Dear Healers who don't DPS

[era1Ne]

I don't think you understood what I was saying. I was basically saying that the reason these threads pop up is that some healers do make excuses for not DPSing and usually those excuses are really extreme

I understand better now what you wanted to say and i do agree with some of the stuff you said, but i can't agree with this quote really, since some people from both sides create an heated discussion in here or on others sites with their extrem arguments, comparisons and so on. Of course, healers who don't dps because of rp reasons or what not, should reconsider what they are doing, because imo everyone should try to their best for the group. On the other hand, there are valid reasons some people don't want to understand imo. Additionally, the issue here is you'll never know why an healer is standing around and not "hitting buttons". Is he lazy, inexperienced, afraid to let people die? You never know, if you don't ask polite and ofc sometimes they don't answer.

Edit: Also goes the other way too. If there's someone in the party who's performance is ... questionable, ask first. Maybe they are playing with high latency, or on console. If a run is turning sour, apply humour and try to see if you can do your part in lessening the burden. If you are smarter, or wiser, or better mannered ... all the more reason to contribute. You will be surprised how eager people are often willing to learn and communicate if you are nice.

What has the console to do with this? xD

[MoroMurasaki]

It's a terrible state of the game we live in if basic spatial awareness isn't included in basic competence, but fair enough.

We can add "And avoiding as much damage as they can" to the list.

I genuinely don't understand your issue.

You're okay with saying 'of course don't stand in the bad' but something as simple as 'of course, ABC' is a step too far for you?

Tridus puts up a great point about Susie EX, I had similar experiences myself with him. Towards the end of the fight he will give you some really annoying combos. I know personally what killed people for me bunches of times was just the whirlpool -> churning -> whirlpool thing where you had to pause then run back in. Now I hardly ever see that happen thanks to gearing up but strong healer DPS could provide that same advantage earlier.

I mean ABC is such a common and widespread part of gameplay it has an acronym and is widely recognizable by people who play MMOs. Saying "but wait! These extra casts will only help kill the enemies and won't heal my party!" just seems like arguing semantics.

[Kabooa]

I genuinely don't understand your issue.

You're okay with saying 'of course don't stand in the bad' but something as simple as 'of course, ABC' is a step too far for you.

The standards I have for basic competence are clearly much higher than what I'm being presented with as 'Oh but this is wrong about what you're saying.'

It is assumed that after 70 levels of content and dungeons that a player understands how to avoid avoidable damage (not even accounting for any outside experience with Real Time RPG systems). Not optimize around it to minimize downtime, but at least avoid it. I should not have to state that "Don't !@#%ing die" is part of someone's 'role'. It's everyone's. It shouldn't need clarification, but here we are.

The extreme and savage comparisons are irrelevant. I already stated that this mindset is fine only for normal content, and anyone moving into harder content should be prepared to adjust to what that demands of them, regardless of the game, role, or prior encounter experience.

[Taika]

The standards I have for basic competence are clearly much higher than what I'm being presented with as 'Oh but this is wrong about what you're saying.'

It is assumed that after 70 levels of content and dungeons that a player understands how to avoid avoidable damage (not even accounting for any outside experience with Real Time RPG systems). Not optimize around it to minimize downtime, but at least avoid it. I should not have to state that "Don't !@#%ing die" is part of someone's 'role'. It's everyone's. It shouldn't need clarification, but here we are.

The standards I have for basic competence are clearly much higher than what I'm being presented with as 'Oh but this is wrong about what you're saying.'

It is assumed that after 70 levels of content and dungeons that a player understands how to use all of their useful abilities. Not optimize them, but at least always be using something. I should not have to state that "Don't forget to use your !@#%ing DPS abilities too!" is part of someone's 'role'. It's everyone's. It shouldn't need clarification, but here we are.

[Waliel]

A "pure healer" will spend more than 50% of O2N doing absolutely nothing.

That holds true in about any fight. I checked our healer logs from last V4S kill out of curiosity, and roughly 40-50% of globals for both went to damage spells -- SCH actually using more globals on damage than healing. Counting all casts the heals obviously win, but still.

[QT_Melon]

What has the console to do with this? xD

There are people on Console that start off as healer (using controller) that don't understand how it works. Directional Pad is for the party, and using X confirms a hard target, while you can soft target other members.

Then there's those that don't understand how to implement Cross Hotbar actions instead of using the Shoulder and Number to filter through hotbars.
Cross Hotbar enables a player to access the second hotbar, as well as configuring WXHB.

I've had to teach people how to utilize XHB and hud layouts to get the most out of controller. Like pulling out other hotbars to help with CD management to know when a skill on a secondary hotbar is up.

Yeah it's a long explanation but there is a lot more to configuring the controller beyond defaults which can scare off newbies if you aren't patient enough to help them utilize their HUD and configuration.

[Kabooa]

Super Clever.

The issue with ABC and Healer roles is that healing is by its nature a reactive playstyle, while the 'ABC' is proactive. It isn't impossible for the two to work together, given the OGCD system, but the process of stringing the two together is the first step when moving into optimal play, which normal content, the content this thread started around, isn't required. If a healer, -in normal content-, feels more comfortable just keeping people alive, that's fine. That's all they need to do.

At no point did I say it's the best course of action, only that it's acceptable, and it's only acceptable in normal. Nothing wrong with encouraging them to get better, but this entire thread isn't that. It's just a circle jerk, just like 'Lol all these bad dps' or 'Tanks who don't do this'.

[Taika]

The issue with ABC and Healer roles is that healing is by its nature a reactive playstyle, while the 'ABC' is proactive

Since all fights in this game are heavily scripted and it's not difficult for a healer to judge the amount of damage their tank is taking, healing in this game is far from reactive. As a healer, you will pretty much be casting the same thing at same time every time you do a fight. Of course sometimes mistakes happen and you'll have to do your best to adjust, but in most cases that's only a small, temporary change in your fixed pattern. You saying healing is reactive makes me wonder if you've even played a healer in this game?

[Kabooa]

You saying healing is reactive makes me wonder if you've even played a healer in this game?

Yes, quite often.

And the content this thread started around is normal, which is mostly dungeons. While the dungeon bosses themselves easily allow ABCing, the meta of big pulls does not. A lot of your ability to deal damage in those settings rests on the shoulders of others. In that regard, healing is very reactive, and an instant cast at the wrong time that locks up your GCD suddenly means many of your OGCDs may be required to adjust, and that leaves you more vulnerable moving forward. Not in small pulls, not on most normal bosses, but wall-to-wall pulls, it's much less cut and dry than its being presented.

[Taika]

And the content this thread started around is normal, which is mostly dungeons. While the dungeon bosses themselves easily allow ABCing, the meta of big pulls does not. A lot of your ability to deal damage in those settings rests on the shoulders of others. In that regard, healing is very reactive, and an instant cast at the wrong time that locks up your GCD suddenly means many of your OGCDs may be required to adjust, and that leaves you more vulnerable moving forward. Not in small pulls, not on most normal bosses, but wall-to-wall pulls, it's much less cut and dry than its being presented.

I don't agree. Well, I agree that you can't follow as strict a pattern for dungeon pulls than you do for bosses and harder content, but you're still using pretty much the same cooldowns and abilities for certain pulls every time, and you're definitely always casting something and never just standing there waiting for stuff to react to.