Healing question

[PaalHenrik]

Hiya! I'm dabbling in tanking though I main WHM. Is it true that it's a big no-no to cast regen or medica II just before a boss or mob pull? I don't do it but when I was PLD, the healer did that and I couldn't establish aggro. I mentioned they shouldn't and that's when the s*** hit the fan and they became a jerk.

[Freyyy]

Yeah that's quite annoying when a healer does that. The threat system in this game works in such a way that every single HoT tick generates threat, which means that when the tank pulls a trash pack with let's say shield lob on one mob, all the other mobs linked to that mob will run to the healer because of a regen tick happening during the tank's GCD. This issue can be alleviated by 1. Using an AoE move to pull all the mobs at once if they're already close to each other before engaging the fight (Abyssal Drain instead of Unmend, Overpower instead of Tomahawk, but PLD aint got anything for this, they can just do CoS while the mobs are running to the healer, hoping that it will hit all of them) 2. Right-clicking off any HoT type buff before pulling (Regen, medica II, whispering dawn, diurnal aspected benefic, diurnal aspected helios) 3. Having the healer NOT cast a HoT before a pull. The most convenient way is obviously the latter, but most healers that are doing this either never played tank, or just have no idea how threat works in this game. I'll also add that any overhealing done (which means any heal done to a target that is already at max HP) has its threat doubled compared to an effective heal. So when a healer casts a regen before the tank pulls, the tank is most likely already at full HP, so the regen ticks are generating double the threat, for nothing. There is literally no reason for doing this other than pissing the tank off, and you were completely right when you told him to stop.

For bosses tho it shouldn't be a problem since it's all single target. Since you should be the first one engaging the fight with a ranged threat move (Unmend, Tomahawk, Shield Lob), you shouldn't have problems establishing aggro on a single target even with a regen ticking before the beginning of the fight (it's still useless for the healer to do that of course).

[Bdyer]

For groups, unless the tank is near death wait until he does his first aoe hate skill (flash, unleash, or overpower) until you stick that regen on

I will note that unless it's a massive pull I just dps until the tank hits about half life before starting to heal.

For single target just wait for him to hit or cast before he runs in and aggros

[Kitfox]

I'll also add that any overhealing done (which means any heal done to a target that is already at max HP) has its threat doubled compared to an effective heal.

This is the first time I hear this. Does anyone have data to back this up? I might have to test this myself...

[Freyyy]

This is the first time I hear this. Does anyone have data to back this up? I might have to test this myself...

Well it was on an old theorycraft page I had back in 2.0 with all the enmity multiplier in the game stating that any healing had a x0.5 aggro multiplier, but overhealing was a x1 aggro multiplier. I'll try to find it.

[Awful]

Yeah don't ever open with a Medica II I was DPSing for a Nidhogg EX and a Whm decided to Divine Seal + Medica II on the pull when the tank literally went to pull, threw their Salted Earth down then boom healer has threat and after the pull went to the back near the start. By that time the boss had already turned around and cleaved us all with his breath, so yeah don't do that or you'll get burnt to a crisp xD.

[AI_wass]

Well it was on an old theorycraft page I had back in 2.0 with all the enmity multiplier in the game stating that any healing had a x0.5 aggro multiplier, but overhealing was a x1 aggro multiplier. I'll try to find it.

It's been proven wrong, since. All healing gets a flat 0.5x modifier to enmity.

When you have regen up on every player, though, that's a shitload of enmity the tank has to overcome.

[Ametrine]

It really is just a courtesy to give the tank a few seconds to establish hate before going DPS or Heal crazy. Most high level tanks have toolkit and experience to work around eager teammates, but you are absolutely right about the enmity.

[SpookyGhost]

It's mainly annoying when you're trying to pull multiple packs, since you need to change your route if you don't have any voice communication with your healer.

There was one really confusing instance I had with it, where this WHM in A1N would keep up Med 2 on everyone... on Faust... which basically meant I had to go Defiance just to keep the adds from killing them...

But aside from that, it's pretty much just 4mans where this happens and it's usually resolved by just telling them not to do that. If it doesn't, vote kick 'em or leave.

[PaalHenrik]

Well this is exactly what happened. Healer cast Medica 2 with a swiftcast to boot, right as I ran to the boss. No chance for a shield lob or provoke. Then when I spoke up, I was informed that all WHM do this. Which is funny since I main whm.