Hello tanks. Healer looking for some feedback

[LordLucavi]

Generally, pretty much everything in here covers it. Personally, I love it when the healer pops a fresh Stoneskin on me right after the last mob of the pack dies.

Specifically for Qarn, you'll want to keep an emergency Big Heal ready in case one of the bees manages to get Final Sting off. Since the bees are usually the first thing attacked (because of Final Sting), if a FS manages to go off, it's pretty much a death sentence for the tank unless the healer can manage a good Cure II or the equivalent as soon as it happens.

In general, you'll always want to be ready to Esuna/Leeches/whatever any status effects, like Paralyze and long lasting Poisons. Burns, Frostbite, and Windburn can be esuna'd most of the time as well, and getting those taken care of is incredibly helpful.

[Erim-Nelhah]

Most of what you need to know is covered here, but I will add one thing: Don't heal every little scratch. I may not like being below 30%, but I also don't like it much when the healer is healing every autoattack either - primarily because it's a great way for the healer to get aggro, almost as good as a pre-pull regen (you'll overheal, guaranteed, and overhealing generates more aggro than normal healing)! If I'm taking very little damage, and you're bored...turn on Cleric Stance and go to town.

--Erim Nelhah

[Sida]

When you get Swiftcast, which many say is essential to healers, mainly for Swiftcast + Raise combo, don't be afraid to use it for other uses too. Yes, in some situations it's good to have the instant raise at hand and sensible to spare for that. On others, you should not really be expecting people to die like flies. Swiftcast + Stone 2 gives stone to whole party while still running to next pull. (Divine Seal + )Swiftcast + Medica II when you can't stop casting due some mechanic, even if the party sorely needs heals.

Also, in content where you're paired with another healer, it's good to pay a bit of attention to what they do. If your fellow already casted Medica II and there is no heavy incoming party wide damage, there is not necessarily need for another one. Or if people are still shielded with stoneskin -and- adlo shield, in that case regen goes largely to waste too.

For your question when to use Regen. You can use it in pretty much every fight, just be mindful for when to cast it. Usually good spot is a bit after the tank has established the pull. That way it has time to tick off before the next pull. Medica II you don't usually need in basic dungeon content, except with few specific encounters where there constant or heavy party wide damage. Even then just Medica I might suffice.

[Gemina]

About fluid aura: I hope it's ok that I learned how far the pb is, because if I get agro, I FA the silly mob right into the tank if positioned correctly. Otherwise I run it back to the tank. When I was able to CC blizz 2 as cnj, I would also run the mob back to the tank and cast it, to bind it there and cause a little damage to it and his buddies. I don't know if that was a good tactic.

About repose: I typically use it after a FA, and to sleep a casting/ranged add, or if I catch a roamer wandering too close and no one has picked it up. Otherwise, it has been a waste of a cast as the tank or dps will attack a slept mob if it is in aoe range.

About over healing: I think I am doing ok here since I don't get much agro. I need a round or two to gauge the rate of dmg to get comfy. Typically, I dps until the tank gets to 60%, and then I will turn off cleric and heal. DPS taking dmg will force me out of cleric prematurely.

[Februs]

About fluid aura ... [and] repose

Absolutely. This is a great tactic and is most certainly the way you should be using Fluid aura, stuns, binds and sleeps. Well done.

A lot of healers tend to pop FA for the extra dps burst because oGCD's are basically free dps. I am glad to hear you have not fallen into this mindset, because I cannot express enough how awful of a thing this is to do. Not only does it put the mob outside of the Tank's AoE range, but it also eliminates the possibility of melee dps scoring potency buffs on their attacks that require proper positioning. Using it for your own personal defense or to help the tank re-position a stubborn mob that doesn't want to stack in the group is a much better option. In particular, keep an eye out for ranged mobs that linger outside of the tank's AoE range. Tanks can often "drag" them so that they can bunch them all up, but if there isn't enough space or the dps are jumping the gun they might have to stop the pull early. You can help them by pushing any stray mobs within their range.

The same thing goes for repose. It seems you have been making very good judgement calls.

About over healing

Again, good sound judgement here. It sounds like you're going to shape up into a healer that most tanks are very happy to have in the party. I will warn you though, once you breach level 50 the pace and feel of the dungeons change dramatically. Tank pulls, in particular, start getting to be double, sometimes triple, the size of old dungeons, and speed pulls become common place. You'll be moving much faster, so be prepared for it. Dps'ing and healing simultaneously can become quite tricky at 50 and up if you're not ready for it, and the dmg spikes suffered by tanks get much steeper.

It's also around that level that you'll start to see serious Tank busters. Lower level tank busters do exist, but they're a joke by comparison to what you'll see at lvl 50 and up. How you handle them can make or break the fight, and there are a few different types that you will see. Some of them are pure, insane, damage that can flat out one shot a tank if they're un-buffed. Some of them are lighter, but far more frequent, such as in fights like Odin who uses his TB so often it is almost impossible for Tanks to mitigate every single hit. Some of them can be avoided by mechanics (usually dps checks, but sometimes specific tasks are required), and some of them are not so much a Tank buster as an attention penalty, such as in Wanderer's Palace Hard Mode in which the final boss will instantly kill a player with Doom if they are not capped to full health before the timer expires. It's not all that hard, once you know what you're doing, but you don't want to be caught with your pants down; so, it's worth a fair warning.

[Nekotee]

I would say that Februs big post of advice is golden this are some really good advice that should be spread to many healer.
I do love the "triage" part because this is a HUGE mistake I see everytime and that kill me when I play as DPS.

Healer do not CARE about DPS, they can and should avoid taing avoidable damage
=> one exception could be the black mage who's stronger while not moving and for that i tend to forgive them more

If a DPS take tamage put a HoT or let your fairy heal him. But do not waste a gcd healing him.
Because the tank is the N°1 priority.

The speak up part is important, even more as whm who tend to burn his mana easily.
When you have a good grasp of your job you can heal with 20% of your mana pool and throw 80% of it in dps
But that means that both you and your tank need to use all of your available CD XD

...

And remember : no overhealing
Our job as healer is to prevent the HP to fall to 0
Not topping everyone everytime and babysitting the tank

[winsock]

As a healer, I think Repose can have some use in lower level dungeons, especially when a tank and / or DPS is under geared or still new. I\\'ve been in some situations where it\\'s very difficult to heal a tank receiving damage from 3 or more mobs.

The problem with sleep in this game is that mobs you\\'d want to sleep are immune, and mobs you can sleep don\\'t need slept. If there are 3+ targets your group should be AoEing, which makes sleep useless.

I'd also argue that tanks are very easy to heal in large dmg scenarios at low level. Outside of cooldowns, your early max hps WHM 'rotation' is literally spamming cure over and over. If you're successfully executing this rotation and the tank dies, it's not your fault

Fluid Aura to save myself when the DPS / tank are ignoring an add on me because they just want to take the boss down ASAP.

On what boss did you need saved from a single lone add in a low level dungeons?

Usually the dmg is so low you can ignore it and help burn the boss with FA instead. If multiple adds spawn and you have aggro on 1, being positioned near the tank lets the tank easily pull it off you and helps ensure the add is in AoE range for the DPS in your party.

That being said though, FA can be very useful in some scenarios, even at low level. For example in Tam Tara:
* Helping group ranged mobs the tank is having issues with
* pushing imps into AoE limit break range, or just near eachother so melee DPS don\\'t need to run as far, on final boss

[Jpec07]

The single biggest thing I can ask of really anyone in a dungeon group:

Unless mechanics require something like kiting for different adds, ALWAYS RUN TOWARDS THE TANK IF YOU HAVE AGGRO YOU DO NOT MEAN TO HAVE. Or at the very least, don't run away if we start moving towards you.

If you start kiting, I can't get it off you, because I can't catch up. If you run to me, I've got tools that can save you and pull the aggro off you within usually 2-3 hits. I've also seen people who try to kite their mobs inadvertently pull the next trash pack or patrolling enemy, which just makes everything worse. But if someone who has aggro runs to me, I can usually do a decent job of saving them, and recovering the run.

[Gemina]

@Februs, thank you so much for all your feedback, tips, and vote of confidence! To me, healing is much more than just keeping HP bars from hitting 0. I frown at anyone who thinks that's all it takes; maybe it is to be considered a 'good' healer, but I want to be a GREAT healer. I know I will stumble along the way (I have so many times already), but I always get up and learn from my mistakes.

I know I'll be ready when the content turns vicious. I believe I am doing things right for the most part, and I only need work on my confidence and remain proficient as new abilities come to my aid. I also need to stop putting so much pressure on myself, feeling like Sansa Stark (relevant GoT reference lol) and just have fun, especially in these levels where mistakes are to be expected. I think that is a really important aspect that often is neglected to be mentioned.

[Nekotee]

A good healer would be someone that keep everyone alive and his own mana healthy
A great healer is someone who do the same and also take time to go in the frontline with his fellow DPS and burn the mobs harassing his tank faster

Like Februs said the path until lv45+ and 50 will be harsh, especially because of the low power gear and some useful skill missing.
Once 50 you get some great healing/battle control tools and you can taste some good dungeon (all the 50 HM with great and fun mecanics)
You will also get new gear that will help you finding a balancé in healing/DPS

Then reaching 51+ HW dungeon will be hard... Until you hit 60
At 60 same as 50 you get new tools and new gear that make everything easier and you will again find a way to throw DPS even more.

You can see that, the more a heal can DPS, the more he is confident about himself and the more the tank is competent/trusted by the healer