How scared should I be about DPS?

[RopeDrink]

Healing is a variable: dependant on your team, their ability to dodge mechanics, their defenses/gear/health, the tank, your own gear/healing power, how much DPS the team has overall, and how much freedom all of these factors give you.

I never think of myself as 'there to heal', I think of myself as 'there to keep people alive'. There's a big difference. As you gain more gear and become accustomed to content, especially when you've an equally geared tank, you'll eventually learn all the patterns and inevitable damage intakes content throws out like the back of your hand, to which you can save yourself time with proactive heals and thus give yourself more time to do something else (whether that is damage or heal a different target).

Example - I did an Ala Mhigo today where I was 2nd overall damage dealer as a WHM (granted, it's AoE heaven for a WHM). This had more to do with me knowing when damage was going to happen as opposed to how many damage spells I threw out. That first boss, for example - unless people eat the line-mechanic, nobody will take any worthwhile damage outside of the AoE 'jump' he does, which also has a cast timer and only does about 10% HP damage party-wide (ie. you don't even have to heal it until later). As a WHM, this means I go in there knowing that Regen/Benison will keep the tank alive by itself (no tank busters), a proactive Med or MedII will look after the DPS (if they really need it), and I have all the time in the world to 'react' to the rest - if there's nothing that needs reacting to, I'm throwing Stones like a lunatic. In short, just because someone took damage doesn't always mean "Oh my golly-gosh, I better heal that damage up" - at least outside of content with actual healing checks.

When it comes to crunch time - did you keep people alive? Yes? Good. Job fulfilled. If, in keeping people alive, you find yourself with opportunity windows (and managed to weave in damage), all the power to you - that is the type of Healer I want on a team.

Those complaints you claim to be familiar with? The bulk of those are squarely aimed at Healers who have above mentioned freedoms literally handed to them on a regular basis but decide to stand around doing nothing anyway. Unless you're in a PF group where people absolutely will be checking damage numbers during specific raids, then the bulk of said complaints won't apply to you seeing as you are clearly willing to contribute when you have no other immediate priorities, which is welcomed in casual content.

Raiding isn't overly different, insofar as the 'variables' still apply in raids and you will also still get opportunity windows, yet they will come in-between more frequent mechanics and healing checks.