Group Dynamics (threat, healing, etc)

JBerkleyJr

Anyone know where I can learn about group dynamics related to threat and healing? In other MMOs I've played, I learned how tanks generate and maintain threat on enemies, how DPS is able to maximize their damage without stealing the monsters' attention, and how healers keep everyone alive.

I haven't been playing ESO long, but I've only seen non-targetted heals (it says 'a nearby ally') and one or two 'taunts.' No sign yet of any threat-sinks (ways to lower your aggro on a monster) for the DPS.

Is it impossible for a healer to focus only on a tank and force the DPS to manage themselves and not stand in fire/steal aggro/etc? Is the only way to keep threat low to do less damage? Is the only way to hold a monster to taunt it repeatedly and manage your cooldowns?

Any help would be appreciated. Maybe ESO doesn't even work this way at all...

Elduith

I've been healing a little in ESO too, and as far as I know there is no target heals of yet, unless you are a templar perhaps? I think that with the AoE heals, it is healing the one closest to you the most, then spreads out to the others. (?)

Elduith

As far as tank goes, when tank does damage first, they tend to attack the tank the most. Give him a few seconds before firing you awsome dps'!

rhubbert_ESO

This is not at all much like the trinity. I have found success running dungeons with people of all classes. I have run a dungeon with 2 tanks and 2 healers... 1 healer and 3 DPS. 1 tank 3 dps. Healer is really important but some classes have so much self-heal ability and group heals (templar) that playing that specific role isn't necessary like in old games.

temjiu

I think part of the flexibility comes with the skill setup. 2 classes have skills that are directly heal related (temp has an entire tree), but any class can be successful with it. thus you can set up a character with a mix of heals and damage and still be effective. like currently i prefer to heal on my sorc, who has some nice buffs and passives outside of healing when im not doing that.

Healing is also smart, so takes less effort. but it also means that yeah, we can't ignore a DPS who's being dump and standing in the fire. the good news (or bad if your one of those DPS...) is that healing isn't designed to save people in this game that are being "bad." you simply can't keep up...they will die. so literally it's not your fault if a baddie stands in the fire too long and dies, its supposed to be that way.

On the flip side, if you ahve a good group, having a dedicated healer isn't critical. I've ran groups with no one to heal but my 2h templar and a DW NB. wer ran 4 consecutive dungeons with that setup, and no issues whatsoever. This is pre-VR though, and i hear that VR level is quite different. there I could see the need for more dedicated healing.