Macro for "Stance Dancing"?

[Parawill]

Cure/Cure II on my tank.. but Murphy's Law kicked in and one of my DPS KO'd.

Out of curiosity, what content are you doing that your DPS are dropping like no tomorrow? In a variety of coils and primals, there are few unavoidable raid-wide AoEs that are back-to-back that requires you to prioritize topping off DPS and your tank at the same time.

[RogueJawa]

Out of curiosity, what content are you doing that your DPS are dropping like no tomorrow? In a variety of coils and primals, there are few unavoidable raid-wide AoEs that are back-to-back that requires you to prioritize topping off DPS and your tank at the same time.

Stone Vigil NM. Final boss. I switched to Cleric and put on an Aero and once I switched back my tank's HP was pretty low despite tossing on Stoneskin and Regen before I switched. I hit Swiftcast and Cure II, then I switched to my most critical DPS and before the cast bar completed they were down.

[Parawill]

Ah. That fight is rather hectic when you have players taking a hit left and right from each and every mechanic. In a perfect scenario, the only time you need to tend to your DPS (and yourself) is after a Rime Wrath or a Sheet of Ice. Other than that, use Stoneskin sparingly* (unless your tank is really that squishy) against Frost Breaths as that is generally the only thing that will wreck their HP bar.

If your melee (or ranged) is getting hit by Frost Breath, your tank needs to face the boss away from the group OR the group needs to stop standing at the face of the dragon.

In the rare scenario where your tank is blowing all their cooldowns in one go... it's best to just heal rather than DPS. Even if you're a god-like, it's nearly impossible to DPS + Heal when you have a really horrible tank and/or group.

For other content it's generally gauging what your present group is doing through damage flow and fight familiarity.
-> When DPS is high and your tank is using cool downs (appropriately), chances are you'll have enough time to throw on a Regen (+ Stoneskin) to get right into Cleric Stance into DPS.
-> When DPS is low and your tank is using coool downs, you may have to conserve mana depending on the duration. Long duration -> more cures -> more mana required.
-> When everyone's performance is below average (or you're new to content), strictly stick to healing.

There are a variety of different other scenarios, but this should suffice. :0

[aisustrong]

I enjoyed whm far far more when I switched to controller
I'll put up a video of my hotbar, see if you like it, I find it pretty comfy

[DarkmoonVael]

To be honest, stance dancing really comes into its own at lvl 50 with whm, but at your level the basics should be to regen the important targets (maybe with divine seal) before cleric stancing to dps. At lvl 50, you can play chicken with the tanks health if so inclined, regen, clerics, holy (you can get approx 6 secs of stun time on mobs when holying correctly) then choice come down to 2 things really: keep dpsing then benediction on tank when health low or cleric off heal a bit and stance dance when comfortable until things are dead.

At your level, stance dancing can be slightly less optimum since your ability to stance dance also requires everyone to be doing very specific things themselves. The tanks have to be actively mitigating damage whilst you are in clerics, and the dps really need to burn mobs. At your level, the dps dont have all thier tricks to burn mobs in the way they do at 50. Stance dancing becomes a race between your mana pool and the mobs health.

As for stance dance macros, never used them, and would imagine they are more problematic than anything.

Level your healer through dungeons and get more experience, then at lvl 50 have a look at stance dancing again when you have all the relevant tools .

Edit: also, as a healer, dont feel like you have to be clericing in every fight. Dps should be able to handle most things themselves. Your example of stone vigil final boss is perhaps one of these places where you can cleric only if everyone else is avoiding all the avoidable damage . Your ability to cleric in any fight is tied to wether everyone else is doing thier job correctly as well

[aisustrong]

I enjoyed whm far far more when I switched to controller
I'll put up a video of my hotbar, see if you like it, I find it pretty comfy

almost forgot about it but here it is
whm controller setup: http://youtu.be/IxkUFxoTwkw

[radioactive_lego]

almost forgot about it but here it is
whm controller setup: http://youtu.be/IxkUFxoTwkw

Similar to mine in many ways, but with some notable differences. I see you use L+R for a lot of your core skills, which is cool. I opted to use mine for rarely used but super useful ones; LB, Food, Sprint, a spare CS (because it doesnt always turn on/off).

whm controller setup, in use: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RnSj15P_g7U

You can plainly see I DO have CS macroed, but its a simple macro.

/chotbar change 6 [this is the hotbar with all my DD spells on it]
/ac "cleric stance"
/tenemy

Changing back out of CS is not macroed. It needs to be somewhat mashable.

[aisustrong]

Similar to mine in many ways, but with some notable differences. I see you use L+R for a lot of your core skills, which is cool. I opted to use mine for rarely used but super useful ones; LB, Food, Sprint, a spare CS (because it doesnt always turn on/off).

whm controller setup, in use: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RnSj15P_g7U

You can plainly see I DO have CS macroed, but its a simple macro.

/chotbar change 6 [this is the hotbar with all my DD spells on it]
/ac "cleric stance"
/tenemy

Changing back out of CS is not macroed. It needs to be somewhat mashable.

not fond of your targeting
but i guess thats a preference thing

i have left stick as assist target, and up and down on the dpad to go through party list

really the only time my setup gives me any issue is when i try to stoneskin someone while running, thinking of moving it but not sure where to

[Kinseykinz]

Okay so a couple things/suggestions:

1. First off, looks like you're level 44ish. (which is fine) And your gear also looks okay for the most part (you'll be getting some new gear when you do your level 45 story mission)
-Starting from Stone Vigil, basically until you hit level 50 the dungeons and their mobs get far harder on tanks/healers. Seriously, this is a steep learning curve for both roles. So even an experienced level 50, uber geared healer will likely not 'stance dance' much in lets say 'Stone Vigil' with an at level/at gear level or below tank in the party.
2. Much of that 'Stance Dance' talk you hear of is actually 'once you hit level 50' and start gearing/speed running stuff. But until you have the gear/skills (Holy and Benediction for example), it's not really that necessary. (Yes, people like Holy for the 1-room clear runs...but you can opt in or out of those as those runs are in PF parties and not DF).
3. Don't Stance dance when you're actually leveling/in a new for you dungeon. If you have downtime, practice casting DD spells but don't swap into CS to do so...just take the potency hit on your DD spells so you don't trip yourself up if you have an unexpected spike in healing to do.
4. If you want to learn to stance dance:

Start in the nooblet level dungeons where you currently over-gear them by a landslide. (also, these dungeons are foregiving and a +CS heal will still be fairly effective)
Basically your rotation is this low level (sub 30)
+CS
Aero tanks target>Stone Tanks Target
-CS
Cure Tank
+CS Stone tanks Target x2
-CS
Cure Tank
+CS
Aero next mob>Stone x2-4 (depending on tank health)
-CS
Cure Tank
+CS
Aero>Stone til mob is dead

go to next pile/repeat.

Again though, first practice this WITHOUT stance dancing...then as you get the timing down, add in the CS. Also, initally don't let tank drop below 60% health...later you can let them get down to 30-40% (depending on how you heal/how white knuckle you like to ride things etc)...but 60% is where you should aim to heal when learning the stance dance thing to give yourself breathing room.

Anyway, once you get it down in the nooblet dungeons, pick higher and higher level dungeons to practice in until you feel comfy doing the 'stance dance' at level (when you have a non-squishy/at level tank w/ you). Basically the only thing that changes is once you get Regen, toss it on the tank once he gets hate then +CS Aero (pattern above). Also, you're the healer...a very reactive role, so don't be tied to a 'rotation' be ready to drop a Cure II bomb...or to Repose that pesky add etc. But if you work your way up a couple levels of dungeons at a time to practice, you should be okay.


This btw, is the 'non Holy' low level DPS as WHM pattern.

At 50, it gets more 'interesting' But honestly, wait until your 50 and then if you need assistance on how to do this, ask again as atm, you don't even have these skills on your bar.

5. A BIG part of the 'stance dance' thing is knowing when NOT to do it/when you can't handle it yet. Your friends are right...you're only real job in the party is to HEAL. That's all you technically need to do to be effective at your role. Yes, dpsing helps 'speed' things along, but really that's only true if you can do so without any wipes. A wipe or two though and your dps is totally negated. So it goes back to practice, and knowledge. Trial and error.

6. Macroing CS will likely cause you more headaches than it's worth. You're better off (imo) to manually enter it.

[radioactive_lego]

Okay so a couple things/suggestions:

1. ...

This (upvoted).

I'd also add, that in many situations you'll be a walking band-aid for 2/3 of the fight. It isn't till a group of mobs gets thinned down that you might chime in with some damage spells (this may never happen on a dungeon boss). Once you're geared for speed runs, and have Holy and Benediction at your disposal, it will change a bit.