ADHD & Healing as SCH - Need tips on how to improve

[Padudu]

Hi guys! There will be logs posted so if you don't like logs, then look away lol. I have logs hidden at the moment and I apologize for that - been trying to figure out how to unhide them.. I just want to post this to see where I am going wrong. Sincere advice or tips only, please. Or don't - I'm not your momma.

So - I have actually enjoyed healing in savages (PF at least) and have been practicing on-and-off as SCH. I like that it gets me to focus a little and try to have a grasp on multi-tasking more efficiently. Now, my focus is regularly a problem, especially during the later hours when medication has worn off. I do tend to miss some stuff, like keeping my dot up and such.

So after practicing P1S/P2S earlier this month, I thought I was doing really good on hitting my buttons, keeping my uptime low, ect ect. I have learned the mechanics of both fights relatively well, so I thought I could dedicate more time into learning how to press buttons, well, more effectively.

Here's my first few runs with my friends as SCH. I don't have ACT or a way to upload the logs myself, so these are just taken from whoever uploaded them:

1) https://xivanalysis.com/fflogs/j1kcDtKPyrX9xgNG/7/8 This was my first time run as a healer. Obviously, I was not pushing buttons here and was scolded for that. I also hadn't done the fight in a while - months at that point - so it was overall a little overwhelming for me. Not excuses, but I tend to have a bit of a brain fog? brain shutdown moment when I get tripped up over mechanics - that tends to make me miss stuff.

2) https://xivanalysis.com/fflogs/zRKf6p4jCQZHDwNV/9/5 : My friend said I did a little better at pushing buttons and pulled my weight a little more, but obviously, I need to keep at it and practice more.

Here's my more recent fights:

1) https://xivanalysis.com/fflogs/GwjfXJFrWk2bad6z/11/29

2) https://xivanalysis.com/fflogs/rym3WA2gTLBw8Fd1/1/4

In both these fights, I find myself still struggling to keep my Broil, DOTs rolling and using my CD/oGCDs effectively. I do record the fights and see that I am not pushing them as much as I thought I have been in the fight. I've tried to improve on it, but I'm seemingly stagnating if that makes sense?

Anyway, I will delete the links and such once I figure out how to unhide the logs lol. I just want to know - where am I going wrong? I fully subscribe to my friend's beliefs of, we all start somewhere and the only way to improve is knowing the hard truth, so I'd like some advice on how to improve my button smashing.

I do know I'll likely get the "maybe healer is not for you", which is very fair, but I'd like to give myself an earnest chance to improve. I also want to make sure that I am maybe not picking up bad habits and learning the wrong way. I do have a MMO mouse, FTR, to press out-of-reach skills. If you have ADHD or focusing/memory retention problems, I'd love to hear some tips lol.

My biggest downfall is that - I have not been able to effectively learn without hammering it 100 times in my head. Hands-on practice is the best method of learning for me, so please let me know if you have any advice. Thank y'all!

[Sebazy]

Accepting that there is room for improvement and proceeding to look for ways to achieve that are a good step forward so you've got my respect for that.

I similarly struggle with memorising longer fights, the best solution for that is simply post it notes and a second screen. I'll write myself out a very basic sequence of what the mechanic actually is rather than the obtuse ability names the game often likes to use. That then gets stuck on the main monitor's chin until I've got the fight down.

As far as improving goes, going by the analysis links, the biggest thing by far is to simply get into the habit of keep that GCD rolling. Don't over think things, don't sweat it about perfect dot uptimes or anything like that at this stage. Just press something. Once you have the motor muscle memory of keeping that GCD rolling and the rhythm becomes second nature you'll have a better baseline to build from, this will make it easier once you start focusing on doing a better job of pressing the right button for each given situation.

TLDR: Fight notes on Post-its under the monitor to jog the memory with what's coming up next. Press more buttons, don't over think, just press.

[Padudu]

Accepting that there is room for improvement and proceeding to look for ways to achieve that are a good step forward so you've got my respect for that.

I similarly struggle with memorising longer fights, the best solution for that is simply post it notes and a second screen. I'll write myself out a very basic sequence of what the mechanic actually is rather than the obtuse ability names the game often likes to use. That then gets stuck on the main monitor's chin until I've got the fight down.

As far as improving goes, going by the analysis links, the biggest thing by far is to simply get into the habit of keep that GCD rolling. Don't over think things, don't sweat it about perfect dot uptimes or anything like that at this stage. Just press something. Once you have the motor muscle memory of keeping that GCD rolling and the rhythm becomes second nature you'll have a better baseline to build from, this will make it easier once you start focusing on doing a better job of pressing the right button for each given situation.

TLDR: Fight notes on Post-its under the monitor to jog the memory with what's coming up next. Press more buttons, don't over think, just press.

Ilyt Sebazy :P

I'll have to stop by the store for post-its (or just take them from my work). I hadn't considered that - writing down notes would actually probably help me a lot so I can get the mechanics/patterns down. I do have a second screen to look at for that as well, but I've struggled keeping my focus on both monitors. That could be a good middle ground.

I'll also try as well. Part of the battle (for me, anyways) is getting over anxiety over my performance. So I'll try to be more relaxed and take a deep breath about things. It took me a loooong time to even be comfortable joining PF fights. Thanks and appreciate the advice!

[Semirhage]

A gray clear is still a clear, and wanting to improve is a great thing. To add to Sebazy's suggestions, I'd get a good idea as to what your average ping looks like. As long as it's not 200+ (in which case you'll need to make adjustments for lag), getting good at slidecasting is a huge boost to GCD maintenance. The VAST majority of AOEs in this game go off slowly enough that you have time to finish a cast you started before it appeared underneath you, then move out while slidecasting the last 20% of your Broil instead of canceling it. It seems scary at first, but as long as you didn't begin the cast after the AOE appeared, you're *usually* fine.

[Rilifane]

It's great that you seek others out to help you contribute more, there's always room for improvement and your friend is right. We all start somewhere.
And I second post its near your monitor to keep track of important things. I use them all the time.

So I'll adress a couple of things in order of priority:

1) Uptime
It's okay to press the wrong button, it's better than not pressing buttons at all. That is always your top priority when trying to improve: aim to keep your GCD rolling at all times. As a SCH you have Ruin II so if mechanics tend to distract you, it's fine to switch to non-stop Ruin II until the mechanic is over (e.g. for positioning during arrows, numbers, dodging Cataract etc). The biggest dps loss is not using a GCD at all.
You have often gaps between your casts even outside of mechanics, the question is why?
My guess is that you overthink it by wanting to nail everything at once and ending up neglecting the most important thing.
As Sebazy said: don't overthink it, press buttons. The details will come with time as long as you're aware of them but for now, just press buttons.
The goal is to slidecast as much movement as possible but as an intermediate step, abusing Ruin II is fine.

2) Weaving
You often clip after Broilt. Remember that after every Broil you can only use one oGCD. Not more. Every time you clip, you lose uptime and 3 clips are roughly 1 full GCD lost.
If you have trouble with this because you panic and want to press all the heals at once the moment HP bars move to the left, switch to Ruin II until it's over. It will become easier with time to properly stagger your oGCDs and neatly weave them one after another after a Broil but for now I'd advise abusing Ruin II but be aware that it's just an intermediate step and don't stick to it just because it's comfortable.
Your final goal should be to reduce Ruin II as much as possible by weaving after Broil and slidecasting.

3) GCD heals
You currently have the habit of using Succor during pretty much every aoe cast. Keep in mind that the only purpose of GCD shields is to ensure the party's survival if everything else has already been applied but would not be enough.
The party only needs to survive the hit and every Succor that wasn't necessary for surviving the mechanic or consecutive hits is essentially like a dropped GCD even if it counts for your uptime. That is a bad habit I'd try to get rid off and there aren't any good intermediate steps like for weaving. It's a binary you either used it or not and has a lot to do with how comfortable you are on healer and how comfortable you are with seeing low HP bars.

There are more things but I'd focus on these 3 in the order listed for now.
I know that constantly relying on GCD heals as a comfort crutch is a difficult habit to get rid off because it eases the mind, it makes you feel safer and like everything is under control when HP bars are full and with a yellow bar on top of that. But if it wasn't necessary for surviving, it's still an empty GCD. However it'll probably get easier to drop GCD heals once you are more comfortable with uptime in general and more confident with weaving heals properly and in time, which is why I'd put it at lower priority for now. And PF is not the best environment to get rid off this habit either.

Once you feel like you improved with this, you can go into more detailed improvements.

[Liam_Harper]

I do know I'll likely get the "maybe healer is not for you", which is very fair, but I'd like to give myself an earnest chance to improve.

At a glance, your log on Jun 25th you had 58% uptime and 80% DoT uptime, resulting in a 3 percentile log.
Your recent log pushed that to 70.5% uptime and 86% on your DoT, climbing to 14 percentile.

That's a big jump. For the sake of accuracy I'm looking at 0 death runs. +11 percentile might not sound like a lot, but you improved significantly and it will only continue getting better the more you practice. It's normal for it to be a gradual process so stick with it. Healing can absolutely be for you.

The posts here all have good advice so I don't have much to add. Try not to focus on too much at once, don't weave more than one oGCD after each Broil and always try to be casting. Use Ruin II if you find slidecasting difficult, it's much better for movement than nothing. Remember Recitation, free crit Indoms make healing less stress. Once you have uptime above 90% you could look more at fine tuning optimization details.

[Padudu]

Snip snip.

That is true and that is something I get told a lot by my mates lol. I checked my ping last night and that's completely fine, I've got good net and no frames/lag issues unless my internet randomly decides to drop, but that's about once in a blue moon. I'll have to look more into what slidecasting is and try to commit to practicing timing with the AOEs. It is true that it can be a little scary, that's for sure. I think I may be panicking a little when I'm midcast when AoEs begin to pop, so I'll have to try to calm that aspect down a bit. Thank you!

Snipped for length

First, thanks! It's slow going but I do want to make sure I can pull my weight in party situations. I want to be able to feel like I've contributed to a party and not just be dead weight. That's my major goal out of anything, other than improving of course.


1) I, admittedly, suffer from a lot of anxiety when I've messed up a mechanic or die. It's very, very hard for me to recover from that. I don't want to say it's like.. being dramatic or something, but I think it's as if someone just uncorked a champagne and the pressure just pops. I get so caught up in trying to keep up that it can be a little hard for me to realize that I am actually not doing anything at all in that moment. I do overthink what I'm doing a lot too. I'll try my best to focus on relaxing a bit and get into the habit of pressing Broil/Ruin 2 when I can. I think especially if I got into the habit of pressing Ruin 2 and keeping it rolling, I can ease into doing it naturally with Broil and other GCDs.

2) I think I will have to look into clipping exactly and making sure I don't do it, same token of slidecasting, I need to properly learn what it is. I'll try moving the HP bars as suggested and keeping the heal spam to a minimum and kick the habit of using oGCDs as a crutch and rather just think of it as trying to keep a steady flow of Broil/Ruin 2 and 1 oGCD.

3) OK - I had no idea. Thank you! I think I tend to panic and just slap on the shield since sometimes, in that moment, I cannot gauge what would be enough or not. I'll try letting Succor go and just experimenting with the survivability; I think that would give me a better idea than just slapping on succor every cast.

And yep, you nailed it, it eases the panicking a little but I guess I have to work through that and just feel comfortable with not using it as a crutch. I'll see if I can work on just taking a deep breath, relaxing, and minimizing GCD heals while focusing on weaving in broil/ruin 2 with oGCDs more effectively.

Over all, thank you so much for the advice. I really appreciate it and hope I can kick off some of those bad habits and form some good ones. You've given me a lot to mull over and think about and now it's just a matter of one step at a time, relax myself, and just note the things I've done right and wrong to the best of my ability. What would you suggest other than PF? I do go with a friend/FCs at times. Friend also suggested I start with extremes (eden, ect where I'd have to do mechs)/unreal.

Snip

Hey, thanks for your kind words.

Also -- thank you. That does mean a lot to point out that I am improving, if only a little. Sometimes I can be really hard on myself and it does make me happy to know that other people can see some improvement in me, even if I can't myself at times. Of course there's a long road of practice ahead of me, but I'm glad to know I'm completely hopeless at learning how to heal.

Overall - thank you everyone for advice and support. I'll be trying to take everything one step at a time and hopefully I can update y'all when I've improved significantly!

[Semirhage]

I think I will have to look into clipping exactly and making sure I don't do it, same token of slidecasting

In case you don't find good resources:

Slidecasting is what initially appears to be either a bug or a side-effect of laggy netcode, but has been confirmed in interviews with Yoshida as an intended feature. When you hit around the last 0.2-0.1 seconds of casting a spell (you get a feel for it over time), you can move and still finish casting. This lets you move early while still getting your spell off.

Clipping is delaying your GCD. The vast majority of your efficiency (damage or otherwise) comes from keeping your GCD on cooldown as often as possible. One of your abstract goals is to ensure that every encounter includes as many GCD uses as you can fit. This means prioritizing starting a GCD cast immediately after it finishes cooling down. If you don't, that delays your GCD, eventually losing you casts over the course of the fight. Off-GCDs are used in what we call "weave windows". As long as a GCD has a cast time shorter than its cooldown (for example, Ruin 2 is instant cast), you can fit off-GCDs in that time period without losing any GCD uptime. This comes at a marginal cost though; every oGCD has a short animation lock that gives them a mandatory usage time. If you try to fit too many oGCDs during one of these weave windows, you end up spilling over into the time that your GCD has finished cooling down, and delaying it anyway.

In order to use oGCDs in a way that doesn't cause you to clip your GCD, you can safely use up to two oGCDs after an instant cast, or one after a short-GCD cast (like Broil). I think it's theoretically possible to triple-weave after an instant GCD if you have the best ping in the world, but I've never seen anyone close enough to the servers to manage it outside Japan.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Another way to visually recognize when exactly you can slidecast is to assign any emote into your hotbar's free slot then watch it as you spam your GCD spellcast.

When you start casting, it will grey out like any other icon in the hotbar. But for some reason that emote will light up first before anything else as you're about to finish your spellcast. THAT is exactly the time you can start moving your character to slidecast successfully. Not something I'd recommend because it forces you to eye your hotbar but it might help to just know that. You can take it off once it becomes second nature to you.

[Padudu]

Snip

Thank you so much for this, I truly, truly, truly appreciate you (and everyone else's) help on this.

As for clipping - that makes a LOT more sense now. Ok, so by using more than one oGCD after Broil, I am actually messing up the timing of my GCDs, would that be correct? That would also, in turn, mess with my weaving, causing me to clip. So the idea is to stagger ogcds in between the slidecasting/weaving so optimize uptime?

Sorry if I sound stupid - just want to get it a little clearer in my head.

Snip

Ohhh, thank you thank you thank you!! I never knew about this. I'm going to try that out as soon as I can get on! I do look at my hotbar a liiiiittle too much, but I do want to see how it works. I'm very curious lol

As a note, found out how to unhide my logs! :P Snoop away, ye forum lurkers. I think maybe I will put myself out there for beginner statics and see if I can practice that way.