Seeking Any Healer Advice

[PWilson]

Your question about swift targeting...

I found the greatest key, and I thought I'd mention it since nobody else did - though I'm sure some of you know!
"T" (default) changes your target to your target's target. This is great. I can throw a heal at the tank, hit t, throw a rock at the tank's target, and then hit t again to go right back to the tank - or if the tank lost aggro, go to whoever the mob is going after!
Still gotta manually click or Fkey for damage as a result of AOE, but it's helping me a ton and I don't always feel like I'm clicking all over the place.

AldoVonAlexandros: Heh

[winsock]

@ PWilson
I'm not quite sure I follow your logic about stoneskin.
It's not a skill you spam, it lasts 30 mins for a reason.
You see the value of preemptive stuff, and you see the value on the non tanks, but don't see the value on the tank, who arguably gets the most benefit.

I guess I'd ask ya like this:
Proper MP management, protect, healing cooldowns, healer dps, etc. None are necessary at lower tiers, but can aid in picking up the slack / making up for mistakes made by newer players in pugs. What are you casting in the last 2.5 to 3 seconds of combat that is more beneficial than stoneskin?

[Niamh_Rillemaugh]

Since it looks like Stoneskin is still up for debate, I'll throw my opinion in.

Stoneskin is absolutely vital for some endgame fights without a scholar, but otherwise the only time I ever cast it is in between pulls. I usually start casting when the last mob in a pull is around 15-10% health so the tank will get the buffer and we can move on quickly.

I don't have to cast stoneskin, I could just heal any damage that comes the tank's way, but there's a very specific reason I make sure it's up, once that nobody here has really touched on yet: Stoneskin lets me know when it's safe to start healing the tank. It gives the tank a safe period to generate pure aggro without having to compete with my healing. By the time stoneskin goes down, I have a divine seal regen waiting that won't pull anybody towards me except in the worst scenario. If I leave stoneskin off and I have to start worrying about damage right away, there's always a chance that I could pull an enemy, especially if the tank is a warrior and hasn't had time to position the mobs for a proper overpower yet.

And since it hasn't been explicitly said yet: Stoneskin is 10% (18% with the Graniteskin upgrade) of your target's hp, not your own. That's nothing to sneeze, especially if you have a warrior with defiance.

[PWilson]

@ PWilson
I'm not quite sure I follow your logic about stoneskin...
...What are you casting in the last 2.5 to 3 seconds of combat that is more beneficial than stoneskin?

Absolutely nothing, because I am playing in pugs and maintaining MP was more important.
The logic is simple, the cost to payoff ratio was terrible. Now that I'm levelling up further - and have this nice little MP regen buff - 'skin is seeing more use!

Stoneskin lets me know when it's safe to start healing the tank.

Oooo, that's a good idea!

[chesspilgrim]

spacing and timing are big things as you get farther along. in lower level dungeons your 4 person team stays relatively close together. it's pretty rare that you have range issues or major AOE (area effect) damage from bosses to dodge. healing is more or less finding a nice place to stand and keeping people alive. pretty soon you will find yourself in situations where an 8 person team is running around like crazy dodging a never-ending cycle of stuff flying at them. if you can develop the ability to know where people are, keep yourself in range of them, and cast while moving from place to place, then you will have a lot fewer headaches later. i spent way too much time staring at the health bars in early levels, and it was a hard habit to break. try to get into the habit of planning your movement as you plan your spells. i think it will help a lot, if you aren't already doing it.

[PWilson]

if you can develop the ability to know where people are, keep yourself in range of them, and cast while moving from place to place, then you will have a lot fewer headaches later. i spent way too much time staring at the health bars in early levels, and it was a hard habit to break. try to get into the habit of planning your movement as you plan your spells. i think it will help a lot, if you aren't already doing it.

Oh god I needed this advice so much earlier! Titan was a rude reality check: my first try at Titan was also my first ragequit! I apologized to the entire party for being such a noob, and gave up after the 13th attempt or something. Though, I wasn't the only one getting blown off the platform! (And it seems like they happen a lot faster after the heart goes down)
Still my single worst problem - staring at those captivating, luscious party health bars. They... they entrance me so... :O

[DreamWeaver]

Use focus target (Ctrl +F is the default hotkey), this allows you to keep track of enemy's casting even when you're targeting your tank.

Titan is an extremely scripted fight, meaning for each phase, he will follow 1 particular set of skills:
For example (NOT ACTUAL ROTATION) : Landslide -> whack tank few times -> Weight of the Land -> Landslide->whack tank few times->Weight of the Land.

If you're finding it hard to reactively dodge these attacks, you can try to pay attention to titan's skill rotation so that you know what skill is coming up next, and be ready proactively for it.

[PWilson]

Use focus target (Ctrl +F is the default hotkey), this allows you to keep track of enemy's casting even when you're targeting your tank.

That is a super great help.

I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to post here and help out a noob, maybe especially those that I didn't necessarily agree with! I really do appreciate it!

I do have a specific question now - is Grand Company gear (Level 50 req.s) worth using? And if so, from when to when? My GC is the Flames, because I started out as a BLM, but I could change over to the Gridania one if it's worth it.

[EricCartmenez]

I found these youtube videos really useful when I started learning to heal (especially regarding macros).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak0nrdkii-Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWgPLlsGpHQ

That guy's voice is more droning than "Bueller, Bueller..." I'm sure there's good info, but how did it not put you to sleep?