Dear Healers who don't DPS

[MoroMurasaki]

snip

Class quests teach you about playing your class. At the same time CNJs are learning about Sylphie and her "only healing" THMs are learning about rotating astral fire and umbral ice. Is that just a character's opinion? No, contextually it is clearly also meant to teach you about your job.

That is a cop out.

Would you care to respond to everything else I said? Because I had a whole other rebuttal that I see is still unopposed.

[Taika]

It's easy to understand however - Healing primarily is a nurturing fantasy, not a destructive one. Stereotypically ascribed to women (Coincidences: Our healer jobs are about nature, fairies and sparkles and usually have a dress as dresscode), the appeal is to prevent harm, rather than cause it. Many people drawn to it would like to be the guy/gal who delivers people from pain and eases their sorrows, to cure the sick and help the wounded. A saint! And saints don't kill people (Unless you play Saints Row). It also appeals to militant pacifists who would rather people don't fight at all and snuggled instead, who have a hard time identifying with the 'violent' roles.

As a woman who has mained a healer for many years in this game - definitely not because of any "nurturing fantasies" but because of their extreme power and the aspect of strategic gameplay - I find this description equally funny and disgusting. It's actually a joke between our FC healer players how we're so "nurturing" and play based on our "feelings". Fairies and sparkles my butt.

[HyoMinPark]

Maybe in PF, but certainly not DF. Not once have I ever seen a complaint about the healer not dpsing in DF.

Neither have I, but that still doesn’t give lazy players (and I mean players of all roles here) an excuse or reason to be lazy. Nor does one particular role make a player immune to be removed from a party if the other members do not like the way they are playing (I’ve noticed a trend with anti-DPS healers who think they are above such things because of their green icon—well, sorry to say, they are not). And this goes all ways, not just with regards to healer DPS (although, if I personally encountered a group that told me to be their heal bot and do nothing but heal, I would promptly drop the duty and embrace my 30 minute penalty with contentment).

[MoroMurasaki]

A healer friend once sent this to me after hearing me lose my mind in Discord over a pug tank. I feel like it illustrates the dichotomy here. Sure a few actual healers may be like the first example but I feel like a lot of us trend to the latter. Taika's comment immediately brought it to the forefront of my mind.

[EaMett]

I am going to be blunt here

It's a game. Casual players are rarely fully focused. Anyways regardless.. I've made it clear enough that I really don't care whether or not my DF dungeon takes 5 extra minutes for someone else's comfort. Some people afk 5mn to clean cat puke off their floor, same thing as far as I'm concerned. A bunch of people here have stated that it matters clearly a lot to them. That's fine, whatever floats their boat, I just think that the game must be frustrating at times for them. And the upside of getting what they want imho is definitely not worth the hair pulling.

As for the greater picture (and the original reason why I posted), this topic has been extensively discussed already a thousand times. There's nothing new to be found, just the same old. We get it, ff14 healer meta involves dps. And some players play healer because they don't like dpsing. People get butthurt when they don't dps because their dungeons take a fraction more time to complete, or they feel disrespected, or they put more effort into it, or whatever. Carry that resentment into the forums and pop a new post or a new thread on the topic justifying their stance on how healers should DPS. Nothing ever changes, rince and repeat. (Ironically the no-dps healers probably continue enjoying their game in blissful ignorance)

I yield.

[Seoulstar]

snip

This isn't about making excuses. It's simply about that from what i'm understanding. It's not the majority that has a problem with this. And it's not surprising considering it's just DF, as to why people would go into that with high expectations is beyond me. You don't know what you're going to get and not everyone that plays this game play on the same level. You'll get someone who dies a lot, someone who doesn't know rotation, a tank that has trouble holding aggro and/or takes a lot of damage. Your results will vary, you might find a group that wants you to dps a lot, you might find a group that doesn't care (which happens at least 90% of the time from what i'm getting and personal experience), it's like reaching into a bag and grabbing a marble. While I understand in PF content like savage and ex fights because that requires you to go at it. DF is just casual content that many do to just relax, not feel as if they're having a second job.

[Almagnus1]

Sure a few actual healers may be like the first example but I feel like a lot of us trend to the latter.

Did it ever occur to you that we're like that because the community keeps doing the "HEALERS MUST DPS OR BE CALLED NOOBS" routine?

[Almagnus1]

It's not the majority that has a problem with this.

Maybe it's time for the vocal minority to just sit down and shut up....

[Bourne_Endeavor]

While I understand in PF content like savage and ex fights because that requires you to go at it. DF is just casual content that many do to just relax, not feel as if they're having a second job.

No one is saying otherwise. I always expect the worst going into DF. That doesn't mean on a discussion forum I'll say "play however you like." Furthermore, how is asking someone to play their job properly comparable to working a second job? You go Holy into Aero III and heal when necessary. If this is honestly too difficulty for you, perhaps you shouldn't be playing healers. The entire point of these debates is why only one role gets a continual excuse. A tank that doesn't rotate CDs will often get yelled at by their healer unless said healer feels like a challenge. Same goes for DPS who refuse to AoE. They are also far more likely to get kicked for whining because DPS are a dime-a-dozen. Only healers get to "relax" by standing around and letting everyone else do all the work. If every healer played like that, you'd be better off with a Red Mage.

Maybe it's time for the vocal minority to just sit down and shut up....

Or perhaps its time for the "majority" (I doubt that claim) to stop expecting others do all the work. Don't like being called an average to below average healer? Learn how to use your full toolkit, not ignore a third of it.

[Zojha]

[...] definitely not because of any "nurturing fantasies" but because of their extreme power and the aspect of strategic gameplay [...]

And that is why 'you' are an avid proponent of DPSing as healer - It's not coincidence. Congrats on realizing stereotypes are stereotypes by the by. While we're clearing those up: Black people aren't all evil either, neither are muslims categorically terrorists, fancy dresses and miniskirts are neither male or female clothes no matter how much bigots want them to be, they're just clothes, not every man who likes supposedly feminine things is gay and not every catholic priest is a pedophile. What you should be disgusted about here is that to this day and age, Stereotypes of all kinds perpetuate society. There's no point in being disgusted at any in particular, there are tons more where that came from.

That said, fantasy still is a factor you have to consider. A lot of people pick up ninja in the hopes of satisfying their stealth fantasy, only to get hit by a naruto style ninja with a boobhole in the chainmail and get unsatisfied as a result. Some people pick up bard to play pretend they're a musician and play a more supportive role, others just want to be a ranger and kill (and those were 'those guys' who never used any songs before SB). Summoner has tons of threads about how it doesn't live up to its fantasy and people being unsatisfied with that by now and red mage got complaints about that as well.
Fantasy is a big motivation for people to pick up one job or the other - even you say that the power fantasy you get from playing a healer was part of the appeal. And when the current iteration of a job doesn't live up to what people hoped for, people aren't satisfied. For healers in particular, that means that some people simply don't want to deal damage on a general principle because it disrupts their fantasy. And no amount of arguing is going to get through there, because all reasons people put up for not DPSing are rationalized after the decision not to do it, not before.

Why else do you think healers in particular are so stubborn about the topic? Because they're just lazier on average? Because they're worse at math? Less smart? I don't think so. I think many people simply picked up healer because they explicitly didn't want to deal damage, as that's not what they identify with.

That doesn't change the fact that these people are SOL in this game due to its design. But it explains why the healer debates in particular become endless, while they don't for other roles.