The "To DPS" vs "Not DPS" Debate

[Raestloz]

The biggest fallacy in this "debate", and I use that word loosely, is the perception that your DPS isn't "required" and that your party's "real" DPS are terrible if it IS required.

The biggest fallacy is actually the belief that healers need to DPS. They don't, in any way you can define the word 'need', need to DPS: there are 5 entire jobs that should fill that role. The Healers' role is that of the Healer: making sure the party can stay alive and well. Your scenario is not a point of Healer needing to DPS, but rather a scenario where the Healer can, optionally, contribute to the team a little bit.

The topic is arguing whether Healers need to DPS. The obvious answer is NO.Any complaints for the Healer should be about their lack of healing, not their lack of damage-dealing

BIG, FAT, NOTE:
At no point did I propose that a damage-dealing Healer is bad, especially if the party's DPS is undergeared and can't pass the DPS check unless the healer contributes. However, in this scenario the fault still lies entirely on the DPS for being undergeared, not on the Healer. It simply falls to the Healer whether they want to pass the content or not.

BIG, FAT, NOTE 2:
At no point did I propose that it's totally a-OK for SMN to refuse to Resurrect when they are needed. Unlike Healers, who need to race with casting time to make sure everybody's alive, DPS are generally not too time-constrained. Unless it's a DPS-check, 1 damage per second for 10 seconds and 10 damage in one second will still achieve the same result. There are also cases where a party member simply did not get out of the AoE in time and got OHKO-ed, which is not the Healer's fault. If the healer is busy keeping the SMN's ass from cleaning the floor, it falls to the SMN to not be a dbag and use that Resurrect

[Vaara]

The topic is arguing whether Healers need to DPS. The obvious answer is NO.Any complaints for the Healer should be about their lack of healing, not their lack of damage-dealing

Clearly they don't need to, but if the opportunity arises then they should want to. I would prefer to be as useful as possible rather than just doing the bare minimum to get by.

[Ghishlain]

i don't ever bring it up in /p but imo a healer who stands around waiting for someone to take dmg is just as bad as a blm who spams ice spells when he's at full mp, they're both not doing what they could be doing.. i'm not a dick about it but they clearly arn't trying their best

Clearly they don't need to, but if the opportunity arises then they should want to. I would prefer to be as useful as possible rather than just doing the bare minimum to get by.

I agree, if there is idle time and the healer in question is idling, this is a perfect opportunity to learn how to stance dance and DPS. However, this doesn't make a healer "bad" in the definition of "bad".

Funny enough though, this thread was inspired by a friend of mine who was cussed at for doing "too much".

(Friend on WHM) "Why are you not dodging 100 tonze swing?"
(BLM in DR) "if you got time to nuke your not working hard your a f---ing healer not a black mage play your job properly" [Censored since I don't want to get bant =p]