Yoshi-P: "If you want more engaging content, go play Ultimate"

[Adeacia]

Friendly reminder that we not only had a lot more dps options in ARR/ HW but also Cleric Stance while far less oGCDs - and for some reason it did not lead to players demanding you to perfectly manage everything. That is a strawman people love to make up to excuse bad design.

On the contrary: the easier something is, the less excusable it is to not do it and so people are more likely to want to see you do it (not demand it, mind you. Huge difference).
You have full mobility on a physical ranged. Naturally people want to see you press buttons while moving instead of only moving or only dpsing.
You only have one dot with 30s duration. Naturally people want to see you use it.
However neither a phys ranged not dpsing while moving nor a healer not keeping their dot up will get called out in casual content barring some extreme (and quite possibly reportable) cases that have less to do with "the community demanding it" and more with someone probably encountering the occasional a-hole.

A lot more DPS options. Oh I got to press aero 3 from time to time. With that gone and the blood lilly being added, I've still got the same number of dps skills as back then. Just can't use one of them nearly as often.

Community DOES demand it. Ever read these forums? "Using a lilly is a dps loss" Same with PLD and Clemency. There are more than that.

The moment someone says that using a GCD is a dps loss, they are saying don't use it.

[Rilifane]

A lot more DPS options. Oh I got to press aero 3 from time to time. With that gone and the blood lilly being added, I've still got the same number of dps skills as back then. Just can't use one of them nearly as often.

Since Aero II and Aero III had different durations and Aero I also had its place for mobility: yes, you did have a noticeably more varied dps rotation on the simple and straightforward WHM. Fluid Aura also had a damage compenent and its knockback was great when used properly to knock ranges close to the tank and bosses were immune to it anyway. That's all ignoring any cross-class skills.
Pressing one skill at maximum once every 90s, far less in optimized and/ or low required healing settings, and one skill every 24 is a big difference.

Community DOES demand it. Ever read these forums? "Using a lilly is a dps loss" Same with PLD and Clemency. There are more than that.

The moment someone says that using a GCD is a dps loss, they are saying don't use it.

You are confusing two things that shouldn't be confused:
1) demanding ingame that everyone does something to perfection
2) discussing optimized gameplay in a forum

I do read the forum, as you may have noticed just now.
Saying "it's a dps loss" is not the same as saying "you CAN'T use it, you are bad if you do". That is your interpretation and not what was said. In fact, you will find many examples of the exact same people asking for more varied downtime rotation saying that it is completely fine to focus on healing and slowly ease into it, I could even give you several names of forum regulars that are able to participate in optimization discussions while also advocating to just heal by whatever means necessary if healing is required.
So I wonder... do you really read the forum or are you simply glossing over things, pulling them out of context and misinterpretating them to your liking?
A lily is a dps loss. That is a fact, like it or not. Same with Clemency.
But nobody said to not use it under any circumstances. Feel free to point me to posts stating the opposite and feel free to count posts that do that compared to posts stating that if healing is required, you should just heal, dps loss or not.
I have a feeling that the vast majority will be the latter.

[Irenia]

While we discuss "DPS loss" and the like, remember that DPS is only used to approximate ones contribution to the one true metric, instance clear time.

So unless you are in a parse party and are focusing on DPS to the detriment of all else, any good healer knows that deaths and wipes greatly extend the timer, and should be avoided. It won't show up on any DPS logs, but there is a reason that saving a run feels good.

That said, knowing what skills are free, what skills are a DPS loss, and the degrees of the lost DPS are important because at healer DPS is your next avenue to end the instance quicker, after keeping everyone alive.

[Liam_Harper]

Well possibly because the players always seem to say: "You are forbidden to press any key that doesn't do damage. If you dare to use a gcd heal you are a terrible healer who should quit the game."

No, this is the anxiety based interpretation players get when they read posts about GCD heal dps loss or optimization and panic that they can't play that way and everyone will think they're bad. They tend to lash out defensively to defend their playstyle.

GCD heals are absolutely fine. Ideally however, you use them when the healing is actually needed and you've exhausted all your free resources. I say "ideally" because it's also fine to GCD heal when it wasn't necessary by mistake, as long as you have the right mindset and you're trying to learn.

Many healers just spam Medica II when the party is completely healthy as a "just incase an aoe happens". 90% of the time the aoe doesn't happen and even if it does, your remaining few ticks of the HoT won't heal it. That's a dps loss. It did nothing and you could have used Glare or Holy which would be useful. If you want to be a good player you should be aiming to trim and cut down wasted actions and fill that time with useful abilities instead. That's basic.

The moment someone says that using a GCD is a dps loss, they are saying don't use it.

They're saying try not to use it if it does literally nothing. What's unreasonable about this?

[Raoabolic]

No, this is the anxiety based interpretation players get when they read posts about GCD heal dps loss or optimization and panic that they can't play that way and everyone will think they're bad.

And this is why Trusts are becoming so popular in the west. People get very upset if they can't clear content in the most efficient way to the point it's no longer a game to them.

[ASkellington]

And this is why Trusts are becoming so popular in the west. People get very upset if they can't clear content in the most efficient way to the point it's no longer a game to them.

Not really...?

Optimization of healers is what some people find fun. Myself included.

I find it fun to test my skill as a healer to see how little I can heal. How well I can juggle dpsing and buffing and healing at the same time.

Optimization period is what a lot of people find fun. For dps in particular it is knowing when they can greed and get out of an aoe at the last possible second.
And I'll be the first to admit I find dps and tanks who can do that and very well to be very good. /shrug