>>1594085
>priests with vows of pacifism or doctors like that that wouldn't be on the fucking front lines alongside the fighters either, outside of rare situations like combat medics
Frontline combat medics were literally throwing themselves on top of soldiers under fire during the entirety of WW2. They couldn't shoot back at all due to their own pledge to "Do no Harm" and that's a real scenario from direct conflict IRL.
Parties in MMOs are literally organized like military squadrons too. In fact, they're there to combat stuff directly on the frontline just like a squad would and as you yourself mentioned, there's combat medics.
That's literally how things are in civilized conflicts. I see 0 issues with having dedicated healer roles, especially in worlds where healing can keep up with direct damage and is usually much safer than throwing yourself on top of your hurt friends, as I'd bet you if we had crazy nano-tech healing we'd have real time healers in combat in pretty much just the same way.
>I don't see people citing it like that though
Basically all media where we have a dedicated healer, they go out of their way to mention that healing is pretty much all they can do. In fact, it's the exception to have a healer archetype that can do more than healing, and all associations are inspired heavily by our modern standards for healthcare and assistance being something of an "abnegation of yourself".
>from a gameplay perspective
This is more nuanced, however. I'm with you blaming shitty devs that accepted that the healer role is for women and thus they capped it of all complexity for accessibility. Clerics in Pathfinder are the shit in that they can heal, but are also versatile with their magic, but I don't really find odd to see fully focused healers as you do.