Fellow healers, lend me your counsel

Over the weekend I opted to do primal runs. It was at this time that I would probably encounter one of my worst PF runs ever. After taking down Titan I proceeded to join an Ifrit run, but this run would make me question my own ability as a healer..

For starters the tank pulled Ifrit straight towards the west. The WHM was positioned towards the west while I covered the East side. I have done Ifrit before but I was not used to this positioning. When I did it before we were about northwest with him..Or a bit closer to north itself. Needless to say it was terrible as soon as I got seering wind the whole party began moving towards me to dodge eruptions.. Again something I hadn't seen before.

We wiped repeatedly, then they began to question my ability to heal. The WHM in the party told me to heal the tanks on my own while she gets the party and vice versa when one of us gets SW. She provided me with no regen or medica 2.. I had never struggled this hard with healing tanks during Ifrit. Even when we swapped sides I still couldn't solo heal nor keep them up.. And I don't know why it was so hard..

Needless to say I was blamed entirely, I didn't deny the mocking, nor the laughter, my pride as a healer was even more obliterated when the WHM began to baby me by asking what she could do to make me feel comfortable. I opted to leave so they could get a new member and even after saying that I was mocked. So here I am not, asking the community for aid. Have I been foolish this whole time? Playing pretend like a little girl walking about in mommies heels playing grown up.. Or was there more at work here ? As mentioned the other times I did Ifrit with another WHM it went fine.. Was mostly DPS issues but we downed him. But this time it was like a whole new primal..

If I am bad. I will stop healing I would hate to be a liability. So please help me come to terms with this.

On past experience, relying on other people to comment on what went wrong in a party is a bad thing to do. The majority of players don't have a clue what's going on around them. You finding it harder could simply be down to being paired with a bad healer or with a squishy tank. That said, if the DPS were running towards you when you had Searing Wind that can only be their fault. If they didn't get hit when behind Ifrit then your positioning was fine (unless you were opposite the tank and in line with the DPS - but it sounds like you were to the side.)

It sounds like it was just a bad group and that singling you out for its failure might be harsh. It's hard to honestly say as I wasn't there. I stand by my original sentence though. The majority of people don't look at what's going on around them but are very quick to ascertain who to throw their blame at when something goes wrong.

Either way, hang in there. Any criticism can be taken constructively, no matter how much vitriol is mixed in!

Ifrit EX is one of the major heal checks of 2.1 and isn't something to be trifled with. There's a lot to aware of, since the oncoming damage on the tank is massive, you have to be counting your stack and your partner's stacks, and you have to be aware of your position in relation to the position of every other member in the arena while you have the debuff.

If you understand the generally accepted nuances of the fight, then all you need to do is take a break, then step back in there. Be calm, be collected, and be ready to heal.

In general though, when I hear "the tank pulled it west", instead of east that I'm used to, it makes me wonder. Either way, the best way to start is to ask the other healer "Do you want to be on the left of Ifrit, or the right of Ifrit?" That generally circumvents any confusion in that regard. Then position appropriately.

Selene nailed it.

That's forum healing right there.

Thank you both.

Let me pose this question then. As I am to understand that a scholar is a mitigation healer. How then do I keep both tanks up who are performing swaps at around 3-4 stacks (was sloppy switches) without the aid of the burst healer the WHM. Ifrits buff lowers my healing even more so than it already is compared to a WHM around the same lvl.

It's probably squishy tanks imo,
Also i just love it when dps run to my side when i have SW.
Getting sandwitched between the tanks and dps running from erruptions, i'll gladly kill them off if they get too close lol.
I even marked myself with the do not attack red sign. But they always run to me?

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Originally Posted by TeaTimeBear

Thank you both.

Let me pose this question then. As I am to understand that a scholar is a mitigation healer. How then do I keep both tanks up who are performing swaps at around 3-4 stacks (was sloppy switches) without the aid of the burst healer the WHM. Ifrits buff lowers my healing even more so than it already is compared to a WHM around the same lvl.

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If the swaps are sloppy, there isn't much you can do about it (though I know sometimes Ifrit also bugs out and "Won't switch". He wants to puke liquid fire vomit on the tank for a bit before swapping). I'd say make use of Sacred Soil more than Lustrate as that provides 15 seconds of 10% mitigation regardless of stacks, and use Aldo with impunity. Generally when you see one breath, you will see at least one more, but generally you'll see two. Using a Lustrate after the first breath then follow up with Aldo and Embrace spam on the tank. Being prepared in advance by having a Roused + Fey Illumination + Whispering Dawn ticking as well helps with overall health normalization. Tanks need to have the awareness to use their CDs appropriately as well.

As an FYI, if a PLD uses Sentinel (or whichever grants 60% mitigation), combined with Aldo from a SCH + Stoneskin from a WHM can generally bring breath damage to 0. Do this long enough and the stacks will fall off the MT. Can use this as a breather if needed (same with Hallowed Ground).

Ifrit has a number of variations for some reason so it's just a matter of working out the details with the group. Because safe spots are symmetric, Ifrit can be tanked west or east (safe spots will be to the right of Ifrit then) or northwest or southeast (safe spots will be to the left of Ifrit). Nothing else really changes. If DPS don't know how to dodge eruptions and SW, that's their fault. And finally, WHMs that don't use regen - I'm done here.

Bad group trying to blame their failures on someone else, nothing else to be said. It's typical.

For poor tank swaps, make liberal use of Adloquium.

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Originally Posted by SeleneVenizelos

if the DPS were running towards you when you had Searing Wind that can only be their fault.

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^ this 100% lol. as long as you are in the correct position, this is NEVER your fault. also you can just regen yourself. SW doesnt really do much to you imo.

my thing is: dont worry too much about the party. worry about the tanks and yourself. heal the party mostly during your last 5 sec of SW when it doesnt do anything and you can move towards them, if you dont have SW and you and the other healer are swapping, during nail explosions, and after the phase changes. a divine seal med 2/cure3 works well during those times. as long as the DPS arent getting caught in bad situations then things should be fine. a random cure here and there helps if someone messes up or takes too much for some reason. other than that, its not too bad.

Thanks everyone, I'll be sure to use these tips and get back in there in due time.

There are some primals that I simply refuse to roll healer with...like garuda.
I feel your pain. I get the same banter when I try to tank. Never mind that 90% of the time somebody is pulling ahead of me or running away with the mob *facepalm*

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Originally Posted by Merryl

There are some primals that I simply refuse to roll healer with...like garuda.
I feel your pain. I get the same banter when I try to tank. Never mind that 90% of the time somebody is pulling ahead of me or running away with the mob *facepalm*

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It's reassuring knowing I'm not alone. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by SeleneVenizelos

The majority of people don't look at what's going on around them but are very quick to ascertain who to throw their blame at when something goes wrong.

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Amen to this. It's always someone else's fault and when people die it's quickly blamed on the healers. And sometimes other healers don't want to take the blame so they jump on board by singling out the other healer.

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Originally Posted by TeaTimeBear

If I am bad. I will stop healing I would hate to be a liability. So please help me come to terms with this.

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I still have much to learn, but I have a wonderful FC full of very helpful players and I am getting better every day. I had this conversation with some of them last night because I had just had a nightmare run of Bray HM. A friend told me that a bad player would never ask for help. As long as you are making an effort to get better, learn the mechanics, and learn to use your skills to their fullest potential you are not bad. That being said, it sounds like you just had a bad party this time.

TeaTimeBear

Two simple tricks I learned the hard way;
1)Sholars prevent, Whitemages react.
2)Tank > Healer > DPS (This is from reddit - kudos to OP)

When a party wipes it is very rarely one person's fault.
Don't take it too seriously, we all cock up. This is just a game.