But...I...I don't wanna DPS, I'm a healer...

[Tint]

What worries me even more is this is coming from an 'Arcanist', not a Conjurer or that other healer. xD

your profile also says you are an arcanist. are you an arcanist? i don't think so. he is probably a scholar. the option to show your job in the profile was only implementet a few month ago. before that there where only classes. and you have to change your profile by hand to show your job.

[seekified]

your profile also says you are an arcanist. are you an arcanist? i don't think so. he is probably a scholar. the option to show your job in the profile was only implementet a few month ago. before that there where only classes. and you have to change your profile by hand to show your job.

That's not the point, the point is that arcanists (and, by extension) scholars are very DPS-y by nature and thus it's stranger to hear an arcanist-based healer be so averse to DPSing.

As a scholar, you have 28 base skills. 9 of these are directly DPS-related. Why anyone would choose to ignore a third of their job's skillset is beyond me.

[Lemuel81]

Then don't DPS.... Its your account and if you stick with the game then play as you like.... Don't feel you have to do anything you don't want to do. This is a GAME not a job... If your a healer and the tank tells you to dps then switch to dps mode and don't heal him...

Make a raise macro that says

/micon
ac/ "swiftcast" <me>
p/ "well you told me to dps so I did, don't blame me for why you are making love to the ground."
/wait 1
/ac "Resurrection" <t>
p/ "Now get up and stop complaining"

sounds like you need to mature a bit

[Kabzy]

your profile also says you are an arcanist. are you an arcanist? i don't think so. he is probably a scholar. the option to show your job in the profile was only implementet a few month ago. before that there where only classes. and you have to change your profile by hand to show your job.

That's my point exactly. For those of us who didn't bother updating our job profiles, and are posting on the healer forums as an Arcanist, you are most likely a Scholar. Aka the healer that uses their DPS the most out of the three. So for an Arcanist (Scholar) to say they don't want to do anything but heal is even more shocking to me. Consideration to the fact that our base class was a DPS; so to completely disregard all those spells you get seems like a great injustice to such a versatile job.

Though just to make it clear, I was only saying that in regards to him talking about end game content. I couldn't care less if healers (even Scholars) decide to not DPS in any other content.

[Elishan]

I don't really get all the debate - I've only been playing a few days admittedly but essentially - If you can do some DPS, do it, but don't risk missing an important heal because of it.

Dungeon clears faster, mind numbing boredom doesn't set in, and you're contributing more to the party.

Full disclosure: I've totally messed up and had the tank die on me because I miss-timed the Aero GCD. That wasn't a bad thing, it was a valuable lesson (and bless the poor sod, he didn't complain).

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

I don't really get all the debate - I've only been playing a few days admittedly but essentially - If you can do some DPS, do it, but don't risk missing an important heal because of it.

Dungeon clears faster, mind numbing boredom doesn't set in, and you're contributing more to the party.

Full disclosure: I've totally messed up and had the tank die on me because I miss-timed the Aero GCD. That wasn't a bad thing, it was a valuable lesson (and bless the poor sod, he didn't complain).

We need more players with this kind of mindset

[Twilite]

You'd laugh at how many times I've turned off Cleric stance right after turning it on because tank took a crit, or whatever.

[RadiantRay]

You'd laugh at how many times I've turned off Cleric stance right after turning it on because tank took a crit, or whatever.

The game queues up the next skill while you're casting. So you only need to press Cleric stance once if you're already in the middle of casting another spell. It'll come off as the cast finishes, though you probably know this but just a tip for anyone else who doesn't xD

[Anova]

I don't really get all the debate -

It's mostly hyperbole. Every healer will at some point switch to cleric stance for whatever reason. Some players just do so less often.

What you essentially hear in these arguments are players saying healers should spend more time in their heal stance (and those who argue against them saying a healer shouldn't spend ALL their time in heal stance), and other players saying healers should spend some time doing dps (and those who argue that the healer should not ALWAYS be in cleric stance).

Also, you get a few players who fondly remember MMOs before WoW when healers couldn't kill anything past level 10 and always had to be leeched by a party to end game; but nobody really takes them seriously. Amusingly, healers wielded enormous political clout in those days, almost like a despotic Pope. They were just so necessary but so rare you only had 1 or 2 in a FC, and people would spend weeks trying to find a new one if they lost theirs. It may be a reason for some, but who really knows. It varies from player to player.

TLDR: every healer is dpsing and healing to a certain extent. As long as they can complete the dungeon or raid, it's fine. People are arguing about what's optimal for the party in terms of time, actions per minute, enjoyment, and what other metric they think is relevant.

The game queues up the next skill while you're casting. So you only need to press Cleric stance once if you're already in the middle of casting another spell. It'll come off as the cast finishes, though you probably know this but just a tip for anyone else who doesn't xD

Another tip: Macros will overwrite queued commands, so if you activate a macro (such as a mouseover heal) after turning cleric stance off, it will overwrite the cleric stance command instead of queuing the heal to come after the cleric.

[Nadirah]

That's not the point, the point is that arcanists (and, by extension) scholars are very DPS-y by nature and thus it's stranger to hear an arcanist-based healer be so averse to DPSing.

As a scholar, you have 28 base skills. 9 of these are directly DPS-related. Why anyone would choose to ignore a third of their job's skillset is beyond me.

Because the shield healer in wow and eq2 don't *have* to either ATM(lol Atonement nerf).

And all healers in all games get attack spells so they don't have to rely on being joined at the hip to someone else to do things.