw healing too so if you forgot to use them ya you might have a hard time, like others are trying to explain it is a 'git gud' issue on your part, and being aware what is going on (If you have a sponge tank, it can make things difficult) but all this is player skill, not the abilities jobs have as far as programing.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

And all #1 would do is remove the "guesswork" when it comes to healers choosing to DPS because you're accounting for something you cannot know ahead of time.

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If you're not playing a healer via fight knowledge, you're probably playing it wrong. You should now damn near exactly how much damage will be dealt and when. Outlier frequency of crits in dungeon mass pulls are about the only time this wouldn't be the case and are still almost never enough to adjust rotations. They certainly aren't enough to make you notice you've done so.

For this to be guesswork you'd have to first be unfamiliar with healing, or dealing with players of purposely unpatterned behavior (i.e. trolls).

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

Either way, the way damage happens in this game is ultimately responsible for this situation. If healers were always (or nearly always) using their mana to heal, no one would even consider suggesting they DPS.

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In dungeons that, too, would depend on the difference between the mana gained during combat and the mana gained outside of combat.

It would just be an added concern atop the duration for which tank eHP can be sustained against incoming damage (mass pulls tend not to, and have no reason to be, survivable on tank stance and heal spam alone), and may actually make DPSing even more vital, as regardless of the percentage of GCDs spent healing, the fight would become unsustainable, but now additionally due to mana.

Of course, making damage-dealing skills alone disgustingly expensive would do that for you. But expect then to see disgust.

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Originally Posted by ArcanoJones

And which instances would those be..The only time I can think of where extra DPS would be required is if you need to kill something very quickly and those instances would be very short.

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You can clear it faster by putting in nearer to the same effort as everyone else. Or you can laze out and do it slower. Which do you think has more... ethical appeal?

You can clear a dungeon without dealing DPS. You can kill a mob with just auto-attacks. But should you? Is there any actual reason to do so? (Excluding the obvious masochism...)

Dont think healers are broken... Their fine. I think that bad parties are really the bigger issue. Tanks pulling more then the DPS can handle in a short time with limited AoE potential, or DPS single targeting mobs vs AoEing mobs is an issue...sorta. The longer the tanks is taking big damage the longer the healer has to focus. Also Tanks not moving out of AoE's or DPS getting hit needlessly is a big issue. Pugs are ridiculous since SB. I still do them from time to time and maybe I'm just having some really bad luck but every one I do I seem to get undergeared Tanks pulling huge mobs and getting shit on almost immediately.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

This is one of the more polite examples I've seen:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-who-don-t-DPS

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I think what some people have tried to tell you is that even though people complain on the forums they are just the very vocal minority. Even I complain a little because it irks me to see a healer jumping around when they have nothing to heal, but I never harass anyone in-game for it. Coming to the forums to rant is usually very different from how people act in-game.

In-game no one really bothers others with these issues. It happens sometimes, but I can tell you right now I've only had one instance of someone mentioning my healer DPS in 4 years of playing this game and I have actually never seen another healer harassed about DPS either. I have been active most of those 4 years too. (this is strictly speaking of casual content though everything but savage raiding)

In savage raiding is usually the only place healers may get confronted about their play if they do not contribute some DPS as a healer, but savage raiding (during it's release) is the hardest content the game offers so if someone will not even attempt to learn to use their full toolkit in savage raids then some groups may decide to remove a player like that. Like Taika said O3S and O4S DPS checks are very harsh so most groups need a decent amount of healer DPS to clear it with the current item level available to us at the moment.

Savage raiding every role needs to be using almost their whole toolkit, healers should not be exempt from that.

I'm a healer and I have no problems dpsing.... you neve get yelled at for dpsing o.O I've been yelled at for not dpsing but never for dpsing.... Quite a lot of healing si learning when you can dps. In o1s I know when I can focus the most dps and when I just throw up my dots and focus on healing.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

3. Make damage come out more consistently and give healers rotations like those of DPS where you're constantly pressing buttons that combo into fun decisions, like using a mana-regenerating ability attached to a weaker heal, but at very least, healers will always be pressing our buttons to HEAL instead being green DPS.

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While I wouldn't mind for damages through time...

Are you... playing healer ?

I mean... I'm constantly pressing buttons, that are for heals or damages, and what's actually fun is that we have no rotation to respect.
DANG! Tetra ! And one Regen for you ! Ow, yeah, here goes Assize ! And one little Stone IV for him with some Aero. And then presence of mind, let's kick some ass quickly but ow, damages incoming, my medica II will be casted faster !

There are plenty of things you can do as a healer without needing a rotation or anything like that, and it's still super fun.
If you don't find the current healing system fun, maybe you don't like healing (or you don't know how to heal).

From what I've read, I feel like you don't, cause this is definitly not what I'm doing.
Yes, there are some downtimes in fight where the regen can do the work alone and you can throw some dpsing skill and stuff but...
What you're suggesting will not make it funnier at all.

I like the current system. This is why I play healer right now.
All they could do, is making damages that hit less hard but more often through times to make us heal a little more. Or more healing centered mechanics.
But don't touch the core of healers' gameplay. They are really well made.

I haven't enjoyed the game more than I ever have and I just started playing healer. Cleric Stance always made me eventually pass on it but now that it's gone I love battle content. I also think all of your "fixes" for a problem that doesn't exist are stupid and wouldn't improve gameplay. If you can't manage your mana between dps and healing idk what to tell you.

Btw, for the mana management part.
If you dpsed until running dry and can't raise or heal properly =>

1. You don't have enough piety and should change some gear or meld some piety.
2. Sorry, you're a bad healer and you should rethink what your priority is. When you don't know a fight, it's okay sometimes to "don't do anything to keep some mana and watch the mechanics". You'll have all the time you want to optimize for healing and dpsing later when you'll know the entire fight.
3. You don't hit your mana buttons enough or badly.
You never let your mana regen on CD except at the beginning of the fight because you need to wait to be at like 85% to make it worth using (exception for astrologian who paired it with celestial opposition to extend the duration).
White Mage have 3 ways to recover mana => use it one by one and never let them stand by.
Scholar also have 3 ways to recover mana => Aetherflow never on CD either because... well, that one of the biggest part of its gameplay, Energy drains for aetherflow stack you don't need for heal and finally lucid dream whenever it's here.
Astrologian : Like I said, always trying to pair it with Celestial Opposition, he has 2 ways to recover mana, but one is rng, and ther's also lightspeed that is here to make high and heavy mp cost healing with a reduction.

I think I covered the "no mana because dpsing" subject.

Well I became a healer to heal.
I DPS because I want to so...

People need to realise, at the end of the day WE ARE HEAAAALLLEEEERSSSS
Heals first, DPS second. That's it, the end. If anyone wants to complain they can heal. Us DPSing in content (I have no idea on savage)
is a bonus, I won't yell at the healer by standing there but I do think they could contribute if they don't have anything else to do.
That's just me, I don't pay their sub lol. DPSing when given the chance does speed up runs so I never see why not?
None in my healing career of nearly 4 years have I been abused because I haven't DPS/Healed or whatever.
People just need to quit harassing healers all the time about every little thing they do or don't.
Already have a evergoing shortage of heals now, why make it worse?

While I'm happy to see the vast majority of players responding to this thread with reasonable replies I have to ask why (when so many people in the actual healer forum in your thread about enemy damage output disagreed with your stance already) did you create the same thread here?

Many people enjoy playing healers right now. Tanks are still generally AiN for most things with little exception even in light of all of the drastic healer balance issues.

Ultimately I have only one question for you that I didn't ask in your old thread.

Tanks that are not very skilled can get by with their AoE enmity generator and some luck in casual content especially once they get tank stance. DPS (again, casual content here) can get away with almost any combination of moves that keeps them attacking. Hopefully they follow the prompts for their rotation but who knows. I had a 60+ BRD in Copperbell NM with me today (as Archer, I'm leveling) who wouldn't use Quick Nock on the 7-10 mob groups the tank was pulling. I politely mentioned it to him and he said it was "a low potency move".

The point of all this is that the other roles can (and often do) phone in their primary function. What you are suggesting (which boils down to rotation based healing) would take a healer's primary function and make it not something you can "just wing" for 60+ levels like that BRD.

By elevating this to something that requires even a basic understanding of the game (or a bit of research, or even common sense) you are making healing that much more reliant on player skill in casual content which, with the stories of some DF healers I hear regularly from this forum and my FC, would exclude a reasonable portion of the playerbase from being able to clear content as a healer.

Could you do it? Definitely, you certainly did in WoW. Could I do it? Probably, I tend to care about playing optimally and research a class before starting it. Could 16 year old Timmy who got this game because catgirls and plays how he wants because "you dnt pay his sub" do it?

No, and that is a choice I don't think you should be making for those very casual (and very numerous) players or the people stuck with them in roulettes.

Only time have problems healing is when a super tank pulls more than they can handle or when game gives me a huge lag spike that freezes game sometimes for 10 seconds. Only once had to leave a group dps would not dodge any of the aoe attacks and kept dyeing.

What you describe are the reason I my brother didn't sticked to this game. He always play healer cuz he like to heal and in this game if your not pushing progression raiding, your just a weak DPS that can heal.

I feel like the designer do not anjoy healing themselves but hey, you need healers in a MMO so they designed healing this way.

I fail to understand healers having MP issues. I've never had issues both DPSing and healing. If you're spamming AOEs stop at 50% MP.... otherwise there is no reason you should run out just using dots and single target damage.

While I would like to agree with you that content could use more healing required.... I've encountered far more healers which can't heal leveling content than I'd care to admit lately.
0MP damage spells I would support, but it feels unnecessary.

I'm curious.... if DPS ate every aoe mechanic which wont one shot them would the dps increase be greater than that of the healer's contribution otherwise. Anyone know?

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3. Make damage come out more consistently and give healers rotations like those of DPS...

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idk about rotations, since those are a huge turnoff in classes for me (I'd rather have a priority system and have to think on my feet a little), but I would like to see healers being forced to heal more.
It's not gonna happen without a buttload of work for the dev team, though, and that's effort that could be better spent elsewhere. Due to the nature of how fights work, once you're familiar with them you're always gonna know when the downtime is and when it's safe to DPS vs when you need to conserve mana. Even in savage. In order for this to work they'd have to either make it so that there is no downtime, which would be extremely punishing to healers (and widen the gap between the skill ceiling and the skill floor; the opposite of what SE is trying to do) or make all damage and boss attacks genuinely random so that healers can't learn the boss' rotations.

It's just not realistic, really.

There are a ton of folks who love the way healing works in this game. There are others that don't. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

I mean it's not just healing. It's the whole meta. Tanks not using tank stance and Healers just tossing some Regens on everybody. I personally am not a fan of it and it sucks for people who go into those jobs, with the mindsets you would expect. That's just how things are though.

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Originally Posted by RaizeGraymalkin

I mean it's not just healing. It's the whole meta. Tanks not using tank stance and Healers just tossing some Regens on everybody. I personally am not a fan of it and it sucks for people who go into those jobs, with the mindsets you would expect. That's just how things are though.

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Kinda unrelated to the discussion at hand, but I feel like adding tank stances as a core concept of tanking design to this game was a mistake. The button basically makes enmity a non-factor and is a built-in 20% damage reduction (or 30% extra health for WAR) that requires no thought or upkeep to it whatsoever. It feels like an idea created solely for tanks that just aren't good at tanking, and all the weird gauge consumption and "stance-dancing" penalties and stuff we're seeing is the devs trying to solve a problem that they really should have had the foresight to predict.

I've already said my piece on healing in this game ad nauseum, so I'll just leave it at that.

...Offensive spells for healers cost very low amounts of MP. Even in Savage, you can easily go around the whole fight DPSing and healing and you're never going to run out of mana unless you die or have to raise a ton of people - I won't even talk about other content since the incoming damage there is so low that you can literally afk over half the encounter.

I think you could make DPS spells cost 0 MP and you still would have the "I am a healer my job is to heal" kind of player. These people get shunned for refusing to use their kit and not contributing. I can't grasp the logic of not wanting to DPS, it makes playing a healer completely boring for me. And why would you want to contribute less? Why would you want to make your runs longer? Why would you want to spend half the time you're there doing nothing when you could be actually playing the game?

So no, the issue isn't on how healing is designed in this game. It's entirely on the playerbase and their mentality.

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Originally Posted by Mizore_Canaan

I liked healing in SW:TOR much more, small free heals, heal ability's that were fun to use proper, and medium large heals.

Here its just like you said, 50% of HP bar, back to pewpew, it feels like waiting more then healing, that's why I play a DPS role main here, even though i'm a Healer main ever-were else.

Also should note, this is the 1st MMO i'v played that allowed unlimited combat resurrection, most games limit it to a set # per fight or have death penalty on the resurrected target till the fights over, makes the DPS more responsible for their own self and not playing Blame the healer.

P.S Yes I loved SW:TOR but it sucks now FTP kills games booooo.

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I miss SW:TOR from years ago. I lived and breathed it. The game has changed too much though. I log onto my old 60 sage/sorc and scoundrel/operative healers out of nostalgia but never play again.

No. I completely disagree OP. Here's what I do, and I know this is going to sound totally wild so just bear with me....I learn the dungeons/raids to know when my party members will likely take damage. I hold off going full throttle dps until I can judge how my fellow party members are doing with mechanics, with speed of dps, with damage mitigation, and then I adjust myself accordingly. And I never dps myself completely out of MP. I add as much as I can, and then when I'm getting too low I stop so that I can still throw out a heal or two if necessary. I have never, in thousands of runs playing this same way, had anyone tell me I am DPSing too much or too little, I have never had a complaint that I wasn't healing enough, and never Dps'd myself out of MP and then needed it. Every run on a healer is different, its not cookie cutter, you have to be ready for chaos on a whim, I don't want a rotation, I don't want predictable. and that's why I play a healer in the first place.

Or we could just nerf the potency on their dmg skills. so that if they do want to dps, they better actually think about using them.

Or do what i always wanted SE to do but i know they wont ( incoming heat...), disable all dmg spells in dungeons, raids, trials, guildhests, fates. Only enable them during solo content such as msq scenarios or outside 1v1 combat with mobs. If you participate in fates they get enabled until another person joins in the fate.

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Originally Posted by JisKing98

Or we could just nerf the potency on their dmg skills. so that if they do want to dps, they better actually think about using them.

Or do what i always wanted SE to do but i know they wont ( incoming heat...), disable all dmg spells in dungeons, raids, trials, guildhests, fates. Only enable them during solo content such as msq scenarios or outside 1v1 combat with mobs. If you participate in fates they get enabled until another person joins in the fate.

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The day they disable damage spells on healers is the day I retire my Cane, Globe and Spell book. Pure healing in this game is laughably easy, to the point of boredom. You do this and I guarantee queue times for dungeons would be abysmal. Worse, you'd see a vast increase of PFs allowing only one healer. Come to think of it, such a change would make Red Mage all but mandatory. White Mage + Red Mage is far better than two dedicated healers if they're locked out of DPSing since the Red Mage can DPS.

Likewise, nerfing potencies accomplishes nothing. Healers will still be expected to DPS, and will. They'll just put up less numbers.

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Originally Posted by JisKing98

Or we could just nerf the potency on their dmg skills. so that if they do want to dps, they better actually think about using them.

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We need to be able to do some damage, or we wouldn't be able to level on our own or complete MSQ instances. Nerfing potency also wouldn't make us "think" about our spells, because there would still just be two (maybe three) buttons to spam.

No, the fix comes from a combination of nerfing HEALING potency alongside changes in how damage goes out in dungeon/raid/trial encounters so that we spend more time actually healing.

This seems more like a PUG problem than healing problem. I understand where you're coming from and your intentions are good! I've played a WHM for years and have seen many, many. . . many things.

The events in the game are scripted, you can use Focus Target to know what will happen next on a boss and act accordingly ( this is why I lose my mind when I am asked to do a new instance blind ). Healing is predictive but with some "OH SHIT!" buttons juuust in case.

What you can't predict is who you're playing with if you're going to be set up with randoms. Those randoms will be the defining choice on whether or not you will be able to DPS at all. Will the tank use his CDs properly? Will the DPS avoid damage and put out enough damage to not make the fights last forever?

If the rest of your party is actually good and pays attention, a healer will have the time to DPS. If no one is taking damage and you know what the boss does, go for it! A healer shouldn't strain themselves to DPS if the group is terrible though. A healer's job first and foremost is to heal.