
Originally Posted by
Alahra
I think that's part of the issue with these discussions (similar things happen in discussions regarding tank DPS, too): this is often understood to be the case by those arguing for more DPS, but it's often lost in how heated the discussions become, and it leads to players believing that if they aren't DPSing for some particular period of time that they're bad—or framed differently, it pushes less savvy players to take on too much risk at the expense of proper caution.
The increased emphasis on DPS cultivated by Heavensward has, honestly, made Duty Finder an absolute nightmare at times, as Duty Finder is invariably a place to exercise caution (at least until you're familiar with the capabilities of the unknowns that have been assigned to your group), but the "proper" way to play is to lean toward risk. Granted, I most often see the worst behavior in this regard from tanks (I swear, if I have to heal one more "never-uses-a-cooldown" STR tank...), but healers have a similar trade-off between risk and caution (it's just that theirs is more forgiving since it's based less on gear choice and more on proper ability usage, something that can be adjusted in situ the way it can't be for tank accessories).
A lot of healers (and tanks) honestly don't in my experience. Even when players take care to express the need to become comfortable with content before DPSing on the forums, that message can get lost as it transmits through the various echelons of the playerbase in the game itself, in part because most of the game doesn't really have a tradeoff between risk and caution, so players tend to expect that there is one "right" way to play, when it's not necessarily that simple.
It's easy for it to happen, too. It's easiest to illustrate (again) using tanks as an example: a new tank asks their FC, "Which is better for tanks, VIT or STR?" and they receive a simple, but basically true, answer of "STR is better." But a fresh tank, who isn't familiar with any of the level 60 dungeons, might actually want to use at least some VIT until they're over a certain HP threshold, or while they're learning the content, and so on. HW leveling dungeons are also tuned (it seems, from running them countless times) with higher tank damage, making VIT more useful (especially for newer tanks). But in my experience, the nuance doesn't often get expressed in the game itself (and most people get their information not from the forums but from people they know in the game).