As a healer, is it my job to DPS? A new perspective.

[Sebazy]

This is... simply not true. At endgame, people will absolutely care. A good many statics flat out refuse to have healers who won't DPS.

This is a point people need to be careful with. Outside of progression content Silverquick's comment is pretty fair. Some people may notice it but most won't bother making an issue of it. For midcore and up it's also worth noting that a little bit of DPS goes a long way, do literally zero DPS with no opener and people may start taking a dim view of that, got a respectable opener and you make use of the obvious safe windows to get those dots ticking? You'll probably be fine. Outside of groups legitimately aiming for server/world firsts and speed runs, most generally won't expect you to be blasting away at every window. And this is coming from first hand experience <3

[Taika]

I don't know, at least the people I play with do pay attention to if healers are DPSing even in dungeons (both leveling and level 60). It may not be something people bring up in party chat with strangers (although that may happen too), but it's certainly something people will pay attention to and notice.

[RopeDrink]

It'll be noticed everywhere, ESPECIALLY outside of raiding seeing as it's not as intensive there, giving people more freedom to look. It's the first thing you'll notice if you go as far back as the first dungeons, and no less noticeable when you're in the 60's seeing as almost everyone is in a comfortably overgeared state and, well, the content itself not being overly difficult regardless. Raiding wise, one would assume most people would be quite busy with their role to have time/space to be watching exactly what everyone else is doing, but you can bet when the midden hits the mill, someone has noticed or checked a parser.

eg. When I'm tanking, I treat the first few pulls as a means to gauge my team and set my own limits from there. It'll be pretty obvious to me what the DPS is capable of, so I'll usually notice if the Healer is contributing as well. Being generous with mitigation CD's and making an effort to release Healing pressure is also a test. If my healthbar is barely moving and the DPS aren't getting slaughtered, I'll be wondering what the Healer is actually up to during that freedom. I can often recount what I would have done as a Healer if I was healing myself, so naturally you come to expect things when someone else is doing it.

[Silverquick]

This is... simply not true. At endgame, people will absolutely care. A good many statics flat out refuse to have healers who won't DPS. This has trickled down to even the casual level due to Creator's low tuning, though it's less expected. Once you step into the midcore, you'll see people quickly point out your lack of DPS regardless of your healing capabilities. Keep in mind, if you're doing EX Primals and especially Savage, someone will almost certainly have a parser running, which makes it very noticeable how much (or little) damage you're doing.

Well I can tell you that not once, in any EX, Savage, or Raid... have I ever seen anyone complaining about Healer DPS... unless its complaining they did it... which is absurd unless you failed to heal properly.

They blame the other DPS's for that, not the healer. I DO see that... a lot more often than you'd think, and usually its deserved the DPSs themselves aren't pulliing their own weight and get called out for it.

I HAVE seen them blame healers for not healing enough or not healing/shielding people during the correct times.... but not even ONCE have I ever seen the accusations fly at Healers for not DPSing. I haven't even seen it in dungeons.

Again I notice it when you do... but rarely if ever does anyone else notice.

[Taika]

Again I notice it when you do... but rarely if ever does anyone else notice.

People here have written they notice it. You yourself have written you notice it (while being the only one who argues it won't be noticed ). It seems likely people do pay attention to it, and do notice it, but they just won't bring it up for one reason or another. You also need to remember a big part of the PC playerbase is running parsers, so they'll definitely notice it from that even if they won't pay attention to what the healer is casting / DoTs / cleric stance.

[dragonseth07]

People here have written they notice it. You yourself have written you notice it (while being the only one who argues it won't be noticed ). It seems likely people do pay attention to it, and do notice it, but they just won't bring it up for one reason or another. You also need to remember a big part of the PC playerbase is running parsers, so they'll definitely notice it from that even if they won't pay attention to what the healer is casting / DoTs / cleric stance.

Everyone and their mom notices. Mentioning it is another matter. With how long it takes to get replacement healers, it's a big risk. It's one I am happy to take (I just kicked a WHM in a 50 dungeon today for not casting any spells but Cure), but I can see why someone else wouldn't.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

This is a point people need to be careful with. Outside of progression content Silverquick's comment is pretty fair. Some people may notice it but most won't bother making an issue of it. For midcore and up it's also worth noting that a little bit of DPS goes a long way, do literally zero DPS with no opener and people may start taking a dim view of that, got a respectable opener and you make use of the obvious safe windows to get those dots ticking? You'll probably be fine. Outside of groups legitimately aiming for server/world firsts and speed runs, most generally won't expect you to be blasting away at every window. And this is coming from first hand experience <3

To be fair though, non-progression content is a complete joke. I'll notice no healer DPS but unless they bounce around the map, I generally just roll my eyes because I don't care enough in dungeons. Once you step into midcore, people do expect healer DPS, and not just a good burst opener.

Well I can tell you that not once, in any EX, Savage, or Raid... have I ever seen anyone complaining about Healer DPS... unless its complaining they did it... which is absurd unless you failed to heal properly.

They blame the other DPS's for that, not the healer. I DO see that... a lot more often than you'd think, and usually its deserved the DPSs themselves aren't pulliing their own weight and get called out for it.

I HAVE seen them blame healers for not healing enough or not healing/shielding people during the correct times.... but not even ONCE have I ever seen the accusations fly at Healers for not DPSing. I haven't even seen it in dungeons.

Again I notice it when you do... but rarely if ever does anyone else notice.

Oh, they notice. I am in multiple discord servers and the sheer amount of shitposting on bad players in general would... leave quite the impression. They only don't bring it up in-game because you can't. At least not without being discreet. More often, they'll bail on parties and possibly blacklist. And like Taika said, it's practically a guarantee someone has a parse running. So they're looking at everything.

[Sida]

If I notice my co-healer's mana is barely moving at all, it makes me look if they cast offensive at all. If they don't, I just shrug and assume they wanted to solo heal, and I go extensively damage. I do pay attention to party health though and jump in for healing if needed but if they can't do even that while banking their mana and time, I might mention something.

[Retribution_79]

What a great community spirit i see in this thread. Basically if you don't agree with the pack you get pounced on. GJ guys!, still guess this all kind off moot now since cleric stance is gone. Praise be to the squenix godz!

[Nimras]

ive mained whm since 2.0 and i really enjoy the healing role and yes I always help with damage dealing when im able.

I do feel however that 14 doesnt really deliver a whole hearted healing experience, atleat not outside of raiding. Hey healers have a lot of downtime, lets make them dps instead because thats obviously why they choose this role.

While ive only been playing casually during heavensward and cant speak much of its harder content it saddens me how when a new hardmode dungeon is released i can go in with minimum ilvl and speedrun the dungeon. Handle huge pulls and dps/heal without much problem. Why cant there be more damage going on even during these encounters, comon make me work a little here! Give me more things to heal, debuff etc. But instead it just feels half measured when my challange instead becomes a balance game where im a damage dealer 50% of the time.