Dear Healers who don't DPS

[Bourne_Endeavor]

*enters dungeon*
*Tank mashes sprint button and grabs 3 packs of mobs*
*I catch up to the almost dead tank and give him Benediction*
*I get locked into chain-casting Cure2, not having enough time or MP to do anything else*

How again was I supposed to DPS?

The DPS meta is a bit misleading. The general rule people follow is to Always. Be. Casting; your ABCs if you will.

If I do the mega pull in Shisui or Ala Mhigo, I don't expect any DPS from you otherwise, I'll die within seconds. If you're able to plan ahead and set up Swiftcast -> Holy -> Aero III while I have Hallowed or Living up, I'll love you for it, but I certainly don't expect it from DF. That's a bit more of a raider mentality. It's the people who stand around while at near full MP that annoy others. And that ire isn't reserved for healers. It drives me up the wall whenever I see a DPS who won't aoe during mass pulls, especially those bigger ones because I know the healer and I simply won't have the CDs to survive if things aren't dying. Had that exact scenario happen in The Vault just the other day. Neither DPS focused those gaints down and one never aoe'd, which eventually killed the healer since she couldn't stop healing me to spam aoe heals. DPS's response? "Samurai does more damage on single targets."

Yeah...

I will second this, or at least the flipside: I only do a minimum amount of DPS, but I keep the tank above 50% most of the dungeon, I don't wait until he's 30% or less to start casting, and I only throw some stones during the last 2 or so mobs and only an Aero III near the beginning (I usually Benison the tank to give me enough time to safely land Aero III before the Cure spam starts) and I routinely walk away with 3/3 or 2/3 comms (unless the tank is exceptional, that is).

People in random DF groups seem to enjoy a healer who pays more attention to HP meters than their personal DPS parses. Now, granted, I don't do absolutely zero damage at all, I try to get at least a little in, but I'm not trying to maximize or any of that crap. I'm just keeping people alive and helping out wherever I deem it is safe to which is, you know, my job?

Just a coincidence, really. People generally default to healers or tanks for their comms. I routinely get 2-3 and I'm a very aggressive healer. I've let tanks drop to three digits because I'm timing Benediction, though that isn't usually intention. 10-20% though? Yep. I won't even look at a tank before they drop below 50% other then to toss Regen on them.