Quote Originally Posted by Rolder50 View Post
I mean, there's a good example with WoW, both the retail and classic versions. Heck knows I actually enjoy healing in those games because it has that model. In retail it's still more or less expected that you do damage with downtime if mana permits but those occasions are few and far between. Of course it helps that the groups over there are more dynamic, and if you have too many healers for a fight you can have them swap to their DPS spec no problem. Parses are also generally ranked on amount of healing done, rather then damage, which is nice.
That's my point: WoW is an anomaly. Next time you pick up, say, Final Fantasy [fill in the blank], clock how much time you cast healing spells versus doing anything else. Pick up something with the RPG tag from Steam or GoG. It could be Divinity, or Pathfinder, or Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, any Bethesda RPG, Tales game, Witcher, Fable, Dragon Age, you name it. When people play these games, they tend to *get* it. Your characters defeat their enemies and save the day. Sometimes your healer spent a little more time than usual healing. Frequently, they were blasting demons instead. I've never heard of anyone shrieking "NO! Why does Wynne from Dragon Age have dirty attack spells!? She's a HEALer! She should be HEALing! What ever happened to Traditional Real Healing where HEALERS HEALED?" Nobody's said that because that's ridiculous. Everyone -knows- how healers generally work. Until they turn it upside down because they want FF14 to be WoW.