What the term "healer" means to me

[ColaSama]

This entire discussion could have probably been avoided if SE called the role 'Support' instead.

Even a "support" tag would not change a thing. Support doesn't sound like "I'm helping my team with my whole kit", but like "I'm helping my team with heals and buffs" for most people.

It has nothing to do with SE or whatever, more like with people lacking common sense.

Example : a dungeon run in Aurum Vale. The tank keeps dying by staying in yellow goo, the healer sucks and doesn't use most of his spells. And for once, they blamed me, the dps (I was on my drg). After I asked them both to step it up, the healer said "Your dps sucks (for a sprout with 1 job above 40 and a first time in this dungeon who doesn't use AoE spells, he sure knew a lot), I should not use my dps spells to speed the run because of your bad dps". For this guy, dpsing was more of a kind favor he did to us, the bad dps, and not something normal. I wanted to say "YOUR WHOLE LVL5-50 CLASS QUESTS ARE ABOUT A GIRL WHO STUBBORNLY DON'T WANT TO USE DAMAGE SPELLS BUT ONLY HEALS YOU FUCKING SON OF A HORSE, AND SHE WAS AT LEAST TALENTED AT HEALING" but hey whatever.

No amount of anything will change the fact that some people are terribad. Or name this role "use your whole fucking kit".

[Sloprano]

I started playing this wanting to be a healer, but also remember exactly where in my Scholar career I had to stop and take a hard look at the skills I had. On the level 30 quest "The Lominsian Way". You need to break a boulder in a race. I didn't do it fast enough, I blew up and failed. I stopped, remembered the chastizing words of the Arcanist guildmaster if I only were using Ruin, looked on all my dots and spells, found I had Cleric Stance, thought about the best way to use all of this and did it on the second try.

It wasn't much, but having to take a step back, revise, plan, execute and then seeing it coming to frutition was very gratifying. I more fond memories of the Duties I failed and floors of Deep Dungeons I wiped on (Sandworms, Garms, Godfather), before I came back trying and trying. Finally clearing it felt so much better than the fights I did on first try.

Maybe if the concept of using your whole kit was not only encouraged, but introduced more gradually as necessary everyone might natually start to use everything. Taking Healer job and Role Quest example: Giott takes you fighting a Sin Eater and starts off as "You just hang back. Just heal me when I need it.", then it suddenly starts charging an ultimate attack and Giott tells you "Crap, that ain't good. I can't finish in time myself, I need you to use your offensive skills!" and you need to use both your dot and Broil/Malefic/Glare to help do it in time. (fun Healer job offensive skillset notwithstanding)

Or in a job quest, finely tuned you can just do it if you got current level vendor gear and full aresenal.

Unless... SE made the offensive Healer skills boring to exactly discourage healers doing damage!

That would be a hyperbole, but above is the idea of letting the game make you aware of everything you have at your disposal and making you use them would be key to making all Healers be aware and wanting to use everything available. They could bring back Guildhests and Battleleves for pointing out mechanics and skills.

[Xiaoki]

To get this out of the way: DPS tools are part of a healers kit and I firmly believe that getting the most out of your entire kit the biggest difference between a Novice and a Veteran. That said...

Everyone has basics of their kit that shines better than other roles, though not necessarily better than others within their role. Tanks mitigate dmg and control enmiity better than all other roles, healers restore hp of the party than all other roles and DPS deal enemy damage better than all other roles. Those are the basics and while jobs dip into other areas with dmg, healing or mitigation it is not a real substitute for the role intended for it.

If everyone is healthy, by all means DPS. Please. It's part of your kit and I'd love to see your kit put to use. And at the same time, heal people who need healing and raise people when they die.

I've seen healers straight up refuse to raise people for several minutes and instead broil/glare/malefic spam. I've personally died to only raidwide dmg and stacking mechanics because the healers flat out refused to ever cast a healing spell my way - a single aoe healing didn't even happen.

I'm not in the "healers shouldn't DPS" camp. You should, it's part of your kit! But at the same time, it should never be a higher priority than the basics of the role. If someone dies that could've been saved from your healing but you were too busy DPSing that's where I take issue. Even if it takes away a precious GCD from you.

I'm not going to fault you for deaths outside of your control - you can't heal stupid and I'm not expecting you to. But the deaths that are in your control are. Not raising a dead DPS out of spite just because they died at no fault of their own doesn't do anything other than show incompetent you are at the role.

Ive seen/had these scenarios happen to me as well. Previous Eden Titan clear had a wipe because people kept dying to raid wide damage because both healers were so focused on DPS, Healers got yelled at and then we cleared it just fine. Ive also been the healer working overtime and going OOM constantly because the other healer was focused on DPS.

Yeah, people on the message boards will say "well, they were just bad, you're supposed to DPS only when people are sufficiently healed" but its a completely different story in game.

Its obvious the developers are aware of the "Green DPS" problem so will have to see if they take additional steps towards fixing it.

Ive also been seeing this same problem with tanks neglecting all defenses and focusing only on DPS but thats a different topic.

[SweetPete]

As a healer your job is to keep people alive. If you did, job done.
But like at work, you can either just do the job and be ok or go the extra mile.
When healers talk about optimizing their dps it because they want to better themselves as players, going the extra mile.
You dont have to do that, being completely average is fine.

I agree but what happens when going the extra mile still isn’t enough? I’ve been in primals, raids etc and trust me people will still say you aren’t doing enough. As an Astro I keep my team alive, play with cards, gather seals, dodge mechanics, have to have esp to make sure certain cd’s are ready for raid wides, res and heal that greedy dps/tank who thought they could dps to the last second to try to dodge mechanic. Only to die. Out of all of this if my dps numbers aren’t the best I get bashed? Told I suck? Told I need to dps more. Haha there is no winning as a healer let me tell you. Most of the random strangers you play with seem to have requirements for healers now. If they running the “you know” these people have no chill at all. Healers have it worst because there is so much expected out of us. Tanks? Keep aggro and position the boss correctly, Dps? Just always be casting. Healers we have to do it all plus more. I don’t mind going the extra mile. However if you clearly see me casting and not only keeping you alive and tossing cards around and dodging mechanics correctly and ressing screw ups and dps as much as I’m able then don’t come at me saying I’m not contributing enough dps that’s why we hit enrage.

[SweetPete]

I've seen healers that says "I don't raise more than once or twice" or "I just use one or two GCD heal specifically on someone". All of this just to use every GCD on DPS.

I would happily swap a "healer" that thinks like that for a RDM. RDM has verraise, vercure and does much more DPS than that green DPS that refuses himself to heal. For those specific healers, the phrase "if you like so bad to do damage, there is an entire role for you" is absolutely right.

Yes, healers can - and should when no one needs healing - do DPS. ABC does apply to healers. But to keep everyone alive should always be the healers number one priority. Ultimately, a dead DPS is a heavy DPS loss and a sure step towards a wipe.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. However the community has made this requirement. I too agree that healers should dps if no one needs healing to help out the team. Now? People are expecting you to do allot more dps. It’s sad and crazy at the same time.

[SweetPete]

Even a "support" tag would not change a thing. Support doesn't sound like "I'm helping my team with my whole kit", but like "I'm helping my team with heals and buffs" for most people.

It has nothing to do with SE or whatever, more like with people lacking common sense.

Example : a dungeon run in Aurum Vale. The tank keeps dying by staying in yellow goo, the healer sucks and doesn't use most of his spells. And for once, they blamed me, the dps (I was on my drg). After I asked them both to step it up, the healer said "Your dps sucks (for a sprout with 1 job above 40 and a first time in this dungeon who doesn't use AoE spells, he sure knew a lot), I should not use my dps spells to speed the run because of your bad dps". For this guy, dpsing was more of a kind favor he did to us, the bad dps, and not something normal. I wanted to say "YOUR WHOLE LVL5-50 CLASS QUESTS ARE ABOUT A GIRL WHO STUBBORNLY DON'T WANT TO USE DAMAGE SPELLS BUT ONLY HEALS YOU FUCKING SON OF A HORSE, AND SHE WAS AT LEAST TALENTED AT HEALING" but hey whatever.

No amount of anything will change the fact that some people are terribad. Or name this role "use your whole fucking kit".

Agreed. Just don’t punish us if we not dps 90% of the time lol. This community is heading in that direction. Groups are already kicking healers for not doing at least 3.5-5k dps in primals and raids. It’s all about dps these days lol.

[SweetPete]

Ive seen/had these scenarios happen to me as well. Previous Eden Titan clear had a wipe because people kept dying to raid wide damage because both healers were so focused on DPS, Healers got yelled at and then we cleared it just fine. Ive also been the healer working overtime and going OOM constantly because the other healer was focused on DPS.

Yeah, people on the message boards will say "well, they were just bad, you're supposed to DPS only when people are sufficiently healed" but its a completely different story in game.

Its obvious the developers are aware of the "Green DPS" problem so will have to see if they take additional steps towards fixing it.

Ive also been seeing this same problem with tanks neglecting all defenses and focusing only on DPS but thats a different topic.

Haha it’s all about the dps baby lol. For real though. There are healers who do not neglect their responsibilities as a healer/support first and dps second if everyone is healthy. I got kicked from a party today. Being told I was healing and tossing around cards to much and didn’t do much dps. I said well if people didn’t die to mechanics or needed to be healed every 5 seconds maybe I could dps more. Especially being with a whm co healer who never used regen once and only used médica 2 once after the primals ultimate attack. Never used plenary. Just ocasional afflatus and assize on CD. Then dps all the rest. I even tested them. We took a raid wide and I kept dps and so did the whm. Everyone was at below half their hp for at least 15 seconds lol. I had to heal them up. But I got kicked in the end for not doing more dps. I was like wow lol. Ffxiv has become dps central for healers at least lol.

[Xiaoki]

Haha it’s all about the dps baby lol. For real though. There are healers who do not neglect their responsibilities as a healer/support first and dps second if everyone is healthy. I got kicked from a party today. Being told I was healing and tossing around cards to much and didn’t do much dps. I said well if people didn’t die to mechanics or needed to be healed every 5 seconds maybe I could dps more. Especially being with a whm co healer who never used regen once and only used médica 2 once after the primals ultimate attack. Never used plenary. Just ocasional afflatus and assize on CD. Then dps all the rest. I even tested them. We took a raid wide and I kept dps and so did the whm. Everyone was at below half their hp for at least 15 seconds lol. I had to heal them up. But I got kicked in the end for not doing more dps. I was like wow lol. Ffxiv has become dps central for healers at least lol.

And this is EXACTLY what Square Enix said would lead to them removing support for damage meters.

And you know what ......I say go for it. When damage meters are completely banned maybe Healers can be healers again.

[SweetPete]

And this is EXACTLY what Square Enix said would lead to them removing support for damage meters.

And you know what ......I say go for it. When damage meters are completely banned maybe Healers can be healers again.

Haha meters destroyer WoW. Well I shouldn’t say destroyed. It’s a tool that some wow players love and others hate just like ffxiv. I just couldn’t believe it happened. I talked to many people and they all saying if healers aren’t dps enough they will kick them. I mean it’s sorta ridiculous. So what, do I just leave people dead? do I only heal the tank when they are at 5% hp? Should I not draw and give out cards? So I basically just ignore most of my kit and only focus on dps and only heal my team when they have critical hp left? Just to stay in the group? Yeah I don’t think so. I know that elitist community is very small and it’s just unfortunate I encountered them.

[Connor]

I’ll try and be succinct but when I think of healers I think of a job that heals and supports the party and contributes to the party through their healing and support. An altruistic job that sets itself apart from others by helping their comrades instead of directly fighting enemies on the front lines. I don’t generally think of healers as being particularly offense-oriented or having a wide variety of damage dealing options.

Obviously, what I think isn’t how the healer role is expressed in game, which does disappoint me. When you’re drawn to play something with an expectation in mind based on previous experience , it can feel jarring when that thing is then the exact opposite of how you would’ve imagined it