Isn't playing WHM optimally going completely against what SE wants healers to be?

[Sebazy]

The devs have one goal, which is to minimize how much healers DPS ....... But they've said they still don't want people to DPS as healers as much as they are.

You're referring to the following?

We didn’t like seeing healers doing entire dungeons in Cleric Stance, especially if they forget to switch back and heal!

Look closer:

We didn’t like seeing healers doing entire dungeons in Cleric Stance, especially if they forget to switch back and heal!

entire dungeons

You're basing your argument on a quote that you're taking waaaaaaaaaay out of context if I'm not mistaken? Please correct me and link a quote that says otherwise if I'm wrong tho <3

[Elamys]

You're basing your argument on a quote that you're taking waaaaaaaaaay out of context if I'm not mistaken? Please correct me and link a quote that says otherwise if I'm wrong tho <3

It's not an all or nothing thing. I'm not saying the devs want healers to never DPS, nor am I saying that healers SHOULD never DPS. They say entire dungeons in that quote, it's clear they don't want healers to DPS the entire time, but that doesn't give us an exact number. I'm not taking it out of context at all. I'm trying to keep it WITHIN the context of the original quote, which is largely a case of "well, we don't like healer DPS that much, but we accept it's a part of the game right now, but changes have/may come in the future." That's all.

I don't want them to remove healer DPS entirely unless it somehow becomes that healers have to constantly heal. I don't like standing idle.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

It's not an all or nothing thing. I'm not saying the devs want healers to never DPS, nor am I saying that healers SHOULD never DPS. They say entire dungeons in that quote, it's clear they don't want healers to DPS the entire time, but that doesn't give us an exact number. I'm not taking it out of context at all. I'm trying to keep it WITHIN the context of the original quote, which is largely a case of "well, we don't like healer DPS that much, but we accept it's a part of the game right now, but changes have/may come in the future." That's all.

I don't want them to remove healer DPS entirely unless it somehow becomes that healers have to constantly heal. I don't like standing idle.

Perhaps a better phrasing of it would be you want healer DPS to be more a reward/bonus for higher level players who are optimizing and/or outgearing content compared to something mandatory? Because that is more or less my stance. While I enjoy healing in this game, my absolute favourite times doing so is through new expansion dungeons with lower tier gear. Bardam's Mettle in full Shire hurts to heal. Even with a few upgrades, I had to work healing and DPSing through Doma. Unfortunately, those moments are few and far in between since the game centers its entire damage phases through predictable script mechanics. Honestly, the issue has long been the dev's refusal to make the game harder despite their insistence on closing the skill gap. I wish we had more options as healers or even some sort of combo system or ability to chain healing; something unique. With how easy many things have become in Stormblood though, I doubt that ever happens.

[Elamys]

Perhaps a better phrasing of it would be you want healer DPS to be more a reward/bonus for higher level players who are optimizing and/or outgearing content compared to something mandatory?

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm trying to get at. I have a hard time expressing what I mean sometimes. I just wish that healer DPS wasn't a thing solely because there's nothing to do.