How can I reach my full potential as a healer?

[SeraviEdalborez]

Crit is not the devil. Nobody "relies" on crit. It's not a dead stat just because it's not a static effect.

Healing output is already excessive. Healer secondaries barely matter.

[Sanguisio]

Love people like you, go for it.

Learn how to balance healing with damage.
e.g its pointless to constantly throw out heals if damage is sporadic and only coming in small chunks
So it would be better to deal with this damage with a DS'ed regen and then you can DPS as well.

Or in other fights where a series of aoe hits come out, no is there gonna more damage very soon after ? if so deal with the damage with 2 medicas or a cure 3 depending on party placing.
Otherwise you can medica 2 it imo.

WHMs are about healing , but they have many ways of doing it.

SCHs, if you are struggling with the damage on your target, work out a pattern of adlo and physick but balance it as efficiently as possible to maintain you MP which you will need for resurrection.
make use of all of your feys abilities if you see the WHM is low on MP or high damage is coming use fey ilu, or if you want to dps for a bit pop rouse and fey ilu to compensate for your healing.

[monochromicorn]

Crit is not the devil. Nobody "relies" on crit. It's not a dead stat just because it's not a static effect.

Healing output is already excessive. Healer secondaries barely matter.

i actually really like crit. there is no difference with spell speed, so i dont care about that one, and i prefer gear with crit stats on it, i like detemination more, but crit is so very useful, just on trhe off-chance that you do manage to get a crit heal. medica/medica 2 crits on 2 or more people is so useful.

[Parawill]

Remember there are four "types" of damage:

- Avoidable AoEs (Radiant Plume, Weight of the Land, Acid Rain, etc.)
- Unavoidable Raid-Wide AoEs (Hellfire, Aerial Slash, Megaflare, etc.)
- Singular
- Wide-Cone Cleaves or Swipes (Frontal or Back)

Take advantage of the scripted nature of fights to figure out when you need to prioritize tank over raid and raid over tank. This familiarity and experience also helps you with the already explained points (Pre-casting*, Medica vs. Medica 2 vs. Cure III, etc.) as it lets you foresee incoming damage and lets you proactively heal rather than react to situations.

Being able to analyze who is going to take what damage, and how much time before the next AoE significantly gives you a lot of breathing space in exception to situations where players are occasionally or constantly taking avoidable damage**.

* Pre-Casting is amazing and you should practice and time your heals accordingly as White Mages only have Benediction as an off-GCD heal.

** Dodging (I.E: Sitting in an AoE telegraph and luckily dodging something) doesn't count in exception to Black Mage's Manawall.

[Taika]

White Mages don't need crit. In fact, it's more of a terminal disease for white mage than anything. In most cases, a crit cure will overheal for the amount you gained from the crit. In the case you use a Cure II and fully benefit from the crit, you're healing way too late and the tank might actually be dead already.

I disagree. In many if not most cases, crit will only overheal if the WHM is already overhealing. Crits can help with keeping tank up with only Cure 1s and regens and they're a blessing with rare AoE heals and Medica 2 regen ticks. I personally feel crit helps my MP management as I aim for minimilised healing in all fights I do. I do not have enmity or MP issues. My secondary stat priority is DET > CRIT > PIE > SS, but I don't have my BiS set yet.

Aaaand it was pretty cool to see my cure 2 land with 5710 HP on tank! Of course some of it was overhealing (tank had a bit under 6k of 9,7k and SCH hit adlo at the same time), but I don't think anyone can make each of their healed points count. And hits like that able me to heal with mostly Cure 1 and regen otherwise.

As for topic, to be an excellent White Mage, I think most important thing is to know the fights well and plan your healing accordingly. Be aware of how much damage is coming through and how to get through it with least possible MP spent while keeping everyone safe. A great WHM is able to heal effectively and pre-emptively, land their stoneskins just before a big hit lands and their cures right after it has landed. I take videos of my healing when I'm learning the fight and plan my healing based on what I actually see happening, not how I imagined it went (I tend to be very tunnelvisioned while learning new fights).

What is more difficult is being able to deal with unpredictable damage and deaths at the same time, caused by party members making mistakes. That's also a big part of being a great healer: being able to pay attention to your surroundings and other party members and make fast decisions to save the day when things go wrong.

Another important thing is communicating with your cohealer and tank(s), other party members too of course. Coordinate your heals, buffs and cooldowns so that you support each other and work in synergy. If you heal everything as if you'd be solo healing, or if both healers focus on only AoE healing while tanks are going down (or the other way around), it's not effective healing.

And finally, maybe the most obvious one: know your abilities and use them effectively. Especially Shroud of Saints, Divine Seal, Eye for an Eye and Virus should very rarely be off cooldown. Presence of Mind is great for situations that need fast healing, stoneskining whole party in T9 or casting Stone II / Holy to help with damage. Benediction should rather be used too often than too seldom. Surecast and Fluid Aura are the only abilities I don't really use regularly, but they aren't useless either.

[Euphe]

SO basically what the OP can take away from all of these posts is: As a healer you have to recognize and adapt to different situations. Healing is highly situational no matter what stats are on your gear. What separates a good healer from a bad one is their ability to keep the group alive for as long as possible without faltering. This can't be read in a guide but only achieved by consistent practice. No your roll in and out and do your very best to make it count even in the toughest of fights!

[Staris]

Crit is bad for WHM.
Examples
If it takes 1 heal to top off group/tank/target, It is undeeded and can only add more threat (a real issue in progression).
If it takes 2 heals, Three possibilities exist.
1. First heal crits, maybe it only takes 1 heal now, possibly still takes 2, uneeded threat.
2. Second heal crits, bad even more threat.
3. Neither heal crits, worthless.

So just off the bat, 2 out of three times its worthless, and even then it might not help.

Remember your 100% reliable group survive-ability rate is a function of non crit heals / per time. In fact, stacking VIT would prove more effective then crit gear.

[Taika]

Crit is bad for WHM.
Examples
If it takes 1 heal to top off group/tank/target, It is undeeded and can only add more threat (a real issue in progression).
If it takes 2 heals, Three possibilities exist.
1. First heal crits, maybe it only takes 1 heal now, possibly still takes 2, uneeded threat.
2. Second heal crits, bad even more threat.
3. Neither heal crits, worthless.

So just off the bat, 2 out of three times its worthless, and even then it might not help.

You're not taking into account that with crits it's possible to keep tank full with cure 1s + regen when in other cases you'd have to use cure 2s. I use mainly only cure 1s in turn 9 too, and don't have any enmity issues there (and I'm not underhealing either).

[Brianmj]

Part of being a WHM is to realize that people will die and it will probably be your fault and there is nothing you can do about it. Just raise, and hope you get to the point where weakness wears off. There is also the part where you will not clear content, and it will totally be your fault. Case in point being Ifrit Ex. That fight is a problem for healers, and despite clearing it a few times, I'm still dizzy on that fight. My attention lapses for 5 seconds and bam - the tank is dead. The tank abruptly leaves the instance, and I feel my stomach tighten. And then the domino effect of everyone leaving one by one without anything being said and my stomach becomes a knot. Ugh. To pull off the "amazing" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB_MAO5yPw8, is usually a fluke, and not something I would say any healer is a capable of pulling off whenever. You can desensitize yourself to any particular content by doing it over and over again so there will be no more "oh shit" moments for you, but to think that when those moments arise, and you're at the point in your healing career where you have a backpack full "save the day" tricks and potions, don't bother pulling them out, cause Titan just 180'd and now he's about to Mountain Buster you.

[Dosito]

Part of being a WHM is to realize that people will die and it will probably be your fault and there is nothing you can do about it. Just raise, and hope you get to the point where weakness wears off. There is also the part where you will not clear content, and it will totally be your fault. Case in point being Ifrit Ex. That fight is a problem for healers, and despite clearing it a few times, I'm still dizzy on that fight. My attention lapses for 5 seconds and bam - the tank is dead. The tank abruptly leaves the instance, and I feel my stomach tighten. And then the domino effect of everyone leaving one by one without anything being said and my stomach becomes a knot. Ugh.

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