Why you should play a healer!

[tinythinker]

I started playing healer in another MMORPG before I found FFXIV. Mainly because 1) I am terrible at dps rotations and 2) tanks need to know where to go in dozens of instances, exactly when to turn a boss 10 degrees to the left, etc. Also because I was in a group with a healer who soloed a mini-boss after the other three of us wiped to its surprise attack. And lastly because I like the idea of healing in games that focus so much on death and maiming and violence of all stripes.

I started this game in spring 2016, so, halfway through Heavensward or a little beyond half? Loved this game. Looked for the healer's healer job and loved WHM. Then tried SCH and loved it even more. Avoided AST because I didn't know enough about other jobs to pick and use cards effectively. Yet stuff gets in the way, and my total playtime for FFXIV is still low, and every time I go away I feel like a noob coming back because I never really got it all 100% the last time I was here so I lose more than a step. I've tried all the healers in 4.x and have now shyed away from SCH after 4.0 play. But even for WHM I seem to feel pretty weak as a player. I have a hard time keeping up in anything Bardam or above when tanks pull big.

I agree that even if you see it as just a game, you can feel lots of pressure to do well and do right by the other players by giving a great performance. I know I flub more than I would like, and when someone feels the need to "LOL you suck healer" at the end of the run right before they exit a dungeon (have gotten that twice since SB started) it does make me wonder if I am cut out for the role. Not because I let it get under my skin, and not because I don't know the net is full of immature ("I only see things my way and care about what I want") and insecure ("I've gotta make everyone else miserable with my play and in my words to feel better, hue hue hue") people, but because I know I did make a mistake or I didn't perform up to what other healers can do.

But, if I know I tried my best, I make peace with that. When I actually do well, it's amazing. And even screwing up is fine with a cool DF group (yes, 99.9% of my runs are me and three to twenty-three strangers). My fav so far is right after early access ended and I was still trying to clear Menagerie with pug groups from DF. Every group was full of great people but it was always a bust. Then, that Friday, a new group. We wiped what, once, maybe twice, and were getting there but suddenly it was just me and a tank who was taking his last few hits. I never use LB, but I thought of it then, got it off right before I died. Everyone else was up and down goes the boss as I'm laying there. Best. deathscene. ever.