Suggestion as to how to get people to become healers.

[kikix12]

Can we please stop using this misleading quote as an argument? When the content is in fact literally impossible to beat without healer DPS when it's added in the game, then the content does require healer DPS. It doesn't matter who says what and what kind of calculations have been made and when, when that is the fact.

When it's added into the game, people don't know yet what and how to do it. That's why content is harder than it actually is. You don't need to have your healer DPS to pass the content, but you may be able to fail and get a party wipe without the healer DPS'ing. Neither is mutually exclusive, because there are more aspects to clearing content than just DPS and HPS. Vault is example of that. People may clear it time and again, then they'll get dropped into a party that is what it is...and they won't be able to do it. Why?! Not because of stats. Previous parties may have had worse gear. But because knowing what to do and when is important. Healer DPS'ing may make it easier by shortening the difficult phases and may make the difference between a failure and a success, yes. But that means only that the DPS are failing in THEIR job, for lack of knowledge or skills. Or because they have crap gear that boosts their item level without actually boosting their stats, like caster accessories on a tank...

In WildStar, I'm generally always busy on my healers keeping up buffs, prepping for damage, adjusting positioning for better heals. (...)
Once again I assert that we should not be looking for ways to cement the "healer dps" meta even further, but rather encourage SE to design content that asks healers to do more healing/buffing.

The problem here is that healers hardly are "buffers". White mage have only three buffs that do not heal (one of which is just a time-saving version of the other, hence no need to count Stoneskin II dropping it to two). But Protect is "cast and forget"...until someone dies...and Stoneskin is a buff between fights. In a fight, healing is cheaper and is going to restore more HP than Stoneskin will substitute. For Scholars, it's Sacred Soil (from which players frequently run away and which is restricted by aetherflow), Eye for an Eye...which Summoners have as well...Galvanize which is always bound to healing spells so doesn't even count...and pet buffs. Sure, one pet have two buffs and the other have one, but they they can't exactly fill any downtime...nor are they something you do on the downtime since you can use them mid-cast.

If healers had actual buffs that have short durations, low-to-no recast, and low enough MP costs to actually be cast one after another, I'm pretty sure they would be used instead of DPS. 10% decrease in damage received by party member for 10sec? Cool. 20% increase in damage by party member for 10sec with 10sec cooldown?! Good as well. Heck, there are some games where healers can restore more than just HP, but also MP (their own as well as others, but only others would be enough as well) or stamina (well, TP in this game).

Making this game have more threatening, Esuna'ble debuffs would be good too. Most of the pesky debuffs cannot be healed (Toad, Petrification, various Vulnerabilities etc.), while many of those that can, are irrelevant (many poisons). There are few that are good to remove (Paralyze, Doom, Slow etc.), but they obviously can't be constantly used by every enemy the party comes across...

Having played plenty of MMOs that do not have the weird healer dps meta... it's not that hard.

To be fair, in many of those games, healers are plain useless OUTSIDE of their healing/buffs. And that means that they are either leveled in a party, or not at all, and they have a horrid time doing anything, even content they severely outlevel, without someone helping them. It is not always the case, but frequently. Then there are games where, like here, healers often attack and healing time competes with that.