Healer DPS - enjoyable or a chore?

[Miste]

anyone who green DPS's is intentionally playing poorly.

It's not hard to see what the developers intents are behind most of the skills, and really, it seems like the developers want a completely different idea of how healing is being used, and thus players who play healers per the developers intent are labeled as being lazy, where as green DPS using the skills in a way not intended by the developers as dictated by a DPS min-max meta the developers ignored, end up being the preferred raid zerg strategy

I can't believe you are still going on about this nonsense.

A healer can maximize their DPS contribution and at the same time do the required healing for a fight.

Experienced/Skilled healers can do both DPS and all healing required for a fight. They can do BOTH.

It takes effort to learn your healer job and what tools it has and effort to learn the fights, but that is how you play well in this game. You have to expend effort to become more skilled at something and practice.

If you don't or can't do this? Whatever, no one can force you, but unless SE changes how healing works there is simply too much downtime and not enough constant healing required in content to necessitate a pure healer who only heals and does zero dps.

What the developers intend means nothing if the game itself doesn't reflect it. If they want healers to not DPS they need to change how healers and healing in this game works.

Also you didn't even listen to what Lunaxia said in her OP...

(This is not a "should healers DPS" thread, but a given that they can and do.)

^ See this? Read it.

Don't try to hijack her thread like you love to do to so many other posters to rant about your agenda that so many people have already explained is totally faulty.

Lunaxia and I have had our issues, but her OP is straightforward asking for opinions on if healer DPS is fun/engaging and if people had any ideas on what could be changed about the design right now, not if healers should DPS or not which is why she stated that in her OP to avoid posts like yours starting this issue up again.

[Miesta]

to answer the op....I feel like healer dps is NOT fun or engaging. I dps when im super extremely bored and even then its still incredibly boring. and this I will admit though, I did dps quite a bit in previous expansions/patches. but when they changed cleric stance I found it more of a chore than anything else. and that told me that the game devs really dont want healers to dps. at least ast and sch has filler spells (and a little mini healer that will heal while we dps) but whm has absolutely no fillers. and honestly if they really wanted pure healers they shouldn't change how healers work, they should instead increase the difficulty of content. that way healers spend more time healing and less time doing something that they find boring. also on another side note, maybe they should reduce the recast time of cleric stance to say...30 seconds or increase it to last for 1 min (probably a horrible idea but its something) I would actually dps as much as I can. but seeing as they will probably never do this, being a whm trying to dps is just plain horrid.

[MoroMurasaki]

I prefer dpsing on WHM to SCH personally - Lily might technically heal for more than a Regen but she can be unpredictable. Regen the tank, maybe drop Asylum if it's up and you have like 4 to 5 GCDs to do whatever you want pretty safely.

Also clearly no other healer can touch WHM in terms if the ease of large AoE dps on dungeon trash packs. The stun on Holy is godly, especially when you have a tank who will anticipate it and save his heavier CDs for when enemies go stun immune.

[Limonia]

players who play healers per the developers intent are labeled as being lazy

Uhm, if it was the developers intent that healers should only or mostly heal and not dps, then WHY did they design this game in a way where directly healing other players isn't even needed 80% of the time in 90% of all content? Why did they give us the tools to efficiently use healing buffs, Regens and oGCD heals if they would want us to spam unbuffed Cures? WHY would it not be the intended way to use Largesse + Regen, Divine Benison or Excogitation and then dps because you don't have to spam Cure if you use those tools? Why on earth would the developers create so many healing abilities when they only want us to heal with 3 of them at most?
If you cast Regen on someone you want the HoT to tick or it's useless. Spam curing him makes your Regen a waste (unless it's needed in a large dungeon pull but that's something else). Just like spamming Physick is useless when you used Excogitation on the tank. So if you don't want to dps your only choices are 1) standing around, being useless and disrespectful towards the other players who work FOR YOU or 2) not using these skills at all and only spamming your weakest Cure spell so that you don't appear to be idle, when only pressing 1 button is almost the same as idling.

[Cheremia]

If I can, I do
If i can't, I don't

WHM is becoming one of my favourite classes even though i enjoy BRD a lot and consider it my "main class"

To me, there is nothing better than being able to spam holy, while throwing tetras and occasional cures or even Bene at the tank.
I don't mind if people do nothing, but for me, that would be extremely boring.

And I have never felt forced to do dps as a healer either, especially if i do not know the Dungeon/Raid/Trial yet and see a castbar and don't know if it's a buster or an AOE yet, then I act on what happens.

So i do enjoy it, even if it's just throwing stones with occasional Aeros but it's about reacting to emergencies or anything at the right time that makes it fun, Stone is just a filler while i watch the mechanics happening because i can focus on it and don't have to stare at my DPS rotation.

[KisaiTenshi]

Uhm, if it was the developers intent that healers should only or mostly heal and not dps, then WHY did they design this game in a way where directly healing other players isn't even needed 80% of the time in 90% of all content?

Because that is not the intended way to play it. Yoshi-P, and the developers use Cure/Cure II for the majority of their healing. I'm not going to play this meta argument again.

If you do not want to play it as intended, that's fine, but don't berate players that they are doing anything wrong if they only heal, because that IS the intended way to play it, and outside of a EX synced raid, there is no reason to push that meta at all.

[Lynesse]

snip

I liked this post because I agree that it can create an atmosphere that puts an unfair amount of stress on new healers.

But I'll say this: I was recently leveling a PLD and had to stop because I became so frustrated that I was visibly angry.

When I tank: I can't tell you how many DPS single-target in dungeons or simply don't ride the GCD. The DPS is always so lacking. I hate saying it. I really do. But it's true.

As a DPS: My co-DPS is single-targeting. Great. Now what do I do? Scatter is the most DPS, but I could burn one thing down very quickly as a form of damage mitigation because I know our healer is struggling.

It's messy. And it's helped immensely by a WHM going the extra mile.

In an ideal world, a healer won't have to DPS. Last night, we did Castrum Abania. Two RDMs, I was one. We both knew what we were doing. We also had an excellent WAR. My WHM girlfriend said during one pull, "You guys are killing them too fast! I can't DPS!"

In general, Swiftcast + Holy takes no time at all, and Aero III can be cast during the stun and can be supplemented with Presence of Mind. It does wonders for the average dungeon party, and your poor tank (and his/her cooldowns) will thank you.

It's important to understand that DPS is still damage mitigation.

[MoroMurasaki]

Because that is not the intended way to play it. Yoshi-P, and the developers use Cure/Cure II for the majority of their healing. I'm not going to play this meta argument again.

If you do not want to play it as intended, that's fine, but don't berate players that they are doing anything wrong if they only heal, because that IS the intended way to play it, and outside of a EX synced raid, there is no reason to push that meta at all.

Why do we have the potential to do so much dps then?

Why are healing requirements so low?

Why does the Hall of the Novice explicitly tell you 'keep your party safe but toss out damage when you can'?

Why does the squadron healer dps?

Why is the CNJ questline about a young healer learning that she needs to balance her curative and nature magics?

Why do you think Yoshi healing via Cure is about intent and not just a lack of skill? He plays the game like a new healer because he is one. That's fine, he's a busy man. I'm sure most of us have played this game far more than he has. Stop using him as an example.

[AikoNakari]

I try to dps when I can but as a new healer I'm gonna prioritize healing until I've learned mechanics and when the best time to dps is. If I get kicked for it then so be it, but I don't play for stress. I play to relax. I do wish that they would add more heals through dps cause I still forget to swap targets sometimes to heal :P

[Alrin]

I came to this game from SWTOR which i played for several years and in SWTOR there is a little time for healer to DPS so I was used to that style.

Even I quickly figured out that you are supposed to DPS as a healer but I thought that it will be through small simple 1-2-3 combo and not through spamming one button for single target and one for AOE. More buttons to press yes, but not by much.

Is it chore to me? Somewhat yes. But better than standing and doing nothing or wasting time and mana on overhealing.

Make it small combo with proc that will replenish mana and you got me.