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

[Cynfael]

Are healers lazy because they don't dps? Is there a group of healers that have the mentality that they won't ever dps? I read that and thought, OK, this is a much bigger issue. Maybe OP is generally new to mmos or hasn't healed enough to get why that is. Grouping healers lazy because we don't always dps when it's possible isn't cool. There are bigger and practical reasons why this is common. Basically from what I've experienced and read in these pages is that it comes down to the responsibility healers have. It's also having expectations or standards on people you don't know which is another point you missed, the Duty Finder!

Duty Finder is great, but casual players use it the most and just because you had a healer that dpsed in a instance last week doesn't mean this next one will. So that sure doesn't make anyone lazy or a fabricated idea that healers have adapted this principle to not dps simply because it's not white mage like? XD. I can personally tell you I haven't met one healer yet that thinks that. I mean, yeah, overtime the whole player base can complete harder content and noticeable quicker and more efficient but that's after a good amount of time and gear, Titan HM for example. So possibly you'll get more healers in time that dps. Just don't hold a standard and be presumptuous of random people in a mmo, don't think there's this group of healers that have this anti-dpsing treaty, and don't group healers with the word lazy. It's why this rant is here. It's a hard freakin job, ok?! X(
/endrant

I appreciate the intent here, but if you read many of the healer-centric threads on these forums, you'll discover that there really are lazy healers who object to using damaging abilities in group play simply because they don't believe it to be in their job description.

I don't think that these players are the majority; rather, I think that most healers who don't attempt to DPS at all haven't learned that it's possible to use their full kit. They haven't learned to anticipate and are tunnel-visioned on healing as if some surprising event were prone to happen at any moment.

As for "casual" and DF, I can't say that I agree. Putting aside for the moment how little weight the term "casual" has in a game structured like FFXIV, virtually everyone uses DF. You also don't need to be a hardcore number-cruncher or min/maxer to grasp the basics of healing in FFXIV, because it boils down to a very simple job, albeit with a great deal of responsibility. When players stop reacting to everything and start planning ahead so that they can take advantage of (or even create) safe windows to DPS, they become truly good healers. It's just not a behavior that is universally intuitive; most have to learn it. It's also not required to overgear content to make this happen, though it certainly doesn't hurt.

[mikecoby]

I appreciate the intent here, but if you read many of the healer-centric threads on these forums, you'll discover that there really are lazy healers who object to using damaging abilities in group play simply because they don't believe it to be in their job description.

As for "casual" and DF, I can't say that I agree. Putting aside for the moment how little weight the term "casual" has in a game structured like FFXIV, virtually everyone uses DF. You also don't need to be a hardcore number-cruncher or min/maxer to grasp the basics of healing in FFXIV, because it boils down to a very simple job, albeit with a great deal of responsibility. When players stop reacting to everything and start planning ahead so that they can take advantage of (or even create) safe windows to DPS, they become truly good healers. It's just not a behavior that is universally intuitive; most have to learn it. It's also not required to overgear content to make this happen, though it certainly doesn't hurt.

I'm not surprised that there's forums like that when there's so many people playing this game, but when I said I have never or heard healers that won't dps, I meant it in my actual gaming experience, not forums with their opinions. I usually heal but I've had my bad case of heals with others jobs just like anyone else, I don't deny that. I just personally find it a harder job to do lazy while not suffering deaths. I've seen scholars /follow tanks during trash pulls like others.

Yeah, I see your point and I think that's sound, too. So we have healers that aren't using their full capabilities, which is true, but the reasons for why vary. Not coming to the conclusion its based on laziness is great start. I mean I stand by the reasons I already listed but a huge one is that it can be hard to learn. That changing target from tank to mob is still risky and sometimes scary but exciting.

I took what OP said and based it on what was the most probably situation and reason he saw the difference in healing styles and efficiency. Was he mad at his FC and basing them? Probably not. So yeah, the conclusion I used is fair as to how he experienced it. If it came off as a difference between casual and not, I didn't mean it to be at all.

I'm a casual player, like most players and proud of it. It's just that we all use it and it shows a fair representation of how people use the jobs and abilities and for which reasons. Like Cure 3 wasn't used for a while until Titan EX and I remember seeing people use it there and saw it wasn't useless. I love duty finder and it's a great tool and I left it on the note that it's quite possible more and more people will start healing and dps because they see others doing it efficiently.