Possible solution to "ranged only dps"

[Reivur]

Except, as melee, when you step back, you are not dealing damage, thus lowering your DPS and making archers more desirable.

As for curing yourself - either you are using TP abilities to do so (thus lowering your DPS) or being an MP sponge. You won't have enough mp yourself for more than a couple cures (unless you're going to disengage, lowering your DPS) and more people needing to be healed means that you need more healers (or your whole group has to go slower and wait for MP if you don't all just wipe).

The irony is the stamina bar solved that problem. You blew your stamina, could back up, heal yourself, and your stamina bar would fill up while evading and you wouldn't lose DPS and have it ready to burst in a series of attacks-- unless you took more than 8 seconds or so.

Too bad people wanted auto attack out of sheer laziness or just to emulate an aspect of XI for no particular reason. That really helped melee a lot. Except that it didn't.