But...I...I don't wanna DPS, I'm a healer...

[Ghishlain]

Healer's aren't required to DPS - but the best healers will know when they can DPS and when they need to heal.

Your first goal is to learn how to heal efficiently. Once you have that, then you can begin learning how to weave your DPS into your healing thought process.

Good luck

Also:

Make a raise macro that says

/micon
ac/ "swiftcast" <me>
p/ "well you told me to dps so I did, don't blame me for why you are making love to the ground."
/wait 1
/ac "Resurrection" <t>
p/ "Now get up and stop complaining"

Please don't do this. This is just as rude and ignorant as the players getting mad at you for not DPSing on a healer. Just tell them "no" and move on. If they kick you for it, you didn't want to play with them anyway.

[Selli]

For some reason I thought the reaction in this thread would be more like...



I'ma call it the DPS whip. o3o

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Well, the "dps whip" isn't too far off. It's simply more subtle or in form of subliminal messaging. The front is like this:
One group says don't DPS and "play as you like"
One group says "You don't have to, but you're expected to/good healers would"
One group says it's pretty much mandatory

But if you break it down:
If you play as you like and the group doesn't like "your play style", don't be surprised to be branded as a bad healer by the local community or even a potential kick from the duty you're in
If you don't have to DPS, but you're expected to, how would this be any different from a more simpler version of "You could and you should"?

So this just all funnels into "You should dps". Early when FF14 was fresh, nearly every healer were only healing. But the moment the healer DPS fever started to spread, it was unstoppable. For majority of the player base telling healers to DPS because "they are expected to" is pure hypocrisy. Surely a lot of you have experienced terrible DPS and/or tanks who can't even get their rotation right, yet they expect the healer to pull off 110% effort and perfection.

Someone mentioned that healer DPS isn't as pressing for regular content, compared to Alexander Savage. This is true to an extend. The best place to practice your off-DPS capacity would be in more casual duties, however. If you're the kind who likes to push their limits and do as much as they can, stick with healing in this game. Otherwise, you're in for a journey that'll lack in glory, recognition and suffer from the scapegoat stigma which only a very selected few will acknowledge you for it.

[deos]

fun fact:
when it comes to recommendations after a dungeon with a random group most of the time a healer which is only healing gets way more than a healer which throws in good dps as well
why? thats what i would love to know too...

[Cynfael]

fun fact:
when it comes to recommendations after a dungeon with a random group most of the time a healer which is only healing gets way more than a healer which throws in good dps as well
why? thats what i would love to know too...

Not a fact. I wouldn't even go there. it's impossible to prove that this is true without getting a response from all parties involved.

I suspect that, if you could get answers, many of them would be "I don't know," "I always rec the (tank or DPS)," "I don't bother with recs," or "I wasn't even watching what you were doing."

[whiskeybravo]

I suspect that, if you could get answers, many of them would be "I don't know," "I always rec the (tank or DPS)," "I don't bother with recs," or "I wasn't even watching what you were doing."

My order is 1) New people 2) tanks or heals depending on who did better 3) good dps

For the OP:

If you are mainly solo playing then SCH is a good healer class, since you can essentially cleric stance & dps while your fairy heals and keeps you up. But to the point others have made, SCH is primarily the healer expected to dps most out of the 3 jobs. There are a few reasons for this which aren't entirely relevant to your decision, but just know that's out there in a lot of players mind and likely something you'll run into further into end game. Healer dps is not required for anything outside of savage content, but it can help speed up dungeons and trials along the way which is why most people "ask" healers to dps.

[RiinaNamaste]

Then don't DPS.... Its your account and if you stick with the game then play as you like.... Don't feel you have to do anything you don't want to do. This is a GAME not a job... If your a healer and the tank tells you to dps then switch to dps mode and don't heal him...

Make a raise macro that says

/micon
ac/ "swiftcast" <me>
p/ "well you told me to dps so I did, don't blame me for why you are making love to the ground."
/wait 1
/ac "Resurrection" <t>
p/ "Now get up and stop complaining"

I love this. I'm so stealing that macro, just for the occasional bell end.

[deos]

Not a fact. I wouldn't even go there. it's impossible to prove that this is true without getting a response from all parties involved.

I suspect that, if you could get answers, many of them would be "I don't know," "I always rec the (tank or DPS)," "I don't bother with recs," or "I wasn't even watching what you were doing."

while that may be true, from the hundreds of random dungeon runs i did so far, the fact that going full healing only gives me more recs is true. and i am not the only one saying this, this topic has been quite often on reddit

it is not always this way, but for some reason many players seems to think a healer is bad once the tank drops below 50% HP once lol

not really a problem, but just wanted to mention it

[Cynfael]

On a totally unrelated side note, does the title of this thread make anyone else think of that movie called "But I'm a Cheerleader" with Natasha Lyonne?

I'm now imagining a camp where DPSing healers are sent to learn their "proper" role...and they spend the whole time ogling Eddie Cibrian and self-administering electroshock at night. By the end of the film they DPS the camp counselors down and run away together...yeah, that's it.

[Nyalia]

EDIT: Sorry, missed that the OP is an SCH, not a WHM. Fixed class-specific commentary/advice.

As someone who often tanks dungeons, overhealing in dungeons is terrible and stressful. Please don't do it. If a heal spell will heal someone to max in a dungeon, hold off on casting it until that's not true. Of course, AoE heals are fine if three people need it even if the fourth doesn't, but other than that, overhealing just puts stress on the tank. Overhealing is the quickest way to gain aggro in the game*. This is especially true in dungeons before level 40 if your tank is a PLD and dungeons before level 30 if your tank is a DRK or WAR. That's when each class gets their tanking stance.

While you don't have to DPS as a healer, in many dungeons, you'll find yourself mostly sitting around doing nothing if you aren't DPSing. Especially with your fairy healing. In fact, you can do most early dungeons without ever casting a single healing spell and just let the fairy heal it all. If you are just following people around and not using any skills, it might upset some people, especially since it makes you look AFK or like you're botting.

The dungeons will also take longer. If you math it out assuming healers and tanks both deal 2/3rds the DPS of a DPS (the actual number should be much higher), your party will do 20% less DPS without you, causing the dungeon to take 25% longer than it would otherwise. So, a 24 minute dungeon will now take 30 minutes. That much of an increase will upset some players, though others won't care.

But, if you have zero interest in doing damage ever, period, you are playing the wrong game. How the heck do you solo as any class without doing damage? Do you have someone else always come along with you so they can kill everything you encounter so you don't have to DPS? Even if you do that, there's the solo missions, and while there are sometimes NPCs to heal, most of the time you HAVE to do damage to succeed. I can't think of any MMO where a healer never needs to attack...

If you are okay with doing damage, but are worried that if you do it in dungeons the healing will be too hard, then ease yourself into it. At first, never use Cleric Stance and only use Bio I. When no one needs healing, go DoT some creatures that are not currently under the Bio I effect from you. Once you get used to that, start throwing in a Miasma (or Ruin I/II if all monsters are Miasmaed) whenever everyone is at over 90% health and all the enemies are DoTed already with Bio I. Later on, you'll want to use Bio II on all the mobs before resorting to Ruin I/II. Once you get the hang of that, start using Cleric Stance before casting Bio I, but stop using the other DPS skills for now. Get used to turning it on, casting Bio I on everything you have time for, and turning it off. Cleric Stance doesn't take a GCD to turn it on OR off, but you can't turn it off immediately after turning it on (there's a cooldown). You CAN turn it on immediately after turning it off though, so be careful not to doubletap the button. Don't go casting Miasma/Bio II/Ruin until you get used to "stance dancing" with Bio I. If a dungeon is proving difficult or hard, then don't DPS at all, just focus on healing.


Also, in the endgame, there are many dungeons where people will go fast enough that you won't be able to DPS much. Many of the later dungeons, the tank will gather 2-4 groups at once and you'll be hardpressed to heal fast enough to keep them up. That method of play is pretty stressful on the healer, but it seems like the sort of play you're going for? It's far harder and more stressful than just DPSing during a normal dungeon run though...


* Case in point: In this game's endgame, there's a Hunt mechanic, where you find a certain type of creature in the open world, get a group together, and kill it. To get full credit for the kill, your party has to generate a certain amount of aggro on the monster. The best way to ensure full credit has always been to have a healer or two do nothing but overheal. It generates about 2-3x of what a good tank can generate in the same time.