How do I heal?

[Gist]

Hi~

I'm Gist, and I started playing MMOs in general (beginning with this one) during the Valentine's Day event of 2015. My favorite role in multiplayer games is support, and healers seem to be the equivalent of that. I've been holding my own for a while, but what I've been doing won't really cut it for the real content that is to come with future patches. So I'll reach out to my fellow healing community: what do I need to do to become a real healer that's worth taking on an EX fight? Are there things I'm doing wrong that I should be doing better? Is WHM even a good healing class (I don't really see other WHMs other than myself)?

Thanks to all who read this thread :3

[Risvertasashi]

Looks like you're a whm. People will tell you white mage is a reactive healer. Don't listen to them.

You need to proactively proactivate your skills. You need that Cure or Medica dropping just as the damage does. Learn the fights to anticipate the parts that are high damage (either on the raid or on the tank(s)). Learn the best places to stand at various parts, and when AoE is coming that might make you move. Precast, precast, precast. Don't forget your buffs and debuffs -- even WHM virus has its uses.

Regen is amazing.

[Teleste]

Yes WHM is an excellent class. I prefer WHM skills over SCH, although I do love SCH. I recommend making some macros to make your party-play easier.

For example,

/micon "Stone II"
/ac "Stone II" <tt>
/ac "Stone II" <t>

This macro will first attempt to Stone II your Target of Target (your Tank's target), and otherwise it will Stone II your current DPS target.

Another example,

/micon "Regen"
/ac "Regen" <mo>
/ac "Regen" <t>

This macro will first attempt to cast Regen on your Mouse Over target, otherwise it will cast on your current target.

Little macros like these improve our party-play-efficiency tremendously. You can setup macros like this for nearly every DPS and healing skill. Best of luck!

[Mujuuk]

I am new here, but I do understand the basics of healing quite well from other MMOs.

• Arrange the UI the way you feel comfortable. Feeling comfortable looking at your screen, knowing exactly where all your abilities are, and being able to click someone to heal in your group frame easily is crucial. There is actually a very good discussion on these threads about that. http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...3-Healer-HuD-s
• Understand all your abilities. Research is key and the better you know your class the easier it will be in any situation.
• Know where to stand. It may seem silly, but I have seen healers stand in possibly the worst positions every for AoE damage or cones. Why heal more than you have to?
• Understand and accept that most players won't necessarily think of what makes it easier for you. Usually only other healers understand the woes that only a healer can understand. Prepare for that and prepare to pickup their slack.

[Krixus]

Abuse your regen. Try to keep regen on tanks at all times. If you see random dps taking hits, toss a regen on them instead of a cure II/I. Try to cure I as much as possible, I would say if a tank is under half HP than you want to cure II. I normally try to line my cure I up with the boss's auto attacks, basically casting it on cooldown. Prevents you from blowing mp on a cure II when not necessary. Let your medica II regen do its job. I see many whm's medica II, then medica to top people off. Let the regen do that, otherwise you're overcuring by alot.

[416to305]

I don't use any Macros because you can't queue spells so ends up making things slower and I find it's not really that hard to know who the tank is targeting. Especially in boss fights, 99% sure they will be targeting the actual boss and not an add. To echo the others above, I do the same, keep Medica II up all the time and then on the tanks usually Regen as well, sometimes myself. Especially if something big is coming. With WHM you have the sweet Divine Seal which is instant cast and increases your healing potency by 30% which is huge. This is great when a big attack is coming, or if you want to DPS a bit, pop it, then Regen / Medica II and you're REALLY boosting the healing output.

Other helpful tip is to just have confidence. Most times if someone dies it's actually not your fault unless you're distracted etc, it's usually because they missed an AoE or tank pulled too big etc. Also most people are not watching what you're doing, especially DPS. I was always so paranoid staring out that people would be yelling at me all the time like "Why are you casting this or that now!?" but no one ever does. You'll have tons of time to practice as well as you learn skills as you go, so the most basic dungeons you will pretty much only have a couple of spells and not need to do a lot of healing, then it builds from there. 8 person dungeons are much easier since you have a sidekick healer to help out as well. In 4 person it can be a pain since if you die, usually the party wipes unless there's a summoner to bring you back, but usually not.

[Thela]

What other ppl have already said Also a little in line with predicting when damage is going out, the boss will often turn to a certain party member and charge their attack, it helps alot to see this quickly and already start charging a heal (or shield) on that person so the heal lands on them right as they take the damage (or right before in case of shields), rather than waiting for them to take damage first and then start to heal them.

[416to305]

Oh yeah BIGGEST tip, use FOCUS TARGET! This lets you focus target the boss and keep their HP open all the time, seeing their attacks while targeting the tank etc. I remember before I healed we did one dungeon and the Healer kept wiping because she was like I have no idea when the boss is casting Final Curtain or whatever it is, since she was targeting the tank. That's what Focus Target is for, you'll want to focus target the boss at the start of every fight so you can be ready for those big attacks you see coming.

[Gist]

Wow, thank you all for your responses! It really helps!

Although,

use FOCUS TARGET

Can you explain that? I don't think I've ever seen that before...

[Ayrie]

Wow, thank you all for your responses! It really helps!

Although,



Can you explain that? I don't think I've ever seen that before...

Select the boss and type /focustarget, or select it from the submenu when targeting it. It'll allow you to see what the boss is casting. Really handy for charged moves and casted abilities.

Knowing the fight is key. Knowing how your abilities interact with the damage is awesome, too. I'll post my tips a little later.