Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
Your shield is literally the most powerful mitigation tool in the game offered to any DPS.

Hell, other than Fists of Earth (which costs 10% DPS) and Third Eye (each at a measly 10%, a sixth of the value of a Manaward against a 50% HP attack, and generally unable to save anyone) and a GCD-, pet-uptime, and resource- costing Earthen Ward (at best two-thirds the value of Manaward), it is the ONLY self-mitigation available to DPS. Manaward is vastly more powerful, (apart from one ability) more frequent, and free. The only other job with free mitigation is SAM, and it's only there to add apm and a layer of complexity to Seigan.

You are badly overestimating the power of DPS heals, even if heals somehow weren't inherently less valuable to shields.
100% agree with everything you said... that's why I mentioned Drain. It was a small, but SPAMMABLE, heal that we could use for the odd solo content when we don't have our chocobos.