Healer training

[Renathras]

A recommendation I always make to new Tanks AND Healers:

Try them out in PotD.

Why?

Because you have your level 1-60 kit, but not the more advanced buttons yet, and the content is designed to not require a Tank or Healer and be doable by 4x DPS, so no matter what you're doing, it's probably sufficient. You WILL NOT get the full experience, but TRAINING should start slow and build up. I especially recommend this to people that leveled SMN but want to try out their SCH but don't want to get thrown into something like Zot in their first Leveling que. You can start at floor 1 and work through your skills, or jump into a 51 que, but either way, you can experiment with your spells, see about how much health they give people, and just get comfortable with things like positioning and managing party health bars.

It's where I often go when I pick up a new Healer Job (I think the first thing I did on SGE after the intro quest was a PotD or two) or Tank Job just to try and get a basic feel for it. And for people brand new to the Role, it's SUPER low pressure since, as I said, the content is designed to not even need a Healer. Just being able to Raise someone who steps on a Landmine or Esuna some debuffs makes you worth the party spot.

After you feel like you have those basics down, you can try your luck in Alliance Roulette (24 mans), mainly Crystal Tower. Any of the three. There's more going on in those fights, and while you still have a limited kit, you have a lot of training wheels between your co-healer and even the other party Healers if things go super pear-shaped.

After that, you'll have experienced both small and large group content, simple and somewhat less simple mechanics while healing, and dealt with "live" players. If you still feel unsteady, you can run some higher level Dungeons with your Trusts or use story mode in the later ones (like the level 68 one in Elpis) so you can try out your full kit.

Once you've done all that, just jump into Leveling Roulette or 50/60/70/80 and you should be ready for things.

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One thing also to remember:

Despite the raiding community saying it's akin to murdering children, you ARE ALLOWED to use your GCD heals. They're good backup tools if you just can't think of something to do. If your brain freezes, have one button somewhere you can hit that does something useful. Medica 2, Succor, etc is what I used when I first started out. If ever my brain locked up, I'd hit that button. (1) It's generally always useful and, at least, never HARMFUL, (2) it gives you something to do, which is often enough to snap your brain out of freeze/stupor, (3) it gives you a few seconds of cast bar to think of what your next move is and get back on track. I've given a number of people that piece of advice and to a person they've told me later it was super useful. Medica 2, Aspected Helios, Succor, Eukrasia Prognosis - if ever you freeze, hit that and THINK and you can get through it.

GCD heals are also useful if you can't decide what oGCD to use or things are just going so nuts you can't think of a good way to proceed. In either case, you ARE ALLOWED to use your GCD heals if brown stuff hits the fan. It's better to be doing SOMETHING than doing NOTHING in almost every case in this game (the only exception being that overheat/fire status effect, but that's rare so don't worry too much about it - you'll get to know it when you see it later on). With that lone exception, doing SOMETHING is better than doing NOTHING, and if that means casting GCD heals, go for it. Worry about optimization when no one's dying and you're not standing in bad stuff. And if you have a healing CD that has less than a 60 sec cooldown on it, it's going to be up all the time, so use it. Don't think of the short CDs as emergencies, think of them as fun bonuses. Tetragrammaton, for example.

Finally:

Let people know you're new to healing. People in this game tend to be pretty kind and, at least if they know you're new, they might give you some tips. Just listen and do your best.

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[EDIT: Oh, one last ting, since your question was about the AI - the AI is decent for training dungeon fights because they show you where the safe spots are so you can learn mechanics. So they're useful for that. Also useful for trying higher end kits with less stress since you can try out your abilities "live" without worrying about other players. But you will probably want to try out parties of Humans sooner or later.

Healing in this game is GENERALLY not too hard outside of Extremes/Savages since the Healer kits are pretty strong. Just don't be afraid to use them! :ENDEDIT]

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So that'd be my #1, 2, 3, and 4 recommendations:

1) Try it out in PotD.
2) Have a useful AOE GCD heal that you can hit if you ever can't think of what to do.
3) You ARE allowed to use GCD heals, optimization can come with time. If a CD is 60 sec or less, use it all the time. 1 min isn't too long, so you don't need to worry about saving it for an emergency. Just have fun with them.
4) Let people know you're new, listen, and just do your best.

Oh, and do try to have fun out there: You're the Heart of the Party. \o/