How scared should I be about DPS?

[Elamys]

I have been kicked from a dungeon exactly one time in this game, and I've been playing for three years. I was kicked because I didn't want to give the bard a Balance card when he was busy berating the dragoon. So it was more a conduct thing, really.

Don't base this game's community on Facebook groups, the forums on here or Steam, or really any other online community. On the whole, people are understanding and at the end of the day, they just want the clear. If you're a polite person and you do your best, you're not going to have any problems. There's no need for a parser or anything. Every once in a while you'll get that person with the terrible attitude but all you can really do is shrug and move on. It's best to just not engage them.

[Malkria]

I'll try to keep that in mind. Though I will admit so far this community is far better then the steam one. There it seemed all about two or three people circling around insulting each other more then actually talking.

[Tridus]

I have been kicked from a dungeon exactly one time in this game, and I've been playing for three years. I was kicked because I didn't want to give the bard a Balance card when he was busy berating the dragoon. So it was more a conduct thing, really.

Don't base this game's community on Facebook groups, the forums on here or Steam, or really any other online community. On the whole, people are understanding and at the end of the day, they just want the clear. If you're a polite person and you do your best, you're not going to have any problems. There's no need for a parser or anything. Every once in a while you'll get that person with the terrible attitude but all you can really do is shrug and move on. It's best to just not engage them.

^ This. Outside of wiping on high end content due to enrages, this is an almost purely discussion group problem that barely exists in game. People want to get their clear. If you keep them alive and they get it, they're not going to bother you.

So I have to admit, I'm coming from the steam forums where people are....opinionated? But while I know healer DPS is something you should do because it makes the job less boring and helps your team. There was a guy over there that kept claiming that healing DPS is a bonus and your main role is to heal, so you should focus on that before worrying about DPS.

He's correct. You should be focused on three things, in order:
1. Not dying
2. Healing
3. DPS

If you're contributing DPS when you can, then you're doing the right thing.

But two others kept shouting him down and saying they blacklist lazy healers who aren't doing their absolute best.

Those people are keyboard warriors who like to talk big while hiding behind the safety of the forums. You'd be amazed how often those people can't back it up in game. Ignore them.

I am just now starting to get my gear into I guess a decent place, since I can run all the raids with my gear score. How stressed should I be about putting out top DPS as a healer? Because frankly in roulettes sometimes even when I focus on healing it's all I can do to keep groups up, let alone worrying about trying to put out top DPS.

Frankly? Not very. If your goal is to keep people alive and then contribute DPS when you can, you've got the right mindset. "When you can" varies based on the encounter, group composition, your gear, and your confidence level. A good group will give you more DPS uptime than a bad group (because they need less healing), and as you learn the fights you'll start to recognize the low risk periods with little incoming damage where you can really open up with DPS.

If you're trying to add DPS without letting people die, you're already halfway there. The rest just comes with practice. So don't stress it.

[Malkria]

If you're trying to add DPS without letting people die, you're already halfway there. The rest just comes with practice. So don't stress it.

I am, also trying to 'stance dance' between sects to make healing more efficient as an AST as well. Though my gear is only 328 at the moment.

[Shurrikhan]

He's correct. You should be focused on three things, in order:
1. Not dying
2. Healing
3. DPS

This is true. That said, I've consistently seen people improve far more quickly by working backwards from the final goal (dps).

As a healer, you shouldn't be thinking "When can I dps?" Not only is it the overwhelming majority of GCDs, but also tends to feel more ambiguous in such terms.
Within a given window, the question should be "How much damage will I have to undo?" (This will depend on your cohealer, tank, and idiocy of any and all players among AoEs only if such would otherwise kill them.)
Likewise, you shouldn't be thinking, "When can't I move?" so much as "Where do I need to be next?"

[Vyriah]

"When (or, for how many GCDs over this time) can't I dps?"

When you end up with phrasing as ambiguous there is sure something wrong with how you see the game. To me there's two only moment I can't DPS : I'm dead or the boss is impossible to target. Outside of this, I can just press that Stone IV/Broil II/Malefic II all I want.
More likely it's from "when can I DPS ?" to "how much do I have to heal ?" that will land you better success. Healing isn't just casting, all classes have a lot of OGCD now so it isn't really strictly about casting heals vs casting DPS. Planning ahead is much more important than landing two more cast, wich is only a matter when you know the fight perfectly and try to get a better performance.

And all this vary depending and the other healer. No only depending their performance but more simply with how they use their CD.

[Shurrikhan]

When you end up with phrasing as ambiguous there is sure something wrong with how you see the game. To me there's two only moment I can't DPS : I'm dead or the boss is impossible to target. Outside of this, I can just press that Stone IV/Broil II/Malefic II all I want.
More likely it's from "when can I DPS ?" to "how much do I have to heal ?" that will land you better success. Healing isn't just casting, all classes have a lot of OGCD now so it isn't really strictly about casting heals vs casting DPS. Planning ahead is much more important than landing two more cast, wich is only a matter when you know the fight perfectly and try to get a better performance.

And all this vary depending and the other healer. No only depending their performance but more simply with how they use their CD.

I meant to imply quite heavily that those were the same thing. How much do I have to (do something other than DPS) --> How much do I have to heal? I should have done another pass over for semantics.

Thank you for the reminder. I've reworded for precision while trying to maintain brevity.