Sad experiences of a newbie

[Gemina]

They didnt - no characters at 60.

And at level 53, he/she spent enough time in dungeons to likely take repeated lashings for not DPSing. Generally speaking, a healer who keeps the group up while DPSing isn't going to catch much gripe from either camp of players who dislike healers DPSing, or those who get upset when they don't. The thing is, if you go into continuous DF instances, and you're adamant about not DPSing, you put yourself on a collision course to encounter these players at one point or another. It's an inevitable truth, I'm afraid.

It doesn't excuse the rotten behavior. Of course not. And healers who or new and/or new to an instance should be given a lot of breathing room. While it remains true that healer DPS is not required to clear content; it is also the cold hard truth that if you don't want to catch flack in PUGs, you have to play at a level that doesn't give anyone anything to complain about. For a healer, this does indeed mean that you DPS during your downtime, and also not tunnel vision the tank/group to an early grave.

Hopefully the OP has a change of heart, and can find a helpful FC with members willing to run content. It can be very satisfying weaving in offensive spells while healing. A new player should be as open-minded as they expect other people to be. It just allows for more enjoyment of the game.

[Sebazy]

Going by what the OP was saying, I don't think the DPS was the problem here.

[Ilyrian]

And at level 53, he/she spent enough time in dungeons to likely take repeated lashings for not DPSing.

Really? That has not been my experience - well ever. Pre-60 I have never seen a healer be called out for not dpsing - even not being particularly great at the actual healing part is more likely than not to be tolerated given that the player is new.
If a Sprout healer can keep a tank up and the party healed that's more than enough in leveling dungeons and I would say the vast majority of the player base is just happy their DPS queue finally popped.

The OP had given no actual information about the situation other than he's had bad experiences healing in DF.
6 pages of arguing about speculation is mad - and achieves nothing.
Maybe he's not good at it. People do get mad at healers - it's noticeable when they aren't great; that comes with the gig.
Maybe he's taking more time to adjust to it and will get better - too many maybes to be having an argument on his behalf.
@OP I think you must have had some very bad luck if your first impressions of FFXIV were so negative - that it a shame. As other have said, perhaps you just need a bit more time to adjust to the style of healing - it is very different from other MMOs (as you said you've had experience before).
We all need players willing to heal so hopefully you'll stick it out and feel comfortable: when it clicks it clicks. If it clicks.

[Gemina]

Really? That has not been my experience - well ever.

Does your experience mirror the OP's? i.e. getting to level 53 on a healer without ever using offensive spells in PUGs? If the answer is yes, then I humbly acknowledge your experience relatable to the OP's. If it is no, then your experience reflects my own. I also haven't witnessed healers being harassed in PUGs. A large part of that is because I heal most content I do, but even when I leave the role to others it still hasn't been a problem. The biggest issue I've encountered and also endured is tank harassment. Be that is it may, just because you or I haven't experienced it ourselves, doesn't mean it isn't happening.

The OP had given no actual information about the situation other than he's had bad experiences healing in DF.
6 pages of arguing about speculation is mad - and achieves nothing.
Maybe he's not good at it. People do get mad at healers - it's noticeable when they aren't great; that comes with the gig.
Maybe he's taking more time to adjust to it and will get better - too many maybes to be having an argument on his behalf.

Exactly. So take it at face value. That is all we can do. We know that the OP has a heals-only mentality and it has lead to problems when he/she enters group content. And the DF thread is all you need to know about the endless randomness within PUGs. You give too much leeway; it's not only noticeable when a healer isn't great, they are under such a microscopic view that all of their derps stand out like a sore thumb.

I wanna tell the OP that it's just bad luck as well, but I see no reason to advise that he/she continue to rely on chance rather than taking a hold of the situation on their own.

[Ilyrian]

Does your experience mirror the OP's?

As you say: no, my experience doesn't mirror the OP's because I'm good at healing. I'm good at healing dungeons. I have been from the day I stared because I have been healing in MMOs for the past 12 years. No, I'm not on the bleeding edge of content and I haven't even set foot in Savage yet – but I know how to heal and, IMHO, heal well. So nobody has ever called me out, been rude or harassed me. That is my experience. Obviously the OP has had different one.

People are dicks. People are dicks online. People are dicks in MMOs. I'm not defending anyone being a dick in any sense but it will happen if you're joining a group and can't perform the role you joined to do. Being a healer is not only being good at your job - it's carrying the bad that goes with it - this is not just FFXIV, it all of any online content where you have to take a responsibly, a responsible role. As I said, I have never had a bad experience in an FFXIV dungeon as a healer - at least nothing that I could blame myself for. I'm not a god of healers - I, like the vast majority other players just get on with it.

[Taika]

I would like to know the situations OP has experienced, but I guess they're gone already.

I have personally never seen anyone being rude to a healer who doesn't DPS. I myself am a person who will bring it up, though, if I see a healer would clearly have a chance for it but doesn't. Usually one of the two things will happen (these are real examples from the past few weeks):

<Me> Hey WHM, don't be afraid to do some Holy! ^^
<WHM> Ok ^^
>>> WHM proceedes to use some Holy, in the end of the run I thank everyone for the great run and the WHM receives 3 commendations (I queued with 2 friends).

<Me> Hey healer, don't be afraid to do some DPS when no one is in any danger! ^^
<Healer> Are you telling me how to play my job? YOU BETTER NOT BE TELLING ME HOW TO PLAY MY JOB?!?!
>>> Healer starts acting rudely and being defensive (although in this particular case, after I explained to them about my own healer experience in this game and how to use some DPS abilities easily, they did start doing some DPS in the end )

Some players, in the position of the healer, would read that second situation as "being harassed", especially if they have first answered rudely / defensively and then other party members have also responded with a harsher tone.

I'm 100% against any harassment and rudeness towards our fellow players, and will always try to step up and talk against it and report the player acting like that. However, from experience I also know that some people have difficulties making a difference between constructive feedback and harassment, so it's hard to judge situations without seeing the logs. In any case, it sucks feeling like you're being bullied when you just want to enjoy a new game you've only recently started.