Quote Originally Posted by _slowpoke_ View Post
It's not "optimization of play" to do what is expected of every other job and role in the game,

Optimization starts once you get into maximizing Cleric uptime, not when you do the basics of your job.
My perspective of when optimization begins is just a little different than yours, although ultimately it leads to a similar destination.

Imagine going into a new encounter of Alexander A12 Savage without any prior available knowledge. Would your default instinct as a WHM to open up in Cleric Stance or be out of Cleric Stance? Would your co-healer be in Cleric Stance or out of Cleric Stance? How would you know that you or your co-healer made the correct choice?

Is it better to get healer DPS that early or be more conservative and let your group advance as far as possible? Everyone is probably going to be playing sub-optimally. Tanks will not have CD alignments mapped out perfectly. Healers do not know the damage patterns. DPS players are still learning CD timings and maintaining uptime. On top of that, people are going to fail mechanics, not to mention the execution errors.

The choice for a healer to switch to Cleric Stance is already an optimization decision. They know for X amount of GCDs, that damage-dealing is appropriate and safe. How far a player wants to damage deal before switching out of Cleric Stance is a personal judgement call. Some healers are better than others at straddling this line. You can take it further by having the healing partners coordinate damage output (i.e. Scholar omits Broil to heal while letting the WHM reapply Aero III/Aero II and spam Stone III).

Basically optimization begins with the foundation of mastering healing in the encounter.