Dear Healers who don't DPS

[MoroMurasaki]

I've been firmly on the side of healer DPS although recently I did have a fight where I broke my own rules and definitely wasn't always casting.


It was a Royal Menagarie run with great DPS but the worst tanks and cohealer I've seen in a long time. After we wiped once (which I sort of pride myself on not doing on RM, I get it enough in Trial Roulette that I know it well) I was forced to confront the truth that my tanks weren't going to help keep themselves alive and my cohealer was channeling her inner floortank.

In an effort to avert a vote abandon (because there was a newbie message so someone in the party needed the clear) I pulled. I certainly didn't have mp to spend on more than an occasional DoT but with all the healing of the raidwide damage and paper tanks I was like the off tank/off off tank.

That was clearable due to the strong DPS conttibuted by the actual DPS and also because I literally stood around sometimes to regen my mp.

My point is that the situation people bring up of having no mp to DPS does happen... but it is so rare that I don't feel it should factor in to this discussion. This is one fight with only a few more over my FFXIV playtime that was actually more clearable because I did not DPS as a healer, such a minority I would still feel confident saying that unanimously healers being expected to contribute DPS is fair and reasonable.

[AmeliaVerves]

My point is that the situation people bring up of having no mp to DPS does happen... but it is so rare that I don't feel it should factor in to this discussion. This is one fight with only a few more over my FFXIV playtime that was actually more clearable because I did not DPS as a healer, such a minority I would still feel confident saying that unanimously healers being expected to contribute DPS is fair and reasonable.

This is a very important point I always realise in those discussions about healer DPS. People mix up situations to underline their statemens and opinions and keep talking about different things. Ofc they can't come to positive conclusions with that.

Like, Player A says 'Healers should not need to dps, because they might be insecure.', obviously talking about fights they don't know or leveling. Player B says 'Healers should contribute dps, because it makes fights faster and thats what farming is about.' talking about a whooooole different part of the game, where people are farming content they know how to do (as in: know how much damage is coming in, how mechanics need to be executed), but Player A and Player B keep fighting over the fact they disagree. xD
It is kinda hilarious to read.

[ximxim]

Snip.

Wow, you're talking about respect yet you push other people to play the way you want?? like what!? Something is clearly wrong with your argument. I'm done talking with you and your kin who thinks lowly for any healers who don't DPS during their playtime... elitist much?? ROFL!

Go get your shiny horse and fly as mighty as you want... we could careless.

[Supersun]

Expecting your healer to not overheal and ABC is elitist?

If they aren't doing that, there's no ifs ands or buts,...that healer is being lazy.

Even the Netflix watching DPS at least ABCs...

Go get your shiny horse and fly as mighty as you want... we could caress.

Oh gosh, remove 2 letters and it becomes a line straight out some XXX fanfic.

[Deceptus]

Now healer's job is to healing, not attacking.

Dead enemies do no damage to the tank. The faster they die, the less the healer has to heal. DPS is a mitigation tool for healers.

[Cynfael]

I'm done talking with you and your kin who thinks lowly for any healers who don't DPS during their playtime... elitist much.

How dare anyone expect that their fellow players actually play the game rather than stand there between heals. The nerve....

[technole]

Wow, you're talking about respect yet you push other people to play the way you want?? like what!? Something is clearly wrong with your argument. I'm done talking with you and your kin who thinks lowly for any healers who don't DPS during their playtime... elitist much?? ROFL!

Go get your shiny horse and fly as mighty as you want... we could careless.

There is a common pattern with some of the lower-end players in this game, they end up calling people elitist when they can't justify their play style isn't optimal.

Playing your job to your fullest potential is elitist, ok. Good luck.

[Tint]

Dead enemies do no damage to the tank. The faster they die, the less the healer has to heal. DPS is a mitigation tool for healers.

sounds like a counter argument. when i play healer i want to heal MORE, not less.

[Maeka]

Playing your job to your fullest potential is elitist, ok. Good luck.

Um, that's the very definition of elitism -- expecting everybody to 100% max their potential in all situations, all the time.


Not everybody wants to keep their eyes glued to the screen, running myriads of calculations trying to find every single possible way to squeak out every possible DPS and HPS that can possibly be done.

Seriously, some of us like to just play and have fun and just do whatever and those of us who play this way still clear most content just fine. I do my EX Roulettes and my Omegas just fine. I don't go into Savage, because hey. I'm not really interested in Savage Raiding. *shrugs* I'm fine without it.

Now, I'm not a healer who just stands around and does nothing, but yet I'm not going to try to get the absolute best HPS/DPS out of every single fight, either because it is wholly unnecessary and the difference is, at best, 5% in the total time it takes to clear the dungeon (probably nowhere near even that) but yet the amount of work/effort/thought required is, in some cases, 500x.

If you, as a healer, go through lazily and only cast Cure and Cure2 during the whole dungeon, you'll survive in most cases. It will take quite awhile, though.
If you, as a healer, go through and do a reasonable job with healing and throw a few Aeros and Stone IVs, you could shave off, say, 15% off the time of the total run, but it would take about 2x amount of work.
If you, as a healer, go through and try to absolutely max your performance, you might shave another 5% or so off but would take 10x the amount of work and effort.

See the diminishing returns? You spend 10x the work to get 5% increase. And to be honest, I'm not having fun if I'm stressing over squeaking out every single drop of DPS to the point my eyes are glued to the screen and I'm mashing the button to make sure I start casting that Stone IV the very millisecond it is castable again, not wanting to lose even 0.1s of casting time.

That's just not fun. I'm sorry, but it's not.

However, I also don't want to stand around and do nothing but Regen, Cure, Cure2, and Medica. That gets bloody old too, standing there and doing nothing. I used to do that in HW because of input lag having to do with Cleric Stance. It's one of the main reasons I like healing in SB a lot more, because you don't have to deal with the lag in starting/removing stances and how stressful that was.

It's called a "Happy Medium" or a "Middle Ground" and it tends to be way more fun than either alternative.

[Taika]

Um, that's the very definition of elitism -- expecting everybody to 100% max their potential in all situations, all the time.


Not everybody wants to keep their eyes glued to the screen, running myriads of calculations trying to find every single possible way to squeak out every possible DPS and HPS that can possibly be done.

But that's not what people are expecting: they're simply expecting others to 1. be active as close to 100% of the time as possible (in other words: don't just stand there doing nothing if you can avoid it), and 2. use your whole skill set instead of just a part of it.