Healer report: Aurum Vale

I'm just going to chime in here and agree with SundayTrash that the forum shouldn't be treated as a personal blog.

I do agree on the fact that both the Aurum Vale and the Vault are high pressure dungeon for healer
Because both have great heavy attack and DPS are most likely to made mistake and fall into EVERY aoe..

About sunday method of testing healer...
I think it's a bad one.

Any competent healer can solo heal sephirot EX
As long as the team do not make mistake. Back when my static was farming our last weapon, i could solo P1 and P2 as AST and enter P3 with 90% of my mana without song.

Sephirot is really easy to read and predict, there is no random damage than can't be patch up.
Even P3 with the high raid damage is easy as hell if the DPS are not burning all the adds in one shot.

Don't have to be Ex Seph, can be Ex Titan as long as they can avoid machanic in high movement fight.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mrs-Dysfunction

The point of my posts was to show the OP that not everyone is a judgemental elitist, and offer some support. I really thought that was self explanatory?... .

---

It was a rhetorical question as to why we need petty arguments in these forums.

don't actually answer that. Just going to leave.

It's not a challenge for an experienced healer, but for someone who is new to the role, I would consider Aurum Vale to be a test. It requires more than "stand around and wait for the tank to take damage". Even for a scholar, if you're at the dungeon's level, your fairy is unlikely to be able to do the job on her own (especially if you're slightly undergeared).

On first boss you have to be able to keep everyone alive. Will you use HoTs on your party members? Or position yourself correctly to AoE heal? Be aware of your debuff and eat a fruit at the right time? If you are struggling and running out of mana, will you think of using buffs to boost your healing so you don't have to throw out as many heals?

On second boss, are you paying attention to the boss? If you don't have it as your focus target and you are always targeting the tank you may have difficulties. The boss is facing you and casting 'glower' or 'eye of the beholder', will you move to safety in time? How will you prioritize healing when more than one person is low on hp, and possibly has a DoT on them?

Third boss is much like the first in that you have to heal several people at once. There is no DoT though thankfully (aside from bad breath if anyone gets hit by it) but the more stacks a person has, the more damage they take from 'burr burrow'. Can you heal people up in time before the next aoe?

The dungeon can be tough on everyone. I find it's also a 'test' for tanks, because in some rooms they have to learn how to pull mobs from afar and lure them back so they don't accidentally pull too much... (You'd be surprised how many new tanks don't use shield lob/tomahawk/unmend... They just run right in.) They also have to learn to face the boss away from the party, because all 3 bosses have cleaves. Dps, too, need awareness to dodge things and notice their debuff to eat fruits. They also need to position themselves carefully, so they don't accidentally aggro more mobs or take extra damage (gold bile).

Aurum Vale tests you on the basics of your role and on dungeons in general. Unfortunately, not everyone passes.

If you feel like you failed, don't be discouraged. Nobody is perfect right off the bat. Learn from your mistakes. See where you can improve. And realize that not all deaths/wipes will be your fault. If someone dies because they got hit by an aoe they should have dodged, that's on them, not you.

Thanks to all who chimed in. Taking some time out of your day to give support and constructive criticism means a lot. I never meant for this thread to blow up like it did, nor do I mean to use the forum as a personal blog, or to brag. I can understand though if I come off that way.

I try to start light hearted threads about my progress through the game in hopes to get constructive criticism. I'm not fishing for likes, or validation. I actually like it when you guys point out things I did wrong when I describe the instance. In this thread before everything got derailed, the comments about not using Holy on single mobs, focus targeting bosses, having the tank pull mobs to safer areas to ease pressure, among many others I have absorbed and take with me as I continue to progress. I have a high thirst for knowledge and who better to ask than those who have been playing a while?

Even if the instance is cleared, I have a lot of difficulty accepting that if I performed poorly. What makes this even harder is how easy it is for me to consider my performance a poor one. So when I describe a run consisting of one wipe, one tank KO, and one healer KO, it nearly impossible for me to think I passed any kind of test. Then a cheerful FC fella will mention that on his first run, the group endured multiple wipes and far more KOs. That's the person the truly puts me in my place. So the fact that I felt good about this run, was honestly passing the "test" I put on myself: Considering a run successful despite the bad. Which is probably more difficult than anything this game can throw at me.

I also understand that things will be more difficult the first time through, and the game has far greater challenges and pressure situations in the future. I understand that I am still learning a great deal. I really love this role, and I don't want to fail. That's all. I don't want to be the cause of any trouble, so I won't start any more threads like this. I do apologize.

OP you rock. Some people are like roaming monsters just trying to debuff someone's game because they see your stride as a threat to their groove. AV can be intimidating to some. Still is for me and I've been around as whm since 1.0. I recently ran it while leveling Astrologist and I totally killed my party members and myself many times. I think it is a great dungeon to retouch the basics and not let things like medica2, regen, and the 50+skills carry my butt. I also see the dungeon's acid pools and malboros as symbolic of the bile spewing from some player's mouths.

Thank you for sharing your experiences as a new healer in AV as well as a fellow person. Your post was inspiring in how you thought about the dungeon and your tools as a healer. It was also insightful with how your mindset helps keep you persevering when taking on new, and difficult, situations like those in AV and things like the tactless and fearful words of others.

Your post really taught me about being more self aware of how I feel, and why I avoid challenges and new situations. Also, your posts throughout this thread have shown me healthy ways to think about various situations, and how to navigate emotionally around the toxic and undermining comments that go around.

Most of the time I'm more terrified of the things players will say to me when I make a mistake than what the monster will do to me. Those kinds of players are my monsters. But I've been trying to do content now and not be fearful of players like that. I'm tired of avoiding the game to keep clear of them. I have been trying to give my all and do my personal best and have been learning how to not let their words brainwash me.

I am grateful for your post OP and your healthy stance and perspective.

Thank you kindly C:

Best of fun in all your endeavors. /extreme thumbsup /cheer

Hmmm...I'll have to say that I personally did not find AV to be much of a test on either heals or dps. When I get it on my DRK in roulette though? I apologize in advance.

As others have said, I found Vault, or more specifically, the final boss of Vault to be my first true test as a healer. There is a lot of party-wide damage that you are responsible for dealing with, Altar Pyre, chains, and a pretty hard tankbuster-ish hit on the tank are all unavoidable damage in rapid succession that you must be prepared to heal on top of any foul ups the party makes in dodging. This is the fight that really taught me the importance of preventive healing which felt pretty damn necessary when I first healed it in 3.0. This is where I perfected pre-casting, where I had to learn how to properly utilize my CDs. I just didn't get that out of AV.

As a 59 WHM without my 50-60 job skills yet(Curse you HW! I'm so close. -fist shake-) I feel like Aurum Vale will always be a solid point to check yourself for your own skill. The damage can hit hard and sudden thus making how you handle it and react within the 2 GCDs(Personal Opinion) critical. More so because in AV you DON'T have those 50 skills such as Benediction & Medica II.

Benediction is a wonderful instant one hit reset button for a single target and Medica II plays on both a nice small burst and amazing regen skill. The rougher 'spike' dungeons such as AV shows you what you can do with 90% of your arsenal without those added reset/regen skills. Not only that the sync to 49 brings you down to such a smaller MP pool to manage even with Shroud of Saints + Enhanced Shroud of Saints. All it takes is 1 person deciding not eat at 2 or 3 to change your flow of healing drastically and drain that pool like a pump in full bore.
Any time I get AV I don't dread it I welcome it.

Everyone who says "Oh Aurum Vale wasn't really a healing test" ignores how much of a role the party plays in a healer's performance.
I have an easier time healing through Alex Savage or HW primals than through Quarn or AV sometimes! Because of my teammates.
Heal through AV with everyone constantly standing in the yellow goo, never eating any fruits and pulling the whole room while you are at 500 MP, all of it without deaths, and I'll consider you a much greater healer than if you healed through Titan/Sephi EX with a bunch of guys who actually follow mechanics.
Even then. In Titan EX, for example, most techniques people can fail are oneshot-mechanics. Not much a healer can do if someone landslides their way off the platform. Not much a healer can do if the tank thinks "Oh hey, mountain buster should totally be shared with the party!". Sephi EX isn't much different; so someone stays in the green goo, tough luck, he's gonna die. Someone doesn't move off the place Sephi is gonna hit on time? Too bad, I can't save you from 100k+ dmg.
Basically, if people mess up, it's a 100% death chance and all you can do is ress them if you have the MP.
If people mess up in AV, a good healer can still keep everyone alive, and that's the kind of situation where you can actually see if someone knows how to do their job and reacts under pressure (and that's even before they get many of their useful skills).

It really depends on the whole party, though more heavily on tank and healer. ...wipes on the early monsters usually come from tanks pulling more than they can handle, unless the healer can make up for it.
The poison debuff / fruit parts can also put extra strain on the healer if the dps wait too long to eat fruit, or don't eat it at all. But otherwise it's not a problem with regen or a bit of aoe heal.
2nd boss, doesn't matter too much if the dps don't know the fight (for ranged dps, anyways) - if the healer and tank do. The dmg on dps isn't hard to heal, as long as you don't get hit yourself as healer (paralyze).
And well.. if the tank and melee dps don't move out of the 100-tonze swing, it's a one-shot on the dps and a big piece of the tank's hp (...or one-shot if undergeared).
And last boss kinda same as first boss, just with the exra bit of killing adds with aoe. Healers can help out on that with cleric's -> holy, or clerics -> dots + bane (and maybe a little Blizzard II spam).

(...what's up with the 1000 characters post limit? That seems.. way too limiting. Had to crop about half my post xD)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chyro

(...what's up with the 1000 characters post limit? That seems.. way too limiting. Had to crop about half my post xD)

---

You can just write a few words and post it, then edit the post and insert the rest of your text. the 1000 char limit only applies to the initial post, for whatever reason :)

About helping out with Holy / Aoe DoTs: Sure, if your group allows it :)
And if you are WHM/SCH xD I always feel that AST is the most annoying to play in the lvl 40-50 dungeons because it's the only healer who can do close to nothing to speed up fights against several monsters and has to rely on the DPS to actually do their job :x

Honestly, from the 3 roles, I felt that Aurum Vale was a bigger challenge for Tanks and then DPS. As a healer it wasn't so bad. Tanks needed to learn how to pull properly, and DPS needed to learn to not stand in stuff, do mechanics while DPSing and have situational awareness of other adds. It is tough on healers if the dps/tanks are derping their roles, but if they know what is up - the healing requirements are not very high.

In other words, the only reason that it is a test for healers is because it is a test for the others.

I dont get why its hard? And am a new player never struggle with any healing and i just did a5s no problems first time, its sometime hard work with a bad tank but thay all cant be a easy run

http://puu.sh/p48Ks.png

Only places where mobs really need to die are the ones on morbols rooms, the rest of the dungeon isn't worth wasting time on as xp is pretty bad compared in saving time to run the instance again. Running aurum vale for leveling up on the most efficient way can be resumed to "morbol rooms per hour".