Why you should play a healer!

[MoroMurasaki]

Parses don't equal content completion.

Parsers are a reflection of damage and in any content with a hard enrage damage (and mechanics) does equal completion.

I second that.

So many Senpai's noticing me today ;-; Please excuse my rant!

specifically the idea that healer dps or tank dps needs to be prioritized

I personally didn't understand this for a long time, ironically because I always played healer with my boyfriend maining WAR. This was before the Steel Cyclone adjustments that gave WAR respectable AoE DPS. We ran on the idea that if we were in a single target situation we would prioritize his DPS (Deliverance, just rotating CD's, my healing had to pick up his slack in mitigation) and in any situation with 3+ enemies we would completely swap - he's in tank stance virtually all the time, using self heals to give me ample DPS uptime. We each had our niche. I would like to think it worked really well, we each got to push nice DPS when it was 'our turn'.

The problem with this hyperspecialized mindset is that neither of us was doing meaningful damage in our 'down time', specifically him because he was eating that huge reduction for sticking to tank stance.

I felt like it had to be all or nothing until the FC we were a part of dissolved, prompting him to take a break from the game. I tried to take a break too but couldn't stay away. The result was me running with lots of pug tanks.

I suddenly didn't have that level of communication or advance understanding, I just had to make the most of the DPS uptime I was given. I think this was a huge step in advancing my effectiveness as a healer. I learned to adapt so much more because I was out of that optimal situation of understanding my tank 100% of the time.

This is where my story aligns with the discussion at hand - the adaptability of a healer is by far our greatest asset. We can change our playstyle on a dime to fit a certain situation. No healer leveled past 65 can tell me they haven't suddenly dropped their DPS to almost nothing to keep a pug tank standing in Bardam's Mettle. We have that choice to make where as all tank or DPS players can do is avoid damage (whether via mitigation or mechanics) and kill things as fast as they can.

In this sense a healer has the most choice in any given party. There are so many different ways to play, all with situations in which they shine. Are you in a really strong party in a weak dungeon you outgear by a ton? Throw up a regen and mow things down. Are you healing a first-time ilvl270 STR tank through Doma Castle or even Bardam's? Well unsolot Cleric's for E4E and do your best to keep everyone from tanking the floor.

This wealth of options is what makes healers engaging to play for me (hey look I tied back into the topic of the thread) and also what gives us, by default, the 'easiest' time. We can adapt to anything and by contrast the tanks and DPS have to cross their fingers that we look after them while they get through their (often complicated) rotations.