Seeking Any Healer Advice

[PWilson]

I just started playing FFXIV a couple weeks ago (Steam sale pickup). After some playing around with different classes and jobs, I think I've settled on WHM. I might second as PLD, but WHM is where I'm at, I think.

What is healing done right, and what is healing done wrong?
Also, I'm an older guy, and speed is an issue, I'm not quick like you kids. Is there a way to set macros or even just something like how the tab key cycles through enemies, but for your own party?

To give you an idea of where I am in the game mechanics, I just figured out today that Stoneskin is great to cast on the nontanks, but pretty useless on the tank, and that Regen rocks all kind of awesome. I only hit level 35 today.

[Yumi_umi]

Enhanced Stoneskin = 18% shield of max hp.
I'm a whm with 6254 hp ( 6.4k hp in party ) and 18% shield does wonders on me.

[PWilson]

For sure!
Where I'm at, level 35 (abouts), I don't have Enhanced Stoneskin, just normal, and it does 10%. On a tank at my level, that's 150-200 (1500-2000 HP), and my Cure1 does ~400-450 for half the MP. Because the numbers don't correlate exactly, I expect that the usefulness of Stoneskin will change as I advance, but the maths dictate I use it on everyone except the tank - for now!

[Tranquil]

You are currently in the most awkward stage of your WHM-journey. The reason for this is because you do not have the skill Shroud of Saints (to be obtained at lvl 38, with its more potent, traited version later on at level 48), but the fights are starting to be a bit mana-intensive if you do not have that great or experienced people with you. (Shroud of Saints is a skill that regenerates MP and also halves your current enmity - both of which alright uses but the standard use for it being mana restoring on cooldown). Of course, it might be that this feels a bit different somehow, as of 2.3, but when I leveled WHM on release, I felt like the late-30s to mid-40s were the hardest levels!

Just keep it cool, try to pay attention to the aggro mechanics of the game, enjoy the ride and don't mind the mistakes. Keep Regen up on the main tank as much as you can, but do not use it preemptively before a pull. Try to keep up with Cure 1s and Freecure procs, combined with Regen. Stoneskin before encounters, but do not bother casting it mid-fight for now - later on this becomes a good tool to buffer up near one-shot tank killing mechanics, at level cap. (And Stoneskin is also not an enmity bomb like Cure 2s and so forth).

I see you already have THM at past 26, which is brilliant, because Swiftcast is THE skill to have. Mainly used for instant-rezzes, though in a 8-man party setting, a SCH (or a SMN, if they leave Swiftcast unused) is nearly always above the WHM in terms of the rezzing-ladder priority, due to the more careful MP-management of WHMs'. You might also consider leveling Arcanist to at least 34, for Eye for an Eye, as that is a great tool for some extra mitigation, which of course means less heals required. Also, you'll get one of your best skills soon at level 40 - Divine Seal. Get comfortable with this as much as you can - it's only on a 1m CD and can be used to great effect.

As to what is healing done 'wrong' or 'right', well, that has many variables to it - no doubt. Healing is the most variable-dependant of the trinity by far, thus the answers can and will vary. Minimize overhealing and conserve MP, know when to heal and when not to heal, observe your healing partner's casting bar (in 8-mans) as well as a tank's status effects. You should aim to get familiar with all of the relevant tank-cooldowns to know when they will take less damage, so you can also adapt depending on the situation. It's really hard to give a general reply here, because SCHs and WHMs are different, but you'll no doubt get a feel for it later on. Also, don't stress about these kind of things too much for now, let the knowledge sink in little by little via observation and you yourself possibly branching off to leveling other classes, such as the tank ones so you can synergize your healing better with tanks.

TL;DR: try to have fun, use common sense (as I am sure you will), observe, worry about the finetuning later on.

[Eltaire]

Your question about swift targeting can easily be solved by using the keyboard (I assume you're playing on the PC, as you picked the game up on Steam).

The "F" keys along the top correlate with your party members. "F1" is you, and then each one after that follows the order as per your party roster on the top left. If you have your UI set to display in Tank -> Healer -> DPS -> Other, then "F2" and "F3" should be your Tanks, "F4" your other healer, and the remaining 4 keys your DPS units (in a Full Party).

Alternatively, you can click on the names individually and click on the spell, that's what I do. It makes controls fluid, as I have my controls set to Legacy, which means that when you press "S", rather than slowly walking backwards, your character will turn and run that way (better for avoiding AoEs). This option can be changed in the System Settings menu, I believe.

I hope this helps.

[PWilson]

Tranquil: Swiftcast has been a great asset. I've noticed it for doing rezzes, and also for just combating screwups in normal healing (I threw a rock... oh wait, I needed to heal!)
But why not cast Regen pre-emptively? Given the mana efficiency on it, I just tried to keep it up on all times on the tank, and during boss fights, additionally on any melee DPS... Pre-emptive casting means I can usually make use of non-combat mana regen as well. Given that I only -just- got Regen, I've not had a lot of experience with it - please expound!

Eltaire: You answered my question, but that's not helpful! I play on an (Alienware) laptop, the F-keys are 1/3rd smaller than the rest of the keys. It's actually a great keyboard for 90% of everything - I don't feel squished when I type for example - but the F-keys are the sacrifice. Well, perhaps I just need to train myself to use them... Or rebind the keys.

[Tranquil]

But why not cast Regen pre-emptively? Given the mana efficiency on it, I just tried to keep it up on all times on the tank, and during boss fights, additionally on any melee DPS... Pre-emptive casting means I can usually make use of non-combat mana regen as well. Given that I only -just- got Regen, I've not had a lot of experience with it - please expound!

Well, it's not the biggest sin in the book and most tanks can handle it ok. Basically it isn't a problem vs. bosses, but if you cast Regen before the tank engages with the enemy, the mob(s) will usually yoyo towards you, especially if it's part of a bigger trash pull wherein a tank just tags a mob with minimal enmity creation and goes on to pick up more. Regen creates healing enmity per tick.

[PWilson]

Regen creates healing enmity per tick.

Okay, good reason! Thank you!


Winsock: I get what you're saying, but that's not convincing. I completely get that Stoneskin's usefulness will change as I advance, as it's based on the target's HP rather than my own skills, but I'm really, really not impressed by a 150-200 HP damage block that I can cover with a simple heal that costs half as much - and does twice as much healing.
It's great to cast on the non-tanks, at the moment, because I don't want to actually active-heal anyone else when the damage is flying, but to use on the tank, it seems silly.
I will say, I did do a run of Sunken Temple of Qarn where I tried to rely on Stoneskin and Regen instead of Cure/Freecure/Regen, and Stoneskinning the tank felt like a waste, which is generating my opinion here. I didn't run out of MP, because the DPS classes were awesome, but it really felt like I could and should have been more efficient.

[Ashkendor]

Winsock: I get what you're saying, but that's not convincing. I completely get that Stoneskin's usefulness will change as I advance, as it's based on the target's HP rather than my own skills, but I'm really, really not impressed by a 150-200 HP damage block that I can cover with a simple heal that costs half as much - and does twice as much healing.
It's great to cast on the non-tanks, at the moment, because I don't want to actually active-heal anyone else when the damage is flying, but to use on the tank, it seems silly.
I will say, I did do a run of Sunken Temple of Qarn where I tried to rely on Stoneskin and Regen instead of Cure/Freecure/Regen, and Stoneskinning the tank felt like a waste, which is generating my opinion here. I didn't run out of MP, because the DPS classes were awesome, but it really felt like I could and should have been more efficient.

Like I said, SS isn't something you cast during a fight, though there are exceptions. It's typically something you cast before as a preventative measure. The first time you see a speed run you'll know why Stone Skin is great. :3

Basically, your tank will barrel through the first 3-5 pulls of a dungeon, sit them in a pile, and let the DPS nuke them. You want as much damage mitigation in place on your tank as humanly possible while they gather because you cannot reasonably heal them while they have such a tenuous hold on the enmity of so many things. Doing so pretty much guarantees a swift death for you, followed by the rest of the party. xD

Stone Skin is also nice if you can sneak it in before hard-hitting boss skills, though this is harder to do because of the long cast. You basically would have to know the boss' attack rotation (focus target helps too).

[Ghishlain]

Winsock: I get what you're saying, but that's not convincing. I completely get that Stoneskin's usefulness will change as I advance, as it's based on the target's HP rather than my own skills, but I'm really, really not impressed by a 150-200 HP damage block that I can cover with a simple heal that costs half as much - and does twice as much healing.
It's great to cast on the non-tanks, at the moment, because I don't want to actually active-heal anyone else when the damage is flying, but to use on the tank, it seems silly.
I will say, I did do a run of Sunken Temple of Qarn where I tried to rely on Stoneskin and Regen instead of Cure/Freecure/Regen, and Stoneskinning the tank felt like a waste, which is generating my opinion here. I didn't run out of MP, because the DPS classes were awesome, but it really felt like I could and should have been more efficient.

Stoneskin will see more utility use later (level 50+ content) when there are moments to use them appropriately, but is definitely lackluster are your level given the mitigation it gives for the cost of a Cure II.

Examples:
-Mountain Buster during Titan Hard Mode is a heavy damage attack that comes in set intervals during his pattern, so it's easy to predict when you need to Stoneskin your MT
-There are times during certain raid fights in Crystal Tower that the MT doesn't actually need to tank at that very moment and is instead dealing with mechanics of the fight. This is a good time to give them Stoneskin so they are prepared for the next boss onslaught
-High ilvl Warriors with Thrill of Battle up can have somewhere upwards of 10K+ HP. You can imagine 18% of this is a HUGE boost compared to the 150-200 you see at your level. Depending on your gear score, it's more efficient for you to use Stoneskin versus Cure II.