Advice for starting PvP healers?

[Bartleby]

Hi. I've written a guide for playing WHM in the Feast. You may find it helpful for just playing a healer in general as well. You can find it on PvPaissa here.

[Llus]

Hmmm. In my experience in Frontlines, tanks (especially PLDs) are the ones giving me stun resist within the first 10 seconds my team is on ice, haha. If you're talking about Feast, yeah, I can agree with that, but it seemed more like the OP was interested in Frontlines first.

Yea, if PLDs are stunning you and you get resist; they're wasting time if their DPS isn't killing you. Same with wars that come out opening with brutal swing. The biggest problem though, is if healers holy the crowd - once the ice is down; everyone is stun resist and you won't be able to pick off many stragglers/lock down healers escaping/healing stragglers

[Llus]

IMO, a wise choice. Feast has a few extra mechanics that need to be learned. For the sake of completeness and education, a short list:

Feast is brutal on new players, especially healers. It's best to learn in unranked feast and frontlines before going into ranked feast. Unranked 8v8 feast is probably the best place to learn how to stay alive and keep your party alive TBH - since there's no rewards tied to rank in 8v8, it's not as bad as sucking horribly in ranked and if you're committed you can learn pretty quickly; 72 man frontlines is going to be very different (especially shatter since most new players just play objectives and then run away)

[tinythinker]

Hi. I've written a guide for playing WHM in the Feast. You may find it helpful for just playing a healer in general as well. You can find it on PvPaissa here.

Thanks. Nice guide. My bars got messed up a few months ago for some reason so I will still need to fix them for WHM, as well as practice the class (started as CNJ/WHM but haven't used it in a while).


To any/all: I know I get a different hotbar set up for each class/job, is it possible to get a different setup for PvP-only on a class/job or do I need to change my bars each time I switch between PvE and PvP?

[Bartleby]

To any/all: I know I get a different hotbar set up for each class/job, is it possible to get a different setup for PvP-only on a class/job or do I need to change my bars each time I switch between PvE and PvP?

Yes, what you can do is create a macro that will swap out your hotbars for PvE with your hotbars for PvP and vice versa. Here is an example:

/hotbar copy WHM 1 CNJ 4
/hotbar copy CNJ 1 WHM 1
/hotbar copy CNJ 4 CNJ 1
/hotbar copy WHM 2 CNJ 4
/hotbar copy CNJ 2 WHM 2
/hotbar copy CNJ 4 CNJ 2
/hotbar copy WHM 3 CNJ 4
/hotbar copy CNJ 3 WHM 3
/hotbar copy CNJ 4 CNJ 3

This macro will swap the abilities & spells on your WHM hotbars 1-3 with the abilities and spells on your CNJ hotbar 1-3. So if you have your PvE skills on WHM 1-3 right now, and place your pvp skills on CNJ 1-3, when you press the macro, it will swap between PvP and PvE sets. You can extend this to even more hotbars/jobs if you wish.

[Ama_Hamada]

Hello, I've seen a couple of complaint threads about healers, but does anyone have advice? (I play WHM and SCH)

Looked up info elsewhere. Most is outdated except (for example, Cleric Stance is now disabled) for a great thread from last month that focused more on Astrologian but still had good insights for all healers. I wanted to try PvP when I started playing FFXIV last spring but it was kind of slow getting through the queue. I did find some helpful things out from my websearch (including some clever SCH macros) there but additional insights are very welcome. Tried Shatter once last night and... ouch.

WHM>SCH in pvp, a lot of people gave good advice for whm but here is a few on SCH:
I do not know how much people take it to heart but I have a Dissipation on macro. If I am using this, it means I am trouble, it is a last resort, and I am being hit hard. This can get the attention of your heal healer that you may nee extra help healing during your downtime once all your aether is used that provoked you to use that to begin with.

SCH has no CC at all, all you do is toss ruin II or aero on mounted people.

The pvp knockback we get to help our lack of utility is extremely annoying due to its short range and slow processing speed by the server. You will rarely hit people with it unless they are standing still.

Try give people stonskin/Adloquium when in downtime.

Talk to people about solo rushing into people. I told someone do not rush in like that, I did my best in doing what I could to save him but I had to run away or get killed (goes back to that last post do not be a hero) When I spoke to the person he said "let me be killed then. it does not matter being 1/72 people" even though it is really 1/24 but whatever.

I use Focalization when it seems we are going to be barraged by caster lbs, it helps a lot to reduce damage. Usually you want to do this on big ice after like 15% hp is gone since that is the point a high number of people are on it usually.

Dissipation lasts longer then PvE so be aware of that and do not use swiftcast too soon, also while under Dissipation before, doing a swiftcast> tactics> Adloquium help me escape a mob of people after I Attunement them.

TRY TRY to to always at least have one aetherflow stack or aetherflow ready to use. For whatever reason if you use all of them, and aetherflow is far off Dissipation NEEDs to be ready to use. You really want that last aetherflow stack to pull you out of high damage with Lustrate/ Indomitability.

[SuperZay]

SCH has no CC at all, all you do is toss ruin II or aero on mounted people.

Bind (Blizzard II)
Knockback (Aura Blast)
Silence (Silent Dusk)

[Ama_Hamada]

Bind (Blizzard II)
Knockback (Aura Blast)
Silence (Silent Dusk)

The pvp knockback we get to help our lack of utility is extremely annoying due to its short range and slow processing speed by the server. You will rarely hit people with it unless they are standing still.

I do not think I seen Selene used, let alone of someone micro-managing that to target someone. Even if you are stance dancing her, she will use it when it is ready when she feels like it putting it on CD anyway. Besides I do not know any job with a longer recast for silence cept pld but they are OP with stun spam anyway so I do not see the point in trying refute.. bu bu spirits within. Also I think it is the only silence effect that is only 1 second, it is not going to do much, I do not see the value in using selene let alone micro managing the fairies. Anyways, having a 20% healing boost every 2 mins for 20 seems more valuable to me....

Oh sorry it is shared with wispering dawn, our 21 sec regen that can be used every minute, so what is better? stance dancing the obey and passive along with fairly switching for a silence every 40 sec or have a pet just be passive to give better healing support while you focus on healing and who may be being burst down? Sorry being human sorta limits me from being able to use a 1 second long lasting silence every 40 seconds.

You got a point with blizzard II i suppose, it is a good reminder to drop cleric for cross class abilities and use it for pvp but it would be nice... Oh I know what I should of said..

SCH has no CC to use from a safe distance and that is reliable.

What I said is true in a piratical sense, we do not have holy, we do not have fluid aura, no repose, no stone, no bind at castable distance, no practical pushback. id take a sure hit to someone for 30 sec recast, then one that is likely to fail every 2 mins. (or 150 sec when not upgraded)

[SuperZay]

we do not have holy, we do not have fluid aura, no repose, no stone, no bind at castable distance, no practical pushback.

But you have a lot of instant and MP-free heals. Most powerful shields. Something to autoheal you when you are attuned. The point of balancing is to give you something but to take something too, otherwise that job will be too overpowered. WHM has crowd control but doesn't have those good things I mentioned. And AST is a mix of both. Nobody forces you to play just one job, you can try them all and see what's better suits you.

[Cidel]

Divine Breath is your PVP raise - don't use PVE raise! PVE raise still applies weakness, which means your target is at high risk of simply dying again immediately thereafter.

OMG ^This.^
If I see it happen infront of me I'll say to not use it, but the sheer amount of people with weakness running around says there's a lot of guilty perpetrators out there not being punish-"corrected."






Maybe there's a couple mercifully rare exceptions, but this has been a big pet peeve for me.