How can we really define Healers?

[AmiableApkallu]

Ignoring mitigation…

I'd say that the role of the healer should be to do what the other party members cannot: efficiently and effectively manage the party's HP bars and detrimental status effects.

The focus of the job's identity is tied to what the other roles lack. For example, Second Wind doesn't encroach on the healer identity, but self-repairing HP sponges do. If RDM is going to be a grouped into the DPS, then Vercure is fine, but dual-casted Verraise is not.

It then falls on encounter design to dictate how much of a healer's time is devoted to managing HP bars and status effects.