Log Reading for Healer

[Kako0404]

Back in FFXI, I always joked to other players that I was playing a text based game since all I do is read the log for mechanics and debuffs so I can time my casts. I rarely knew what the melee and boss were doing (no dodging mechanics). However, with the advent of WOW style logs and twitch style of play I've strayed away from that.

But it seems for FFXIV log reading for healers is again needed for certain boss mechanics (easier to tell than watching graphics). Just wanna heal from fellow healers on whether anyone relies on the log and if so what are key things to not filter.

[ArcaneNova621]

What log mechanics exactly are you referring to?

Any casted ability can be picked up by various Parsing add-ons, and most other abilities have a visual cue. (Simply turn off the effects generated by allies and limit your own).

[Kinseykinz]

You can also 'Shift+F' to Focus Target the boss...then you can always see his casting bar, and therefore get a warning what's going to happen next without trying to read 'boss starts casting....' etc.

[Githiun]

Can't say that i've ever looked at the log to let me know when sometings coming. There are usually indications on the screen of some sort..but thats just me.

[Kako0404]

Interestingly enough, 3 responses and 3 different approaches. It seems to comes down to personal preferences.

Add on's: not interested but might the best option obviously
Casting bar: I don't prefer to track my eye all the way to the top of the screen but will experiment with shift F.
Visual Cues: It's unreliable for me because I use Legacy Camera, the display is not always focused on the boss all the time.

[Espon]

Casting bar: I don't prefer to track my eye all the way to the top of the screen but will experiment with shift F.

You can move around your HUD from the system menu. I put the enemy bar and focus bar right below my character so I can easily keep an eye on what the enemy is doing while still being able to see mine and my party's health bars (which are also moved closer to the center of the screen).

[ArcaneNova621]

Yeah, try messing around with your UI. For example, a basic description of my setup would be ..

Party UI -- My Target -- My Target's Target
Party UI
Party UI -- Focus Target
Party UI

This is fairly close to the bottom centre of the screen. This way I can even take my eyes off the Party UI frame for a few moments, and watch for any movement from the Target Bar (Tank took a big hit), or Focus Target Bar (enemy is beginning to cast something). If you don't like add-ons, you're going to have to track your eyes somewhere, just adjust your UI for this.

And if you refuse to change your UI for some reason, well, that's just being stubborn :P Tailor the game for you, don't assume the game's developers play the way you play and have made this game to be perfectly suited to it.

[Kinseykinz]

Interestingly enough, 3 responses and 3 different approaches. It seems to comes down to personal preferences.

I'm not pressuring one way or the other, but I took three screen shots with my UI layout and 'Shift+F' (focus target bar) so you could see what I do and maybe it'll help. I also watch casting bars and moved most things from the 'top' of my screen to directly above my action bar, near my party list as I main WHM and spend a lot of time looking to my Party list. I moved my party list to the Right hand side for example because that was a more fluid motion for me than moving up and left to target ppl. (Plus the party list use to be on the right in 1.0/FFXI and I'm probably a little use to it).

Anyway, in both screen caps you can see the enemy's 'cast' on both the focus target bar. This is an example of 'healer typical party member main targeting and what we see', as my chocobo is my actual target. As you can see, the <tt> bar of my target is the mob and does NOT show the Mob's cast...but 'Focus Target' does.



In the picture below, you can see the Enemy's cast on the enemy target bar when i have the enemy directly targeted. But you are correct, unless you do a lot of macros, it isn't easy to see an enemy's casting bar as healer since your target is typically the party members (you would have to target the enemy and heal via <tt> macros...but that gets a little odd).




I also like doing 'Focus Target' on other party members when I have to be looking out for specific debuffs etc. (Iffy Extreme and my SCH partner for example...as that way not only can I see the healer debuff, but I can see his exact timer to know when I need to swap positions all while being able to actually target whoever I need to cure/dd etc).



I made sure to go out and take these screens with my chocobo since that way you could see party list placement/what happens when a party member is targeted instead of a boss.

In general though, I rely on battle cues and only use Focus Target for specific things.

PS: I was just using efts/chocobo to give a general idea of my layout...hence no protect real spells etc. (IE don't judge what I was doing I was more so focused on catching the mob during bog bomb than doing real dd/heals).

[Taerra]

Honestly, the only time where I actually read the log is in copperbell mines. I've noticed that if adds spawn at the same time as the worm needs feeding, only one of the two messages will display onscreen. I've seen wipes cuz of that, on the other hand, the log never fails.

As for the rest of the UI, they are rather standard, I did place a bar near my character for better visuals on shroud,overcure,freecure, firestarter, thundercloud and such on procs spells.

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

I tried doing the log reading method as a healer (and later as a bard for silencing), it doesn't work for me. I've been heavily reliant on the enemy's cast bar and memorizing patterns. For debuffs, I can usually see those icons on the party list and depending on what they are, can respond. I mostly rely on the red background of the debuff as the indicator.

I think some things that work in my favor:
A single monitor.
Moderate resolution 1600x900 or 1440xsomething.
Not using mouse to target or use abilities since locating the pointer/relocating it may require more attention.