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

[SturmChurro]

I think you misread.
It's not about getting flak for not hardcasting heals, people in general rarely give flak for anything because of the ToS. Neither for dpsing very little nor for only using oGCDs or letting people drop.
What I wrote was that people in DF usually prefer to see their healers hardcast as a sign of them doing their job as opposed to healers constantly spamming Glare/ Broil/ Malefic because they often assume they're not doing their job. They will not actively give you flak for anything, because ToS.
But most are simply not able to recognize a healer working efficiently and will not comm someone they think wasn't doing their primary job sufficiently or not to their liking even iuf they actually did an absolutely stellar job.

I actually have gotten flak for it.. I'd be a broken record at this point if I brought it up though. Any longtime users of this thread may remember my numerous complaints here of people telling me to "do my job" as heals (even though I was healing!).. To be fair though, most people have been completely silent lately. So, it does seem to be the case people just won't say anything.

I really wish there was a builtin combat tracker so I could see who the good ones are.

Won't ever happen because of potential "harassment", or whatever.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Just remember that the forum isn't representative for how the majority of players treats and plays the game at all.
Reading through the forums, one might easily get the impression that it's common curtesy to only heal with oGCDs, GCD heals only when every other resource has been exhausted and dps with every GCD you freed up. But in the everyday life of DF, that's not the case.
The majority there likes to see their healers heal in the form of castbars. The majority of tanks there doesn't appreciate one bit if you let them drop for more efficient ED/ Bene/ Excog.

For majority, yes.
Once in a blue moon I'd get matched with a tank that played safe by--i.e. a PLD--cast a Clememecy when their HP drops to critical level...just once in beginning at the same time I'd throw a Bene/ED (not counting excog since 50% is not my 'critical hp' standard). After that the tank would confidently spam Holy Spirit/Circle to their heart's content. These moments... those tanks probably thought: "Oh, so he did pay attention to my HP. Ok, I'll trust him then!". It's such a satisfying moment to have despite 0 words exchanged along the run.
It still won't change how I play through with randoms however. I'd prefer my runs to be over sooner. If I get comms, sure great. If I don't, well there's still more out there

Sadly.. 100% true.
I can name several times, like the earlier example where I have saved players from themselves (failing mechanics). Nothing. Literally nothing. The other healer can die 6 times and I am stuck hard-cast raising ALMOST THE ENTIRE PARTY AND SOLO HEALING, in turn actually saving the run - nothing. It's just a little odd.. Somebody should have noticed me working my butt off, right? But I guess not..

In my opinion, it's still very random.
It does stings a bit when our work isn't 'acknowledged' (in this case, by getting comm). I have come to that point where I rarely care about commendations. I'd often joke about not getting one when I ran with my friends but that's it---it really means close to nothing to me. Most of my comms goes to the DPS by default 'cause having started the game as a healer, I noticed how people often shower me with comms despite my screw ups.

When we do get the commendation for saving runs though... yes, it's satisfying
Something like this:

[ThatOneDiviner]

You love to see a freaking E7N run ruined because people double stack the stack markers.

Got whined at to healer LB3 when both I, my cohealer, and the RDM were in VC together too. Me single raising my WHM friend who can get our RDM friend up isn't the end of the world when both I and the tanks are all still alive. I highly dislike the animation lock healer LB3 forces and frankly would've liked to save LB3 for the melee DPS but lmao looking at their responses in chat I doubt they would have used it anyways.

Maybe if some jerk hadn't decided to double stack the markers or if the other DPS had noticed in time to run out, like I did, we wouldn't be in this position, hmmmmmmmm? My RDM friend had gotten one of the stack markers and tried to take one for the team but she's playing on Aussie ping so I don't blame her for not being able to run away in time. The dumb melees asking me to animation lock myself in place during a VERY POOR FIGHT TO DO THAT IN just because nobody in there has any situational awareness and then whining when I don't immediately do so makes me an angry healer. At least the person who double stacked the markers wasn't rude about how I chose to raise and took responsibility for messing up.

Not sure who I was more miffed at that run - the initial screwup or the melees who couldn't adjust in time and then whined. Even though both I and the tanks had enough time to see the incoming circus and nope out.

[Reksanden]

You ever wonder if you happen to be one of the folks brought up here? I certainly do.

And I genuinely wish the best of luck to you, Sturm - folks can be very... Fickle with commending, and the slightest thing can change someone's mind in giving one, and there's... Not much you can do about it except keep trying. I've had the opposite problem, actually: I'd get a bunch when I knew I wasn't doing all that great, and it frustrated me because I knew other folks deserved them.

[Barwara]

Yep. For me it's not because I don't want to help. It's because I don't want to deal with the drama or any fallout resulting from it. It'd be way more helpful to be able to say "Hey <insert name here>, that AoE is avoidable. Please don't stand in it", but it could come at a price. I'm not willing to pay that price.

Bad experiences are unavoidable though. I've had people in parties disband, just as I've had people be very supportive and helpful, and even invite me to unsynced parties in order to avoid the grumpy people. The good comes with the bad. But people like I remember when we've been helped and we're grateful for it. Surely that must count for something.

[Eien713]

As a DPS main, I soon learned that no matter how brightly you shine, chances are you won't be the one getting a comm. A conclusion further proven when I leveled a healer and then a tank. This was more or less my experience:

- Play healer -> do your job and nothing out of the ordinary -> get comms.
- Play tank -> do your job and nothing out of the ordinary -> get even more comms.
- Play DPS -> do your job and be brilliant at it -> get... nothing.

And so, I have come to not expect any comms when I play DPS. And when I actually get one, I'm surprised and think to myself: Huh! Someone actually noticed how great my performance was ? I also silently thank whoever commended me. And when I get more than 1 comm, my first reflex is to check the contacts list to see if some party members were from the same server (and thus most likely a premade), which would probably explain the comms. That's how sad a DPS's life is when it comes to comms (T_T). We're always the ones who go under the radar. This is why I pay attention to my fellow DPS partners to decide if any of them deserves a comm first before moving on to the healer and/or tank if there's no DPS to commend, unless a healer or tank saves a run or a boss fight.

As for the topic of saving a run (whether as a healer, a DPS, or a tank), I totally get the frustration when you don't get the proper acknowledgement for it. I personally not only give a comm to the person who saved the run, but I also comment in chat to let them know I noticed their effort and to congratulate them on the good job they had done. When a person does something praiseworthy, I feel it's natural to show them appreciation and give them the praise they deserve. That thing about not wanting to boost egos is such nonsense.

[Rinhi]

You ever wonder if you happen to be one of the folks brought up here? I certainly do.

yup, even better when the person who posted it ended up being the baddy

[tdb]

- Play healer -> do your job and nothing out of the ordinary -> get comms.
- Play tank -> do your job and nothing out of the ordinary -> get even more comms.
- Play DPS -> do your job and be brilliant at it -> get... nothing.

That's because a dungeon party has two red dps, one blue dps and one green dps, and the game provides no way to tell who did how much damage. When a dungeon goes really fast I kinda want to comm a dps (a red one), but I have no idea which one is most deserving of it.

[Packetdancer]

There are runs where I'm like "man, I should have gotten at least a little praise!" and I get none. But I guess the satisfaction is mostly in knowing that my efforts made the clear possible.

"Well, that was sure an Orbonne run. I had to stop DPS'ing entirely for like 20 seconds there at one point to keep Naruto Puddlestomper and friends there alive after they kept running into the big pretty orange circles, people tried to hand the tether off to the tank when it would kill them so I had to run over and grab it, and I had to LB3 on two fights when I was the only person in the party still up. Still, we got through it, even if there were some close scrapes. ...wait, what do you mean, no commendations?"

More seriously, I have found that when I'm a healer, sometimes I get more comms on the runs I thought I did badly on. I can only assume this is because when I'm doing my job absolutely spot-on, optimal heals at brief moments between DPS'ing, no one even notices; it's the runs where something goes bad and I'm holding the group together by the skin of my teeth and cursing my own slip-up that I get comms... because I guess people are like "Oh hey, look, the healer's managing to keep us all upright and get us through even though Stuff Has Happened!" Even if said Stuff is arguably my own fault.

[Eien713]

That's because a dungeon party has two red dps, one blue dps and one green dps, and the game provides no way to tell who did how much damage. When a dungeon goes really fast I kinda want to comm a dps (a red one), but I have no idea which one is most deserving of it.

To be honest, I rely on the aggro list to decide which DPS did better when I roll as a healer, though I kinda focus on the tank more in this case. Besides, it's way easier to focus on fellow DPS when you're a DPS yourself. Luckily, I have a very simple criterion that allows me to decide when I roll as BRD. If the other DPS is above me in the aggro list or provides me with a challenge, I commend them, especially if their gear is not BiS or far superior to mine. It might sound like I'm setting the bar too low, but I'm really not :P