Are healers lazy or do some really live by "I only heal"?

[HyperiusUltima]

snip

Sure, I'm one for sticking up on saying that it's wrong to blame a healer for not DPSing because it isn't our job, but I gave specific examples on why we sometimes should. I ran into the same guy again and luckily he was the only one getting stuck in Sable Price. If me or another DPS did, then that's a situation where the Healer has to DPS to keep a single person alive and not waste 1.5k MP to revive somebody(which is a LOT at 55-56).

Mana Management technically comes with time, as I've gotten better with mana management than I used to back in FCoB. The more you work with your abilities, the more you can learn to cut down on your mana usage and abuse what you have for free.

[SummonerSenah]

I'm happy to dps as a healer, but if I have a paper tank I won't risk it. Properly geared tanks that use their cooldowns appropriately make me more comfortable to switch into cleric stance.

[seekified]

As a scholar, I can't understand not DPSing as a healer simply because it leaves me with very little to do. Eos is a thing, sure, but even while leveling my CNJ I felt like I was just standing around pointlessly if I didn't Stone and DoT stuff when I had time. It's situational, of course, but it definitely helps speed up a run by a fair amount so I really wish more people would do it.

[raela]

I get sulky if I must heal and only heal.. I love the thrill of stance dancing. In my first several runs of new content, I stick to healing until I have the feel for it, but after? I try to push myself to DPS as much as possible. I have a pretty good feel of how long tanks can dip and still stay safe. My friend has been parsing DF stuff lately to get a feel of how he's doing, and surprisingly, I'm often doing fairly well DPS-wise.. even quite a few times, above dedicated DPS classes..

If someone's not comfortable DPSing when healing, that's fine, though I do get annoyed when they either semi-AFK (I only need to heal every minute or so!) or spam heals as soon as someone dips below 100%. I have totally known people who feel it breaks immersion to add any sort of damage when on healer..

[Nestama]

I don't main WHM, but I'm currently levelling it up. Every pull I usually wait and see what I'm to expect (if a tanks HP is dropping rapidly, I'll most likely have to heal and not DPS. If their HP drops slowly, then I will feel comfortable DPSing) and if I can DPS, I throw a Divine Seal'd Regen and Asylum over the tank and begin the Holy/Stone III spam.

I try to do as much as possible, otherwise I'd be bored :I

[Rawrz]

Stoneskin, Adlo, and Eos before every pull leaves me to Open up with:
CS ON>Swift-Shadow Flare>Bio II> Miasma > Bio >...> Bane>Miasma II>CS OFF>Adlo> ET Adlo > Adlo>CS ON>Broil till its all dead.

or if the tank is lower than I expected:
CS ON>Swift-Shadow Flare>Bio II> Miasma > Bio >...> Bane>Miasma II>CS OFF>LUSTRATE DX > Adlo. Broil till its all dead.

[MentheusDreyar]

Stoneskin, Adlo, and Eos before every pull leaves me to Open up with:
CS ON>Swift-Shadow Flare>Bio II> Miasma > Bio >...> Bane>Miasma II>CS OFF>Adlo> ET Adlo > Adlo>CS ON>Broil till its all dead.

or if the tank is lower than I expected:
CS ON>Swift-Shadow Flare>Bio II> Miasma > Bio >...> Bane>Miasma II>CS OFF>LUSTRATE DX > Adlo. Broil till its all dead.

^ Pretty much what i do

Buff them as they are running to pull > clerics > dots + bane + shadowflare > heal/buff > dps > repeat

I'd be really bored if i didnt try to dps, and you'd end up with a half asleep healer who will probably get you killed anyway :P

[wereotter]

I can say in my recent time trying to level Scholar, there are many places I go into, and it's the same place it's sent me every Duty Roulette, and it's painfully beneath me to heal, so I've just tagged along and let Eos/Selene do the whole thing, largely, because as people have pointed out, I'm just there to get in and out for the XP. Halatali was a good example of this. I was sent there a good 6 or more times back to back while up around level 40, and I was kind of over it.

Similarly, as also pointed out, it's smart to not DPS with a group of strangers. You need to see how quickly they're going to kill things, how fast the tank's health depletes, if he/she is able to hold hate, or if your'e also going to be healing your DPS or yourself. Most the time I'll do an Adloquium on the tank, cast my DOTs, spread them with Bane, and call my job done for DPS and go back to healing the tank.

[Egnasya]

It's not being lazy, it's about how comfortable the healer is, if the tank/dps are taking a crapload of damage, if they're lagging badly that day, etc.

Perfectly describes my feelings. It's mainly the performance of others that allows or denies the healer to DPS, and yes that means that DPS roles taking avoidable damage to keep their rotation running and tanks pushing hard for DPS builds directly results in healers being unable to keep their eyes off them. Even more so if some of those parties do not vastly outgear content as it is the case currently; in that alone the situation now is different from late 2.5.

Similarly, as also pointed out, it's smart to not DPS with a group of strangers. You need to see how quickly they're going to kill things, how fast the tank's health depletes, if he/she is able to hold hate, or if your'e also going to be healing your DPS or yourself.

Also a pretty good summary. As a healer in random groups I generally don't trust anyone for the first few pulls. Bosses are usually less of a problem than trash, but trash can get rough. If trash goes smooth however then no problem, fire away.

Especially bad these days are DPS tanks in expert roulette. Dead giveaway that you should not DPS: tanks with 14k HP or less in full blue gear, because that's nearly impossible without totally wrecking your defensive stats. They'll most likely need a big heal with every other hit they take, it's so ridiculous you could almost stop calling them tanks. Might even go from full HP to dead in a split second to big pulls.