The Abonimation Known as WTFWHM

[Anna_Lannis]

The biggest problem with all of this argument is that people play to put up numbers: DPS put up red numbers, and healers put up green. But this simply isn't the case, and shouldn't be for any content not involving a raid boss (and sometimes not even then). First of all healers are *not* HPS bots... and anyone actually involved in playing a video game should be ... ya know, engaged. Just like it make sense to not stand in fire (because in other games fire usually kills you), a healer should do their best to be proactive... when I go into a dungeon I Holy each group of monsters at least 3 times, becasue I know how Stun and other debuff duration works. I'm in Cleric Stance while I use Holy because the monsters are stunned means the tank doesn't take damage. If I have to heal someone an I just turned Cleric Stance on and someone needs to be healed, I'll cast Stoneskin becasue I know that Stoneskin isn't affected by my stats. I know that if a tank doesn't have to move and fighting a boss that uses Disease, I can just Divine Seal + Regen and perhaps Medica2 up so I can save casting an Esuna. When I run a dungeon a second time I use forsight to know whats coming and how much mana I'll need. I also know that if the tank pulls the next group of mobs and I want to regain mana and doesn't need to be healed, I can just stand there and get "out of combat" regen. I make frequent use of HQ X-Ethers and HQ X-Mind pots, especally with Presence of Mind. I keep the tank targetted when I spam Holy so i can Benediction and keep spamming it, I keep bosses on Focus Target so i know when to Virus or Surecast a Medica. I use HQ 2 star food in dungeons and raids, sometimes better. I use Fluid Aura on a monster no one is attacking to save the tank 6 seconds of damage, or on mobs that don't get knockback, or to disrupt a nasty move or move a monster out of a buff zone. In low level dungeons I attack the mobs in the order the tank marks them. I know how my abilites work, what they're limitations are, and I practice things until I can get it right.

However, none of things are the mark of a good healer, they are the mark of a bad player. A WHM who DPS's like a bad DPS isn't and different than a BLM or NIN who DPS's bad.
A bad healer is also going to be a bad tank, or a bad DPS.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

However, none of things are the mark of a good healer, they are the mark of a bad player. A WHM who DPS's like a bad DPS isn't and different than a BLM or NIN who DPS's bad.
A bad healer is also going to be a bad tank, or a bad DPS.

What if I told you a good healer can shave off a good 2-10 minutes* off these boring 4-man dungeon contents while keeping their healing game up? A good scholar who maintains a good healing game while doing some DPS on the side can do up to 300 DPS**, possibly more too. That is equal, if not more, than the average DPS of equal gear you find through duty finder. Just because the tank is dipping to 1-3k for a bit doesn't mean the healer is bad. If the healer heals up the tank before any death scenario's (or any other player for that matter), it's called good sense of incoming damage and timing. Not "bad". And you can't compare a healer's dps with the dps of a class who specialises in it. It's like you're comparing a summoner's healing being bad healing like a scholar healing in cleric's stance.

On a side note: Disease reduces incoming healing. Why in the world wouldn't you esuna this in the first place? Not only does it reduce incoming healing, it also reduces movement speed.
And also: If you fluid aura away, even if it seems like no one is attacking it, the tank can't build enmity on it by flashing or using a weapon skill on it. You still generate enmity on it by just healing the tank. Yes, the tank could tomahawk/lob it. It would just make them consume an unnecessary large amount of TP just for that. Aside from tanks, there are DPS out there who DoT up additional mobs while focusing on another. Or even worse: You push it away while a summoner is about to bane it.

* Depends on the rest of the party
** White mages are a bit hard to gauge, so just putting Scholar down here for now

[KarstenS]

What if I told you a good healer can shave off a good 2-10 minutes* off these boring 4-man dungeon contents while keeping their healing game up?

And with good DPSs it would go even faster. But thats not the case in casual content. For example in CT2 first trash the result in the standard dutyfinder group would look like this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93008346/DPS_c.png

On single target not so strong, but strong enough to deal more dmg than 2/3 of the DPS players.

So in my eyes, its ok to chill out as a heal. The others do also way less they would be able to do.

[Cynfael]

So in my eyes, its ok to chill out as a heal. The others do also way less they would be able to do.

This reasoning is fine...if you enjoy clearing duties at an unnecessarily slow pace.

Using the laziest and least-skilled players as the bar for minimum acceptable performance isn't a great way to have fun or to get things done in a timely manner.