Protect? Really important? Low level content

[technole]

It's a lot easier to just go in with Protect slotted, buff them up, and then remove it as they run to the first pull. We're healers first, so we should always focus on supporting in whatever way we can primarily. The dps comes second to that.

I let Eos take care of that issue in low level. The faster a mob dies, the less to heal as well.

[Cynfael]

I let Eos take care of that issue in low level. The faster a mob dies, the less to heal as well.

Agreed. People often forget that proper "support" doesn't mean mindlessly insisting on performing healing and buffing actions when supporting in other ways makes better sense and is more effective. There's a time and a place for both methods of supporting your party.

[Leiloni]

Agreed. People often forget that proper "support" doesn't mean mindlessly insisting on performing healing and buffing actions when supporting in other ways makes better sense and is more effective. There's a time and a place for both methods of supporting your party.

Using protect is one skill you cast and are done for the rest of the dungeon. It's just laziness not to cast that at the start. It's not like it's something that requires constant vigilance.

[ArcheDragon]

This has been really great! I love hearing all of the opinions and reasons.

I'll definitely switch Blizzard 2 out for Aero. I think Aero is more powerful if I'm not being lazy lol. I'd also never considered changing my cross class skills around in dungeons due to the cooldown.

I agree with those that say that sometimes the best way to keep somebody alive is to remove the threat. I just changed my setup to Cleric Stance, Aero, Swift Cast, Protect, and Stoneskin. This doesn't address the main issue but I'll explain.

Cleric Stance, to me, is a no brainer. I'm a firm believer that if we are having serious issues in dungeons prior to level 20 then the tank is running naked. Eos can solo heal that no problem, and has done so on many occasions. Aero is extra damage in dungeons where Eos can still solo heal for the vast majority of the time. I put Swift Cast before Protect because in the event that somebody is killed it isn't reasonable, to me, to assume the minor mitigation of Protect would have saved them and Swift Cast can finally res people (after 28) and it has more general applications (instant heal, heal on the move). And Protect is before Stoneskin because I imagine more people would cry at 40 without protect and it is marginally better than stoneskin, imho.

I think it is important to note that, if I understand protect correctly, protect mitigates very little damage for dps and healers as it is based on the defense value of the target.

Using protect is one skill you cast and are done for the rest of the dungeon. It's just laziness not to cast that at the start. It's not like it's something that requires constant vigilance.

But it isn't, necessarily, just a single cast time that you have. If it isn't on your cross class list at that level then it is a long wait before you can even heal. How valuable is minor mitigation compared to the mitigation of killing the enemies faster? I frequently, in low level dungeons, put out dps very similar to that of the dps classes. It comes down to asking yourself "Will I die without it?" because those dungeons can be completed much faster without it in those cases. It might seem odd but since low level tanks have low defense compared to high level tanks, protect might actually provide less mitigation than the pseudo-mitigation of more dps. Just ask Square Enix because they obviously understand this. They just released a healer whose sole focus is supporting the group to do more damage and end fights quick so that they don't need stronger heals. Even if they have the balancing a bit off at the moment.

[Roxas_Andrade]

Well, In my opinion, people shouldn't go to dungeons way under his/her level. When 4 people apply on DF, I GUESS the DF picks the highest level dungeon everybody can enter. If you enter a dungeon with a level too low is because at least one of the players are around that level. Considering you maybe have an underleveled and undergeared partner, every mitigation available should be used.

I vote for using Protect at the start, then change it for something more useful like Cleric Stance.

[justinjarjar]

Roxas pick highest dung???? Have you done leveling que much it is mainly picks up on someone qued for a specific dungeon (you need to be of minim level), aslo in no way should you need to be over geared and leveled for a dungeon (people usually level through and gear up with dungeons), not sure what you mean thou so might be just confusion.

[Seryl199]

That's what I mean by not fully ticking. By the time you've applied bio and misama to 3 to 4 mobs, you'll get aero on 1 mob? Compared to just casing ruin that's not doing a whole lot. Basically no skill you can cross class at low level makes a difference, but lacking protect causes unnecessary stress, so why knowingly doing that when nothing makes any real difference?

In three mob packs, you should be fitting in two Aero's, with two mobs you'll get one. That's a 120-240 potency increase on every pull. It's almost as much as getting an extra Energy Drain every pull. What doesn't make a difference is how much Protect mitigates. Eos is capable of healing, and if you're forced to heal, having Protect or not won't change that you only need one Physick to bring the tank from 50% to topped, at which point you can go back to DPS'ing. I'm not sure what unecessary stress you're experiencing, you can be partied with a first time tank in Sastasha or Tam-Tara, mobs bouncing everywhere, and still heal and DPS because the damage is so trivial.

[finders]

I just can't see any reason not to have protect.

[Yorumi]

I'm not sure what unecessary stress you're experiencing, you can be partied with a first time tank in Sastasha or Tam-Tara, mobs bouncing everywhere, and still heal and DPS because the damage is so trivial.

Unnecessary stress is not on the healer it's on the general party expectations. You've got people quitting a group cause the healer doesn't have protect, and people in this topic with the tired old "you can't tell me what to do" garbage and all that. All that so a healer can cast aero and end a run 30 seconds faster. Well that was sure worth all the arguing.

[ArcheDragon]

I just can't see any reason not to have protect.

What about the notion that more dps mitigates more damage than protect does, at least in these low level dungeons?