As a healer, is it my job to DPS? A new perspective.

[xJimmehx]

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I agree with you that being afk in a duty is wrong. I do not believe a healer must dps though. As long as they are trying to keep everyone safe and not watching Netflix I'm happy. If we don't need healing for several GCDs it would not hurt to help dps. I agree it would be good if they did so. I still believe as long as they do not cause failure, they should be left alone. Its not what people want, but thats life. You cant always get what you want. Especially by bossing people you dont even know around and/or passing out insults. Demanding a person to play your way as if you own them and control them is wrong. Nobody here has that right. Unless of course you're paying them or have some sort of contract/agreement.
If there is an OH or a phase that does not require healing at all for a long period of time. Yes i do believe the healer should help. Theres no reason to stand idle for 3 whole minutes watching others play.

Edit: Saw your bold text, I agree with you mostly. Afk is an option for vote kick in game btw. There is no point in debating afk party members. No matter the role, they are all wrong if they are afk and letting others carry them.

[Taika]

I agree with you that being afk in a duty is wrong. I do not believe a healer must dps though. As long as they are trying to keep everyone safe and not watching Netflix I'm happy. If we don't need healing for several GCDs it would not hurt to help dps. I agree it would be good if they did so. I still believe as long as they do not cause failure, they should be left alone.

So if there's an off tank that doesn't do anything while there aren't any adds up, should they be left alone also as long as they're not causing failure? Or a DD who doesn't do anything for 80% of the time, if they don't directly wipe the party?

I think everyone should be contributing for as much as they can to help the party, and if someone is just leeching the majority of the time, they should be asked to step up and then removed if they refuse to do so. No matter what the role. Being a healer is not an excuse to slack.

[xJimmehx]

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"As long as they are trying"
"If we don't need healing for several GCDs it would not hurt to help" but not required. (Because they are doing something.)
If they are doing nothing... no matter the job/class it is wrong.

If they heal once per minute they should also dps. If they heal actively then thats all they really need to do. (Extra dps is welcome but not required, just like a dragoon pulling world first dps in duty finder dungeons is not required)

Demand people to play a certain way is like demanding them to give you their lunch money. You have no right. If they are at least actively playing and trying to keep people alive, leave em be. That is my stance.

[LucyDaernos]

People will continue to have different opinions on how long is "too long" of idling. You mentioned examples of 3mins and 1min, others may feel that 30secs or 3 GCDs may be "too long" already.

I dont think healers that are actively healing damage and dont dps because they cant find time to do so are essentually bad (dont think anyone really intended to say that either though). The next possible step for them would be to look at what they could do to minimize the time they spend healing without letting anyone die. There's a lot someone can look at to possibly free up time for dpsing (better gear, knowledge of the fight/their class, better keybind setup etc).

The thing is, not everyone will WANT to put in the extra effort/work/time. Could argue for another 50+ pages about if someone should or shouldnt be expected to put in that extra effort to work out a way to free up time for dpsing without letting anyone die but not like that's gonna lead to any conclusion.

[Cleftobismal]

Snip

You're offended I get it.

I still won't agree with 100% with what you said. Even if you're using "Empathy" to make a point. All the more reason. So no. I did not miss your point.

[Sigmar_Heldenhammer]

Q: As a healer, is it my job to DPS?
A: Whenever possible without endangering the group.

/endthread

[Feyona]

Yoshi P has already stated that RDM will be a pure DPS. It may have some buffs/debuffs, but I can garuntee it will not be anywhere close to a healer.

well like I said I only heard rumours but thats disapointing.

[Deliciou5]

Q: As a healer, is it my job to DPS?
A: Whenever possible without endangering the group.

/endthread

I agree.Part of the problem is that people believe in things that they had success with, such as healing without dpsing for majority of the game. So there is no real incentive outside harder fights to even do as you said, they rather make fights take longer that they done 100 times before because they either are extremely casual and don't do any hard content or they just like the play-style of healing only but then end up not being as good as other players who take a more proactive role in their parties to end the fights more proficiently.

When your constantly standing around your mind and attention wanders a lot, like others said in this thread when you dps as healer you ussually end determining the best way to maximize dps, which is also learning how to heal better and be more effiecient with your buffs and debuffs as well to give you more time to stay in cleric stance. So on average someone who dpses is also a better healer because they are used to playing their jobs more efficiently and constantly watching their mp bar and and buffs/debuffs etc. Its the attention span and re-activeness of these heal only players that suffer when they stand around too much and therefore they usually are nowhere near as good as players who dps.

However as i stated before, healers can get away with being lazy. They don't NEED to do dps 90% of the time. People simply want them to do it, and that's part of the problem. There is no multiple specs for job, there is only twos way you can really play them. Good or bad.

The reason players get upset when you don't dps is because majority of the content in the game is way to easy and they don't want someone standing around while they doing their daily grinding.

It's the lack of respect for other's people's time is what makes people upset when you don't dps since majority of the content in the game is easy.This is not a single player game.

[Cynfael]

well like I said I only heard rumours but thats disapointing.

It's a relief. A DPS with effective healing would be superfluous. At worst it would be ostracized for being half-assed.

[Feyona]

"Because certain level of effort is required from each party member for the group to be able to beat the content they're trying to do. Imagine if every dungeon were as hard as relevant tier raids on release. If the healer isnt causing the group to wipe, you should let them have fun as they want. Most dungeons in this game are so easy it makes me sleepy. If a healer wants to help get it over with fast, yay. If not, well, i dont own them and its not right to make them. If they refuse to do what they need to to beat the content(like heal lol -- ive seen healers OH and never heal forcing a wipe on the whole group), thats different. Kick em.

On savage once I was 95% active just healing , not overhealing either. I was told I was a shit player for not dpsing. If you understand what Im saying thats why Im against healers being expected to dps. If they want to its fine, it shouldnt be forced.