Stancedancing Techniques

[KisaiTenshi]

Whargarble about Medica II...

There are three kinds of WHM's I've seen:
1) Enmity Adverse - They only cast HoT's as needed, never proactively, and DPS for the DoT's/effects not for the damage.
2) DPS Adverse - They will never use DPS skills, ever, not even DoT's, but will use HoT's and StoneSkin whenever there is no reason to use Cure alone
3) DPS Aggressive - They will prioritize DPS skills, which means they will do everything possible to maximize their DPS. This includes casting Medica II, Regen and other healbombs immediately followed by CS.

The Enmity adverse healer is trying to make the tank's job easier. The DPS adverse is trying to make THEIR job easier. The DPS Aggressive WHM doesn't care if they are helping or hurting the party. See previous threads about DPS-class healers lowering their DPS because they believe their healer doesn't know their job.

If someone wants to maximize their DPS time as a WHM, they need to tell their party that, otherwise they are just making everything less efficient all around, from pissing off the Tank with healbombs to pissing off the DPS by requiring them to heal themselves.

[Cynfael]

See previous threads about DPS-class healers lowering their DPS because they believe their healer doesn't know their job.

If someone wants to maximize their DPS time as a WHM, they need to tell their party that, otherwise they are just making everything less efficient all around, from pissing off the Tank with healbombs to pissing off the DPS by requiring them to heal themselves.

Yeah, except that if you're referencing the posts that I think you are, they were about DPS healing just because they could, not because anyone was in obvious danger of dying.

Those 3 types of WHM are all deficient:

1) Shroud exists for a reason. Who cares how much enmity you grab with Holy spam if you dump half of it before the tank encounters issues?
2) This WHM either does not know how to DPS the content or is opposed to doing so for whatever strange reason they may have. Understandable in the first case, as there is a learning period for everyone, but suboptimal in both.
3) This little piggy would be ideal if not likely to be tunnel-visioned on DPS.

Good WHMs don't need to explain their intentions to their parties; it's obvious to anyone paying attention that things are going well when mobs die faster and everyone survives. WHMs who stance-dance effectively are always thinking a few steps ahead and are very opportunistic in their approach to support DPS.

[VanilleFang]

WHMs who stance-dance effectively are always thinking a few steps ahead and are very opportunistic in their approach to support DPS.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Thank you!

@Thread: I only mentioned the enmity bit before as an "additional" worry when using Medica II. It generates far more enmity than regen, and can cause minor issues if your tank hasn't pulled everything effectively. It might be that I'm being a bit of a pessimist but not all tanks do their jobs perfectly and won't always have fully established aggro.

@Lyrica: Always the insightful one! +1

[Viviza]

The best way to learn is to push your limits and fail. If anything, you aren't failing enough.

The very best players will occasionally eat dirt BECAUSE they are pushing that boundary. They're the ones that will get clipped by AOE pushing for an extra attack, or let the tank die because the heal came 0.1s too late, or not use a cooldown because they think they can take the hit -- and can't. Then they adjust, and ride that line, because they know exactly where it is, and pull off some amazing play.

[xxhieixx]

I always have stoneskin on the tank between pulls, when the enemies are about to die I start casting it. Eye for an eye on big pulls, divine seal if its a big pull, top off tank, put up regen, swiftcast holy, then PoM holy.

As for when to stop...I just watch the tanks health (as you stated) and heal when I think it's nesecary. It's just kind of something you judge and know when to do...hard to explain lol. Something you could do is save your swiftcast or pom until you feel you have the timing down better.
Also, I don't know about the medica II thing...holy already takes a ton of mp, and medica II is never something I felt nesecary to keep the tank up while I dpsed

[Yumi_umi]

The best way to learn is to push your limits and fail. If anything, you aren\\'t failing enough.

The very best players will occasionally eat dirt BECAUSE they are pushing that boundary. They\\'re the ones that will get clipped by AOE pushing for an extra attack, or let the tank die because the heal came 0.1s too late, or not use a cooldown because they think they can take the hit -- and can\\'t. Then they adjust, and ride that line, because they know exactly where it is, and pull off some amazing play.

I agree this is what ppl should do, u can\\'t know ur limits till u possibly hit tht danger zone or go beyond it. Benediction should always be the safety net as its the last thing u can do to heal the tank before they die ( unless for whatever reason it fails to land ).
@ cynfael
Really u have to bring the tank gear up as a point? Tht has nothing to do with this. Is tht how low u need to stoop to?

[firstsin]

I really like how majority of us WHM have discovered the same way of stance dancing and spamming holy while keeping the tank alive.

[MXMoondoggie]

I really like how majority of us WHM have discovered the same way of stance dancing and spamming holy while keeping the tank alive.

I imagine most people will experiment on the first pull to see what is happening then adjust from there. Normally I'll push it early on just to see how the Tank reacts to low HP if they panic i know they are maybe not confident so I'll play it a bit more safe. If i see them lowering damage on themselves and not reacting to low HP i know they will be fine for me to last second heal them. You can also get some idea of how many holys you can pull off before they will need a heal.

[Classikal]

As thing go atm, I tend to be a bit more liberal with Divine Seal than Eye for an eye, since the recast is much shorter. Only really use Eye for an Eye for bigger pulls. Just started Qarn(Hard) and it's pretty fun.

Bosses though, I hold back a bit. I just AoE the adds on the 1st two, and and pull back and hold a defensive position on the last boss.

[Cynfael]

@ cynfael
Really u have to bring the tank gear up as a point? Tht has nothing to do with this. Is tht how low u need to stoop to?

That wasn't me. Please direct your comment elsewhere :P

EDIT: Here you go:

This is beautiful coming from a WHM who thinks Tank accessories on a healer in PvE content is the best things since sliced bread. .-. If you're gonna do that, do it right and get hybrid accessories.