Dear Healers who don't DPS

[Taika]

So where exactly does it say that it's everyone's responsibility to do such things?

Just common courtesy and general practice of being a team player.

[Saraphin]

I do the same as Alisi. i test the waters on the first pull. sometimes just looking at the tank's gear isn't a good indication. it can be, but not necessarily. On bosses, i do DPS as much as I can. if i think i can DPS, i will, if I don't feel comfortable because of how the tank is doing his/her job, i won't. I'll end up with assize/Aero DoTs for dmg and mostly heal.

There are some healers that don't DPS period. that's their play style. there are also some situations where healers don't feel comfortable DPSing, even if they do DPS normally. do not just fault the healers. if DPS are eating avoidable dmg, they have to heal. if tanks pull massive mobs, they have to heal, not DPS.

it's a balance game and with the changes to all the healers, even veteran healers are trying to find their 'Groove' when it comes to DPS/Healing balance.

[Miste]

So where exactly does it say that it's everyone's responsibility to do such things? Is there some strict small print that I missed that states players need to adhere to it? Nah, that's what I thought.

I'll never understand why some people don't want to help their DF team as much as possible. If you can do something to help your whole team...why wouldn't you? I always DPS on healer as much as I am capable of with the group I get...since I want to do everything I can to help my team and I have the spells available to do so. Especially without the old Cleric Stance... throwing out a few DoTs and DPS spells is much easier.

Some people are not skilled enough to DPS on healer and heal or are very uncomfortable which is fine (it also depends on group composition and the tank's gear/cooldown efficiency), but it is the ones that obviously could be using a few DPS spells sometimes and aren't which is disheartening..you know the ones who stand in place staring for upwards of a whole minute and the tank isn't even taking damage or jump around when there is nothing to heal...those two spacebar or triangle presses could have been used to swiftcast just even one Holy or Gravity etc.

It isn't about speeding up the run..it's just...about contributing as much as you personally are capable of instead of sitting and doing nothing; if you can help why wouldn't you help? Even if it is just a few DPS spells here and there.

[Raikai]

If a healer stands there for some gcd's doing nothing. That's not necessarily them being lazy:

DPSing in this game as a healer, differently from titles like WoW, really can cost you a LOT of MP (esp. on aoes). I often ran into the situation that the tank showed himself durable for some moments, then he went really squishy (together with dps taking avoidable dmg) and I simply did not have enough mp to recover the party because I spent most of it on dpsing! (inb4 lucid dream: that's a 2min cooldown)

edit: not saying I refuse to dps or anything, but I need to observe the situation and make a decision. I usually stand on guard for the first pulls to measure how durable and/or crazy the tank is, before deciding if I CAN or CANNOT spare mp on dpsing whatever. (this is especially true in leveling content)

[Taika]

If a healer stands there for some gcd's doing nothing. That's not necessarily them being lazy:

DPSing in this game as a healer, differently from titles like WoW, really can cost you a LOT of MP (esp. on aoes). I often ran into the situation that the tank showed himself durable for some moments, then he went really squishy (together with dps taking avoidable dmg) and I simply did not have enough mp to recover the party because I spent most of it on dpsing! (inb4 lucid dream: that's a 2min cooldown)

All healers have MP-free heals, WHM has Lucid, Assize and Thin Air, SCH has Lucid, Aetherflow and Energy Drain, AST has Lucid and Ewer (yeah not as good as it relies on RNG but anyways). In great majority of content, you should not be running out of MP on any healer. Exception may be learning new Savage (or even Extreme primal) fights, but in those situations no one should expect you to put that much thought into DPS anyway.

I'll add that if in leveling dungeons you need to focus on only healing, to the point that you're running out of MP, there's something seriously wrong in either your tank, your party DPS, your healing tactics, or several of those.

[Cynfael]

I didn't say inactive. I said that healers don't generally DPS if they don't feel like they can and keep the party alive. Sure, you'll have those who don't but most do. It's boring otherwise. I can find better ways to do nothing than go into a dungeon. xP First couple pools, I'll test the waters. If the tank goes from 100% to near 0% constantly, then I'm not going to DPS the rest of the dungeon (for the most part.) My job is to keep people alive, not DPS. Healing comes first.

A non-DPSing healer is almost always an idle/inactive healer. When you observe these players sitting on their hands while healing requirements are low, you know they are the problem.

It goes without saying that there are times when a pure healing focus is required, but I didn't get the impression that the OP was addressing healers in those situations.

[HyoMinPark]

So where exactly does it say that it's everyone's responsibility to do such things? Is there some strict small print that I missed that states players need to adhere to it?

Mmm. I'm pretty sure that there's an instance in the Hall of Novice that discusses healers using offensive spells whenever they aren't having to heal a party member.
You're part of a team; standing around and not contributing when there is little to no outgoing damage to heal is not effective. Nor it is you being a team player. Obviously if the tank is tanking damage like there's no tomorrow, do what you have to do to keep him alive. But if he's barely being tickled by mobs or a boss, please don't just stand around. Throw some stones.

And to refer to the rest of your comment, while it may be your sub and you dictate how you want to play, the majority of the party can also decide that your playstyle is just not in agreement with theirs. Differences in playstyle has been stated as a valid reason for dismissal multiple times before by the GMs. Speaking in terms of "branching out from designated roles": I main bard. My primary function is my red icon: dealing damage. But, SE gave me all these awesome support abilities, and I am supposed to--and expected to--use them. A bard that does not support their party is not worthy of being a bard. And the same goes for any other job with support skills.

Healers have the skills to keep people alive, and they also have the skills to take enemies down. Use both. To not make use of your full toolkit is just subpar play. Why play at only 50%?

Dear SE, please Nerf healer dps and shut this argument down once and for all. Plzkthnx.

And if SE did this, I would effectively stop rolling healer in content. I do not like having to stand around and just wait for someone to take damage. I prefer to be active as much as possible, be it by healing, by DPSing, and preferably, by both.

[loreleidiangelo]

Dear SE, please Nerf healer dps and shut this argument down once and for all. Plzkthnx.

Also buff boss damage substantially to compensate and increase mob HP so healers need to watch their mana and heals.

Or Nerf the power of healing spells so that healers have to devote more time/MP to performing their main role. Either option works.

Your third suggestion is the only real solution to this dilemma, I fear. Nerfing healer DPS means we'll still be spending the same amount of globals to arbitrarily do less, which frankly feels like crap, and your second solution only works to a point, insofar that player health bars are finite and spiking them down too frequently hurts players with lesser gear and players who can't quite smash their heal buttons as quickly as another. Also, while healer mana is stupidly generous in our current context, creating a scenario where you have to chain-cast Cures into Cure IIs endlessly will run even the most conservative healer OOM if DPS are lacking.

Basically, endless 20k damage spikes aren't the solution to poor healing design, and neither is a random nerf bat to GCD efficiency. The most feasible option is an overall re-tool not just of tank and healer relative power, but of how damage is dispensed in the game overall (there's like zilch scenarios where a sustain healer could thrive here, pigeonholing us all into a burst healer box).

[technole]

There is an excellent flip-side to a healer that makes good use of every global they have, they use their instant heals to help the other healer and allow more damage uptime. The stand-around, inactive healers tend to be not-so-good at healing in the first place because they don't have the damage "script" in their head. Raid damage is scripted, so standing around just shows they don't know where these are. So for-sample a healer throwing stones for 7 globals straight doesn't mean they don't know what is going on, or know damage is coming. They will be ready for the 7th when the boss does AoE damage to use Assize or even a Swiftcast-Medica II and get right back to doing damage.

While they can really change the healer dps design with more constant damage in the script mixed in with mechanics. On the other hand they probably don't want to push the boundaries too much where healing isn't as fun, and it turns people away from the job. Honestly, it barely is fun at the moment even with healer DPS (healers lost mitigation skills, dps nerfs losing DoTs, cleric stance change, etc)

[Dregenfox]

TBH when I'm pushing max DPS I'll actually get less commends and ppl get mad because I let them drop under 50% hp, so I just stopped. Just gotta work with what's expected of you in roulette runs.

I mean I understand the point but healer DPS isn't exactly that interesting. It's mostly just pressing 1 button over and over. Especially in a sub-50 dungeon run I'll just let my scholar fairy heal and do other things, occassionally pop a lustrate etc. Still get the same commends as long as we don't end up wiping which is all that really matters in a roulette run.

the most fun runs aren't where im doing dps for 30 minutes...its where i'm forced to manage mana and balance damage w/ hps. Easy content is boring regardless. Those runs where I'm casting ruin/dots for half an hour make me wonder why im not playing a dps instead.