Healer etiquette and general tips for a noob healer

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Originally Posted by Ilenya

Please don't do this. Regen before the pull means the tank no longer has control over where the enemies go before they start to do their AoE aggro generators, and if you guess wrong and the tank is doing multiple pulls, you either are forcing the tank to use them ahead of time, or are going to be sitting there being smacked about while they are moving to the next position.

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Like I said, normally I wouldnt, but if peopel are undergeared, and they dont use CDs, I'm going to pop it.
But since I tank, and I know what I want them to do, I simply just stand an inch ahead of them.

Mobs do attack me before they AoE, but they wont have issues of mobs running around, because ill always be standing where the tank is.
(This is also only an issue when you pull from a distance like shield lob, as you have to wait for the GCD to land the AoE, which is what causes the issue. As a lot fo tanks sprint face pull, they can just start off with flash, and pretty much never have an issue. This is more so an issue at lower levels, where tanks wont have problems with large pulls, or they do small pulls being new)

If everyone played reasonably, I wouldnt regen pre-pull. (occasionally I dont, based on how they are handling it)
But considering they arent playing reasonably, I dont think they care.

1. Communicate with the team
2. Listen to the team
3. Learn your job

Everything else is trivia and technicalities.

Example: Some tanks need lots of healing, some don't need much, learn the difference by talking to the team and being a reasonable person. People appreciate a healer who wants to be there for their team than one who is selfish about their playstyle.

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

snip.

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I'm quite baffled by this logic. People play "poorly" so you, in turn, not only make it harder for them to play better but also fall into playing significantly worse than you can? I have never been in a situation where I needed or wanted to use Regen before a pull. There is literally no reason I can think of that would make this a useful tactic. If you can't waste the GCD on regen for whatever reason then just don't use it.

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Originally Posted by VanilleFang

I'm quite baffled by this logic. People play "poorly" so you, in turn, not only make it harder for them to play better but also fall into playing significantly worse than you can? I have never been in a situation where I needed or wanted to use Regen before a pull. There is literally no reason I can think of that would make this a useful tactic. If you can't waste the GCD on regen for whatever reason then just don't use it.

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I have to agree. Applying a HoT pre-pull is one of the most annoying things you can do to tank, and while standing near the tank rather than running away does mitigate some of the mess, there are times when you absolutely do not want to be on top of the tank. Besides, the tank's job is to round up enemies and control their positioning, so I'm favor of allowing him or her to do it without keeping an eye on the HoT-happy healer.

If the tank is overextending and forcing you to heal early during a pull, it's better to try to time a heal between packs and to run to the tank in the event that you do pull aggro. A HoT, on the other hand, is the unwanted gift that keeps on giving in terms of pre-emptive aggro.

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

Like I said, normally I wouldn't, but if people are undergeared, and they don't use CDs, I'm going to pop it.

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

1. Communicate with the team
2. Listen to the team
3. Learn your job

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It's pretty clear what you are doing wrong Claire

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Originally Posted by VanilleFang

I'm quite baffled by this logic. People play "poorly" so you, in turn, not only make it harder for them to play better but also fall into playing significantly worse than you can? I have never been in a situation where I needed or wanted to use Regen before a pull. There is literally no reason I can think of that would make this a useful tactic. If you can't waste the GCD on regen for whatever reason then just don't use it.

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I think you're not seeing the situation I'm presented with.

Me and Tank both use sprint, and I can stop to cast a heal while hes nearly dead to the 2nd pack, or I pop instant heals.
I tried popping instant heals (and DB) only to be left with no instant heals or less, when he's done pulling, and AoEs are deciding to target me.

If they cant survive a single GCD, and I mean this literally, there's not much left to do, other than eat hits. Which I'll eat one, and if I try to use an AoE heal, even assize, if im not at full hp, i cant eat another aoe, plus if its medica, the extra cast time means the tanks dead, even with PoM up.

This is dependent on the tank, pull, and which mobs hit harder, and which mobs target me with AoEs.
(I can also probably eat more AoEs if I actually had dungeons drop more gear for me, rather than just accessories)
A few examples of this is Bardums Run, when the walls decide they are going to target me with ground targeters, or with Doma Castle, when tanks love to pullt he giant who cleaves half the field, so i have to be in melee range to dodge it, but the adds right after the giant spam ground aoes near them, making me need to stay mobile.

there's plenty of pulls where mobs dont hit hard enough, or target me, and i can take a break.

but in the mean time, im not wasting insta heals on a pull, when i can just use a regen.
(also the argument of "if they play bad, dont u play bad" doesnt apply. If the tank cant tanks, and im ACN, and i then switch to my tanking pet, and do their job for them to save the group, or if im RDM, and the healer dies, and I switch to healing, to keep the group alive" doesnt mean im "playing bad, when someone else is playing bad". It's adapting to what the tank is offering me.)

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

It's pretty clear what you are doing wrong Claire

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I always ask them not to do what they do when I see a break in the pulling long enough to type, usually the end of the run, or if they cause a wipe, but at the end of a run, they exit before i finish, and if there is a wipe, they just repeat it again, and dont bother responding.

When I'm on tank, and there's an issue, I ask questions and give the healer enough time to answer/ask anything they need.

So again,k its not a lack of interest in communication, its the inability to do so, when the tanks running to the 2nd/3rd group of mobs, and I already know this is going to be a rough spot, I need to go through my CDs to keep the group going, and if i bother trying to type, he'll be at the next group of mobs dead.

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Originally Posted by Cynfael

I have to agree. Applying a HoT pre-pull is one of the most annoying things you can do to tank, and while standing near the tank rather than running away does mitigate some of the mess, there are times when you absolutely do not want to be on top of the tank. Besides, the tank's job is to round up enemies and control their positioning, so I'm favor of allowing him or her to do it without keeping an eye on the HoT-happy healer.

If the tank is overextending and forcing you to heal early during a pull, it's better to try to time a heal between packs and to run to the tank in the event that you do pull aggro. A HoT, on the other hand, is the unwanted gift that keeps on giving in terms of pre-emptive aggro.

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You seem to understand the situation.

Though with most of the bad tanks, we'll both pop sprint, they'll go to the 1st set of mobs, and then fight as if they plan to stay there, which I start casting Holy/Aero3, thinking they plan to pull small. and even with only 3 mobs, are getting to 50%~ hp, and then sprinting off to the next group. While I may still have sprint up, half the time i can get off 1 heal, the other half the time i cant, they are just out of range.
Then when I do heal them, another good number of times the heal happens as they aggro, and it acts as if they had regen up, only to come running to me, and smacking me nearly dead.

So for all of that, the easiest way to adapt, is to simply regen, and sprint follow the tank, and there's no mess.

It might be annoying, and not suggested with actual good tanks, but its still a viable option for the bad ones. (and btw, ive never had an issue with these tankings holding hate. just their inability to judeg how much they should be pulling based on thier gear and lack of CD usage.)

I DO keep them up, and we DO get through the content. (Id say roughly 3 of 4 groups in Lv63-67 have undergeared tanks, this is nearly non existent in Lv61 below, or Lv69+)
But its a close call, and roughly 25% of these types of groups have a death when I get targeted by too many AoEs, and or the tank gets hit by too many crits. (And a lot of the time the tank stands in AoEs too, leading to large spikes of dmg in a single GCD.)

Also frustrating trying to keep a a squishy tank up during this, and theres a DPS who stands in every AoE, and I cant really afford to waste CDs or AoEs on them outside of Assize.
But considering every tank I run with doesnt have gear from that dungeon, im going to assume they have never tanked the dungeon before. (had some who didnt even have the quest gear on, they were just in i235/i260 gear in doma castle, and even cure2 spam wasnt enough, even with them using occasional CDs. Though 2 of these tanks noticed right away and pulled less.)

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

So again,k its not a lack of interest in communication, its the inability to do so, when the tanks running to the 2nd/3rd group of mobs, and I already know this is going to be a rough spot, I need to go through my CDs to keep the group going, and if i bother trying to type, he'll be at the next group of mobs dead.

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Then the appropriate thing to do is communicate to the point where kicking them is viable. Intentionally playing poorly is a quick way to make a bad impression on the party, and the two DPS might just decide that you are worse than the tank.

I will say that it is noble of you to take the onus off the tank by playing poorly yourself, but it's not really a solution.

1- I always focus target the boss. That way, I can see which big attack is coming that might cause problems. Once I know get a feel for the cast time, I start precasting my heal so that it lands right after the damage. Gives me more uptime on DPS.

2- Especially as an AST, make sure to read and understand the tooltips for all of your oGCD. Healers don't have rotations, but we do have to understand all the tools at our disposal to make our job easier. Knowing what these do and how they interact can really make a huge difference in your own QOL. For example, Celestial Opposition also has a stun effect and extends Collective Unconscious (which has a duration even after the bubble has gone down) so it's very useful on large pulls, especially if you extend an AOE dps card (like Balance, Arrow, or Spear).

3- I believe I saw someone else say this, but I'll reiterate. As an AST, your priority order should be heals, buffs and only then DPS. You hit the least out of all the healers so your dps contribution is mainly from the cards.

4- Regen is tricky. I've started using it a lot less and I find things have gone better for it. It heals for a lot over the course of its life, but it won't keep the tank up. I usually avoid it for the first part of a larger pull and only cast it once there are about 4 or less mobs left (really more of a feel though, if I feel like the incoming damage is getting pretty manageable then I use it so I can dps more)

5- Watch your MP. As I'm levelling through the healers, I've found that AST has the hardest time with MP management. I set a rule for myself where I stop dpsing at 50% mana and just start again if I reach 70% comfortably. I could probably start being more aggressive but it's a good rule of thumb for me at the moment and I never run out of mana. No mana, no heals.

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Originally Posted by Draxis_Fallspear

always focus target the boss

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this, 100000000%, always focus target! focus target saves lives.

Hey! I decided to try healer as well. Only I went with WHM. I'm close to lvl 40 now. My question is, when you get to lvl 70 and have all skills, do you guys change your hotbars? Do you use low lvl skills anymore (cure I, etc...)?