Why do so many healers not use specific abilities?

[Eloah]

When I read OP list, I was expecting like Largese, Lucid Dreaming, or Cleric Stance, not abilities engrained into their kits. I have no words, I'm just glad I'm not one of them...

Now, how do I faerie again?... lol.

[tdb]

I could be misunderstanding and if I am I apologize - you mention if Medica II is ending or has just ended you will use it but if not you use Assize/Medica. While I would never fault anyone for overhealing via Assize if you have a Medica II ticking you don't then cast Medica, do you? It's not super clear, as I said I could just be misunderstanding.

Did you perhaps read it as "(Medica II or Assize) then Medica" or "Medica II or (Assize then Medica)"? The intent was "Medica II or Assize or Medica" - i.e. it was a description of how I choose one AoE healing spell to cast when the party has taken significant damage. If that wasn't enough to bring the party to satisfactory health levels I'll cast another, but I won't waste MP casting Medica if it isn't needed. It's hard to quantify how much damage is significant enough to warrant an AoE heal; it depends on the flow of the fight and how good the others are in avoiding AoEs. My experience is undoubtedly colored by playing with randoms since my FC doesn't have enough active endgame players to form our own raiding group yet (but several members are my IRL friends so I'm sticking with them).

[Limonia]

When I read OP list, I was expecting like Largese, Lucid Dreaming, or Cleric Stance, not abilities engrained into their kits. I have no words, I'm just glad I'm not one of them...

I wish they didn't exist. xD But I've seen them too often unfortunately.

The thing is, using Divine Bension and such really clips into your GCD if you're not using it after Aero.

But in a situation where you would need Divine Benison for a tankbuster, wouldn't it be better to clip into your GCD because you would have to heal less then? I'm quite casual but I feel I have to heal much less and can dps more if I use Divine Benison. I understand that in a 100% planned out rotation in a perfect group you may not need it maybe, but at least in normal farm content with random players it's a great ability that seems worth clipping into your GCD. (I've given up on trying not to clip into my GCD as WHM anyway though. If I tried it I wouldn't be able to use 80% of my oGCDs when they are necessary. But as I said, I'm more of a casual player anyway.)



Besides, what I actually wanted to say with this thread was not "which healing abilities do you sometimes forget to use?". I mean, I'm guilty of not using Eye for an Eye as often as I should. Sometimes I forget about Cleric Stance when it's already up again too and so on.
It's about healers who don't use abilities like Asylum, Divine Benison or Excogitation AT ALL or only like once or twice during a fight where it's needed or really useful, like extreme trials or savage raids.
I've seen those kind of healers so often now that I'm just tired of it and wanted to know if others have noticed the same... phenomenon. And what they think about it.

[RopeDrink]

Me on WHM:

There's very few CD's worth holding. It's no good to you if it's not being used. The only exception I have for this is Benediction. After all, while it's no good if it's not being used, it DOES help to have at least one fail-safe. if we're in a raid or trial where I suspect shenanigans then I'd much rather have it in my back-pocket, preferably for the tanks, though I won't be stingy if I need someone else topped up immediately and I don't have time to long-cast (assuming Tetra is on CD).

Asylum:
I plop it on the tank during multi-pulls or plop it pre-mechanics/markers that inflict AoE.

Benison:
I plop it on tank pre-pull. If multi-pulling, either before the pull or in-between packs while we're all on the move. Can use it pre tank-buster. Use it on lower-health targets during mass-movement moments where long-cast healing isn't an option and other oGCDs are on CD. Failing all that, use it on the tank every CD. There is no reason NOT to use it as it is still a low-CD mitigation that you can weave during DPS/heals. Sometimes use it on myself during fights where you gain single-target "force the group to spread out" mechanics and the tanks are all healthy.

Thin Air:
I use it along with Lucid (provided casting needs to continue), thus you gain as much MP return as possible. Failing that, use it with Cleric Stance & PoM for Holy bombardment without denting your MP. Failing that, pop it whenever raises are required, with or without SwiftCast.

Presence of Mind:
I pop it on pull along with Cleric. Most fights open with regen + benison on tank, thus they're not going to need much attention while I throw stones. If multipulling, use it with TA+CS and go Holy Moley. I rarely use PoM for healing given how Healing is typically so telegraphed and we've oGCD abilities all over the place to remedy 'oh no' moments.

P-Indulgence:
I typically pop this after AoE heals just to ensure less need of more AOE heals. We've all had that moment where you medica the group to 90% health, PI just fills that gap. Failing that, there are repeat-AoE-mechanic moments where you can save a medica by simply using PI. It's an awkward ability but I use it more than various others.

[Jollyy5]

Regen, only the WHM's best heal.

I was inspired to write here by a WHM wonder who used nothing else but Cures and Medicas during a dungeon run with an occasional Plenary Indulgence...

At that point you are not even playing an MMO, you are wasting everyone else's time and making their gaming experience miserable by having them carry you. Even worse, they were French so I couldn't effectively advice them to use the remaining 90% of their kit.

[Tharnor]

I see healers use all ones you mention rather regularly. Some of the abilities you mentioned are niche as well or sometimes just are not needed due to how steam roll a lot of the content is currently. It also could just be that you have been getting a lot of lazy or bad healers. Not sure why this is a surprise since I regularly run into the same kind of people playing tank/dps. Just the other week in pagos the tank on louhi had a ultimate curtana and ate every ae. Obvious that he was good enough to get the weapon but was just to lazy to do the content.

[EaMett]

I think it depends a lot on context and your co healer. If I use EOS HoTs and my co healer crushes them by topping everyone off, you can bet I'm not going to bother anymore, might even pull Selene out.
If my co healer is topping tanks after busters... I'll save my excog. etc.. etc.. Hell, sometimes you're just waiting for misama II to fall off so you can weave your indom (becaue you know there's no damage output on it's way) and the other healer tops everyone off.... Fine I'll just use my aetherstack to dps.

I find that pugs are often a bit of a tug of war between healers. We try to come to a silent agreement on who heals what/how whilest getting as much dps out as possible.

[Raikai]

Because they too lazy to think, since these abilities require proper planning and fight knowledge.

[KeriFawn]

If you play the game enough as any job you start realizing that in order to preform your best; you must use most of your skills kit. I use most skills but some I don't always need depending on the fight. I think it's more than "get good" it's more about understanding each of the skills and when they best apply.

[HyoMinPark]

I think it depends a lot on context and your co healer. If I use EOS HoTs and my co healer crushes them by topping everyone off, you can bet I'm not going to bother anymore, might even pull Selene out.
If my co healer is topping tanks after busters... I'll save my excog. etc.. etc.. Hell, sometimes you're just waiting for misama II to fall off so you can weave your indom (becaue you know there's no damage output on it's way) and the other healer tops everyone off.... Fine I'll just use my aetherstack to dps.

This is why in any PUG I don't normally use AOE HoTs. Because they're always immediately invalidated.

I remember a v12n I had recently with a WHM cohealer (I was AST - I think I actually elected to go Noct; I usually use Di for A.Benefic after the split for my tank) who used the following rotation after Cosmo Memory: Medica II > Medica > Medica > Plenary Indulgence. I had actually popped CU to mitigate and give a HoT to tick up the party and ended up with it being 100% overheal on all but the tanks.