Any advice please?

[Tchaktuli]

I know it is not current content but I have enjoyed running the CT raids with my Dragoon over the past month and a bit. (I've managed to successfully run all three 4 times.) I've got the DPS stuff figured out and know what to do in that regard for each battle.

Now I want to switch to running them as an Astrologian. I love running dungeons as my AST and have switched over to it full time whenever my friends are on. But I am hesitant to step into CT as a healer.

I've geared up fairly well and really want to do well and was hoping that my fellow healers with way more experience than I have could possibly give me pointers (or point me to Healer specific info) as to what to watch out for or certain mechanics that you have to be on top of. I only have about a month of healing under my belt and know the perspective is different as to what I am paying attention to.

Should I be saving certain abilities for certain mechanics or should I simply continue what I've been doing in the dungeons as far as health management goes?

Is it better to wait for a Royal Road combo or send out the useful cards as they come?

Also, I don't have any Macros set up for healing coming from the DPS side where they don't work out well and are there any useful ones that I should have set up?

Thank you in advance to those who answer.

[Ashelia_Ferron]

Assuming you and your co healer are fairly geared, all of the tower Raids are trivial. They are not healer intensive. There are no "oh crap" moments unless people just fail at mechanics.

[Tchaktuli]

So not like those couple of dungeons like Stone Vigil and DD where the tank pulls a boatload and I run through all my cooldowns and mana trying to keep them alive?

[NorthernLadMSP]

In regard to your Royal Road question, it all depends on the situation. What I mean is this:

What party composition do you have? Take a look at the DPS roles in your party and get to learn which cards are better suited for each DPS job. For example, it's pretty universally agreed that you don't want to give Ewer to a BLM because it can mess with their precise rotation. From what I've been told, MNKs, BLMs and NINs especially love the Arrow card. Everyone loves Balance. Spear is probably most useful for MCH, BLM, SMN or DRG, but generally before a fight starts where they will be beginning their rotations and using cooldowns.

Does the card you pull give you an immediate benefit? For example, you just begin a battle and you pull a Spire. Chances are no one needs TP, and Spire RR gives AOE to the next card drawn. So, in this case, I would RR it and wait for your next card. However, let's say you're halfway through a boss fight and you notice your NIN is low on TP. Well, then you may want to use that Spire to help your NIN out. This same situation applies with Ewer. Does anyone need MP? If no, RR it. For Bole, if you anticipate heavy damage on your tank, throw a Bole on them. It will help save you a little MP and even can allow you to be in Cleric for longer. If no heavy damage is coming, you might want to RR it.

[Ashelia_Ferron]

So not like those couple of dungeons like Stone Vigil and DD where the tank pulls a boatload and I run through all my cooldowns and mana trying to keep them alive?

Nope. Not even close. No one takes massive damage (unless, again, people fail at mechanics), so with you and your other healer, you'll likely just throw out the odd Helios/Benefic here and there.

To be honest, when it was still relevant content, I mainly DPSed since the damage was so light. Toss a regen and stuff on the tank and he's usually good for awhile.

[DawnSolaria]

A good marco would be one to let your co healer know you are ressing so mp wouldnt be wasted.

[Anova]

It will us to know if you're using a keyboard and mouse or a controller.

If you're on a controller, you might want to set up some /ac attack <tt> macros so you can attack without having to toggle to an enemy. Alternatively, /ac attack <f> lets you attack a focused target or heal them (if you're focusing on your main tank and don't want to change target from the boss).

If you're on a keyboard, /ac action <mo> lets you heal on a mouseover, which makes it as easy as hovering over a person's health bar and hitting the hotkey. It's five times easier too if they're in your party and you have that party list up.

[Tchaktuli]

Nope. Not even close. No one takes massive damage (unless, again, people fail at mechanics), so with you and your other healer, you'll likely just throw out the odd Helios/Benefic here and there.

To be honest, when it was still relevant content, I mainly DPSed since the damage was so light. Toss a regen and stuff on the tank and he's usually good for awhile.

Well, that's a relief then. After doing a few of those dungeons I was hesitant to dive in to CT. ^_^

A good marco would be one to let your co healer know you are ressing so mp wouldnt be wasted.

Much like how some Warriors I've teamed up with have a macro for their Berserk skill. Now to learn how to make macros. ^_^

It will us to know if you're using a keyboard and mouse or a controller.

If you're on a controller, you might want to set up some /ac attack <tt> macros so you can attack without having to toggle to an enemy. Alternatively, /ac attack <f> lets you attack a focused target or heal them (if you're focusing on your main tank and don't want to change target from the boss).

If you're on a keyboard, /ac action <mo> lets you heal on a mouseover, which makes it as easy as hovering over a person's health bar and hitting the hotkey. It's five times easier too if they're in your party and you have that party list up.

I use a keyboard and use the F1-8 keys to quickly shift to my healing target and as my hand drops back down I'm pressing the heal that I want to hit them with. Of course this sometimes means I heal myself as my target wanders out of range. So the <mo> part works to mouse over their health bar on the party list or is it for mousing over them in the combat? (I am completely clueless and need to learn more about macros.)

Thank you all for your responses. I'm going to set up the Rez one tonight and jump into the tower. Hopefully I'll be laughing by the end of it. ^_^

[Anova]

Good luck and have fun.

P.S. A second macro to consider is "/micon action". This one replaces the icon of the macro with the same icon as the action assigned to it. It is especially useful if you have time dilation macro'd and want to see when it comes off cooldown.

[Amiaze]

-snip-

Welcome to the wonderful world of healing! Healing Crystal Tower isn't hard at all. There are only three fights in which you might want to spam AoE heal moves, and this is really situational -- meaning, the party missed a beat when it came to mechanics and are now suffering more damage than they should.

The first is Scylla. I've snored through this fight, but I've also run around like a headless chocobo and spammed my Raise macro. It all depends on how the mechanics are handled.

The second is Cerberus. From a healer's perspective, I just made sure I always went where my tank went, unless he blatantly stated that he didn't need me there since the other healer was there. Generally speaking, staying with your tank should guarantee success.

And the final one is Cloud of Darkness. This is really just like Scylla -- so long as the mechanics are being handled properly, you won't find yourself using a lot of AoE healing spells or cooldowns. Your tank shouldn't be taking much damage (assuming he or she is main-tanking Cloud of Darkness).

Those are really the only times I could think of where I had to spam healing moves to keep the party alive, and those were always due to our own missteps. Other than that, CT is fairly simple. Have fun!