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

[CookieMonsta]

I feel like Im completey wasting my time here but need to

I took the time out to pick my healer's brains about what constitutes an exceptional healer. The response was actually surprising. Here, take a read http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...al-exploration


The reason this debate is still ongoing is that the healers who refuse to push their role to its fullest capacity is depriving the party of an extremely high impact role slot. No other role has a higher impact on a party's performance than healer.
Also, we are not asking you to be a OMFGBBQ badass healer who can do everything in order to be useful. I'm asking you to at least appreciate the concept of "do what the encounter demands of you, perform what the party needs of you".
That is the essence of a FFXIV healer: you become what your party needs, you are the soul of your group.

[Feyona]

I think I posted here orignally, because I was kicked out of a static, by a non- healer who got an external person to view a parser I was only learning a10s at the time Criticisms were no dps, no micro of pet, etc. The points made, were because I was expected to do all of this, because of some kind of falicy of what a healer should be doing, which is a huge expectation, does exist, and my concern was about this current trend of expectation. Yes none of you here have stated such expectations, but doesnt mean that others wont have them. Especially non healers, that may talk to expert healers. I did feel kind of put in a 'no win' situation. My incongruency, about the situation and what was expectedof me, was quite distressing. Thus a kind of fear, of trying of trying to meet this expectation. I said these things here to give feedback,. As this is is the place to do it. The expectation is that I should be dpsing no matter what, hope you see the problem for myself and perhaps others too

[Taika]

I think I posted here orignally, because I was kicked out of a static, by a non- healer who got an external person to view a parser I was only learning a10s at the time Criticisms were no dps, no micro of pet, etc. The points made, were because I was expected to do all of this, because of some kind of falicy of what a healer should be doing, which is a huge expectation, does exist, and my concern was about this current trend of expectation. Yes none of you here have stated such expectations, but doesnt mean that others wont have them. Especially non healers, that may talk to expert healers. I did feel kind of put in a 'no win' situation. My incongruency, about the situation and what was expectedof me, was quite distressing. Thus a kind of fear, of trying of trying to meet this expectation. I said these things here to give feedback,. As this is is the place to do it. The expectation is that I should be dpsing no matter what, hope you see the problem for myself and perhaps others too

To be fair, you're talking in context of the absolutely highest difficulty content the game currently has to offer: Alexander Savage. This level of content has, especially in the past, required every single party member to give their absolute all for the group to be able to even meet the minimum requirements needed to beat the fights when they're current. This is the content designed for 5% (or less) of the playerbase to even try. So expecting the players who are willing to take part in this content to do their best to play optimally is in no way too much to ask. Sure A9S and A10S are walks in a park compared to previous Alexander Savage (and even Coil) fights, but joining a static surely means the group is planning to progress further, and A11S already requires a lot more from everyone.

To me it sounds like you only see the expectations placed on you in this content and see them as too much (for yourself), but fail to see how much is expected from everyone else.

[Feyona]

Incongruency arises when you think your a healer, your main concern is to do that and your trying your best, in the circumstances, but others perceive you as not as a healer but are there to dps as well. and yet somehow keep everyone alive. Even though the group as a whole make it impossible. In my opinion is this a tool that can be used to bully? Most defintely. You could say I was scapegoated for the bad performance of the whole group. If my healing partner had been able to sort of solo heal I could have attempted it. but kind of feel not while Im learning the fights. I do dps in a9s now, but only if the other healer is competant. I would sort of like the pressre and the expectation removed though.

[Pireco]

Both sides have a few valid arguments , so what i do as a main healer , with all tanks and caster dps as my very rare off characters (ilvl 240-250), is do my best as a healer, i dps about 60-70% average in a dg , and 50% in a9-10s, currently progressing(im not a raider, just did a few times for curiosity), so i try to dps as much as i can , but healing is my main concern, that being said yes, healers should dps as much as possible, if not for the party sake for fun, because dpsing as healer is fun because its challenging until u get the grip of it, and for me its fun the challenge, but what i see in many cases is people complaining of the healers but tanks doing the minimum ( how many times i saw a tank turn off tank stance without cds and losing agro as a bonus...) and dps being lazy in mechanics and coming with excuses(acepted for everyone) for poor performance while bad players burn shamelessly the healers...
So im not against of MOTIVATING people to squeeze everything of their job, but not just healers, last night i picked up a alexandrian/augmented shire war losing agro in 2 ocasions in shelphatol, well, if u cant hold agro in an ex dg u somehow got carried in AS(but i dont even know how) , so dont come all triggered with a dps parser if u cant even dodge hot wings/tail in nidex, while im busting my ass to keep the clueless dps alive(been through it)...
Btw, dont forget tank and healer dps arent accounted for content, ofc it helps, while its clear its faster with people who do their job to the max(healer and tanking dpsing), if the dps were doing their job right it should be able to clear while tanks hold aggro and healers keep people alive, even if takes longer.

[Feyona]

To be fair, you're talking in context of the absolutely highest difficulty content the game currently has to offer: Alexander Savage. This level of content has, especially in the past, required every single party member to give their absolute all for the group to be able to even meet the minimum requirements needed to beat the fights when they're current. This is the content designed for 5% (or less) of the playerbase to even try. So expecting the players who are willing to take part in this content to do their best to play optimally is in no way too much to ask. Sure A9S and A10S are walks in a park compared to previous Alexander Savage (and even Coil) fights, but joining a static surely means the group is planning to progress further, and A11S already requires a lot more from everyone.

I really do appreciate what you say. No one here though has said you need to dps while your learnng a fight but my static expected it

[Judge_Xero]

I really do appreciate what you say. No one here though has said you need to dps while your learnng a fight but my static expected it

In context of the hardest content where players are expected to pull their weight it depends on whether you are Main Heals or Support Heals.

Main Heals will start out healing hard and finding places where to DPS. Support Heals will always start out DPSing hard while filling in gaps where the Main Heals can't keep up and/or shielding where players will be taking unavoidable damage that exceeds their HP values. (or while really optimizing where the Main Heal DPS is greater than the Support Heals. i.e. Malefic II spam VS Broil or Gravity VS Blizz II to name a couple)

So if you are talking about playing the Support Heal role as a contributing member to a Savage Raid group then yes, it is expected even while learning a fight and your static wasn't out of line to ask that of you.

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Just keep trying your best and take everything as a learning experience. There is so much to the healing role and it takes a lot to really get a good grasp on utilizing all your tools, but it's worth it.

Some of my Videos

Here's some of my videos if you want to check them out. I play to try and inspire other players and like you I try my best as well. I haven't been playing SCH too long but I used to main SMN and MCH so it's very similar with pet control.

[Rivxkobe]

Yes sorry ( meant genuinely) I will try to type better as well as play better. I know I type badly sometimes, Those were just specific replies to mine I guess, my comments were not, initially aimed anyone personally, just how players are.In general. Just seemed to get personal in the end. Typing on a controller btw.

Its fine. I also apologize. And typing with a controller? You must be some kind of wizard, I find that way difficult.

[CookieMonsta]

I think I posted here orignally, because I was kicked out of a static, by a non- healer who got an external person to view a parser I was only learning a10s at the time Criticisms were no dps, no micro of pet, etc. The points made, were because I was

Its not fallacy, in Savage, each and every member is expected to perform 100% of what the fight requires just to have half a chance of clearing it. When undergeared, this is even more apparent. As I said earlier, the healer is an extremely high impact role with an extremely high skill ceiling. Most statics succeed or break on their healer's skill. The expectation exists because the class is so capable, you cannot hardly blame the group for expecting more. However, I do admit they should've given you time to learn.

[Feyona]

My thoughts on a solution maybe to disable cleric in the most recent content like until the next patch. Or disable the dps spells except the instant ones like virus and disable, and aero. This may not please people that want to clear current content fast, but Im not sure content needs to be cleared as fast as possible. Its a compromising solution though, and may help healers to regain some of their identity. This could also be viewed as a challenge for all, not all the pressure but on a healer to perform at optimal level