The "To DPS" vs "Not DPS" Debate

[Alindra]

I say healers should dps, but only when they know the fight. Because our first job is to heal.

I don't dps during extreme primals or coil until I've done that part of the fight well enough to know when to. Brayflox speedruns are my best example though - I've lost count of how many I've done, but every group is different - some tanks and dps are better at it than others. I've learned that I should not dps during a brayflox speedrun until I've seen how each group works.

Occasionally, in fights I know, I will opt to do nothing, but only if I need to conserve mana.

[AngelicSence]

I think it all comes down to players, just like how many people mentioned.
Healers main job is to heal, but this is final fantasy.. and powerful dps spell like "holy" belongs to white mages. Thus, they are capable of dpsing.
However, people shouldn't push healers to dps and say that "you are bad healer", this is silly. I also believe it's not about healers, but player themselves. So... With all the respect, I found this "to and not to dps" funny. Good players know when to kite, dps and heal. By any means, don't take me wrong tho.. I personally believe if there is a chance people should take it.

[Shadowzanon]

Zanon's Scholar guide on low lvl dungeon healing and dpsing. (will occasionally update.)

First 3 dungeons. Take Aero, use Eos, you will /never/ need to heal at all as eos can perfectly well keep everyone alive, her aoe heal is so op its not funny. With aero you outdps the dps and even if a tank does leave cuz dammit tam tara again, who cares a scholar can easly solo these 3 dungeons with only needing to cast a heal or 2 on bosses, but if tank is there you never heal at all.

Halatali and Thousand maws. Eos, take aero and cleric stance. These 2 dungeons as a sch you just wreck things, dot everything up to keep things off eos. there may be a pull or 2 that you may have to assist eos but this can be done in cleric stance and you will never feel that you may have to stop dps at all just to heal. bad tanks , bad dps, no problemo eos does it all.

Haukke manor and brayflox. cleric stance, aero and protect. Eos once again. Ok here is were you actually need to be careful, depending on how experienced is the tank and how well the team dodges will affect how much dps you can factor into the team to speed things up if the tank and dps know what they are doing both dungeons can be completed in cleric stance, with the exception of the final bosses. Haukke's final boss casts fire 3 and thunder 3, if the tank has a brain they will go through the boss to avoid dmg, this allows you to dps somewhat but as soon as the 3 final adds spawn the tank may need to pick up adds and will be unable to dodge those 2 spells like before, to top off the 2 maidens throwing fire 3 you may want to be out of cleric stance and be ready to heal bust dmg on different party members. As for brayflox dragon boss, if the tank cannot dodge the breath you will be in alot of heat if you are in cleric stance, the lack of leeches to take off poison stacks means you may have little to no time to dps and more time on healing if the tank is good you can sneak some damage in.

[Serabeth]

I have had cases where people have died and I happen to have been dpsing on and off throughout the fight, but it was not a healing issue that caused them to die. An example is in Aurum Vale on the final boss, dps were not killing the adds so people were getting stacks like crazy, to the point that they were getting 1 shot from 100 health to 0. It happened to be a J run so we could not communicate well, but they made sure to indicate they blamed the wipe on me by typing "Cleric Stance" using auto-translate. While at certain points during the fight I had been in cleric stance, it in no way contributed to the wipe.

It depends on personal healing style. I've known great healers that dps whenever they can, and enjoy figuring out when those times are, and I've met excellent healers that only heal, but do their job perfectly with quick dispels, utility spells, etc. If the latter healer has downtime, he's usually casting stoneskin. Really, who cares as long as you're not dead?

[Spoekes]

Hehe gotta love that last Boss of AV with stupid DPS not doing the pods and letting the adds spawn.

Best part is that they then keep flaming the chat for the tank to eat the fruit, which is being hit in the back by like 5 adds :-)

[Shmunkster]

DPS only when you can keep up with healing. If there is very little damage going out on your raid and you're just sitting there twiddling your thumbs, you should DPS. There should never be a point where a healer is doing nothing.

Sometimes I have an orange/red icon on the baddie....so I stop. I stop everything. Healing and DPSing.
Suppose I am "managing aggro" so not really "doing nothing", but it might look like I am twiddling my thumbs.....I'm not. I'm watching, very carefully, for the momment I can start again.

OK, I should manage the aggo better, you will say....and I do 99% of the time...but sometimes I get a random tank where maybe we haven't "got" each other yet (first few pulls) and there's a bit of aggro to manage. It happens. I assure you all, if you see me standing there like a listless kitty, I am 99% likely to be aggro managing, not dossing.

Oh, or I might be stroking my cat, or opening my chocolate bar

[AldoVonAlexandros]

Oh, or I might be stroking my cat, or opening my chocolate bar

lol, that happens to me, sometimes im having dinner and healing a trial or something, so i dont dps, the tank can heal himself or the blm can heal too or the smn, so its not an obligation to dps ok, understand that, i always dps because i like it, not for obligation, im not a dpser im a healer

[Donarudo]

I would like to weigh in on this topic. I am a WHM and like to think I use all aspects of my class to the fullest. For example I feel it is my main job of course to heal, however when I see an opportunity to SS I will do so. When I find an opportunity to add dps to the table I will. Frankly Holy is probably one of the best AOE's in the game from the standpoint of a healer so why not use it when time permits or it makes sense to use it. More often then not I find myself having many opportunities to do a little bit of everything in DF/PF/FC/LS runs. What I feel the key thing here to remember is that there will be times when all I can do is heal. There will also be times when healing is so minor it would be ludicrous to "not" dps.

In encounters where I know damage will be high across the board I will mainly focus on healing role/SS/Regen and all of the other assorted aoe heals in my toolkit. Even still in those situations I can find a window of opportunity for dps. There is a neat thing I like to do which starts with Holy/Swiftcast/then holy again. It is quick dps that works and it gives the rest of the group a nice warm and fuzzy to see that shiny aoe go off twice in a row. As healers we need to know the time and place for shenanigans vs. sh**s about to get real. I also think a healer that utilizes all of their tools allows for other party members to relax some in the sense that they know their healer wants them to succeed just as well.

I do agree with the OP though. Far be it from me or anybody else to say that a healer is failing because they do not dps. The dps a healer brings to the table can't be ignored, because it actually does help. However as some have stated as a healer why would you limit yourself just to healing. The only answers I can come up with are: They are still under geared and not comfortable doing anything other then the intended role for the class. They are having to spam heals essentially to keep the group alive and have not learned the key points to which they "can" dps. They don't give a sh** and are going to do what they want.

Do we as the other party members say you suck? I tend to think not, but as we have all seen and heard communication is the key factor here. If you feel a healer has the ability to dps, then tell them so. Maybe say something like, "hey this is a good time to dps if you have a chance :-)" They will either tell you mind your own business or they will try to dps. Point is a healer should not be expected to do both and then be considered a failure. Especially if they are on the ball with healing. That just means they may have not perfected the switch into and out of CS.

In closure I will say this is a hot debate that has gone on since I have started this game back in Dec 2013. it is a topic that will always be here, and I think we as a community have many ways we can address this "issue" Through coaching and mentoring others in a respectful manner is the key. If you want your healer to dps a friendly nudge is sometimes the best way to get their foot in the door. Who knows they may try it and never look back again. You have just effectively enabled another healer to use every trick in their hat!

[JinnLee]

I DPS in dungeons, but only if I know the tank can handle the extra damage and I'm confident the tank can take a couple seconds more of beating without constant heals. Lots of tools and a decent mp pool. No reason not to if you can. Primals and Coil I do not due to the chances of huge damage possibly taking out a DD or Tank. My extra damage will not make that much of a difference compared to keeping the party alive. If damage needs to come from a healer in those instances, then there's a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.

[Ymal]

(Too lazy to read the entire thread, but here are my two cents.)
Not gonna lie, and I'm probably going to get hit for that, but as healer I spend most of my time DPSing the trash. Of course only after I've checked how resistant the Tank is and I usually get them topped+SS before switching to DPS. As a main DPS, for me it's not normal for you to just stand around and do nothing when you could be helpful. That's why I can't stand idle healers. I agree that your task is to heal and that there are many situations where you should only focus on that, but honestly if you have the time to dance/jump all around the room or to spam some unnecessary cure every 2 seconds, then you should be able to throw some aero/stone without any problem. Healer have a lot of offensive abilities, so if you know your team is safe for a correct amount of time, just switch cleric stance ON and make use of them.