Your Healing Style - Why <t> or <tt> (Which is better?)

Ok, so I just recently started leveling Arcanist and I already love it. I plan on going full Sch when I get to 30. My WHM is 50 but I never really healed with it and havn't played it in years.

I have been researching healing macros and ALWAYS see two variations of the same macro....

Example 1:
/micon "Cure"
/ac "Cure" <mo>
/ac "Cure <t>
/ac "Cure <me>

Example 2:
/micon "Cure"
/ac "Cure" <mo>
/ac "Cure <tt>
/ac "Cure <me>

Here's how I see the big difference between the two. The first example, Ideally, you would have the TANK targetted at all times so that you can heal anyone in party with mouseover, and if you need quick heal on tank, you don't mouse over anything and it will default heal/buff/cleanse the tank. You never have to target the tank because he's your primary target at all times which makes your reaction time that much faster. The downside to this method is that you have to ALWAYS focus target the boss/add in order to see what buffs or debuffs it has. If i'm on scholar using DoTs, I need to know when Miasma/Bio/Aero have worn off in order to recast.

For the second example, you would target the MOB/BOSS at all times. You would heal party members with mousovers, just like in 1, however, you would either have to mouseover the tank as well (slower than example 1) or if the boss is targeting the tank, you would just spam heal because the tank would be the boss's <tt>. The problem with this method is that it requires an extra step to target the tank (if the boss) isn't targeting the tank to begin with. There may be times when the tank needs heals ASAP but the boss has moved onto another person, so you have to mouseover the tank for the heal. The advantage of this method is that you know what buffs or debuffs the boss has at all times. You don't need to focus target.

My DPS macros have both <tt> and <t> built in so they synergize well with either method. Though I've been using example 1, I'm thinking maybe it's better to start using Example 2 for the following reasons. Most of the time, the boss is on the main tank, which means <tt> acts as a default when nothing else is moused over. Two, seeing my DoTs on the boss is imperitive so maximizing my efficiency as healer and sometimes dps in parties. Three, the cast bar on target is larger and easily noticeable, so that I know what boss is casting rather than relying on teh focus target icon (smaller). Four, having focus bar up is not practical when facing trash mobs. A tank switches targets a lot during trash pulls, and if i'm going to rely on <tt> for my dps, I may end up dpsing the none "focused" add, which could cause agro to me.

Is it possible to combine the two and have <tt> and <t> in one macro for healing, if so, which line would go first?

As a practical matter, do end game dungeons or Hard modes (Titan) favor one macro over the other. Since I'm just starting out, I'd rather do it the most efficient way rather than learn it incorrectly and have to relearn it. I dont' have healing experience from other mmo's, so I havn't even found my own style.

Any suggestions and or comments are appreciated in advance.

For me no macro is better...
Not sure how people use these macro efficiently. I mean if you use the example 1 in a BOSS fight, you have to make sure your mouse is NOT over some other player every time you want to heal the target.
And if you want to heal some <mo> target, you need to look for them (range will be spread out from each other and melee all stack together).
The only macro I use are Aero <tt> and Stone II <tt> :)

I thought people put both <t> and <tt> in macros to have all the bases covered. It would either target a player and succeed or target an enemy, fail, then go to <tt> and succeed, and if you reverse them it would just reverse the "check" but essentially do the same thing.

@Previous poster: My understanding is you can mouseover player names in the party list and <mo> will still work.

I read that <tt> only works for damage abilities and doesn't work for heals... can anyone confirm about <tt>? Otherwise i'll have to test it more tonight.

oh you can also use <focus>, but it doesn't work all that great. Say you want to use:

/micon "Physick"
/ac "Physick" <mo>
/ac "Physick" <t>
/ac "Physick" <focus>

If you try to cast a heal while targeting something that you can't heal, instead of it casting on your focus it will cast on you.

I use a variation of this technique that works well for me in almost every situation.

My macro is:

/ac "Cure" <mo>
/ac "Cure" <focus>
/ac "Cure" <target>
/ac "Cure" <me>

I keep the main tank as focus target, allowing me to target the mob/boss. I mouseover the party window to heal other members, and if i want to heal outside the party (eg during a Fate) i can target them directly. I also dont have to keep setting focus target for each new encounter.

Its handy have the boss/mob targeted as I can see what the boss is casting, and if the tank loses aggro i can see who is about to need healing. I can also tab around if there are multiple mobs to keep an eye on them while never losing focus on the tank. I find I often lose targets in highly mobile fights (probably from rightclicking on the ground while moving, but this way i can always safely heal the tank just by making sure i'm not mousing over anything and casting my heals.

The downsides are that only 5 debuffs are visible on the focus target due to current UI limitations. Supposedly expanded to 8 at some point, and generally not an issue as almost all debuffs are displayed with high priority.

I also very occasionally find that the spell lands on me instead of the target, but i think this is due to:
a) LOS causing the <focus> to fail or
b) GCD ending after the top two lines of the macro are processed when no LOS issue.
These issues should be common to all macros of this type of course.

I never touch <mo> macros, they feel flakey as anything, and make things more complicated for me. I also never use <t> macros. I have <me> through <8> cure2 macros for emergency "heal party member x", that I use occasionally (mostly only the <me> one), and the rest of the time I have my focus on the party list, and scroll through. I do have <tt> macros for damage dealing, but that is something I only use in dungeons I am already comfortable with due to running multiple times. My default target is the tank at all times, unless the tank isn't keeping hate, in which case I am probably on either myself or the bard (it is always a bard) who has hate and is taking damage, and then only until the tank can wrest his hate back from the offending party member.... Anyway. Anything else is asking for trouble.

The only macros I have been considering adding are ones to repose ignore1 and ignore2 marked target, for those times I am in a group without a BLM.

You're asking a play style question, so the "better" of the two methods will be whatever feels most comfortable for the caster (if either of them apply at all). There's no mechanics that favor either/or, but players will usually decide to do one or the other to reduce reaction time.

Personally, it's easier for me to target the mob and heal through it's target. The other method just feels clunky to me. I use <mo> macros mostly, with one twist. I removed the <me> part of the macro. I noticed the self healing bug with the macro and the only thing that seemed to make it work as advertised was to just outright remove that part of the macro. Now, when neither of the two options are met, nothing happens and my mana is spared until I can correct my position. Feels more natural that way. Might not be ideal for some, but I like it.

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Originally Posted by Dynamisx

I use a variation of this technique that works well for me in almost every situation.

My macro is:

/ac "Cure" <mo>
/ac "Cure" <focus>
/ac "Cure" <target>
/ac "Cure" <me>

I keep the main tank as focus target, allowing me to target the mob/boss. I mouseover the party window to heal other members, and if i want to heal outside the party (eg during a Fate) i can target them directly. I also dont have to keep setting focus target for each new encounter.

Its handy have the boss/mob targeted as I can see what the boss is casting, and if the tank loses aggro i can see who is about to need healing. I can also tab around if there are multiple mobs to keep an eye on them while never losing focus on the tank. I find I often lose targets in highly mobile fights (probably from rightclicking on the ground while moving, but this way i can always safely heal the tank just by making sure i'm not mousing over anything and casting my heals.

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This is exactly what I was thinking but my variation is as follows:

/ac "Cure" <mo>
/ac "Cure" <t>
/ac "Cure" <focus>
/ac "Cure" <tt>

The only question I have is, why focus before target? I'm primarily going to heal with Scholar so I need to make sure I can micromanage Embrace with my pets. You cannot macro pet abilities, nor can you set them to work on focus target. The only way is to click on the target and use the ability from a keybind. That's why when I need to heal bomb a target, not just a tank but a party member, I will occasionally click on the party member and cast Adlo and Embrace at the same time. If I focus before target macro (like yours), I will potentially heal my focus target and a party member (one with embrace the other with adlo/physick) instead of healing the one person with BOTH. Also, by having target first and focus second, I can do the opposite and heal the tank with Embrace while I heal a party member with adlo/physic at the same time. The pet is good enough to do it for me, but sometimes I want to micro manage.

Lastly, the <tt> is for FATE grinding. If I have nothing set as my focus, and have the mob targetted without mousing over anything... it will automatically heal the person targetted by the FATE mob (especially a boss). The FATE mob can change targets 100 times and it wouldn't matter, i will always be able to heal whoever is targetted with my macro, so long as I don't have a focus target (which I will never have during Fate grinding).

One more thing, I removed <me> because I noticed during dungeon runs that it would default cure me each time the tank/focus was out of range and I wasn't mousing over anything. I want to know when someone is out of range or else they'll die. So I taught myself to heal myself with <mo>. Problem solved.

What do you think?

"/ac "Cure" <mo>
/ac "Cure" <t>
/ac "Cure" <focus>
/ac "Cure" <tt>"

This will actually cast on yourself if your target is out of range, which is a bad thing. You really want to know when your out of range instead of healing yourself.
I think its <tt> that causes that actually.. so if you just did the first three it would likely work.

Hmmm...

You may be right... I'll have to test it some more. I'm good about knowing my healing distance where this issue rarily comes up. It's also very efficient healing for FATES.. but if it's going to be an issue which causes a wipe.... i need to know sooner or later.

After trying both out, I'm sticking with <t>, it's mainly cause you can't really see as many debuffs on focus target so I usually target or <mo> allies. Gives me a better visual for dispels etc. With the boss focus targeted, you can still see inc actions. I wish something like

/ac "Cure" <t>
/ac "Cure" <tt>

would work like we wanted it to, but unfortunately it seems buggy :<

tldr

This is how I do it:

On all heals I got
<t>
<tt>
On my casted damage spells and instants that do not trigger gcd I got
<t>
<tt>
On my instant damage spells that trigger gcd I got
<t>

In healingmode I focus the tank and can toss some spells on his target but am unable to trigger a gcd with an instant. Just a saftynet - If a heal is necessary I can abort any cast while focusing the tank. The only exception I set for this is ruin II. I cast that way to often in healing mode to prevent incoming damage.

As the fight goes well I can switch to an enemy still being able to heal his target (most propably the tank) but also being able to dot em up.

<tt> is probably more useful when you want to DPS and heal at the same time. Otherwise, I only use macro to pop the abilities like Swiftcast and chain it with raise or big heal. I find clicking the name on the party bar or use F1-F4 much easier

I use all <tt> for my damage abilities, and all <t> for my heals. I never use mouseover, and I'll explain why.

I've found it is very powerful to direct my faery's heals where I want them to go, yet you cannot do a mouseover macro for the pet. This way, I have the tank targeted, and when I need to DPS I just hit one of my macros to automatically hit whatever he is hitting. Very useful to not have to stop and re-target to use Energy Drain or to drop a Bio on an enemy. I can always direct embrace at whoever I am targeting.

I don't get why <mo> is useful when half the time the person I'm healing is not even on my screen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kako0404

I don't get why <mo> is useful when half the time the person I'm healing is not even on my screen.

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You can mouse over their name in the party menu and it works just as well. The reason I like <mo> is because it makes me 33% more efficient. Traditional method is, (1) move mouse to character/nameplate; (2) Click on character/nameplate to target them; (3) press heal. With mouse over macros, you remove step 2.


Another cool thing about mouse overs that I like, I can have Tank targetted the whole time, and mouse over other party members and cure them. Once I no longer mouse over anyone, it default heals the tank.

Lastly, you can hve the boss/enemy targted the whole time, and mouse over your tank and/or party members and heal them without switching targets. This way I can see my SCH DoTs on the boss or see what the boss is casting. Most importantly, I get to see the boss's Target of Target, whether it's the tank, or someone else. I can heal that person proactively rather than reactively. Especially when the boss switches to another party member, I know who it is before the boss can get to them to apply stoneskin/adlo.

Millions of ways to do the same thing. I'm just trying to find my happy place right now... still tweaking... always tweaking.

My 2 cents.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zell

You can mouse over their name in the party menu and it works just as well. The reason I like <mo> is because it makes me 33% more efficient. Traditional method is, (1) move mouse to character/nameplate; (2) Click on character/nameplate to target them; (3) press heal. With mouse over macros, you remove step 2.

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That's interesting. I like the feedback clicking the name provides on the UI so probably gonna fit my style but still nice to see the game provide so many targetting options for different playing styles.

I can't say I find macros like this useful at all. Mouse over healing (at least for me) is highly inefficient and depends on people's movement. I can just click the name in the party list or press the corresponding F key and immediately I have whatever person I want to target without fumbling to mouse over them. Also, I focus target the boss at the beginning of combat.
But just because this works for me does not mean it works for everyone, but given the amount of ways to target people, I don't think there's really a need for all of the macros. At least for healing.

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Originally Posted by Cassandaria

I can't say I find macros like this useful at all. Mouse over healing (at least for me) is highly inefficient

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0 chance your method is more effective. Because you can mouseover party frames.

For example I can have tank 1 targeted. Cast physick (using my keyboard <t> button>, then instantly lustrate tank 2 with my <mo> button, and then immediately do another physick on tank 1.

The delay from moving your mouse from each person, and clicking them makes it automatically slower.

Now if your talking about on GCD abilities only, it is far less noticeable, however it still lets you make decisions milliseconds faster then any other method even if they are performed optimally, for example for cleansing.

I know its all doable with either method, so it really doesn't matter, but claiming your method is more efficient is naive.

I actually didn't claim it to be overly more efficient, I said it was more efficient for me. I've tried both ways.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cassandaria

I actually didn't claim it to be overly more efficient, I said it was more efficient for me. I've tried both ways.

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Then you're doing something wrong. There's no way in hell that sorting through people or manually targeting people (whether via a button or clicking their frames) will ever be more efficient than mousing over and pushing a button.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LiadansWhisper

Then you're doing something wrong. There's no way in hell that sorting through people or manually targeting people (whether via a button or clicking their frames) will ever be more efficient than mousing over and pushing a button.

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And moving the mouse and pressing the button will never be as fast as just pushing two buttons. If you want to be at maximum efficiency you might just do sth wrong. The one you claimed said it is best for him/her. And if you cant react faster to make a 1-8 desicion than you can move the mouse over an emty frame than mouseover may be the most efficient for you. On paper most efficient would be to play with both hands on the keyboard binding spells to speciffic targets multiple times. But that takes such a high level of coordination (moving with both hands) that other systems are more efficient for most ppl.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sinaloa

And moving the mouse and pressing the button will never be as fast as just pushing two buttons. If you want to be at maximum efficiency you might just do sth wrong. The one you claimed said it is best for him/her. And if you cant react faster to make a 1-8 desicion than you can move the mouse over an emty frame than mouseover may be the most efficient for you. On paper most efficient would be to play with both hands on the keyboard binding spells to speciffic targets multiple times. But that takes such a high level of coordination (moving with both hands) that other systems are more efficient for most ppl.

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That would be incredibly inefficient.

I mean, unless by "efficient" you mean "really awesomely standing in every possible ground effect because you wouldn't be able to move fast enough with both hands on your keyboard."

I mean, unless we're getting into keyboard-turning territory.

This discussion is on hold til we see how the 24-person raid frames work for crystal/etc.. (wish I could see some sort of preview)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LiadansWhisper

That would be incredibly inefficient.

I mean, unless by "efficient" you mean "really awesomely standing in every possible ground effect because you wouldn't be able to move fast enough with both hands on your keyboard."

I mean, unless we're getting into keyboard-turning territory.

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I agree it would be inefficient for you and I admit it is inefficient for me. But with 6 fingers designated for movement and you could move far more accurate than with mouse/keyboard. Again its utopic to be at that level of coordination. Just showing up that your best system is Top 3 at max.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LiadansWhisper

That would be incredibly inefficient.

I mean, unless by "efficient" you mean "really awesomely standing in every possible ground effect because you wouldn't be able to move fast enough with both hands on your keyboard."

I mean, unless we're getting into keyboard-turning territory.

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Actually, I never get hit by aoe circles thank you very much. I'm sorry that my comment has caused so much controversy, different people have different skill sets. Not using mouse over is more efficient for ME, it's not for everyone, but I learned from FFXI, and that means that I can work faster pressing one of the F keys (which is right next to the number keys to cast my spells) to select a target that I will automatically know by position without having to look, or move my hand to heal than I will fiddling with the mouse and hoping that I move it to the right box in the same time that I could just hit two buttons. This is efficient FOR ME, not for everyone. If you learned how to type using the home keys, you'll be slower hunting and pecking and if you learned how to type hunting and pecking, the home keys will be inefficient FOR YOU.
You can't jump down and feel everyone has to conform to only one way or one style of playing, if it was only efficient in one way, why have so many ways to actually select your target? It's for the efficiency of the individual. That's why.

I don't use either, I use shift 1-4 for party members 1-4 and ctrl 1-4 for 5-8, I also set a focus on the main tank, and my snap to focus is shift + spacebar. I probably won't need to use mouse overs until the 24+ mans come around. I only use macro's for my damage dealing stuff like virus and dots.

I can see me possibly doing mouse over for the 24 man stuff, I just find it redundant at the moment right now when my fingers are so close to all of the F keys I'll need. We'll see how targeting works for these bigger events and see how I can manage. Maybe everyone will be separated into squads or something?

<mo> end of thread

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KariArisu

<mo> end of thread

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"Not if I keep talking." Jake Harper

For me, typically the macro that I base a lot of things are:

/ac ... <mo>
/ac ... <t>
/ac ... <tt>
/ac ... <me>

I almost always have my mouse over the party bars but I keep the mob pretty much targeted.

So this covers everything except for a mob that likes to flip targets and I'm not actively hovering my mouse over a frame.

haven't had any issues yet other than the occasional tank dragging a mob out of my range and NPC healing, which usually means i need to hover the mouse over the tt of the mob I'm highlighting or target it. This isn't something that is all that common.

I only use the mouse for looking, nothing more. F1->F8 to select people then after hearing the "click" sound of selecting that person, press relevant key for spell I want to use (i.e. 3 for regen etc). Can chain things together very quickly. I tried using the mouse to select people either directly or on by using the list and both just seemed too slow/inefficient and a lot of time ended up clicking the wrong thing due to people moving.

I've got a Logitech G600 mouse so I'm trying to get into the habit of using the 12 buttons on the side as function keys for selecting people, but it's hard to break my existing habit so it hasn't worked out too well so far.