Sad experiences of a newbie

[Sebazy]

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Hiya, I'd be very very interested in seeing any examples of this that you might have kept? Any logs or screenshots? If you don't want to link them here, I'm on the same server as you and as such I'd be happy to throw some advice back your way if you are willing. /tell Sebazy Spiritwalker, I'm always afk these days, but I'm usually within earshot of my speakers, I'll do my best to ensure I respond in good time.

I will add, some context regarding the issues you faced would really help here as well.

I'm used to more traditional healing model - me, a healer, just heal. From the garbage thrown my way I gathered I'm supposed to dps too. Apparently for most people I healed too little, dps'd too little, then healed too little, then dps'd too little... you get the idea. I admit, I'm a slow learner, and learning how to juggle healing, dps and buffs (I decided to focus on astrologian) is tough for me, since I don't get a lot of time to play in general.

I'm going to hazard a guess that you are trying build a house before you've laid the foundations. Don't worry about your DPS yet, frankly, don't worry too much about your buffs either. Healing effectively is the very core of your job and until you get that down, don't let yourself get distracted by talk of ABC, DPS and Optimisation, it's nigh meaningless at this stage of your gameplay.

You'll see a chatter here about optimal play and things you could be trying to do, but remember that all of that means nothing if you're letting people die. These things will come to you gradually as you progress through the game and get more comfortable with your abilities and hotkey layout. You'll do best when you progress at your own pace, not anyone elses.

Some tips for you if you do decide to stick about:

Switch back to WHM, seriously, AST's card mechanics are great, but they are a distraction that I get the impression you are not ready for. WHM is just a classic brute force healer and is a no nonsense straightforward job to play, perfect for allowing you to focus on learning how the game works rather than worrying about chasing a decent card whilst your tank dies.

Communicate. This is so important i'm going to say it again in the largest bold font I can. COMMUNICATE. People will be a lot more forgiving and helpful if you just mention that you're new to the game and request that they go easy at the start of the dungeon.

Do you find yourself making the same errors repeatedly? Don't be afraid to adjust and shuffle your hotkey layout at this point. Being comfortable with your keys is vitally important.

Still making mistakes? Consider recording yourself for a completely truthful and unbiased overview on what's going wrong, on the PC you can use Shadowplay or OBS, on the PS4, consider uploading unlisted clips to your youtube account.