Healer DPS - enjoyable or a chore?

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Originally Posted by Brightamethyst

Oh god. I hate that so much.

"Raise me!"
Dude, chill. That's the second time you've died in the past 30 seconds and Swiftcast is still on CD.

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Then the Red mage from the other alliance group revives the DPS and you are forced to blacklist.

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Originally Posted by Lubu_Mykono

Then the Red mage from the other alliance group revives the DPS and you are forced to blacklist.

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How come? I don't get it. Why blacklist after the rdm raises? D:. I'm just a monk so I don't understand.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

It's generally agreed upon that healers should DPS when they can. In Savage, it's more or less imperative.

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Nope, Yoshi-P said they do not design content with healer DPS taken into account. You can do whatever you want to squeak out more DPS if you have a competent party, but anyone who green DPS's is intentionally playing poorly. I also don't believe there really are that many "green DPS" out there, nor are there that many "heal-slave" types that do nothing but heal and watch netflix as some people would suggest. The issue is really that Red DPS try to play Healers like they were a DPS, and don't actually want to use the healing tools because they are stuck in the mindset that not maximizing DPS is playing poorly, when that isn't what they are there for.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

Paradoxically, the consensus tends to be that the less time a healer spends actually healing, the more skilled they are (with exceptions, of course.)

When I heal, I adhere to this to the best of my ability, but I don't really enjoy it. I find healer DPS boring and unengaging, most of all because it involves spending 90% of the time hitting a single button and it often feels I'm trying to be a subpar DPS than a healer. While I certainly don't agree with not DPSing at all, I can understand to an extent the often parroted defence of "if I wanted to attack, I'd DPS." AST's card mechanic adds another dimension to gameplay that helps it feel less shallow to a degree, but I feel it quite strongly on the other jobs.

My own feelings aside, it brought to mind the question, is healer DPS actually enjoyable in its own right? Is it something healers generally like doing, or feel compelled to? To healers, given the option - would you keep it as is, prefer more of a focus on actual healing, or more expansive DPS options? Is the current method a fair way to judge healer skill?

(This is not a "should healers DPS" thread, but a given that they can and do.)

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The developers can not make healer DPS more engaging because they need to be able to heal. Thus any kind of combo-system for a healer is inherently missing the point of the role, be it for DPS or Healing. Healing is situational. DPS is not. A DPS role can go a-b-c mindlessly and not touch the rest of their kit, they will still be putting out damage. A Healer who spams cure I-CureII-Cure III/Medica without there being anything to heal, not only wastes the MP, but affects the Tank's ability to hold enmity as well. What people fail to understand is that sometimes you should be doing nothing if you're about to overtake the tank. This is more a problem with Tank's not playing efficiently, but it's still a thing, especially on leveling content, where an overgeared healer can rip hate away from an undergeared tank, even when they're in tank stance.

I can't name a multiplayer game that has an effective support/healer role, the "healer role" is really something of a single-player game concept where you just have the healer spam heals every turn, where as tanks do not exist in single player. Usually you have the healer on the back row for the defensive bonus, because you want to prevent them from being KO'd by strong enemies.

Compare that to a MMORPG where the healer gets sidelined because players zerg the content. If the game's kept with it's design goals, the tank would not be out of tank stance except when they are solo or separated from the party, and the healer would not be out of healer stance except when they are solo or separated from the party. A healer who overheals would rip the hate away from the tank, and a tank who drops tank stance would reset their position in the hate list, thus certainly killing the healer. There are phases during some bosses where no incoming damage will be forthcoming for several seconds, and that is where the healer and tank could DPS freely. But outside of that, the tank and healer should not have the opportunity to DPS for more than 5 seconds, and that's where the game doesn't penalize parties for, when it should.

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Originally Posted by Limonia

I've had people complain to me and my co-healer too when they die like 10 times that we should have healed them. But what can I do as White Mage when I raise someone and they run into the same AoE 1 second later when I already used Benediction on them before? If someone dies so many times in a Alliance Raid or dungeon it's 99% their fault. Please just don't ignore EVERY mechanic. At least TRY to dodge, TRY to turn around when there is an eye marker, TRY to stack with a stack marker, TRY to attack adds. But even when everyone else is stacking somewhere together, those people still just stand somewhere alone and attack the boss, not noticing anything around them. Yes, some people aren't very good at this game, and it's fine. But there are those that aren't trying at all. And those are the exact same people that think I could save them from dieing over and over again which is just not true at all. Healers don't make mechanics non-existant for other players. I'll heal them over and over again but fuller HP bars don't make them magically be immune against mechanics or one-shots.

Another case where those people complain: They are dead on the floor and I'm not raising them immediately. No one else need healing, so I dps - because Swiftcast will be up in less than 10 seconds and I can't hard-cast it because I know I'd have to move during it. They think I ignore them because I wait to raise them at the best time. Because they don't know anything about healing.


Or I do both by healing efficiently and not being unhelpful, disrespectful and idle when healing is not necessary.

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The issue most of the time is that players try to immediately get back into the fight and not wait for their HP/MP/TP to recover, so they get flattened by the very next thing. This is especially problematic when you raise players who can heal or raise other players, because you want to hit your MP recovery skill so you can heal yourself, but the boss may have a mechanic that does significant damage, right after you hit the button, and thus you're back on the floor. Like the only skill you should be casting once revived is an oGCD heal on yourself, and unfortunately the meta is to waste oGCD's as much as possible. There are situations where a healer accepts a raise, and has literately nothing they can do, no MP, no oGCD's, so they die again. So a healer should not accept the raise until they can either use both oGCD heal on themselves and a MP recovery.

A Healer should be trying to raise any KO'd player, swiftcast or not, but this is another part of the game where really, they should have just redesigned Raise to include swiftcast, and then put the swiftcast part on cooldown, or reduce the swiftcast cooldown as part of using healing correctly without overheal like with Assize/Asylum. Yet if they did this, then there would really be no penalty to death. So perhaps really Swiftcast should just be removed, and Raise moved to oGCD and be part of the Assize/Asylum recast reduction pool.

It's not hard to see what the developers intents are behind most of the skills, and really, it seems like the developers want a completely different idea of how healing is being used, and thus players who play healers per the developers intent are labeled as being lazy, where as green DPS using the skills in a way not intended by the developers as dictated by a DPS min-max meta the developers ignored, end up being the preferred raid zerg strategy. Thus the arguments and fights that never end. I'm sure SE's data analytics show all these skills being used by the majority of the players, otherwise they wouldn't have changed cleric stance to begin with. Or perhaps they changed cleric stance to try and entice more players into the healer role and don't really care if a healer decides to Green DPS.

There are players who want to play a healer, and there are players who want to Green DPS, they are not the same. Healers do not want their role to be Green DPS, and didn't sign up for a PUG to Green DPS, thus any insinuation from the party they should DPS more is trolling and will be always be seen as unwanted criticism.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

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Honestly... no one cares. No one cares what Yoshi-P thinks about this because he isn't the playerbase. No one cares what you think for a similar reason. FFXIV as a whole expects healers to do some dps and healers as a whole have agreed. Not everyone is doing 3k in Savage but the vast majority are doing some... and at the end of the day that's all we wanted.

At this point your stance on healer dps is comparable to that of a flat-earther. All logic and reason as well as popular opinion points one way. Observable facts point one way. Everything says healers should be dpsing... and then we have the flat earth community over here loudly complaining.

Your views on this are archaic and based on things like preconceived notions from other MMOs which just don't matter here or dev comments from more than 3 years ago. We don't have to look far to find other dev comments (housing never having auto-demolishing, FC housing being a separate system from private, etc.) that basically make it clear dev opinions and plans change over time.

If you want to keep shouting about how 'green DPS are bad' and other nonsense that's fine but the established conventions of this game make you look more and more like a crazy person on a street corner yelling about how 'the end is coming!' each day.

Hopefully one day you'll learn. Until then I will cherish these moments of letting you know how nonsensical all this is :D

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Nope, Yoshi-P said...

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While there may be some who cling onto that statement as if their life depends on it, the fact of the matter is the FFXIV community does expect healers to DPS, and you will be immediately kicked from any PUG group or static the moment you try to argue otherwise. This is the standard that we have to accept, unless the devs raze healer DPS to the ground (which they won't.) "Green DPS", as you put it, are far from playing "poorly" - to juggle a decent damage output with optimum healing requires more skill than merely healing. You may believe they are playing incorrectly, but certainly not badly.

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The developers can not make healer DPS more engaging...

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Enmity is a group effort. If you are at the point where you're frequently threatening to steal enmity, you're likely overhealing and under-using SoS.

No one is arguing for combo healing spells; I think the lilies fiasco attests to that, but healer DPS is plainly here to stay and if the devs have no intention of changing it, enhancing that aspect to make it more interesting for healers is something worth considering.

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I can't name a ...

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If you want to play "within the design goals", then by all means do so. Don't DPS. Party with a tank who never leaves tank stance. Take a needless ten extra minutes to finish a dungeon. Stand around aimlessly waiting to land a spell you know won't be needed for at least another minute, if it makes yourself feel better. But don't blame the player base and act as if they're in the wrong when they find a more efficient and engaging way to use the tools handed to them because it isn't what you prefer.

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There are players who want to play a healer

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No, there are players who want to play their jobs well and aid their party to the best of their ability, and there are players who sit in the corner with their hands over their ears to the detriment of everyone else because this isn't what they ordered.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

No, there are players who want to play their jobs well and aid their party to the best of their ability, and there are players who sit in the corner with their hands over their ears to the detriment of everyone else because this isn't what they ordered.

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While I may have had many mutually salty disagreements with you in the past I just wanted to say I thought this was well said. Good job! \o/

(Because it may be necessary I feel the need to explicitly state this is not sarcasm, it is a genuine compliment >.>)

Imagine if there was additional DPS options for all the healers [like 3 or 4] buttons.
That would leave Scholar with about 50 moves once you consider the cross role limit they are removing in 4.4. XD

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Originally Posted by Lubu_Mykono

Imagine if there was additional DPS options for all the healers [like 3 or 4] buttons.
That would leave Scholar with about 50 moves once you consider the cross role limit they are removing in 4.4. XD

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I love how they were all 'ohno button bloat!' at the beginning of SB and now rather than try to figure out a solution to cross role abilities they would rather just be like 'eh it's fine, take it all, figure out where to fit it on your hotbars' xD

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Nope, Yoshi-P said they do not design content with healer DPS taken into account..

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That is not a relevant statement. What SE plans and how the players actually play are not always the same.

It doesn't matter if fights aren't balanced around healer DPS. Damage is damage, no matter the source. Even if a fight is designed assuming no healer DPS at all, that just means healer DPS makes the fight that much faster and easier.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

There are players who want to play a healer, and there are players who want to Green DPS, they are not the same. Healers do not want their role to be Green DPS, and didn't sign up for a PUG to Green DPS, thus any insinuation from the party they should DPS more is trolling and will be always be seen as unwanted criticism.

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Or it's seen as other players wanting the healer to contribute just as much to the party as everyone else. We have been over this countless times now. Healers can spend upwards of 80% casting DPS abilities simply because the healing requirements are so drastically low in this game. Even Savage allows for more DPSing than healing. Therefore, you are, frankly, a liability to the party if you aren't willing to DPS as those "green DPS" you dislike so much will do an equivalent job healing while adding what is essentially free damage for the raid. What you consider trolling, I consider common courtesy.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

anyone who green DPS's is intentionally playing poorly.

It's not hard to see what the developers intents are behind most of the skills, and really, it seems like the developers want a completely different idea of how healing is being used, and thus players who play healers per the developers intent are labeled as being lazy, where as green DPS using the skills in a way not intended by the developers as dictated by a DPS min-max meta the developers ignored, end up being the preferred raid zerg strategy

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I can't believe you are still going on about this nonsense.

A healer can maximize their DPS contribution and at the same time do the required healing for a fight.

Experienced/Skilled healers can do both DPS and all healing required for a fight. They can do BOTH.

It takes effort to learn your healer job and what tools it has and effort to learn the fights, but that is how you play well in this game. You have to expend effort to become more skilled at something and practice.

If you don't or can't do this? Whatever, no one can force you, but unless SE changes how healing works there is simply too much downtime and not enough constant healing required in content to necessitate a pure healer who only heals and does zero dps.

What the developers intend means nothing if the game itself doesn't reflect it. If they want healers to not DPS they need to change how healers and healing in this game works.

Also you didn't even listen to what Lunaxia said in her OP...

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

(This is not a "should healers DPS" thread, but a given that they can and do.)

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^ See this? Read it.

Don't try to hijack her thread like you love to do to so many other posters to rant about your agenda that so many people have already explained is totally faulty.

Lunaxia and I have had our issues, but her OP is straightforward asking for opinions on if healer DPS is fun/engaging and if people had any ideas on what could be changed about the design right now, not if healers should DPS or not which is why she stated that in her OP to avoid posts like yours starting this issue up again.

to answer the op....I feel like healer dps is NOT fun or engaging. I dps when im super extremely bored and even then its still incredibly boring. and this I will admit though, I did dps quite a bit in previous expansions/patches. but when they changed cleric stance I found it more of a chore than anything else. and that told me that the game devs really dont want healers to dps. at least ast and sch has filler spells (and a little mini healer that will heal while we dps) but whm has absolutely no fillers. and honestly if they really wanted pure healers they shouldn't change how healers work, they should instead increase the difficulty of content. that way healers spend more time healing and less time doing something that they find boring. also on another side note, maybe they should reduce the recast time of cleric stance to say...30 seconds or increase it to last for 1 min (probably a horrible idea but its something) I would actually dps as much as I can. but seeing as they will probably never do this, being a whm trying to dps is just plain horrid.

I prefer dpsing on WHM to SCH personally - Lily might technically heal for more than a Regen but she can be unpredictable. Regen the tank, maybe drop Asylum if it's up and you have like 4 to 5 GCDs to do whatever you want pretty safely.

Also clearly no other healer can touch WHM in terms if the ease of large AoE dps on dungeon trash packs. The stun on Holy is godly, especially when you have a tank who will anticipate it and save his heavier CDs for when enemies go stun immune.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

players who play healers per the developers intent are labeled as being lazy

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Uhm, if it was the developers intent that healers should only or mostly heal and not dps, then WHY did they design this game in a way where directly healing other players isn't even needed 80% of the time in 90% of all content? Why did they give us the tools to efficiently use healing buffs, Regens and oGCD heals if they would want us to spam unbuffed Cures? WHY would it not be the intended way to use Largesse + Regen, Divine Benison or Excogitation and then dps because you don't have to spam Cure if you use those tools? Why on earth would the developers create so many healing abilities when they only want us to heal with 3 of them at most?
If you cast Regen on someone you want the HoT to tick or it's useless. Spam curing him makes your Regen a waste (unless it's needed in a large dungeon pull but that's something else). Just like spamming Physick is useless when you used Excogitation on the tank. So if you don't want to dps your only choices are 1) standing around, being useless and disrespectful towards the other players who work FOR YOU or 2) not using these skills at all and only spamming your weakest Cure spell so that you don't appear to be idle, when only pressing 1 button is almost the same as idling.

If I can, I do
If i can't, I don't

WHM is becoming one of my favourite classes even though i enjoy BRD a lot and consider it my "main class"

To me, there is nothing better than being able to spam holy, while throwing tetras and occasional cures or even Bene at the tank.
I don't mind if people do nothing, but for me, that would be extremely boring.

And I have never felt forced to do dps as a healer either, especially if i do not know the Dungeon/Raid/Trial yet and see a castbar and don't know if it's a buster or an AOE yet, then I act on what happens.

So i do enjoy it, even if it's just throwing stones with occasional Aeros but it's about reacting to emergencies or anything at the right time that makes it fun, Stone is just a filler while i watch the mechanics happening because i can focus on it and don't have to stare at my DPS rotation.

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Originally Posted by Limonia

Uhm, if it was the developers intent that healers should only or mostly heal and not dps, then WHY did they design this game in a way where directly healing other players isn't even needed 80% of the time in 90% of all content?

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Because that is not the intended way to play it. Yoshi-P, and the developers use Cure/Cure II for the majority of their healing. I'm not going to play this meta argument again.

If you do not want to play it as intended, that's fine, but don't berate players that they are doing anything wrong if they only heal, because that IS the intended way to play it, and outside of a EX synced raid, there is no reason to push that meta at all.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

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I liked this post because I agree that it can create an atmosphere that puts an unfair amount of stress on new healers.

But I'll say this: I was recently leveling a PLD and had to stop because I became so frustrated that I was visibly angry.

When I tank: I can't tell you how many DPS single-target in dungeons or simply don't ride the GCD. The DPS is always so lacking. I hate saying it. I really do. But it's true.

As a DPS: My co-DPS is single-targeting. Great. Now what do I do? Scatter is the most DPS, but I could burn one thing down very quickly as a form of damage mitigation because I know our healer is struggling.

It's messy. And it's helped immensely by a WHM going the extra mile.

In an ideal world, a healer won't have to DPS. Last night, we did Castrum Abania. Two RDMs, I was one. We both knew what we were doing. We also had an excellent WAR. My WHM girlfriend said during one pull, "You guys are killing them too fast! I can't DPS!"

In general, Swiftcast + Holy takes no time at all, and Aero III can be cast during the stun and can be supplemented with Presence of Mind. It does wonders for the average dungeon party, and your poor tank (and his/her cooldowns) will thank you.

It's important to understand that DPS is still damage mitigation.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Because that is not the intended way to play it. Yoshi-P, and the developers use Cure/Cure II for the majority of their healing. I'm not going to play this meta argument again.

If you do not want to play it as intended, that's fine, but don't berate players that they are doing anything wrong if they only heal, because that IS the intended way to play it, and outside of a EX synced raid, there is no reason to push that meta at all.

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Why do we have the potential to do so much dps then?

Why are healing requirements so low?

Why does the Hall of the Novice explicitly tell you 'keep your party safe but toss out damage when you can'?

Why does the squadron healer dps?

Why is the CNJ questline about a young healer learning that she needs to balance her curative and nature magics?

Why do you think Yoshi healing via Cure is about intent and not just a lack of skill? He plays the game like a new healer because he is one. That's fine, he's a busy man. I'm sure most of us have played this game far more than he has. Stop using him as an example.

I try to dps when I can but as a new healer I'm gonna prioritize healing until I've learned mechanics and when the best time to dps is. If I get kicked for it then so be it, but I don't play for stress. I play to relax. I do wish that they would add more heals through dps cause I still forget to swap targets sometimes to heal :P

I came to this game from SWTOR which i played for several years and in SWTOR there is a little time for healer to DPS so I was used to that style.

Even I quickly figured out that you are supposed to DPS as a healer but I thought that it will be through small simple 1-2-3 combo and not through spamming one button for single target and one for AOE. More buttons to press yes, but not by much.

Is it chore to me? Somewhat yes. But better than standing and doing nothing or wasting time and mana on overhealing.

Make it small combo with proc that will replenish mana and you got me.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Because that is not the intended way to play it. Yoshi-P, and the developers use Cure/Cure II for the majority of their healing. I'm not going to play this meta argument again.

If you do not want to play it as intended, that's fine, but don't berate players that they are doing anything wrong if they only heal, because that IS the intended way to play it, and outside of a EX synced raid, there is no reason to push that meta at all.

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At the same time, they're not only contributing significantly less than everyone else, but actively making the dungeon slower. This is why people get upset with healers not DPSing or damage dealers refusing to aoe. It's objectively less efficient. If people don't like that, well, ask the devs why content is so undertuned healers have to deal damage or they're literally going to stand still doing nothing.

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Originally Posted by Alrin

Even I quickly figured out that you are supposed to DPS as a healer but I thought that it will be through small simple 1-2-3 combo and not through spamming one button for single target and one for AOE. More buttons to press yes, but not by much.

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The thing is... we already have 4 hotbars' worth of abilities. And we're about to get 5 more abilities in 4.4. I'm genuinely not sure where to put all the buttons I'm supposed to push next patch.

And I definitely don't want even more buttons just for a DPS rotation.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Because that is not the intended way to play it. Yoshi-P, and the developers use Cure/Cure II for the majority of their healing. I'm not going to play this meta argument again.

If you do not want to play it as intended, that's fine, but don't berate players that they are doing anything wrong if they only heal, because that IS the intended way to play it, and outside of a EX synced raid, there is no reason to push that meta at all.

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First question: Why is this a meta argument / what does that have to do with the meta?
Also (in a scenario where people have at least a decent understanding of the fight and don't mess up every mechanic that exists), if "the developers use Cure and Cure II for the majority of their healing", then why does Divine Benison exist? Why does Assize exist (and why does it do damage)? Regen? Asylum? Tetragrammaton? Why do buffs like Largesse exist? Or Presence of Mind? Thin Air? BECAUSE if you ONLY heal with Cure and Cure II and do nothing else, the tank would never fall low enough that you would need to shield him and you would never have to heal faster or stronger. So why do these abilities exist? Why does Lucid Dreaming grant MP regen? If you only heal whenever someone really needs healing, you won't even need more MP.

Also, why do you think that it is fair towards the other players in your group if you just stand around and idle 80% of the time, when everyone else is working?

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Originally Posted by Lynesse

I liked this post because I agree that it can create an atmosphere that puts an unfair amount of stress on new healers.

But I'll say this: I was recently leveling a PLD and had to stop because I became so frustrated that I was visibly angry.

When I tank: I can't tell you how many DPS single-target in dungeons or simply don't ride the GCD. The DPS is always so lacking. I hate saying it. I really do. But it's true.

As a DPS: My co-DPS is single-targeting. Great. Now what do I do? Scatter is the most DPS, but I could burn one thing down very quickly as a form of damage mitigation because I know our healer is struggling.

It's messy. And it's helped immensely by a WHM going the extra mile.

In an ideal world, a healer won't have to DPS. Last night, we did Castrum Abania. Two RDMs, I was one. We both knew what we were doing. We also had an excellent WAR. My WHM girlfriend said during one pull, "You guys are killing them too fast! I can't DPS!"

In general, Swiftcast + Holy takes no time at all, and Aero III can be cast during the stun and can be supplemented with Presence of Mind. It does wonders for the average dungeon party, and your poor tank (and his/her cooldowns) will thank you.

It's important to understand that DPS is still damage mitigation.

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For new healers all I ask is that they try to maintain DoTs on bosses and to use Gravity/Holy For AoE if they feel comfortable, with me being more aggressive about Holy cause the stun will let them heal up in-between if needed. I understand that in levelling dungeons you aren't guaranteed to have great healers or even great gear, which will necessitate the extra healing that we do not see currently. It's the equivalent of asking a new/undergeared tank to maintain their main 1-2-3 aggro combo and flash/overpower, and to use their good cooldowns first if they think they can pull big.

As for bad DPS that only single target, just throw any single target oGCDs in their mob's direction for that pull, and pull up the Job Guide so you can tell them what their AoE abilities are before the next one. AoE trumps single target DPS by such huge margins that it's not worth stopping it because the other DPS doesn't know they have AoE. For SMNs/BRDs explaining how their DoTs can be spread over multiple targets to achieve the same effect as AoE might take a bit, but it's worth the effort.

Stop and help them learn now, rather than suffering with it.

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Originally Posted by Grimoire-M

Stop and help them learn now, rather than suffering with it.

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In an ideal world, absolutely. Your post is pretty presumptuous. I do reach out, and I do so nicely. Sometimes people listen. Sometimes they don't.

"Use Flash 2x for every pull. C:" "Scatter at 3+ enemies to avoid wasting potency. Moulinet effectively puts you a GCD ahead every time you use it."

You can't control what people do. You can't even make them respond to you.

As for this:

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AoE trumps single target DPS by such huge margins that it's not worth stopping it because the other DPS doesn't know they have AoE.

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That's true most of the time, but not always. Again, you're being presumptuous. At 3 enemies, Scatter is contributing the same potency as a Veraero/thunder. Scatter + Veraero/thunder is identical in potency to Scatter + Scatter and generates mana quicker, but comes with the caveat that I risk wasting potency later by killing one enemy faster. The potency I lose is between 60-100 every other GCD.

This can and has taken heat off of the healer and allowed them to DPS more, which can result in a gain.

For 4+ enemies, the math is more complicated. Scatter + Veraero/thunder is viable up to, I believe, 5 enemies because of mana generation and Moulinet, but we risk losing potency later by making enemy health bars uneven. If enemies die unevenly, all we've effectively done is shifted potency around and caused ourselves to potentially lose damage on Scatter and especially Moulinet.

I'm also paying attention to the aggro meter for when the WHM inevitably steals aggro, and I need to dash in and nuke something down.

Edit: But my point is: Sometimes tanks are bad. Sometimes they don't group enemies properly. Sometimes assassinating a key enemy helps the team in unusual ways. It does happen.

I've edited this post a billion times for the sake of clarity. Oy vey.