Eyes Open Now

[Corrderio]

Not doing DPS when you have gaps is just plain lazy and pointless.

Pretty much this. I always keep an eye out for gaps to toss a nuke or two when everyone is stable and nothing is coming that needs immediate curing.

[Intrepdmind]

Kind of sort of - can't speak for SCH only WHM. If you're consistently PuG'ing you'll quickly realize that if you're doing this with nublet tanks/dps who can't control hate, you'll die pretty quickly, even with spammed holy or dropping shroud. The key to this is...it depends on the group. If you land a knowledgeable team (you all KNOW what this feels like), then you should contribute more than heals. I also suggest starting the first few mob groups slowly with your DoTs and working your way up until you know your tank's threshold.

If you land in a team where aggro is all over the place, and you're heal tanking because other folks are having a hard time centralizing the hate, then you have a responsibility to survive in order to keep the team up. This might mean you drop your DPSing and run the instance a little more slowly until the team gets into a rhythm.

It's situational. There is no single correct way to play an instance when rolling the dice with PuGs. Either way, there should never be downtime.

[Melithea]

Why are you even worried about Mana? If you are smart enough you'll use Shroud or carry pots for that.

I'm on your side but I have to draw the line here. Ethers aren't worth the gil they vendor for in this game.

[SeraviEdalborez]

I'm on your side but I have to draw the line here. Ethers aren't worth the gil they vendor for in this game.

Every bit helps. HQ Mega-Ethers are very inexpensive / easy to make.

[WhoIsTheGuest]

@Zormikal

Healing is fun because it's more engaging:
(I can't speak for SCH, so what I say here only applies to WHM)
1) Need to dodge, and also heal, but movement will interrupt cast. (Hint: Go get swiftcast)
2) Need to watch out for every teammate's HP and status effect (to Esuna), not only your own AND boss.
3) Need to manage mana really carefully...factors that can contribute to Out-of-Mana:
- overheal
- inefficient use of skill (e.g. using Cure II while a Cure is already sufficient)
- too many mistake = too many HP lost = need to heal a lot = less mana
- too many death = many Raise = much less mana
4) Due to 1, 2, 3 = WHM needs to know the battle very well...standing in the right position and using the right skill at right time is important. Hitting by some boss skill may net you some nasty status effect, or instant-death...which pretty much = game over for entire team.
5) Also due to 2,3, sometimes you may have to just let someone lie dying for extended period of time, to get pass certain critical stage in boss fight. Only then, spend the MP to cast Raise. Because, the timing of Raising and accepting-Raise is very important: you don't want to Raise when the boss is about to cast huge AoE, the guy who raised may just die again the moment he accepts it.
6) Remember to use some tools to save your self from occasional trouble: Repose, Fluid Aura, Stone I, Benediction, Swiftcast, Surecast.

I would say, it's important to refine your hotbar and UI, to something you are very comfortable with. This may involve moving your party UI to somewhere more easily reach by your mouse, and making it bigger.
Also, you may want to look into Macros.

When you are comfortable enough with a dungeon, consider DPS-ing whenever you need not heal, otherwise it's just wasted manpower. Plus, it makes everything faster and more fun too. Although every bits help, always prioritize healing/Repose/Esuna/buffs over DPS.
Try to do 1 PLD 1 BRD 6 WHM for CM sometimes Regen can be stacked, and 6 WHM spamming Holy can clear CM very fast...BRD is just there for the mana-regen.
Also, in the case where teammates are all Relic+1, you can try forsake healing, go full DPS + LB on DemonWall in AK, and high chances (if nobody makes any mistake), the DemonWall will die before any Bees are spawned.
Holy is great not only for DPS, but a mean of crowd-control as well: it can stun.
Get creative

You may get a lot of blames, but press-on, trial-and-error, and you will be rewarded by great sense of achievement.
Anyway, you will find WHM gameplay quite engaging and thus fun in end-game. Just ignore all those negativeness from people around you

[Urthdigger]

My own two cents: I never see anything take down the adds on the pudding boss in WP as fast as a WHM. In addition to just plain faster kills, that means less time the boss is being healed, and a safer run for everyone. Yeah, Holy is expensive. Which is why you use it intelligently for situations that call for it. For other situations, you should at least be tossing out some DoTs. One can argue it's not as much damage as the DPS, but if you have the time you might as well. If MP issues are so tight you can't even afford your DoTs, you've got bigger issues.

[Zormikal]

Hmm never meant to start a debate. My post was meant to let all the healers know how great your contributions are to grps. No matter the level of skill you have you still contribute more than most will give you credit for. I know this now only after exp did i realize how involved a role it is.

With that said I want to be a situational healer myself heal 1st and foremost. Dps whenever I can.
Doing this now makes no significant difference at only lvl 24 but exp of doing it is priceless.

Again Respect all healers

[Orophin]

Black Mages CAN Sleep enemies.
White Mages CAN dps.
Tanks CAN dps.
But none of these actions are actually a great gain in speed of the runs.

I dislike the fact that it seems like the only metric to dungeon runs now are how fast you can do them. I can understand that people have done these so many times now, but is going 5 minutes slower really the end of the world?

Anyway, to the topic at hand I'm not really a healer by trade so I think it's been the most difficult role for me to adjust to. Knowing when to cast which spell based on the situation has been what I've had to figure out.

For low level dungeons, there will be a LOT of downtime if your tank knows what they're doing as you won't have to spread cures around a lot and your heals will commonly do 25% or more of the tank's health. These are times where using Aero and Stone / Stone II would be helpful.

Brayflox was the earliest, largest jump in difficulty for me as if you're not CC'ing mobs your tank will take a pretty good amount of damage. This is where I really had to make better judgments concerning when to use Cure or Cure II, when is it actually safe to cast Esuna over curing, stuff like that.

Another interesting fact: I think I used Medica a whole two times up through Haukke Manor. Too many people use this spell as a crutch early on when they could simply top someone off with a Cure and not generate as much threat.

I never plan on being a career healer or anything, but having healed Dzamael Darkhold as the highest level content I've done all I can contribute from my experience is you just have to play smart. Yes, Conjurer/White Mage is primarily a healer but if there's a situation where you really don't need to heal you should be using your offensive skills as it'll make your dungeon run play out more efficiently. Don't be scared to use Repose either unless you're with overzealous DPS or MRD/WAR who are just going to wake up everything with Overpower anyway.

[CyanDvai]

As a tank I can honestly say I do not mind Healers dpsing as long as I know they're doing it.
Run in, cast Holy a few times, heal me, we're all good.
What I do not like, and this has happened to me, is I'm running with a goup of Melee dps and you as a whm want to sit back out of my range of vision and cast Stone II on a mob that is not marked.

If we're not doing a mass AoE pull there's nothing but single target dps in the party I'll mark my mobs and keep loose hate on those not focused on so if you want to quietly sit in the background and pick on a non marked mob, well, hope you don't mind getting punched in the face until I get him back.

It's amazing at how many people can't follow 1,2,3 on mobs.

[Serophyn]

What I do not like, and this has happened to me, is I'm running with a goup of Melee dps and you as a whm want to sit back out of my range of vision and cast Stone II on a mob that is not marked.
It's amazing at how many people can't follow 1,2,3 on mobs.

To tell the truth, in WP/AK unless I am pulling and killing succubus I probably have the
Tank targeted and am using <tt> macro. So my stone II might be hitting out of order, as you cycle thru the mobs spreading RoH combos.
Not saying your whm are doing it that way. Just that is the way I sometimes go out of order.