Do i need to DPS?

[Hysterior]

If you see yourself doing nothing when your mana is almost full, you are doing something wrong.
If you have offensive skills, they are not here for no reason.

[Calypsx]

Don't be a Sylphie. Sometimes it takes more than just healing to protect your allies.

[sackm]

its in your best interest to dps... do u like to waste time? because ur wasting ur own time by not dpsing.

[Welsper59]

New to an instance? Probably not. It's better for you to get a feel for it. If tank/DPS/you are not taking a whole lot of damage, at least not enough they need to be healed for, then go ahead and DPS.

With a nub tank that thinks he/she's invincible and pulls enough mobs that every 2sec = 80% of their HP gone? Nope, and you might wipe... ENTIRELY the tanks fault on that one. If you survive, you're still with that nub tank, so you might be better off not bothering with the DPS.

Basically, DPS if you're comfortable enough to predict what's about to happen. DPS if your group isn't a bunch of idiots that get hit by every avoidable AoE or repeatedly die to them. In most cases, accidentally healing with Cleric Stance on isn't going to be that detrimental, unless the tank has pulled a lot of mobs or the group is taking a lot of damage in general. It's not the end of the world and most, if not all, healers have done that. Get used to stance dancing and timing. It's about predicting incoming damage and understanding your group at the time. I typically don't go into CS until after the first fight, or during it, so that I can have some time to gauge the likelihood of it not meaning my group will die because they're making my life harder.

Cleric Stance really is the biggest indication that the game WANTS you to DPS and it has an amazing ability (a lot of tanks would kill for something that swaps their VIT with STR and adds an additional buff to damage... pentamelds are expensive) enabling you to do just that.

Cleric Stance is actually just something for healers to be viable solo, or where applicable, by intention. The reason why I say this is because one of the biggest complaints about playing a healer in almost any MMORPG a decade ago was the piss poor soloing damage and the length of time it took to simply kill a single mob when compared to any other role. Games like WoW and FFXI are popular examples of this. It took YEARS into those games for dedicated healers to finally be given proper tools to do better damage. They definitely don't want to make the damage output high by a default, as that would essentially mean they're competing naturally while healing without any repercussions.

The fact Cleric Stance has the limitations it does is actually a big indication that the game does NOT intend for healers to DPS as an expectancy lol. Not at all saying they shouldn't, obviously, but that its existence is derived from something else. We do with it what we want, but its existence originates from avoiding that problem I mentioned.

[Cynfael]

Cleric Stance is actually just something for healers to be viable solo, or where applicable...
The fact Cleric Stance has the limitations it does is actually a big indication that the game does NOT intend for healers to DPS as an expectancy lol. Not at all saying they shouldn't, obviously, but that its existence is derived from something else. We do with it what we want, but its existence originates from avoiding that problem I mentioned.

I see this said a lot (usually by the Sylphie crowd), but it appears to be an assumption on the part of players rather than anything the devs have communicated.

It's very true that healers in some games conspicuously lacked solo options compared to most other classes, but by the time FFXIV rolled out, the notion of solo-viable healers was pretty far from groundbreaking.

The fact that Cleric Stance has limitations is simply an indication that they didn't want the healer role to be able to DPS willy-nilly with zero thought to timing and overall player skill level. Similarly, even dedicated DPS Jobs have mechanics that gate their optimal damage. The main difference with healers is that their DPS "rotations" remain very simple since they have the healing side to take care of as well.

I suppose my point is that I wouldn't throw any bones to the players who reach to find excuses as to why they shouldn't have to use their DPS skills as healers. It's a little like suggesting to tanks that their offensive stances are intended for soloing (tanks had it nearly as bad as healers in some games) and that all they really need to do in group play is accrue enmity regardless of how much damage they could add if they played intelligently.

[RhazeCain]

OP mentioned "I want to save as much mana as I can." Here you need to realize that as long as everyone lives to the end, it doesn't matter how much mana or health is extra. Unused is potential DPS not tapped. The healer not trying to tap that is the "lazy" healer.

Now not every situation calls for pushing DPS:
1. If you are under-geared for the content and/or the group is pulling aggressively in a dungeon, then you may need to stick only to healing.
2. If you are pushing difficult raid content, then the situation may dictate either heals or DPS. (In some cases healer DPS can be truly necessary. Other situations you have to focus heals.)
3. If you are in easy content, then DPS away. And all 4-man and 24-man content so far is "easy". I've seen SCH that lets their Fairy heal entire dungeon while they DPS full time. I've seen WHM be top DPS in expert roulette - beating 2 random DPS and myself as a DPS-heavy WAR (surprising, but it happened once).

I've largely stopped commending healers in dungeons now unless they show well on DPS. Have not yet had a healer apply for static raid group who wasn't well versed in DPS - if someone did apply and was not willing to DPS, probably would get refused.

[Reinha]

The most important rule (after "don't die") in PvE is the ABC rule:

Always Be Casting

This applies to all roles. Someone purposefully idling in the middle of a fight is not giving their personal best effort, and I think it's worse than a bad rotation or slow reaction speed. The only reasons to stray from the rule should be resource management, fight mechanics and being new to the game/class/encounter.

You are certainly entitled to only give the bare minimum as long as you beat the timer, because that is doing what you signed up for. However, I wouldn't call that playing well like some people in this thread. Is a paladin playing well if he only ever uses flash when he needs to increase hate? No, he's just playing adequately. Is a summoner playing well if she doesn't cast a filler between applying dots but does enough dps to beat the dungeon timer? No, just adequately. Is a bard playing well if he ignores the MP-starved healer and just keeps doing dps? I'm sure you get the point. A good player is someone who tries to do better after already doing well enough.

Saying "a healers job is to heal" is a factual statement but it's also an arbitrary restriction created by (some) players. SE has never stepped up and said they intended players to not utilize their whole toolkit in a fight. It's more accurate to say "a healer's first priority is to heal". Every class brings something more to the table than just the core of their role. Buffs, debuffs, battle res, dps support, healing support, etc. Sometimes people tend to get tunnel vision and focus on their own task rather than helping the entire party. A party full of people minding their own business won't be as strong as one where members support each other.

If you wish to learn how to stance dance as a healer, just try it in your daily roulette or another familiar environment. Heal the tank for a couple of casts to see how fast he is dropping. If you don't have to chain cast heals to keep his HP stable, swap to CS and use two damage abilities. Then swap back and top up the tank. When you feel you are used to this, figure out what situations are best for each damage move and optimize your dps.

[bounddreamer]

At the very least, it's expected to DOT all the mobs versus just stand there with your mana at full.

[Khyan]

If you don't have healing/cards issue, join our cleric stance dance my friend. :*