How do you watch for boss mechanics while healing?

Just the weeping city of Mhach and the last boss
killed me because I coudnt see her casting her mechanic spell

Which caused me too die way too many times :mad:

anyone have any tips on how to deal with this problem?

Hum... always watch out on your screen

There is 3 people you have to focus on in the team list
The tank if he is the MT, you and your co-healer
The other are dps, you don't care about them (the DPS make a mistake, he should sit tightand wait for the healing wave if you can)

If the heal is alive but the DPS dead, the party can go on
If the dps are alive but the healer is dead... wipe is coming

Remember as healer that your life value more that pricky dps

Edit - you were refering to casted mechanics, like Penetration

just focus target her and splatter the forcus target bar in the middle of your screen where you'll see it definitely - not where it's a detriment, but where you can see a cast bar when it happens - so that even if you're targetting a party/alliance member to heal/raise, you WILL see the boss' cast bar. After that, it's just reacting to the name of the cast and seeing where she's facing or where the plants are

Original post when brain jumped to the conclusion of the half-a-room-wide cleave:
I had the same problem with that boss, initially - I was focused on healing/raising the dps, MT and any alliance derps, and her hair is so far up on my screen that the hair scythe is normally kind of cut off from view. I've been going more and more by sound cues as of late - then I recognize and hear the sound of her hair gathering shape (and there's a large black blob that forms over her hair as a visual queue), I move the camera to look at which side and then move to the opposite. Most of the time I'm in the clear, then.
THe times I still get cleaved, either people are dying so much/utter chaos that I don't have time to think about anything else/miss it/overly focused on healing, or towards the end when she starts doing more mechanics at a time, and running to avoid one mechanic meant being on the wrong side of her x_x (or, it was during the time frame where I was still trying to learn her ways >_>)

It'll just take practice and gain a habit to keep checking her hair and pre-emptively moving yourself (easier said than done if you're like me and try to take on too much healing, but it's better to recognize the fix and attempt to obtain it as a goal, than not try at all x_x lol)

For me, it's just going to be more and more practice.... I have Ozma down pat, but she still gets me, here and there >_> Easier boss to fudge through, but harder for me to pay attention to

I always focus target the boss, and my FT bar is right by my party list so it's something I'll actually pay attention to.

After that, it's just lots of practice.

I also always focus target the boss- you can do it by targeting the boss and hitting shift+F. As a healer I mostly am targeting party members so without the focus target I would be missing a lot of mechanics.

Seems to be a running theme here but Focus Target. Change the HUD settings to make it big and very visible. Other than that, most mechanics are easiest to follow with practice and focus. Just pay attention and know what you're looking for.

When I am healer I have my focus bar just above the top party member, as this is where my eyes are mostly focused at.

I ALWAYS focus target the boss, ever since I became a healer main. Even when playing a tank or dps i use it because I'm used to looking for the casts on that rather than on the main hp bar.

I put my focus target around the right of center of my screen, so it is easily seen but not in the way

I have my focus bar sirectly above !y party list as that's where I'm looking 99% of the time ;)

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Originally Posted by Arduno

anyone have any tips on how to deal with this problem?

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Just one word: Experience.

The more you train to heal (and doing the encounter itself), the more you can do blind, the less you view is tunnel visioning to the group list, the more time you have to watch out for mechanics.

There is IMHO no other solution for this issue.

Focus target, set to the biggest size possible for a UI element. That lets me keep an eye on the boss's cast bars while still healing.

I'm partial to mouse over macros.

You could just monitor the entire field, rather than tunneling on a splash of text and bars. Identify the movement and particles that's going on on the field. Spot something strange or that looks like damage? Take a glance at the party list. It's similar to driving a car, if you happen to have a license; Eyes on the road, glance at the mirrors once in a while.

I focus target the boss, like everyone else.
I have all my damage spells macroed to fire at my target, my FT, and then my target's target, so I can see what the boss is doing AND attack them at the same time (especially if I'm healing the tank).
(None of my healing is macroed since it can cause delay and... well as a healer that's the last thing I want.)

Also, just practice. The more you do it the more you learn when a boss is gonna pull something.

As others have mentioned, I also keep my party list and focus target bar together. As a healer main I also keep the party list sort of mid right to my character. Some people really dislike that, but for me it made things a lot easier when I first started healing.

But yeah the more you play the role, the easier it will get. You won't even need to look at the party list half the time. It happens to all of us, I suffer from the same problem when DPSing. :'D

There's a lot of helpful videos on YouTube you can watch. You can find one for just about every instance in the game. You're told about specific mechanics and what to watch for. They're definitely worth watching if you're still confused about certain fights or whatever.

I can't speak for the weeping city, but a particular mechanic I struggled with was in aurum Vale and the gigas boss' 1000 ton swing. I keep getting one shotted by it until I finally used focus target so I could see the cast bar on my screen. I also manipulated my HUD to make it stand out even further.

I don't know if you're using FT, but if not it should be quite helpful so you can always see what the boss is doing. I've definitely noticed that certain mechanics can be easier to deal with through the game's customizations.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

I don't know if you're using FT, but if not it should be quite helpful so you can always see what the boss is doing. I've definitely noticed that certain mechanics can be easier to deal with through the game's customizations.

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I'll just point out that this isn't always the case. Not every action that does significant amount of damage or requires attention has a cast bar or indicates where the damage is going. Some examples:
Any cleave-like attack without a cast bar
A particular dragon type you can find in Stone Vigil hard, The Aery, Nidhogg EX and other areas
Tailscrew in Satasha Hard
When the gorilla gets agitated in Hullbreaker Isle

So, again, I suggest you to keep your eyes on the field and not glued to the text. Glance at it frequently, but don't tunnel on it.

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

I'll just point out that this isn't always the case. Not every action that does significant amount of damage or requires attention has a cast bar or indicates where the damage is going. Some examples:
Any cleave-like attack without a cast bar
A particular dragon type you can find in Stone Vigil hard, The Aery, Nidhogg EX and other areas
Tailscrew in Satasha Hard
When the gorilla gets agitated in Hullbreaker Isle

So, again, I suggest you to keep your eyes on the field and not glued to the text. Glance at it frequently, but don't tunnel on it.

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I don't think people are trying to say to keep your eyes glued to the cast bar. That will get you killed in most places really. They just mean having it there makes it easier because if the boss IS doing a casted mechanic you will be much more likely to notice than if you aren't using FT since you might not be targeting said boss at the time

Focus target boss. That's what I always do. :D

Focus targeting, knowledge of the fight and its timings. Those are the most important I think... I also have my Focus Target and Party UI close to the center of my screen, helps a lot. On top of all that, experience healing content I guess!

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How do you watch for boss mechanics while healing?

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By EVERYONE ELSE watching boss mechanics as well. That way, I don't have to be in 4 places at once when we all take excessive damage. Otherwise, it's just put one foot in front of the other.