The responsibility of a healer...

AdamBourke · July 2014

Hi,

I'm pretty new to group dungeons (I've done the first two in the ebonheart pact), and I want to know what my role as a healer is, and how much I'm responsible for.

Mainly, I want to know about deaths. How many deaths are acceptable in a group dungeon?

I did Fungal Grotto at lvl 15, and we had one death, who I revived.

I just did Darkshade Caverns, at lvl 23, and we had five deaths including one that was me.

Would you say that these are acceptable losses?

How much responsibility does a player have for his or her own health? Should they be looking to use health potions when they're getting low - or should they trust the healer to help them out?

Do they have a responsibility to stay within range of the healer. One of the deaths was because I completely lost the guy. Couldn't see him anywhere. I knew he needed healing because of the lifebars. I still don't know where he went. He reappeared as a ghost when he respawned.

I tend to have my Daedric friends out when I do group dungeons - the clannfear I think acts as a good mini-tank, and the twilight matriarch dies easily, but does some healing. Do you think I should be saving that magicka for healing spells?

I know these are rather basic questions, but I've never played an MMO before this one (For longer than a day anyway), and I'd like to know the general etiquette.

I'll take most of your advice. But I'll probably ignore you if you tell me to put away my clannfear :-P.

Thanks
-AdamBourke
(Orran-Ka)

Innocente · July 2014

As a Templar healer, I can say my experience in the Lvl 1 - Lvl 50 gameplay.

* If players do not get out of the Red Zones when needed, they are probably going to die. Not your fault and damn little you can do about it.

* If players do not Dodge when needed, they are probably going to die. Not your fault and damn little you can do about it.

* If players do not Block when needed, they are probably going to die. Not your fault and damn little you can do about it.

* If you waste to much Magicka attempting to use skills other than your main heals, you will probably run out when you need it most. Those other skills are really situational; save your Magicka for healing.

* If players do not know the fights, Boss or Trash, someone is probably going to die. Not your fault and damn little you can do about it.

* If players do not understand that heals are AoE and Ranged, wander to far off, they will not get healed and probably die. Not your fault and damn little you can do about it.

All in all, healing in ESO is a strange duck. When doing DPS (and you should help DPS when not healing), be sure not to burn your magicka; be sure to save Stamina for your own Dodge/Block needs!

Good Luck

KoroLahk · July 2014

I've been healing in MMO's for far too many years. ESO has been a pretty unique healing experience for me though.

Deaths in dungeons and their faults differ greatly on the situation. Were the people standing in red circles? Did they eat every charged up attack? Even though in some of those cases you may be able to save them, I certainly wouldn't say you're responsible for a death that occurred there, and they've probably just cost you a lot of mana attempting to save them.

What I love so much about the dungeons in ESO is that every group member has to be aware of the situation around them. DPS can't just point, click and snooze and it definitely helps if they can be aware of your position to be within range for heals.

Healer deaths are something your group should be trying to keep an eye out for too. If there's a pack of trash and 1-2 start making a rush for the healer your group should hopefully be prioritizing those with healer aggro. Having said that it's also a healers responsibility to position themselves to be easily accessible for help.

I can't say anything for/against your pets as I haven't played sorc yet and know little about them.

zmanu · July 2014

Well, in this game, 90% of the deaths are the fault of the guy who died.

This is also a game where poo happens, 1 death or 5 it doesn't mean much it happens to the best of us.

As a healer, besides healing you would be applying CC and doing some dps, as much as the situation allows.

The rest you will learn on the way, I suggest clearing all the normal dungeons before attempting the veteran ones later.

Your comrades will mostly use stamina and magicka potions, depending how much they trust you and if you do see that anyone is missing health the first thing to do is heal him.

That said if you do happen to fall asleep even for a second, you might end up wiping the whole group.

Since this game handles aggro in other ways as other MMOs you will be responsible for yourself if a mob decides to attack you, usually you would cc it and hope one of the dps finishes it off.

And whatever you do, never stop moving, even if you would just move 4m in either direction it's much easier to avoid red circles that way.