Quote Originally Posted by Fluffernuff View Post
also, i dont think its fair to say that SCH *needed* ED to clear savage. it rounds out their kit, and not having an aetherflow dump on damage was very awkward. but if you listen to someone like momo, it wasnt the absolute end of the world.
Yeah, that was bad comma usage and phrasing on my part - they were meant to be separate thoughts. So "healer DPS is basically required for early Savage kills unless everyone else is pulling basically 99th percentile" and "they very quickly returned Energy Drain, one of the core parts of Scholar's damage kit.

As for the rest though, we honestly agree on most levels. It's inarguable that as the game is right now healer DPS is not just a necessity but something that is actively encouraged. Only difference is I think it's intentional, regardless of a few quotes by Yoshi-P, and you probably don't. Either way yeah, end result is that FFXIV's design does not encourage pure healing.

(Out of interest, does anybody know if there has ever been a tier of Savage in which, with the healers doing 0 DPS, a group of tanks and DPS with average damage could have cleared all the fights in the first week? I could be wrong, but I don't think one has ever existed.)