Healers need other ways to contribute to party DPS instead of boring filler spells.

[gumas]

^
pretty much, i think AST is like a "prototype" of a good healer that has something to do beside healing. i can only hope maybe in the next expansion WHM and SCH will recieve a new skill to help contribute party beside healing and dps

[Grimoire-M]

For as strong as AST is atm, SCH has always been the best healer for a reason, at least in terms of the design that fits this game. They have more options for dealing damage, and for trading healing for damage, mainly because their Aetherflow stacks (including dissipation) can be spent on damage if you choose to. Whether by adding AoE via Bane or Damage and MP via Energy Drain. They also have a raid buff, but it's a reliable one and only works on one target, except when it's used for their AoE contribution. Their instant-cast GCDs are both damage spells, one of which is cheaper then Physick. They also have a form of passive healing that enables them to contribute damage without having to worry about flexing their GCDs, or worrying as much about Cleric Stance management back when that was relevant, aka the fairy, with Fey Union providing stronger healing when its needed. They even used to have a guaranteed percentage heal, which let them further bypass Cleric Stance's restrictions in ARR!

I'd like to see WHM emulate this using the Lilies (which desperately need a rework, and I feel should focus on empowering their healing capabilities through damage), while AST should get some limited access to stance dancing, in order to shore up their lack of passive healing in Noct and give better mitigation in Diurnal. AST does contribute more to a raid but their weaknesses still show in their kit and need to be addressed.

[Ceallach]

The philosophy of DPS increases, courtesy of Ms. Healer.

I couldn't resist. :3

The way I see it, healers have two types of DPS increases. One is an obvious buff of some kind, like scholar's Chain Stratagem. The other is situational, like using Rescue to save a DPS from death. The former you rely on, the latter you don't, but both still count. How well a healer can deal with both while still being able to attack shows how good that player is at his or her job. You have those who only do the minimum, and you have those who push themselves as hard as possible.