Question about healing? new to EQ2 but not MMO's

I've been playing defiler as my main since launch, so yeah, I smile a bit too when defiler DPS comes up (but it's a happy smile now!). I've parsed as high as 650k on some of those crazy big mob groups and while I'm specced for melee'ing and DO melee all the time, the melee just never comes out that big for me.

Yesterday, I did HM Wurmbone's End and on last boss I parsed ~170k DPS (on top of ~37k HPS) over approx 5 minute fight. Even though I was meleeing the entire time and casting heals a lot, melee was still something like 8% of the total damage.

I can see it being possible to get it up to 30% on certains fights, but that's still nowhere near making us a "melee healer". I would bet good money that - other things being equal - a defiler that doesn't melee will easily outparse any defiler that doesn't nuke. (Not that it's the choice between the two, my main point is that the defiler is a nuker with some melee damage, not a melee class with some nukes)

And yeah, spell weapon is completely useless. I wasn't suggesting that we go to spell weapon. Hell, even most mages prefer melee over spell weapon pos.

(p.s. if you looked up my stuff yesterday, i was in a progression spec and gear. I switched back to normal 90%-of-the-time spec/gear last night)

I completely agree with the not nuking part--our abilities are primarily spell-based, so simply not using them would definately cripple our damage output entirely. We have, and always have been, a spell caster priest.

I've dropped you a PM with some of the parse results and such (so as not to further derail this thread from the original poster's topic), but sample zonewide parses hang between 20-25% on melee auto for me. My spells all add up to a significant portion of my outgoing damage, which is expected.

To the OP: One thing I have not seen asked is whether you enjoy more a spellcasting or melee role as a healer. Each healer type has one of each. Thus, your Shamans are Defiler (spells) and Mystic (combat arts). Clerics are Templar (spells) and Inquisitor (combat arts). And Druids are Fury (spells) and Warden (combat arts).

I have an Inquisitor, Mystic, Defiler and Fury at max level. By far my favorite is the Inquisitor. There are several reasons for this: Plate wearing, can take a beating. Reactive heals cast decently fast. Combat arts and melee buffs. Steadfast means I don't spend time interrupted and recasting the same heal three times to get it to land. Verdict means that heroic mob just died 10% sooner than it would have normally. Fervent Faith to break control effects. And most of all the class epic weapon effect that gives us a second group cure castable on the run and super fast refresh rate. And DPS? My Leeroy is a beast.