How's my AST so far?

[Maeka]

I'm rather guilty of saving cooldowns for "oh crap" moments that might never come, and Lightspeed is in the same vein as Swiftcast, a "If I need to Res someone...." button. It's just... I don't know why I always do that lol.

As for the zoom, well, I like to see my character, though I will zoom out on fights where I need that (such as the last boss of that dungeon).

Uh. *reads*

Yeah, sometimes I do forget to draw cards, I'll not notice the cooldown is up right away, and I'll try to keep the 'don't use the abilities back to back' thing in mind. Kinda wondered that myself a few times, but got distracted or something lol.

As for Combust, it's something I have trouble remembering to do yeah.

Thanks for the replies!

[Gemina]

I'm rather guilty of saving cooldowns for "oh crap" moments that might never come, and Lightspeed is in the same vein as Swiftcast, a "If I need to Res someone...." button. It's just... I don't know why I always do that lol.

I know why. The fear of fault. It's easy to play healer safely. However, to play it optimally is to live a bit on the dangerous side, but you can reduce risk through acquired knowledge and anticipation of how your group is going to perform.

When you do a lot of PUGs as a healer, you start to notice a trend with players. As an example, any player who mentions they are new to the instance will likely fail mechanics if they are not explained before engagement. It is in this case where it is a good idea to hold onto Swiftcast/Lightspeed etc. when you know the mechanic is coming.

When you hold on to abilities like Swiftcast and Lightspeed, you're holding on to a crutch that may never serve any purpose. Eventually as a healer, you have to walk the tight rope without a safety net if you want to optimize your toolkit. You must know that mistakes will happen when learning to optimize, and mistakes are a very good thing when you learn from them.

Improvisation is also key and healers have many ways to do so. Also keep in mind that even the best healers can't heal through EX stupid. OGCD "oh crap" abilities are not going to keep these players alive, and are actually better used on a player who is already good at staying on their feet. You increase the chances of success this way.

[ArianeEwah]

Yeah, sometimes I do forget to draw cards, I'll not notice the cooldown is up right away, and I'll try to keep the 'don't use the abilities back to back' thing in mind. Kinda wondered that myself a few times, but got distracted or something lol.

As for Combust, it's something I have trouble remembering to do yeah.

Any ability or skill with a long CD or duration (e.g. dots and Lightspeed/Draw) will get into your head with practice over time. It's purely muscle memory.

You can help yourself by getting an additional, large scaled hotbar with those abilities to keep track of their CDs. It also may help you keeping an overview for your "oh crap" or "high heals" abilities, such as Synastry, Largesse, Essential Dignity and so on.

In my opinion, 14 levels into one job is barely enough time to achieve that. It's no shame. On the contrary, I am rather surprised you kept Draw on CD in the heat of battle.

As for holding abilities for emergency: Gemina already said it, you might end without ever using them.
e.g. take PLD's Hallowed Ground: It can be used for emergency when healer can't keep up with heals, or CD management is screwed up. The chance that such an emergency ever occurs, is probably around 1-3%. It's better used for "normal" mitigation rotation.

...well, and if we apply it to Murphy's law, once you used it, everything goes down the hills

[Maeka]

Any ability or skill with a long CD or duration (e.g. dots and Lightspeed/Draw) will get into your head with practice over time. It's purely muscle memory.

That, and deprogramming the 'save it for emergency' lol.

In my opinion, 14 levels into one job is barely enough time to achieve that. It's no shame. On the contrary, I am rather surprised you kept Draw on CD in the heat of battle.

I kept glancing down at the Draw timer during spellcasts... can't move or use abilities during a 3 second cast, and Draw is like... a huge part of the job so I kept glancing at the button now and then while casting other stuff.

...well, and if we apply it to Murphy's law, once you used it, everything goes down the hills

Ever watched Aliens vs Predator? There's this scene where this gun nut girl is packing a gun and a mountain climber tells her that she's never seen a situation in which a gun actually helped... and the girl goes "It's better to have it and not need it... than to need it and not have it".

I rather like that philosophy.

But yeah should use the skills at least some lol.

[Risvertasashi]

Ever watched Aliens vs Predator? There's this scene where this gun nut girl is packing a gun and a mountain climber tells her that she's never seen a situation in which a gun actually helped... and the girl goes "It's better to have it and not need it... than to need it and not have it".

This is a fine philosophy for things like emergency/disaster preparation and the like. But when it comes to games, no real lives are on the line-people tend to think more along the lines of "If you've held a CD for longer than it's cooldown duration, you've effectively wasted it."

FWIW, I added a callout for my longer CDs. Just simple stuff like "presence of mind ready" or "lightspeed ready" (and I definitely have one for Draw, lest I get caught up in mechanics etc and forget). Even for bigger CDs if I don't pop it right then, the aural cue helps remind me to find a good place to use it-start of next pull, or when a boss's attack patterns let me make the most of it, etc. May or may not help, but something to think about. Another thing I've seen some people do is clone their important CDs on a hotbar close to the center of the screen, so they can keep an eye on their timers.

[Lynesse]

Ever watched Aliens vs Predator? There's this scene where this gun nut girl is packing a gun and a mountain climber tells her that she's never seen a situation in which a gun actually helped... and the girl goes "It's better to have it and not need it... than to need it and not have it".

I rather like that philosophy.

But yeah should use the skills at least some lol.

On the subject of philosophy, I have some wisdom to share.

You're in an awkward position while leveling, where many players struggle to pull their weight, and not everyone is gear-synced. There's less margin for error, and we sometimes have to make judgment calls that run counter to conventional wisdom.

You know the rules, but you shouldn't be afraid to bend them. That's how you learn what you should and should not do.

Let yourself develop naturally. You decide what's best for a situation.

You seem like a thoughtful person, and it sounds like your biggest enemy is anxiety, not ability. Your ability is fine.

Wipes will happen, but when they do, it'll usually be because you were trying to save people from their own mistakes. And people will generally acknowledge that.

It's important to distinguish between mistakes you make because of poor fundamentals, and mistakes others have made that have caused you to make mistakes.

You don't have to worry much about the former. The latter is very forgivable.

[Maeka]

You seem like a thoughtful person, and it sounds like your biggest enemy is anxiety, not ability. Your ability is fine.

Thanks! hehe.

I'm not perfect by any means, but I do try to consider other people, esp when I'm in a group, especially when I've got abilities that could help them. I rather like playing healer, because it always feels nice to be the person who gets to help everybody else.

I suppose it could be somewhat anxiety.. but even when I'm comfortable, I'm a cautious person by nature in nearly anything. I'm usually playing defensive/careful, though I know that sometimes I overdo that aspect and end up missing opportunities that were just fine to push ahead. It's one of the reasons why I am not that great at PvP lol. I'm not one for outright chaos and risk-taking which is why I'd probably be terrible at war games and such.

[Lynesse]

It's good not to take risks in the beginning.

DF parties aren't our guinea pigs, so we have to spread the risk-taking out evenly across the learning experience.

This means it's okay to play a little sub-optimally for the sake of others -- within reason.

When I first started playing WHM, I posted a thread here asking about overhealing during DF Trials. The general consensus was, "Don't worry about overhealing, just keep everyone alive."

A year later, I'm playing How Low Can We Go with tanks' health.

Edit: Editing this post because I felt bad talking about the experience, so I'm just cutting it out.

I view CDs as preventative measures rather than safety nets.

But they can be both -- trust yourself. If you make a decision, it's likely the right one. C: