As a tank, what should I know/do to make it easier on Healer?

[Endeleon]

So I am pretty new to this game(and it's my first MMO), so I don't know very much about the different limitations of the classes. But that's not what I'm going to ask here.

I just wonder what you, as healer, like to see from tanks that make it easier on you and in your opinion make a run go smoothly? I don't really know what to expect, what to wait for, what things I may be doing unconsciously that make you silently sit in a rage. xD I try at any opportunity to not piss people off so it'd be really cool to know what to avoid or what you like to see from a tank.

[GideonHighmourn]

Know the fight and when to use defensive cool downs.

Also, don't be lazy -- Dodge AoEs. <3

[VisRalis]

Best would be to play as healer as well to get perspective insight.
Experience is best.

[melflomil]

Look at their gear, mainly the weapon. You will know how much mobs to pull.

Use cooldowns effectively, meaning for mobs don't use it while gathering them. Use it after you gather them.

Use cooldowns on bosses.

[Tranquil]

For dungeons:

- Actually use your resources proactively. This might sound stupid to you, but many people just 'get by' and won't rotate their cooldowns as necessary. The same kind of guys never seem to plan ahead and try to minmax in general.

- On the previous note: distribute your cooldowns evenly between bigger pulls instead of stacking them on one pull and having nothing on the next one. You obviously need to use your own judgment here, but if you're doing sets of big pulls, it can be possible you're overkilling it on the first pull and underkilling on the next one. Makes a healer lose a lot DPS in simply having to keep the tank up. (Unless very overgeared).

- Tag NPCs properly with some skill with an enmity modifier. A shield lob/Tomahawk for singular mobs, or then running by and Flashing as you go past them. Again, for bigger pulls, healers sometimes wanna cast once or twice mid-pull whilst headed towards the designated pull-ending-place; simply running past mobs and not generating sufficient hate on them will suck, as mobs will run free if someone does anything to net aggro (buffing themselves, casting E4E, a fairy using Embrace on you, never mind manually casted heals by the healer). Simply running by mobs will put you on top of the enmity list by 1 point, but all and any actual actions will make people surpass this number, hence the mobs can be lost mid-pull and them yoyoing can destroy the whole pull, which is why you need to be considerate of this while pulling big.

There're many other things, QoL stuff and otherwise (such as Sprint-pulling on a PLD whilst considering that a mitigation tool, as you'll use Flash for the most part anyway for big pulls) but you're still new to the game as you say and this is your first MMO, so you might not be doing speedruns right off the bat. (And we'll transition into level 60 soon enough anyway, with everyone having new stuff to learn).

For raiding content and stuff, it's the best to level other jobs yourself to understand how certain things work out. However, if you don't move a mob around needlessly ("spin2win!"), you're off to a good start at least. Just use common sense, read a few guides, watch gameplay videos of skilled players, level stuff yourself, actually read the tooltips and if you're wondering about something - search about it on the internet or ask a question. General stuff, y'know.

Have fun!

[KisaiTenshi]

Without going into detail
1) When in doubt, ask how big of pull the healer can handle. Their maximum MP will tell you how long they can keep healing.
2) Don't backtrack. The healer needs to keep line of sight, if they run past you because you stop and turn around, it's probably going to be a wipe if that's a speed pull.
3) Use Tanking gear and Tanking stance. Come prepared to tank.
4) The boss is to face the wall, especially the wall away from exploding things.
5) When speedpulling, use things like Hallowed Ground to ensure you don't get whacked 3 seconds after you stop.

[raela]

Be "predictable." It gets on my nerves (and makes healing more difficult) when a tank grabs a pack, stands there to let dps whack in a mobm then runs off 5 seconds late. My default assumption is a several second pause during a pull means we will be staying at that point.

[Selli]

Posted in a similar thread a while ago, but I'll post it again here.

This is from a WHM perspective and most of these apply more-so to level 50 content.

1) Either keep pulling or stop. Don't stop to OP or Flash 2-3 times and then keep going. You're taking more damage, I think you're stopping and going to Regen you and start Holying. Flash while running through a group of mobs and then use Shield Lob/Tomahawk to get aggro on ones not hit by flash. This will also keep DPS from ripping mobs off you as they'll start attacking when you stop as well.

2) Use your cooldowns. I have gotten kicked from a run for telling a PLD in AK HM that he needs to actually pop buffs when he does the whole hallway + room for the 2nd trash pull. If I have to blow Divine Seal, Presence of Mind, Swiftcast + Cure II, and Bene and the tank still dies after rotating through those, the tank isn't popping enough buffs. I can't heal 3k+ of unmitigated incoming damage when I only have 2.6k Cure II's.

3) Wait for Stoneskin. I will try to Stoneskin you when the last mob is at 25% or I'll Swiftcast + Stoneskin II after everything dies. But sometimes you run around a corner and I have to start casting all over or Stoneskin doesn't stick on everyone and I have to cast it manually. I don't want to pull aggro off the things you're about to pull, you don't want chase them. So if you see that party arrow on your screen from my casting, just stand still for a second or two and it'll be okay.

4) Don't pull what you can't handle. I know people like speed runs, but if you can't keep hate on a big group or you're just barely on ilevel requirement for the run. Then stick to smaller groups that you're comfortable with handling.

5) Watch a video before the fight. Not as big of a deal for a dungeon, but a tank is supposed to lead the group. So even if it's your first time, watching a video will help you understand what to expect so you don't blindly lead your party into danger or get surprised by a boss mechanic.

6) If you're in a 24 man raid, for the love of everyone's sanity, don't fight the other tanks for aggro (I mean, sometimes you accidentally rip the boss off another tank, but I mean doing it intentionally). I was in a WoD last night and I saw a tank on Cerb's butt provoke after the tail AoE came out, and Cerb cleaved right away. That tank literally 1-shot all 10 melees in that raid and a couple of healers.

7) Compensate for your party. If you're running 2 melee, try to have all of the mobs facing the same way. If you've got 2 BLMs (and you feel comfortable doing so), pull big so they can utilize their OP AoE rotations. If you're doing a low level roulette and 2/4 people are new, ask the 4th person if they wouldn't mind doing a full clear and help the lowbies.

8) It's okay to make mistakes. Everyone does. Sometimes we wipe and/or people die and that's okay. Just learn from the experience and try not to take it out on everyone and I promise it'll be okay.

[Laurima]

Use Convalescence when your health is low! not when you walk into a fight with full health! (had this happen so many times now... >< ) If you have Convalescence of course.

[Dynalon]

- know fights and dungeons (paths of trash patrols etc.)
- use cds accordingly (against bosses or big trash pulls), plan ahead, especially for long cds
- try to watch bigger picture, for example dps is at low hp > use cd / stoneskin yourself an give healer time to switch an heal or move out of the way of trash patrols to prevent accidental dps pull etc.
- check party composition and alter your strategy accordingly, for example:
if party has BLM or another aoe capable class, you can do bigger pulls, if dps doesn't aoe anyway you go back to smaller pulls, also inspect your party members gear if you are not sure what to expect. Mark targets if nobody is doing aoe.
- dodge aoes, position trash or boss in a way so that your dps can do their job and healer doesn't have to move
- if theres any confusion about what to do (such as multiple strategies for a certain fight) communicate with others to ensure everybody is on the same page
- if you are new to content please say it before you pull / ask others about boss fights
- pay attention to healers mana especially if it is WHM and how is he/she healing, in case of extensive overhealing pay extra attention to threat.
- if healer puts stoneskin / adlo on you before each pull, stand still for second or two, dont run behind corner / out of range
- don't be afraid to use LB if party messes up and wipe is imminent