Healers doing damage

[DarkerOrange]

FATEing (and soloing in general) on a SCH is the easiest thing in the game....tag everything with bio and aero (and miasma 2 depending on lvl), have your pet heal you and repeat ad nauseam.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Someone's acting like some local school bully who bullies other kids who has higher grades than he does :P

The "fun" factor is seriously biased and subjective. What is "fun" anyway? One could consider football "fun", but I would pass on chasing a ball in the grass with sweaty grown men/women, thank you. So why can't making the most out of the class you like be considered "fun"?

That aside, so much more biased and subjective nonsense in there that doesn't even help elaborate your standpoint. This statement for example: "then you're not playing the game as it was intended". Exactly how was the game supposed to be played as intended? Do elaborate.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

inb4 another elitist accusation

[Cynfael]

inb4 another elitist accusation

*passes the popcorn to Lyrica*

You can have all my popcorn, actually. I don't need it, being an elitist, fun-sucking vampire who plays from McDonald's.

[Magusrex]

I am so tired of hearing "elitist" in MMO forums. You join group content to complete it with other people. No one is expecting you to be great, or have the perfect build, study spreadsheets ect. You always take the argument there though, because it makes us easier to attack. What I want, and what most other competent players want is that if join group content you make a reasonable attempt to perform as well as you can. That means knowing the abilities of your job and to perform them reasonably well. If you know you wipe groups, seek out some information to attempt to improve. What upsets me and others is "I play this game for fun, it is my subscription." That is true, but there is a social convention in these games that you are trying to accomplish a common goal and it would be polite to try and help to the best of your abilities. I know that there have been times that my DPS has been the only thing that saved our group. I chose to become familiar with the skills, and became good at stance dancing so when the situation arose I was ready and capable to perform for my group. If I was not somewhat comfortable there would have been no way to pull that off. The only reason I do those things is because I care about the experience of others, that does not make elitist or hardcore, it means I am considerate and thoughtful.

[Risvertasashi]

I think KisaiTenshi makes one very good point, though. The healer is responsible for keeping the party alive and if anyone dies or we wipe, we WILL get the blame. (Especially in Cleric, even if the cause is they didn't avoid a telegraph).

Personally, if I'm in any doubt-- the tank is doing things that make me a bit nervous (or DPS for that matter)-- I just stay out of CS. Even if I then look back and think "I could have worked in a triple or quadro holy afterall". At least no one's dead.

The other times I don't really DPS is when I'm really tired. Some times I just got done raiding or doing something, I'm trying to get the EX bonus before I sleep... So I'm just kind of half consciously spot healing where needed and not doing much else.

Lastly, I'll point out that DPSing is a lot easier on SCHs than WHMs. SCHs have the off-GCD, insta-cast lustrate which isn't affected by CS, and CS doesn't nerf the fairy either (unless you summon her with it on).

I won't resent a healer that only heals, though. As long as we're alive. DPSing should be a personal choice, IMO. I do it when I think I can get away with it. Heals first, however. And there are various reasons for one to not play at their peak all the time, especially in laughable content such as EX roulette. Hopefully all that doesn't make me a horrible, inefficient healer :)

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

I think KisaiTenshi makes one very good point, though. The healer is responsible for keeping the party alive and if anyone dies or we wipe, we WILL get the blame. (Especially in Cleric, even if the cause is they didn't avoid a telegraph).

This was never a discussion about healers DPSing and the party dying, though. It was about:

If you're playing FFXIV as it was designed, the healer role is not meant to DPS inside the dungeons, but the option is there. If you want to play a healer who can DPS or a DPS who can heal, you pick Scholar/Summoner, but you still don't expect the DPS to heal any more than you expect the healer to DPS.

(one of the many similar statements)

So in other words: If you're DPSing as a healer "you're not playing it as it is designed to be", rather than being someone seeking to be as efficient as possible. And as result this makes minmaxers/endgame raiders/fill in your label:

a spreadsheet nerd. If you are so hardcore that everyone must be maximizing every last second of the boss battle, you're completely sucking the fun out of the game. It's a game, not a freaking job at McDonalds.

[AmaiHanakaze]

When I'm healing, my primary focus is keeping tank/others alive. It's not my preference to DPS at all, I'd rather people be getting hit like crazy and I have to be on my A game to keep everyone topped up... but that being said, if I'm in a situation where there is a lull in people taking damage (I just landed a huge crit adlo, boss is doing some move that has a stupid long cast time, etc) or there is a DPS check and the dedicated DPS just isn't quite cutting it, I'll throw up Cleric Stance and try to put out.

If my DPSing is putting the group in jeopardy, it's not worth it. If someone complains about it but the content is still getting cleared, they can stuff it. On the contrary, if someone wants to complain about a healer DPSing and the party is still alive, they can stuff it too. If there is a problem with people dying, or DPS checks not being passed because of the healer focusing too much on DPS or not DPSing at all, then maybe it's worth a complaint. Otherwise, deal with it.

Only one thing to remember with healing... party health is primary, DPS is secondary. OP seems to be taking care of the primary, so there's no problem doing the secondary.

[Seikon]

Take a look at the Final Coil parses. Healers are required to DPS. It makes things a lot easier, and can even give you that push needed to get through a phase. Tell your FC mates to take a look as well. As long as you're not out of MP and everyone is alive at the end of the fight, then I don't see the problem. They can get their heads out of their arses and give you the MvP award.

[DarkmoonVael]

Well so here is my opinion on the matter, and to give you an idea on my experience healing in this game i have zeta on both healers, raid on sch (t13 progress) and have been healing in this game since release.

So, should a healer DPS if the conditions are available for them to do so? Yes, a big big fat yes. However, as you may see how i phrased the question, it is conditional. The priority is healing over dps.

However, what i dont get are these people who are so vehemtly against this idea that a healer should dps. Even in game, progressing through the healers job quests, it is made abundantly clear to you that, as a healer, you also should be dealing damage when you are able to. The CNJ storyline is all about a healer who wont use any kind of damaging spells, and you, as a fledgling CNJ have to change her mind by showing her, by example, how a healer should dps. The WHM storyline has similar tones, with it also being your responsibility to protect the Black Shroud as a WHM not only through restorative magic, but through damaging spells used against those who seek to harm the Shroud.

The SCH storyline also requires you to harm and kill enemies through damaging spells. And dear lord, that final lvl 50 quest on SCH is the best one in the game.

Hell, even in FF14 lore, the war of the magi was between the WHM of Ampador and the SCH of Nym.

In final coils, as SCH (which i raid on), it is required that you dps.

Should the conditions arise, and you can keep everyone alive, then go ahead an dps, and ignore these people who catagorically state healers should not dps. DPS'ing healers are in the lore of the game, and integral part of the healers storylines and the devs have given us the tools to be able to dps and heal.

But above all else, have fun.

When you do SOLO content, the WHM has only one AOE, Holy. You don't get to use it for most of the FATES because it's a level 45 spell. ACN/SMN/SCH has Bio II (Level 26,) Thaumatuge/BLM has several AOE's you get at level 12 and 18

So WHM has 2 AOEs: Blizzard 2 at level 12 (thm crossclass) and Holy at level 45
SCH: Blizzard at level 12 for the same reason, Miasma 2 at level 46 and Shadow Flare at level 50. Also arguably Bane at level 30.

Also, arguably Holy is one of the most powerful skills in the game, not in terms of raw power, but the conbination of high AOE damage and a stun. If the healer was not meant to DPS, i doubt Holy would have been designed like this.