Is it okay to not DPS?

Hi, I'm fairly new to this game but am fairly old to healing/support in other MMORPGs. I was just wondering if PUGs look poorly at a healer who doesn't DPS? I've tried stance dancing and DPSing in between heals, but I seem to fudge things up. That usually ends up with a death or a wipe.

I err don't know how to respond after looking at your sig...

Don't stress about it. You can always practice it little by little, but it's okay to not DPS if you're not comfortable with it. It's always good to try to push your boundaries and try to be as efficient as possible (IMHO), but if you're new to the game etc., just try to get a general feel for the game first.

By the way, there're frequent wars around these parts about whether or not healers are supposed to DPS, so perhaps take a look at some of those vitriolic threads. :p

If you're not into actual DPS as a healer, go Astrologian and just provide buffs to your party. It will give you something to do in your healing downtime without having to stance dance.

I don't think anyone looks poorly at a healer that doesn't DPS, I mean your main purpose is to heal so that has to come first. I always DPS just because you don't need to heal 100% of the time so gets boring otherwise, but I've done WoD or others where sometimes I'm just tired or out of it so I just get a bit lazy and only heal. I've never had anyone say to stop DPSing or to start. I find it's easier in a 4 person dungeon though to stick to healing for the most part, because if you mess up and you wipe or the tank wipes, everyone goes back to the start. At least in a raid or 8 person you have the other healer to cover you a bit. On the flip side though, there's no greater satisfaction in one of those dungeons when you can pop a Regen on the tank and pretty much take out the group of mobs yourself spamming Holy. :D Get comfortable with healing first and then you'll find DPSing comes easily when you are good at quickly hitting your skills, like Benediction if things go south.

No content in this game is ever designed to have healer DPS in mind when clearing content - if anyone openly treats you poorly because of it, they need to be slapped.

With that being said, the best healers in the current meta are those who can perform their healing capacities while providing additional functionality in the form of DPS when the opportunity presents itself. This requires experience and practice however, so if you're uncomfortable at this juncture, I'd say to stick with what you know until you understand the game dynamics better. Note that this game is very scripted so it's possible to tell when big attacks will be coming once you've experienced any content enough and makes it easier to gauge when to stance dance.

This may change in Heavensward depending on how the dungeons and raids are designed, but for now this is what the current healer meta is like.

Good luck and don't get discouraged :)

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Originally Posted by Bhuni

I err don't know how to respond after looking at your sig...

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I find it cute in a very eccentric kinda way

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*Hides*

I'll say this. Any down time should be filled with dps. If you believe in being the best, dps is the answer. If you believe in efficiency time-wise, dps is the answer. If you believe in having fun, while incredibly subjective, I still think dps is the answer. Because standing around doing nothing with a good to great tank, is very boring and not fun.

If you are struggling with it, start with just the dots.

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Originally Posted by Kaizencorr

I'll say this. Any down time should be filled with dps. If you believe in being the best, dps is the answer. If you believe in efficiency time-wise, dps is the answer. If you believe in having fun, while incredibly subjective, I still think dps is the answer. Because standing around doing nothing with a good to great tank, is very boring and not fun.

If you are struggling with it, start with just the dots.

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I agree! Cleric Stance isn't necessary when you're starting out, just put in damage where you can, until you learn when it's safe to DPS for extended periods. However, you should by no means feel obligated to DPS, if you're making yourself uncomfortable, you're putting yourself in a position where you are more likely to make mistakes and wipe the party. People prefer being alive to seeing healers DPS.

That said, push yourself from time to time and cut it close, you won't know your limits until you reach them. It's still ok to make mistakes, and once you learn your boundaries, it's great to put out decent damage and pull off some finessed healing to impress your fellow adventurers.

If your are struggling to keep the party alive, don't do it.
Healers DPSing is meant to be a bonus on top of great healing. If it results in your partymembers dying, you didn't give heals enough priority.

For example: If I see that one heal only gets the tank up by a small portion of HP and every hit he takes is a lot more than I can heal with one heal, even when his HP are full I won't switch to dpsing with cleric stance, because I won't be able to get his HP back up fast again and he'll keep taking dmg and eventually dying before I can even turn off cleric stance again. This mainly happens with low gear levels or when the tank is either badly equipped, doesn't know his cooldowns or overestimates himself by pulling too many mobs.
But when I know I have big heals available, and even something like 1 heal is enough to fill over 50% of the tank's HP up, I'll dps away instead of standing around staring at walls and others doing stuff.

So yeah, just keep in mind that even if people want you to dps, your first and foremost job is to keep everyone alive and well. Only dps when you are sure you can afford it.
Also, yes, there are quite a few people who expect healers to dps. But if you don't feel safe doing it (for example because your DPS always stand in AoEs and stuff, nearly dying and you have to stay ready to heal them) just be honest and tell them it's their own fault you can't dps >:3

Get used to where the Benediction button is, it will save you many times when DPSing! Can let the tank get pretty low and then pop that and back up they go. For me I was worried about MP management initially thinking I'd run out all the time and then not have enough to heal, but that is extremely rare unless you are spamming Holy, but you're only going to spam Holy in certain situations, mainly where you know you'll have time after to get that MP back up. I like that there's a cool down to remove CS as it forces you to strategize on when to best use it.

Dont start DPSing really until you are comfortable with your ALL your healing tools (ie. its probably best not to start till you're level 50).

Gauge the damage the tank is receiving - if he is getting knocked down to 75% in a single blow, chances are you are safer not stance dancing and focus on supporting the tank. Also watch how your DPS are - are they moving out of unnecessary damage? Minimising avoidable damage as much as possible? If they are and the tank is not taking a massive hit in HP, stance dance away.

Healer DPS should be viewed as nothing more than a bonus - NO content in FFXIV is tuned with healer DPS in mind.

Some people actually look down on healers that DPS. Not on the forums, but you'll find them in other places.

I think everyone can agree with this: Get comfortable with the counters and healing first. Healing is always your first responsibility.

Then, once you're not worried you'll lose someone, and you find you have some spare time in fights... then, if you want to, DPS ：) (I encourage it though!). As another poster mentioned... Have benediction at the ready just in case you misjudge.

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Originally Posted by Shivavishnu

Hi, I'm fairly new to this game but am fairly old to healing/support in other MMORPGs. I was just wondering if PUGs look poorly at a healer who doesn't DPS? I've tried stance dancing and DPSing in between heals, but I seem to fudge things up. That usually ends up with a death or a wipe.

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Oh dear, this again. And so soon!

Speaking as a major proponent for responsible healer DPS, this is my input:

- If you want to be the best at your role, you will learn how and when to incorporate DPS. This does mean that there may be fights, especially those you haven't learned yet, where you do minimal or no DPS, and that's ok as long as you are otherwise performing your job.

- The average PUG probably won't be too concerned if you don't DPS as long as you aren't plainly standing around watching them fight for you while you have minimal or no healing to do. Good players will recognize and appreciate DPS contribution from the healer(s) as long as it doesn't cause inconvenience or death to the party (which it doesn't if you are doing it correctly).

- As a general rule, if your party has to adjust its behavior to accommodate your penchant for DPS, you are probably doing it wrong; good healer DPS complements the party's actions.

- As SCH you have the easiest time DPSing since the fairy will do a lot for you (even more if you are manually casting Embraces from her as you DPS so as to keep targets, usually the tank, topped off).

- Learning fights is the key to doing all of this correctly, including the actual healing portion. If you know when the damage is coming and who it is going to hit, you can plan for your DPS windows as well as what you will do if a party member makes a mistake.

I really think it depends on the situation and your comfort level with your party members HP, but when there is some down time can you not be cute and make your character sit down or jump around like a crazy person waiting for the tank and DPS to kill the enemy? When leveling Monk I've been getting a lot of healers like that and that's what might make people think that you're lazy for not contributing.

Unless you are doing bleeding edge content at low item levels you likely won't /have/ to dps. It is a bonus to your team. First priority is always heals. Doing dps will make you a more valuable commodity as a healer but it isn't necessary, just helpful. However if your team dies while you dps then that's obviously no bueno. So do what you are comfortable with.

For me I'd always DPS from 1-50 (or I guess 15-50 technically!), just to make it go faster because the dungeons are pretty easy there requiring minimal heals. At minimum what I do is pop CS, cast Aero II and usually Virus if it's a boss, and then drop CS. Every little bit helps, and even if you're not comfortable full on DPSing back and forth, you can easily fill the gaps between heals by just doing an Aero II while in CS. I do this especially at the start of a boss, when the tank has done his first attack on it, as usually no one takes major damage for at least 20-30 seconds so you have plenty of time to do this. I tend to DPS on adds vs the boss. I can't think of how many times it's been an instance where it's easy adds (the kind that a single DPS can take them out) where it's been me the WHM killing at least a few of them while the DPS's are still so focused on the boss they don't even notice them.

I always appreciate dps from the healer in leveling dungeons. I've never asked a healer to dps because people are at various comfort levels with their role. In raid content, particularly FCoB, I absolutely look down on a scholar who doesn't dps even a little.

As whm:

Step 1) Stone skin before contact/pull
Step 2) Divine seal
Step 3) Medica 2 + Regen Tank
Step 2.5-4) Presence of Mind (up to you when)
Step 5) Top off tank while positioning for holy...
Step 6-14 or something) Holy, though this may change in heavensward. 3 usually gets you the full stun cycle... Maybe 4 due to PoM.

If tank gets low... Benediction. This is like sub 30%. If he's like 30-60, drop cleric and start cure 1-2, whichever feels right. May need to end with Shroud of Saints to recover a little MP to keep the pace up and shed threat.

Scholar is quite literally macro embrace to every button and almost never drop cleric stance. It is a bit more technical than that, but that's the gist of what they do.

Also: your function as a healer is to provide the party with enough time to finish the conflict. The path you choose to get there is up to you.

I personally like stretching my abilities further to become better at my craft, but I also raid. :\

as a healer, and a level 50 WHM who wiped on several boss fights all the way due to lag and youtube guides that didn't work well for me. i learned to, by the third try, sometimes the second, predict a bosses patterns for that specific group and prioritize who needed healing, based on that specific group and that specific encounter. as well as formulate a strategy unique to that group and encounter, not based on class composition alone, but based on playstyle, experience and player as well in addition to the player's challenges with that boss. a clock can only function when all the pieces truly understand each other. so i use the unintended wipes as a means to understand that specific group. so for you, i recommend learning to understand each group you join because we are all human behind those avatars and we all have shortcomings. even myself.

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Originally Posted by 416to305

On the flip side though, there was no greater satisfaction in one of those dungeons when you can pop a Regen on the tank and pretty much take out the group of mobs yourself spamming Holy. :D

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Fixed that for you.

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Originally Posted by Cynfael

- As a general rule, if your party has to adjust its behavior to accommodate your penchant for DPS, you are probably doing it wrong; good healer DPS complements the party's actions.

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Unless their behavior is to stand in pretty much every bad thing while doing piss poor dps, then screw em, just outdps those people and keep the tank up.

No. It's not. Although SE apparently doesn't want you to if the ability changes are any indication.

The only times I look down on healers for not dpsing is when they stand there doing absolutely nothing, or somehow worse, just jump up and down endlessly.