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

[Supersun]

"As a healer, is it my job to DPS?"
If the alternative is standing around and doing nothing: Of course it is. (Provided you have the mana to spare)

Though, when I tank I'd rather have a healer that doesn't DPS over one that constantly derps on cleric and lets people die. If you can't do the dance, admit to it and focus on your main objective.

Everyone occasionally derps on clerics.
Sometimes when your last cast was a non-instant GCD spell and you pressed Clerics to early and it didn't que.
Sometimes you think clerics didn't que and then press it to find out that it did and you just re-entered clerics for 5 secs (rip tank).

Mistakes happen, wipes happen, but just because a wipe can happen doesn't mean a healer shouldn't try and DPS. If you were to take the amount of time saved over the career of a healer who DPS even with the occasional wipe over one who doesn't, the one who DPSs is still going to clear stuff faster.

[Granyala]

This is the reason people are anxious and don't try to DPS. I'm pro healer DPS. I think you're wasting time if standing around. But WHEN are they going to learn if they aren't allowed to make a derp stance dance mistake at some point? This comment alone is probably why healers just heal. Afraid to make even a single mistake to learn.

I did write "CONSTANTLY DERPS", did I?
Ofc mistakes will be made. I'm healing for years now and I still sometimes err in judgment an people die.
That is simply the nature of the dance, combined with randoms you don't know. No one will diss you for it.

I think the best way to learn how to dance is 50-60. These dungeons are perfect in terms of damage in low/high phases in order to get accustomed to cleric usage.
Expert ones are basically "throw stones/Halo" 80%+ of the time.

Sometimes you think clerics didn't que and then press it to find out that it did and you just re-entered clerics for 5 secs (rip tank).

Oh yeah I know that feeling. >.<

[Megotaku]

There has not been a single issue more divisive or make me consider unsubscribing than this issue. You guys understand this is unsustainable, right? The devs cannot release and balance new healers because of the obsession with DPS.

The devs have one way out: destroy healer DPS. In no other game is an entire archetype forced to stance dance like a World of Warcraft Vanilla Warrior. We have all three healers all required to play like an anachronism of class design from the early 2000's. It's complete class homogenization. They have to design new healing archetypes around this Conjurer-only ability. Worse, it's unnecessary, community enforced homogenization. The content doesn't require your healer to DPS.

I cannot wait for the devs to destroy healer DPS. But, I'll settle for them letting our DoTs and Nukes scale with MND like they do in every other rationally developed game if they're actually intent on healers DPSing.

[KeiranOlive]

There's something that I don't quite understand. If the developers want healers to dps, then why did they remove accuracy from healer gear? Have they given a reason for this? It's kind of annoying that I have to meld accuracy to every piece of gear and even my sch anima weapon just so I can hit enemies. It seems to go against what the game tells us in the hall of the novice.

On a related note, I recall them adjusting the expert dungeons because healers without melds were missing too often. So they take away accuracy on gear and then realize that healers missing in ex dungeons is a problem? If anyone can shed some light on this I would appreciate it.

[Granyala]

There has not been a single issue more divisive or make me consider unsubscribing than this issue. You guys understand this is unsustainable, right? The devs cannot release and balance new healers because of the obsession with DPS.
The devs have one way out: destroy healer DPS.

Not at all.

FF differs from games like WoW in design intent. A healer is not a pure healer. More of a support class.
In most of WoWs content you simply do not have the mana or the GCDs to spare in order to DPS (Disc excluded due to mechanics). Coupled with a 1.5s baseline GCD and notoriously spiky damage, that makes healing VERY stressful.

FF takes a different approach in order to avoid said stress. Your main job is to heal, but the game is designed in a way that gives you breathers (phases with very low incoming DPS) which you can fill with trowing stones yourself.

On a related note, I recall them adjusting the expert dungeons because healers without melds were missing too often. So they take away accuracy on gear and then realize that healers missing in ex dungeons is a problem? If anyone can shed some light on this I would appreciate it.

I think they simply use accuracy (or lack there of) to make healers less effective in raid content w/o harming their solo DPS.
They probably had to address expert hit chances because current expert mobs hit like wet noodles and every Healer DPSes 80% of his time. Combine that with crap accuracy and it gets very unfun.

[mp-please]

There's something that I don't quite understand. If the developers want healers to dps, then why did they remove accuracy from healer gear? Have they given a reason for this? It's kind of annoying that I have to meld accuracy to every piece of gear and even my sch anima weapon just so I can hit enemies. It seems to go against what the game tells us in the hall of the novice.

They did a total reset in the power creep and accuracy on HW release, you can say that on the beginning of 3.0 we were as strong vs the content as we were back on 2.0 (maybe not as much due the whole lack of tome gear and such back on 2.0, but similar ish).

But yea 2.0 gear didn't had a single point of accuracy either. It only became a issue on expert dungeons because they put the accuracy requirement for the early experts way higher than intended, they mentioned it in a PLL.

[CookieMonsta]

There's something that I don't quite understand. If the developers want healers to dps, then why did they remove accuracy from healer gear? Have they given a reason for this? It's kind of annoying that I have to meld accuracy to every piece of gear and even my sch anima weapon just so I can hit enemies. It seems to go against what the game tells us in the hall of the novice.

On a related note, I recall them adjusting the expert dungeons because healers without melds were missing too often. So they take away accuracy on gear and then realize that healers missing in ex dungeons is a problem? If anyone can shed some light on this I would appreciate it.

This was a pre-emptive move with Gordias. With the fight design revolving around a tight DPS check (thus also a lot of its difficulty), it relegates Healer DPS to being RnG, they wanted you to choose between HPS output/HP and DPS consistency. This is primarily to prevent or delay early progression.

[Fevelle]

This was a pre-emptive move with Gordias. With the fight design revolving around a tight DPS check (thus also a lot of its difficulty), it relegates Healer DPS to being RnG, they wanted you to choose between HPS output/HP and DPS consistency. This is primarily to prevent or delay early progression.

TL;DR: screw players, let's not only make the worst DPS check in the game but also completely remove a stat from one of the roles!

[MaikoRaines]

If I can find a window to DPS as a WHM I will always join the fray. If anything, I throw down Aero dots and Virus every chance I get.
I only focus on healing fully when we're doing a dungeon or a raid that requires full attention when damage happens to anyone every .5 seconds.

Funny thing - I haven't healed a single Void Ark in the last several weeks. I throw down the occasional Medica 2 and Asylum, but overall it's easy to one heal the party =p Commendations for weeks.

[FunkyBunch]

In no other game is an entire archetype forced to stance dance like a World of Warcraft Vanilla Warrior.

Have you even played WoW ...?
I was stance dancing all the time as a Druid and Priest in dungeon and raid content.

While main healers didn't stance dance much (though with Druids it still happened) the off-healer definitely stance danced.
Why does it matter what every other game does? This is this game, not those other games. If this was those other games I wouldn't be playing it and neither would you. Healers were specifically designed to DPS. Gripe about it all you want, but you're not going to make the devs change their mind because a bunch of players want to be lazy and play ez-mode.