Do healer need to help doing dps? Especially cleric stance?

[GeekMatt]

When healing the goal is to provide enough HP and avoid over healing (it drains your MP and gets you aggro, both bad) if the tanks HP is 9000/10,000 and your heal is 3000, you shouldn't be healing. Wait until his HP is 7000 or less. This means there's a lot of time where you're not busy and can be DPSing.

ONLY DPS when you're confident your tank is safe. It's actually easier in high level dungeons like Antitower than it is in lower levels, because you and your tank both have more tools to keep eachother going, such as Regen/Aspected Benefic. When I first levelled CNJ 2 years ago it was a big transition for me, so I almost never DPSed. Nowadays I spend most of a dungeon run DPSing because I'm confident in what I'm doing (also I'm bored if I don't).

[KeiranOlive]

DPSing as a healer is good when you are able to, but if you're new to healing then I would suggest you start slowly. Remember, you are a healer first. In the beginning, you can focus only on healing. Then, when you get more comfortable with the role, you can try adding in some dps. If someone tells you to dps when you don't yet feel confident enough to do so, just tell them that you're a new healer and want to make sure you don't screw up your main job, which is healing. Any reasonable player will cut you some slack while you're learning.

With that said though, stance dancing can be a lot of fun and if you do it enough it will become second nature. But just make sure you remember to turn cleric stance off when you go back to healing. Many tanks have unfortunately met their end because of cleric stance heals. When that does happen to you (and it most definitely will) don't beat yourself up about it. It happens to every healer.

[gumas]

I guess i need to learn to get used with stance dancing. I have slow reflex thus bard get me the easiest time in dungeon (not much running around dodging).

So far my healing in party goes like this (80% of the time)
- tank drop to 50% i heal to full
- dots all the mobs and some dps skill on main target ( usually 2-4 times)
- by this time tank hp already drop to 50% more or less, repeat

I didnt do any dps aside from putting dot in boss fight because most of the time our dps got hit so i got my work doubled (dps being careless and some unavoided attack)

running level 38 AST now and so far it goes pretty well, i can help with dots and dps skill just without cleric stance, nobody in my party complaining so far (then again they chat in japanese so i have no idea what they talk about) but i see it later when i reach say.... Level 50+ dungeon.

[AskaRay]

dots and dps skill just without cleric stance

..honestly don't bother if you're going to not use Cleric Stance, it's almost a waste of MP (except in the really low dungeons where your INT and MND is closer).

It takes time to learn how to turn CS off and on and feel comfortable. Don't be afraid of people dying if you're practicing. Try running some dungeons with a group of friends who know you're new at healing and DPSing at the same time,, they shouldn't mind if they die a few times to help you learn.

[gumas]

Yeah my guildmate also said the same, he said the hard part (since iam new) come when you got party who will do "fast" run, tank who will grab 3-4 waves of mob in one go and you are expected to use aoe nuke on them while healing the tank with dozen of mobs hitting him at the same time.

as dps main i've seen this a lot and its pretty scary to see the tank just went into next mobs while the healer mp is like 1/4 bar left

[Aethon]

Since you said you are running as AST (which is my main healer class) the best thing you can do for the party (and tank) is use Aspected Helios when tank has aggro on all mobs then use Aspected Benefic on tank. The double Regen effect will help keep their HP up so you don't have to spend as much time healing and more time with dps. (Diurnal stance only though. Nocturnal stance works like SCH with those two moves providing shield effects.
The Aspected Helios works well for boss fights too since it will keep the main DPS health constantly up in case they are taking hits. If a DPS gets hit really hard drop an Aspected Benific on them too. The Regen effect is a great tool for not actually doing as much "Active" healing leaving you more time to dodge and/or dps as needed.

[gumas]

use Aspected Helios when tank has aggro on all mobs then use Aspected Benefic on tank.

I only got the aspected benefic skill but shouldn't the regen will stack each other?

At least thats what i heard from people talking about regen.

[AskaRay]

I only got the aspected benefic skill but shouldn't the regen will stack each other?

At least thats what i heard from people talking about regen.

They will stack.
Helios + Benefic regen together is pretty powerful. If the rest of the party is smart, they won't need to be healed outside the Helios regen (unless someone steps in something they shouldn't).

And if watching the tank pull 3-4 groups freaks you out... just don't DPS at first. Get used to the healing, watch how much the tank's HP falls and when they lose it. Watch how much your heals do. When you know that, start DPS a little. Do one Gravity. Then do a few more (once you get that skill obviously). Throw out just dots on the main target. Then, add the others slowly.

[gehrtalert]

In all honestly, your only job as a healer is to heal. If you're new and you aren't comfortable with "Stance Dancing" as a healer, then don't do it. Become comfortable doing your job and make sure everyone stays healed. Eventually you will become more confident and you'll start to notice more times when you can throw out some damage. It comes with time OP, you'll get the hang of it. It's never required but it's always appreciated.

[Elysaine]

You'll get Aspected Helios soon. Level 42 if I remember correctly. It's a blessing to have it in Stone Vigil at the last boss when he goes flying around. When I get that dungeon as Whitemage, I'm like why doesn't my Medica 2 work....
Not sure if you have it already, but get Swiftcast from Thaumaturge. That spell is a must have