Tales from Duty Finder: Some make you laugh, some make you cry. Let's vent.

[KaleShibata]

I liked healing before, but I'm pretty bad at it. Think I'll go back to DPS and tanking now

I'll chime in too. i didn't get to the point i am at healing without plenty of bad runs along the way. Absolutely you described a bad run, but it could have also been from the tank not having stance on or addressing aggro correctly. there's always a reason somewhere.

but take a day or two off from it. pretty easy to get frustrated after a bad run, and being frustrated as a healer is just going to increase the amount of mistakes you might make.

though also its key to note, try to keep calm in future runs as a healer. Esuna for cleansable debuffs, aoe heals when its most appropriate, and having and maintaining good positioning for yourself are good things to keep in mind though.

[Katie_Kitty]

Ran Garuda (normal) tank came in with mismatched gear ranging from 16 - high 30's only noticed after the first wipe.
Figured must have been a fluke and he must know what he is doing with the low lvl gear.
Needless to say, several wipes later I call it out asking why he didn't have proper gear, no response. Everyone else starts looking and questioning it too, penalty timer comes and goes, we all dip.
I instantly queue, determined to beat her after all those wipes... Same tank, they run in while I'm typing, explain the tanks situation nicely and dip taking the penalty..

No offense, but wiping to garuda normal suggests something very very wrong far beyond the tank's gear.

[Erit]

No offense, but wiping to garuda normal suggests something very very wrong far beyond the tank's gear.

My own experiences with the harpy back before 3.0 beg to differ, but that's anecdotal.

[Illianaro]

...Can I ask which healing class you were playing?

I was playing White Mage. I tried not to waste my freecures, although more than once it waited to proc until nobody was taking damage and it wasn't needed!

To add to what others said "Health bars were melting left and right" sounds like a hell of a run. Others than dps standing where they shouldn't and tank not picking up adds, I have a feeling tank maybe also wasn't using mitigation cds? And something something paper gear.

I think they had some pinks and a couple greens? I honestly can't remember that piece of it. I'm pretty sure the tank was okay about using CDs, but when they fell off that's when I had trouble. There were definitely times of DPS taking the bad. I think one was standing in front of the second boss whenever it used its fire breath lol.

Ill join the others offering encouragement here. The story you shared is one of a bad run. We all have bad runs, or this thread wouldnt be almost 28000 posts deep. But nothing in your story was definitive proof that you are bad at healing. You had a run where the tanks health was yoyoing even on small pulls. A run where there were aggro problems. A run where the DPS were taking excess damage. A great healer probly drags that group to the finish line(a smart healer nopes out and waits for a better group), but it doesnt sound like they deserved it. And you are a new healer. Most great healers are still learning the ropes at that point in the level curve - as in, they arent great yet.

So my advice would be to take a short break from healing(a day or two at most). Let the bad taste from that run fade a bit. Do some introspection. Do you understand what your healy buttons do, and when to use each of them? If no, seek help from some experienced healers. Is your gear(especially your weapon) up to snuff? If no, seek upgrades. Have you done your class quests for the extra spells they teach? If no, do them and then make sure you understand these spells too. Once you are done looking within, get back out there and try healing again. If you enjoyed it then you deserve the chance to try to make it work.

So are you a bad healer? Time will tell, but that last run is inconclusive. Need further data. And even if you are, you can learn to be better if you really want to.

Thanks, and thank you everybody offering encouragement. I think I will take the advice from those suggesting take a couple days off from healing, maybe learning more about my toolkit, and then trying again after the break.

This probably isn't the thread to ask it, but how do you veteran healers keep calm when you see things going south? It's really hard not to panic when the badness happens.

[Erit]

I think they had some pinks and a couple greens? I honestly can't remember that piece of it. I'm pretty sure the tank was okay about using CDs, but when they fell off that's when I had trouble.

Dungeon gear won't matter for shit if it's all DPS kit or from way back in Copperbell. Yes, this includes the "All tanks and Dragoon" stuff.

There were definitely times of DPS taking the bad. I think one was standing in front of the second boss whenever it used its fire breath lol.

The second boss has a frustrating gimmick where Brayflox will come in and mess with its aggro table, then drag cleaves to other members of the party. Not a lot one can do to avoid it, though you CAN sleep that boss if the rest of the party's on board.

This probably isn't the thread to ask it, but how do you veteran healers keep calm when you see things going south? It's really hard not to panic when the badness happen

Aurum Vale with two bots and drunkard. More seriously, it's a matter of practice and experience. As you get higher in level you'll gain access to so many "Unembugger this raid right the hell now" tools that it becomes genuinely baffling and the hardest part is picking which one is most appropriate for your given mess. Especially as White Mage, who can add having an MP economy to make a Black Mage blush on top of that.

[Liam_Harper]

I was playing White Mage. I tried not to waste my freecures, although more than once it waited to proc until nobody was taking damage and it wasn't needed!

Cure I and Freecure are generally a new player trap and you're better off with Cure II for heavy healing and learning to use Lucid on cd.

Learning not to panic heal simply comes with experience. You learn to predict mechanics, know which tools to react with and understand when you did everything you could and a death wasn't your fault. It'll get much better over time.

It can also be worth unlocking squadrons if you want something to practice your healing on and gain more confidence.

[Rasikko]

The proc free heals rarely come up when you need them anyway.

No offense, but wiping to garuda normal suggests something very very wrong far beyond the tank's gear.

Someone standing too close to the pillars and letting her yank out 2 of them, thereby allowing Aerial blast to blast them all into the next world.

[KaleShibata]

Thanks, and thank you everybody offering encouragement. I think I will take the advice from those suggesting take a couple days off from healing, maybe learning more about my toolkit, and then trying again after the break.

This probably isn't the thread to ask it, but how do you veteran healers keep calm when you see things going south? It's really hard not to panic when the badness happens.

Basicly what others have said. experience will lend itself well to calm. once you know how basics work you start watching bosses and learning their dangerous attacks and how to counter them. after that its repetition and practice, though bad parties will happen i treat it as an excuse to see how far i can carry less experienced or less considerate players...but i suggest that last part wait until you have some familiarity with other things first.

Then again tanking and healing require the same degree of calm in some places.

my advice is spend a bit of time learning the dungeons. once you know what a boss will do it becomes a matter of countering that in the most effective way possible. and don't freak so much on the bad days. how many numbers of runs in will you get following a bad run? more than you want to count in a week. learn from bad ones. solidify your knowledge and experience in good ones.

[SturmChurro]

Yeah, you definitely can't just wait for the free cure 2 proc, just heal and use lucid dreaming. There should not have been party wide damage if the tank was actually tanking properly. Blame that on the tank who can't hold aggro. Even if you accidentally pull an add, the tank should have picked it up.

[Rasikko]

Apologies to the hullbreaker isle group that ended up having me as their healer, and the 4 deaths that occurred at the boss. Encountered some troubling bad rl news, and thought I would be ok, but turns out I wasn't.. at least I had enough in me to prevent a wipe and got you all up.