New WHM - Need Direction

[subteraneanbird]

I have enjoyed being a WHM, then I went to Cutters Cry! I feel like such a newb. I have figured things out mostly, but Tanks think I can kite adds and heal, lol sure. The Chimera boss is crazy hard and I'm being told to use Esuna to remove status effects but I can't tell when someone has a staus effect. I have tried Cutters Cry 6 times and I am not going to give up, although most parties are not too happy with me. I did reorganize my hot bar because I noticed it was not efficient for that dungeon. Any words of encouragement or tips would be great.

You can. It's called Regen. The Queen herself does almost no damage so Regen alone is sufficient for that fight.

[Sorata]

What a great thread with very helpful healers everywhere. UOdhn already gave a great list and reasons for the cross class skills, I agree with him on that list. I would like to expand on the Triage response by subteraneanbird (oh gosh, what a hard name to type! ha ha).

I was a DRK and RDM in FFXI and when I started with 1.0 I started as a WAR. When 2.0 released, I decided to do something different and did my story quests as a CNJ/WHM and ended up loving it so much it became my main now (more so than WAR). Everything was dandy until I got to Suken Temple of Quan and I had a tough time healing. I had to learn the this the hard way: heal yourself first before others.

Triage:
As a healer, like subteraneanbird said, is to keep the group alive, but not necessary everyone alive. Tank in this game, for the most part, can take quite a few hits before going down. If you get hit by an AoE along with the group, your first priority to heal YOURSELF.

[Sorata]

For the most part, if you die, the rest of the group will go along with you, even more so than the tank dying. There is something innate in someone playing the healer role that wants to make sure your save other even if that is to sacrifice yourself. You have to learn (and trust) that the tank can take care of him/herself for that 2-3 seconds while you heal yourself.

Positioning:
Another important lesson to learn is positioning. Start to train your eyes to not just looking at the health bars of others but the big picture. Pay attention of what's going on. You will need to when you start to get to the 8-players fights as a lot of AoE can one shot a healer if you don't pay attention. Again, like the triage situation, you need to save yourself first. If someone is low on HP, you are casting a Cure II but an AoE circles pops underneath you, move immediately, no question ask. It will be very tempting to finish the cast, but the risk is too high.

[lxSch]

What a great thread with very helpful healers everywhere. UOdhn already gave a great list and reasons for the cross class skills, I agree with him on that list. I would like to expand on the Triage response by subteraneanbird (oh gosh, what a hard name to type! ha ha).

I was a DRK and RDM in FFXI and when I started with 1.0 I started as a WAR. When 2.0 released, I decided to do something different and did my story quests as a CNJ/WHM and ended up loving it so much it became my main now (more so than WAR). Everything was dandy until I got to Suken Temple of Quan and I had a tough time healing. I had to learn the this the hard way: heal yourself first before others.

Triage:
As a healer, like subteraneanbird said, is to keep the group alive, but not necessary everyone alive. Tank in this game, for the most part, can take quite a few hits before going down. If you get hit by an AoE along with the group, your first priority to heal YOURSELF.

In Qarn WHM should not cast anything else but Regen and Repose (also Cure I if WAR is tanking). I remember once during the 2nd boss fight one dps was disconnected and just stood there in the middle - i kept Regen on him and he never died lol (just stood there, never dodging or anything). But new WHMs would run in panic and spam Cure II on every scratch, ending with no mana or being killed themselves. I use Cure II / Cure III only if person will die without it or if i have a free proc.

Regarding priorities, healer should not cast single target heals on anyone but self and tanker. The way ffxiv fights are designed dps are supposed to dodge harmful areas and only take damage during unavoidable mechanics, which then must be cured by Medica, Medica II or Cure III, but not single target heals. I often see new healers trying to compensate someone's inability to avoid damage and then dying themselves or letting tanker die, because they were doing something they were not supposed and combat was not balanced for. It's funny to see how someone's dodging skills dramatically improve once they notice healer does no healz and non-dodged damage can kill them xD

To back my words a little, yesterday i got Titan (HM) in roulette and solo healed (10% echo) it without ever using targeted heals on anyone but the tanker. Tanker alive, me alive, 2 dps alive, rest are dead and die very fast even after being revived again and again. But those who could dodge stuff had no troubles surviving and team was fine with just 2 dps.

[Roserei]

I have enjoyed being a WHM, then I went to Cutters Cry! I feel like such a newb. I have figured things out mostly, but Tanks think I can kite adds and heal, lol sure. The Chimera boss is crazy hard and I'm being told to use Esuna to remove status effects but I can't tell when someone has a staus effect.

I remember my first time at Cutter's Cry, being told I needed to kite the adds on that particular boss...I agreed to try, but inside I was thinking nooo, I can't do this! I did manage it after a couple of deaths, and it was a few minutes later that I realised hey, that would have been a lot easier if I'd used Regen!

Status effects should show up as a list of icons next to each person's name/HP bar in the party list. Even if you don't recognise the icon, you can tell if it's good or bad by the shape. Good effects have a slightly pointed top, like an 'up' arrow. Bad effects have a slightly pointed bottom, like a 'down' arrow.

[Estellios]

One tip I have for newer healers is that Medica is actually significantly more MP-efficient at healing up the group if you have to heal 3+ people, and the range is huge. Some storyline bosses like Stone Vigil's boss have a room-wide AOE and using Medica will help you conserve your MP and get the entire group up to a safer HP level in case it flies away right after and your party has to dodge the tricky-at-first AOEs.

Also Regen adds enmity each time it ticks, so despite how amazing it is DO NOT use it before the tank has built hate on all the enemies he has on him. This also means Medica II (which heals everybody AND applies its own Regen effect) is incredible amounts of Enmity and while it is a fantastic spell you will probably need to save it for the tail end of boss fight after you've used a Shroud of Saints or two.

[Deadlydave]

Guys, some great advice, thanks. I never really considered regen for my self and I am definitely guilty of worrying about others before healing my self.

[HoneyBiscuit]

I have enjoyed being a WHM, then I went to Cutters Cry! I feel like such a newb. I have figured things out mostly, but Tanks think I can kite adds and heal, lol sure. The Chimera boss is crazy hard and I'm being told to use Esuna to remove status effects but I can't tell when someone has a staus effect. I have tried Cutters Cry 6 times and I am not going to give up, although most parties are not too happy with me. I did reorganize my hot bar because I noticed it was not efficient for that dungeon. Any words of encouragement or tips would be great.

Don't forget you can sprint too. You don't need TP, so use it whenever you have to kite, or you think you aren't going to clear out of an AoE. Sprint in for dragons voice on chimera too. Sprint if your heal target is out of range. Sprint because I think it looks kinda badass. I don't know why I don't see casters sprinting more.

The debuff is applied to people who get hit by the big aoes on chimera. So if they do the rams or dragon's voice and if you need to heal someone after because they got hit they'll likely need esuna too. Ram's voice is most important to clear as the DoT effect it adds is pretty mean.

Debuffs are usually red squares with a pointed bottom on your party list. If you're running default UI, consider moving party list closer in to center so you don't need to shift your gaze as much to keep an eye on it.

Personally I didn't get swiftcast until I was 50. And I played at 50 for a while without getting it. I decided I wouldn't risk EX primals without it though, as a courtesy to my group. I would definitely say it's a necessity, but I wouldn't rush it. You can do fine without it for a while yet. If you're struggling, it's not because you don't have swiftcast.

And get excited for Aurum Vale at 47. That place is pretty rough to heal for the first time. Not to freak you out or anything, just be prepared for some failure. :P

By the way, if you are new to the forums you can edit your posts to bypass the stupid 1000 character limit.

[stuscott]

I would like to add something - I am not an experienced healer...at all. I got called in to help a friend on Haukke Manor yesterday on my lvl 30 WHM. I used Eye for an Eye on the tank on each boss and for the first two, I barely had to throw a Cure out (well, except for the DRG getting hit by avoidable attacks, as usual). Do not knock how useful that buff can be!

[subteraneanbird]

No one is saying Eye for an Eye isn't useful! The issue being it takes longer to get than any of our other skills (and most of those are needed much earlier) so it's often prudent to save it for last.