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

[Tanaya]

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

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

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

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

Thanks

Agree wholeheartedly with this, especially the bolded. I apologize if people feel like I'm saying "you should DPS no matter what and if you're not, you're a bad white mage", didn't mean it like that at all. I just wish to give insight on what a White Mage can do and raise awareness.

Not true - RoH > SW is actually a better example of this, as RoH is a longer animation time than SW. If I pop SW while good ol' Ehayte Feytes is still swinging wildly with the Rage of Halone, I will certainly cut my 2.1ish second animation short, but the damage and effect will still absolutely apply, just after the animation would have finished if the character model not been interrupted by Spirits Within. Activating another skill while something else is animating will not cancel that skill/spell.

Let me rephrase: Rage of Halone will absolutely still work, but I've had issues where Spirits Within would not fire off because I was spamming the button and the animation for Spirits would stutter halfway and not complete, forcing me to reactivate the skill to use it again.

[Kyomih]

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

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

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

[Ehayte]

Let me rephrase: Rage of Halone will absolutely still work, but I've had issues where Spirits Within would not fire off because I was spamming the button and the animation for Spirits would stutter halfway and not complete, forcing me to reactivate the skill to use it again.

That shouldn't happen, as far as my knowledge extends. The only thing I could think of here is that you had Paralyze on and it was interrupting your animation, which WOULD cancel the effects of your skill, since the interruption was external.

/shrug - I could be wrong.

[Tanaya]

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

-lolcharlimit snip-

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

Agreed with all of this. I didn't start DPSing until I became confident as a healer, which would be around when I hit Haukke manor. If your tank or party is taking too much damage, don't bother trying to squeeze in your DPS. Once you get Divine Seal and Regen though, it becomes a lot easier.

That shouldn't happen, as far as my knowledge extends. The only thing I could think of here is that you had Paralyze on and it was interrupting your animation, which WOULD cancel the effects of your skill, since the interruption was external.

/shrug - I could be wrong.

Rethinking on it, I might've tried to use 2 Cooldowns at the same time after Rage of Halone.

[Varok899]

<3 divine seal + regen

Agreed with everything OP has said. If you're confident in your healing abilities and your group doesnt need constant healing you should absolutely dps. Practice the cleric stance dance, once you get the timing down its very easy to switch back and forth for the entire dungeon, including boss fights.

[BrodyAlgana]

As someone that has healed in many major MMO's out there, I agree with what you are saying in theory. We expect our tank classes to do some DPS as well. In practice, it depends on lots of factors, if I seem to have a squishy tank, or crazy aggro stealing DPS, I WILL NOT DPS. I will not take my focus of healing in groups like that - even if it means I am standing around some. I would rather do that than be caught getting out of cleric stance as a DPS dies in 2 or 3 hits. (this is as whm of course) Scholar its a little easier, plus you also have pet to heal some. Also in primal fights and similar, I won't DPS either, unless ive run with everyone a lot and know they wont get hit by random crap. Things can just go bad too quickly.

[Raminax]

Of course one shouldn't be DPSing if they aren't comfortable with how the run is going. I'll stop putting on Cleric Stance and throwing a few Stone IIs if the tank proves to be absolute garbage (I'm looking at you, Paladins doing nothing but Rage of Halone the entire run) or severely undergeared and needs my nurturing instinct at all times. Otherwise I try to DPS as hard as possible, mainly because sitting around doing nothing is pretty depressing.

Also, about skills off the GCD and Rage of Halone... Am I the only one where Circle of Scorn has its animation played yet nothing happens? Cooldown is eaten, yet no damage or DoT application is done to enemies, even though they're quite clearly in range. Happens rarely when I do it during the RoH animation, but it makes me cry.

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

I think the DPS should be taken in baby steps and the play style will vary.

As your party's collective item level increases, there is more room to play with Cleric's Stance and damage. As others have mentioned, if tank is squishy, or folks are getting hit with avoidable attacks, it may be best to err on the side of healer caution. I've tried to classify white mage playstyles into the following categories while skill level, gear, and group synergy will affect their choice of abilities in the end.

Safety:
Safeties will keep party alive. Stays out of Cleric's Stance. Focuses on healing and may be idle in the absence of healing, but may not be liberal with abilities such as Divine Seal, Swiftcast, Benediction, Presence of Mind, and the like. Abilities are intended for emergencies. May result in overhealing sometimes, rather safe than sorry.

Dabbler:
Similar to above, except during those idle times, may start to get cocky and start casting spells, most likely Stone II to do damage, but stays out of Cleric's Stance to provide optimum healing.

Dancer:
Stance dances between Cleric's Stance. Makes sure most, if not all attack spells, are performed in Cleric's Stance. Avoids healing in Cleric's Stance when and where possible.

Honey Badger:
Stays in Cleric's Stance, slapping down Holy, Aero II, Aero, Stone II, and sometimes even Thunder and Fluid Aura on enemies that aren't immune to knockback. Heals may come in the form of a quick stance dance out, Divine Seal, Regen and/or Medica II, then away we go in Cleric's Stance. May opt to heal in Cleric's Stance. Doped up on Mega Potions of Mind and tends to be one hungry hippo.

I also recommend that if opting to do more damage as a White Mage, to have two (if not three) hot bars.

Keep abilities that you do not find yourself using often on a third hotbar, such as Protect. Limit Break, Benediction, Thunder, Stone I, and Surecast might also find its way to this bar.

Where you may also have a bar that starts to move Aero II, Aero, Stone II, Fluid Aura, Holy, and Cleric's Stance into the main bar (6 abilities). With Cure, Cure II, Esuna, Regen, Divine Seal, Swiftcast, Medica II, and Shroud of Saints ready (8 abilities).

If your playstyle finds that Stoneskin is never used in battle, then it should be moved to the same hotbar as the Protect bar.

Repose and Presence of Mind are my coin toss in the air type of skills. Presence of Mind has such a long cooldown that you won't use it often, BUT when you do use it, you want to cast your spells immediately and trust that even though the hotbar icon hasn't been "depressed", that the buff is already on.

[Melithea]

I DPS in places like WP and AK now, but I'm now also basically geared for Coil and it STILL depends greatly on my tank and to a lesser extent on the rest of my party. I don't use Divine Seal much partially because of a lack of habit, but mainly because of hate control. I can come close to stealing hate with a normal Regen and Stone II spam, let alone Holy. The last thing I need is Regen gathering more hate for extra healing I didn't actually need. And if I NEED Divine Seal, I'm probably not jumping into Cleric Stance long enough to do anything meaningful. I just don't find Divine Seal consistent enough with the brief duration.

I never stand there "bored" though. If I'm not helping to attack, I'm either managing hate or waiting for the tank to take a hit I know is coming.

[Aenomaly]

I guess I would be considered a dabbler. As a scholar I find it easier to dps, seeing as we can now control the faeries heals seperate from our casts. I really don't enjoy doing a cleric stance back and forth. I person use the crossbar since I am ps3 and another bar to add a skill the cycle between the other bars as a scholar makes me cry. So long as I am doing dps and keeping everyone topped off then i feel I am doing my job and doing it well.

Aeno