Is it acceptable to play a healer anymore?

Pauwer

In pvp they at least are needed and wanted.

I play maybe 6 dungeons in a year now they are always super easy, feels like outside of some 1 shot mechs you have to avoid, there really is not that much challenge. I remember years ago, when i played dungeons daily, they were hard. Someone always rage quit and people would like die on the arx corinium (sp?) Boss with the song and the pet if they failed to go under the sphere. Just one example. Nowdays, it is nothing like that, pugs mostly just can breeze through everything. No, you dont go under the sphere, you just burn the boss. I dont know if the game just is easier now or is the general skill level of average player gotten better. Either way, i would slot only few heal skills on healer and just remember to keep an eye on your groups health bars. I think you will find it will work ok.

But i do miss playing full healer, i wish it was needed again.

jane_01215

I started playing as healer, became buff bot, and now seriously considering transition to DPS. These changes are not what I wanted, the game forced me to adapt.
It's nice to see people who say they want dedicated healers but they are just too rare to convince me otherwise.

svendf

Astrid wrote: »

Unless it’s moongrave HM due to healing debuff or Stone garden HM to babysit your tank, dungeons it’s a no. 3 dd and a tank running Olorime is far far easier. PvP and trials, healers are absolutely viable and good ones are very sought after : )

Look at the post above your´s. This poster is both wise and have knowledge. That 3rd dd may be a good idea as you most of the time have to spam selfheals and looses dps - maybe I missed the line, where dd´s also equip sets to buff the group.

Do not misunderstand me here. Im not saying you and your grroup/groups or mates can´t do it. What I try to say it´s maybe it´s a good idea too add to your post that this can only be done by the "few". same as going in with 4 tanks, with low dps in some vet dungeons, which I don´tt recomment if you don´t have the knowledge.

It is allway´s a good idea to remind some folks, that these kind of grouping´s isn´t for every one, but can be tried out on preformed groups.

Three dd´s form a group for a vet dlc or norm dlc pledge or just to farm, one skip the healer que and the cool kids zone in and wait for the pug tank. I know in most cases this will end up as an wipe party or tank will leave after first trash pull as something is misssing.

I have seen at first hand dds spaming heals to the point, where there is no reason to stay in group. As a healer I pay much attention to the tank role and if it´s a fake tank it´s just bye, bye. Just reminding you we are talking pugs, right ? Not preformed.

As a dd I would do the same and if im on one of my dds and se fake tank and healer in same group it´s just bye. Im not in a dungeon to spam selfheals, Im there as a dps.

If the cool kids wanna do these kind of things, they should form a premade group and take it from there and actually give them a positive result as a bonus.

These kind of runs is not for every one, wwhich I feel you should have added.

Thank You

ResidentContrarian

DPS is all that matters when difficulty consists of:

1-shots
Block or die mechanics
Roll or die mechanics
Hard DPS checks

and

Anyone can heal
Sets can heal more than most healers can exist
Tanks can wear support or heal sets effectively
A healer that can heal a lot without sets must be specced for damage and crit as well

Maybe with the cap on proc sets we might see things change, but I doubt anything can stop me from being the healer and tank in a dungeon. In fact, with Gaze of Sithis coming...a healer is even less needed, and I already have been to vet trial solo before and after the nerf on my tank and know that I won't need one.

svendf

ResidentContrarian wrote: »

DPS is all that matters when difficulty consists of:

1-shots
Block or die mechanics
Roll or die mechanics
Hard DPS checks

and

Anyone can heal
Sets can heal more than most healers can exist
Tanks can wear support or heal sets effectively
A healer that can heal a lot without sets must be specced for damage and crit as well

Maybe with the cap on proc sets we might see things change, but I doubt anything can stop me from being the healer and tank in a dungeon. In fact, with Gaze of Sithis coming...a healer is even less needed, and I already have been to vet trial solo before and after the nerf on my tank and know that I won't need one.

Not every one have the fortune being able to play dd, helaer and tank. If it´s true regarding changes imagine all those, who are not able to perform a required rotation as dd because of health issues and enjoy healing and tanking.

It´s har to believe that ZOS will go that path. Lets see what happens

Doc45

I've been a healer main for five years and have learned to be flexible with plenty of options saved in Dressing Room add-on. In low DPS groups, I tend to do quite a bit of the damage myself (often 50%-70%). In fairly high DPS groups (70k+ on a 21M dummy), I'm better off buffing the DD's. In my experience, it tends to be mid-range DD's (around 50k-60k on a 21M dummy) that want to go with three for some achievements because they need a mid-range DD to supplement them, but then their own damage also drops with their slotted heals and/or shields and fewer buffs. In my opinion, the best healers have plenty of options available to them and can swap quickly to whatever's most beneficial (given add-ons are necessary). I feel it's a bit ignorant when some DD's want a 3 DD run. Mid-range level DPS is the majority of the player population doing vet DLC dungeons, and a hybrid approach usually works best there.

As an aside, I know some people won't agree at all with the numbers I used to define "fairly high DPS" or "mid-range dps", but don't get lost in that. I do vet DLC HM's with DD's that struggle to do more than 20K on a 3M and with DD's that do 100k+ on a 21M. I've seen it all, and a flexible healer that can wear/slot what's needed when needed is a valuable asset in all group content. True end-game HM for a healer is inventory control.

Jem_Kindheart

Astrid wrote: »

Unless it’s moongrave HM due to healing debuff or Stone garden HM to babysit your tank, dungeons it’s a no. 3 dd and a tank running Olorime is far far easier. PvP and trials, healers are absolutely viable and good ones are very sought after : )

That is not an opinion that everyone has. If you've got access to vet trial guildies you can run dungeons with who can steamroll all but two pieces of content without healers, awesome for you. That is a small portion of the community, I know, I've been there lol.

This is one that if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers lol. The good part about being a healer is you have the flexibility to adjust to the group. If the group is doing fine, just stay on your damage bar. Might have to throw a heal or two during bosses then swap back to damage.

Then everyone's happy. Well built and geared Templar healers can out dps most random pug players anyway, problem solved. Most random pugs really don't like wiping 30 times in silly Vet BC2 because the healer doesn't heal nor the "tank" have a taunt for that matter lol.

Huyen

Hal wrote: »

Shout out to all the great healers, who are still kicking around, healing me through both my own squishiness & my own 'standing in stupid' problems.

Thank you, you are appreciated.

(I need you)

Thanks for the apreciation! Made my day as a healer.

Khrogo

I have mained healer since launch. I have one of every class. I have watched healers become less and less relevant over the years. That said, I do a lot of vet DLC trials where the difference between good healing and bad healing is more apparent.

guarstompemoji

It is true! If you want to feel appreciated as a healer, do PvP!

End game PvE content needs healers, though it can be hard to find open slots in trial groups. Since these are among the few areas where healers are absolutely needed, these spots are guarded and held onto, for good reason. Similar for tanks. There are also, only 2 healer slots and 2 tank slots per trial, and 8 dps.

And sometimes, though...you'll occasionally run into dismissive and toxic attitudes towards healing in PvE, and DPS players who fill the trope of "it's the healer's fault" despite their death screen being filled with one-shot mechanics. This is something we share with our tank buddies, and it's unfortunate, but it's not the majority of players by any length.

When it comes to learning healing, healers, also, aren't as organized when it comes to putting together builds and content sharing. Tanks absolutely are, and it's easy to find content for DPS.

Learning about HoTs, healing limits, and so on is more difficult as a healer only because there's fewer dedicated sources for it.

Tl;dr: Healer life is better in PvP.

Galbsadi

Jem_Kindheart wrote: »

This is one that if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers lol. The good part about being a healer is you have the flexibility to adjust to the group. If the group is doing fine, just stay on your damage bar. Might have to throw a heal or two during bosses then swap back to damage.

^ This.

Also, people keep talking about 'hybrid builds'...what? As a healer main since beta, I'm a believer that healers should still do damage when they can reasonably do so.

Every healer of mine has a damage bar and a healer bar (with buffs tied to sets [think Olorime or SPC] or intermixed throughout other abilities.

Group doing fine and not taking a lot of damage? I stay on my damage bar (which usually has something like Energy Orb on it for both spot healing and providing a synergy).

Group going nuts with incoming damage? I stay on my healing bar (which has one damage ability on it so I can still squeeze in hits where able).

Somewhere in the middle? It's not hard to swap bars in combat.

ThePianist

https://youtu.be/q0E_UOWu_vU

This guy solo’d vet scalecaller hm. Did he have 100k dps? No. He has what a majority of dps doesn’t have, awareness. As a tank, that’s what I consider as a good dps. Are you aware of the mechanics? Do you know how to pace your damage? Do you know when to turn and burn?

Usually when a dps suggests I wear a buff set like Yohl, it usually means that dps is on a time schedule. I’m off today, I have time. You? You’re playing eso 1 hour before work and calls the tank selfish because he’s not respecting your time? Just leave.

Vet Sanctum, an old trial, is harder than VSS and VMOL right now, combined! Good! We need more dungeons and trials where no amount of 100k dps can skip mechanics.

AyaDark

Only some small amount of dunguans really need healer.

But the question is - if some dunguan can be easely passed on HM with 1 DD and 1 tank - do other 2 needed ?

No they are not.

But they can make run more comfortable or fast.

Not enough of good DDs, tanks and healers.

If you are really good you have no problem at all are you needed or not. You will just past solo on your healer than.

Do other 3 needed than ?

peacenote

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I have a long running healplar and have two big problems with the current direction of healing.

First, sets/skills that support only those I'm grouped with. I loathe this. When Barrier changed to group only, I dumped it. Same with Earthgore and Winter's Respite. If I can't support my group AND randoms at the same dragon/harrowstorm/WB, etc, I'll favor supporting randoms since that is where I spend more time.

Secondly, the new CP system erodes the beautiful synergy of healing - that is, spell damage boosts both healing and damage. I fear the possible introduction of a 'healing power' attribute and completely separating healing and damage. I'd urge caution with this. If you ask this healer to choose between healing and damage, she'll choose damage and change her role accordingly. No damage support is why my tank is mostly retired. I understand the intent of this direction is to make dd's require a healer but if you strip healers of decent damage, there won't be many healers left for the dd's who want them.

I guess my real problem is that my primary activity is solo work - but it is fun to sometimes do group work. If made to choose, I'll go pure solo long before I ever 'optimize' for group only.

I primarily group up with folks and I agree with you. In fact, I think the healing playstyle has taken a lot of collateral damage from the "year of performance" and the standardization initiative which is WHY so many healers have quit.

The beauty of healing in ESO is the fact that you can be support and damage at the same time. It is what makes it different from the tank role. Any game decisions that try to force healing into a single dimensional role will be the final nail in the coffin. Most of us heal because we like the chaos and the challenge and the flexibility. It is the Swiss army knife role in ESO and I hope we never see that change!

Greystag

My main role is healing.
In many dungeons I feel like my healing is not needed at all and I'm just being bored out of my mind as I just refresh debuffs and buffs. Some dungeons, especially DLC HMs, do benefit from having a healer, especially when they have healing checks or the tank needs to be focused. But these are a minority.

In Trials, however, good healers are really valued. So you should try to find a progression group if you want to become a PvE healer.

In PvP, healers are very strong and valued, especially cyrodiil (in bgs people usually prefer a 4th damage dealer since they can self-sustain there, and more than a healer in a bg is bad).


TLDR: Dungeons: Sometimes, sadly (we'll see though, with the pale order nerf). | Trials: Definitely. | Cyrodiil: Definitely. | BGs: Depends, I'd only suggest it with a premade.

BXR_Lonestar

LettuceBrain wrote: »

I'm just curious since everyone seems to think that 3 DPS and 1 tank are needed. I only really want to play healers in group content but I want to know if I am actually needed.

Healers are DEFINITELY still needed, but unfortunately, it is only in content that is approaching the harder end of the spectrum. Some vet DLC dungeons, trials, and hardmodes are where you see healers wanted the most. Otherwise, a DPS with a resto back bar with 1-3 healing abilities can take care of a group for all other content.

In PVP, you will be LOVED if you have a good build and follow a group, but other than that, people just want to burn content, and more DPS = faster runs.

FrancisCrawford

If the group needs you to do a full heal/buff rotation with no time for DPS, then do that.

In dungeons, however, such cases are rare. The last time I recall it happening for me I was doing vWGT and the tank was newish to the game and had never been in the dungeon before. After wiping on the Planar Inhibitor we strategized, and I actually put on Sanctuary gear to up my effective HPS.

Even then I may have mixed some damage in, although I no longer recall for sure.

LettuceBrain

I played normal pugs yesterday, and I can positively say that I needed to heal full time. If not they probably would have died multiple times. I do have a damage back bar (as is normal for healers).

Vevvev

Of course! If anything a healer that can adapt to the current meta is a life saver! If the group is doing very well just leave a few heals going and apply some DoTs to your foes to add on some additional damage, and when bad things start happening well the group has a healer!

I personally take my healer build and design it around group sustain buffing and DPS. Think Symphony of Blades and Spell Power Cure and you won't be far off. I also throw on Hiti since it's another heal over time that also helps the Tank out with cheaper blocking and dodge rolling. Also Hiti helps keep SPC on the group while DPSing and I love how I can proc Hiti with the Blood Fountain. I also play a vampire healer so I'm constantly healing myself from self inflicted injuries and Sated Fury so the build just synergizes with itself perfectly!

LettuceBrain

Vevvev wrote: »

Of course! If anything a healer that can adapt to the current meta is a life saver! If the group is doing very well just leave a few heals going and apply some DoTs to your foes to add on some additional damage, and when bad things start happening well the group has a healer!

I personally take my healer build and design it around group sustain buffing and DPS. Think Symphony of Blades and Spell Power Cure and you won't be far off. I also throw on Hiti since it's another heal over time that also helps the Tank out with cheaper blocking and dodge rolling. Also Hiti helps keep SPC on the group while DPSing and I love how I can proc Hiti with the Blood Fountain. I also play a vampire healer so I'm constantly healing myself from self inflicted injuries and Sated Fury so the build just synergizes with itself perfectly!

I see Spell Power Cure mentioned often, how do I get it?

Agenericname

LettuceBrain wrote: »

Vevvev wrote: »

Of course! If anything a healer that can adapt to the current meta is a life saver! If the group is doing very well just leave a few heals going and apply some DoTs to your foes to add on some additional damage, and when bad things start happening well the group has a healer!

I personally take my healer build and design it around group sustain buffing and DPS. Think Symphony of Blades and Spell Power Cure and you won't be far off. I also throw on Hiti since it's another heal over time that also helps the Tank out with cheaper blocking and dodge rolling. Also Hiti helps keep SPC on the group while DPSing and I love how I can proc Hiti with the Blood Fountain. I also play a vampire healer so I'm constantly healing myself from self inflicted injuries and Sated Fury so the build just synergizes with itself perfectly!

I see Spell Power Cure mentioned often, how do I get it?

White Gold Tower dungeon. Vet or normal, doesnt matter. You get a named necklace from the intro quest, "Mara's Blessing" iirc.

LettuceBrain

[/quote]

I see Spell Power Cure mentioned often, how do I get it?[/quote]

White Gold Tower dungeon. Vet or normal, doesnt matter. You get a named necklace from the intro quest, "Mara's Blessing" iirc. [/quote]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Why do my quotes glitch out? Every time I go on the thread it tries to quote a bunch of things so I have to delete some and then it doesn't work, anyone know what to do?

FrancisCrawford

LettuceBrain wrote: »

Vevvev wrote: »

Of course! If anything a healer that can adapt to the current meta is a life saver! If the group is doing very well just leave a few heals going and apply some DoTs to your foes to add on some additional damage, and when bad things start happening well the group has a healer!

I personally take my healer build and design it around group sustain buffing and DPS. Think Symphony of Blades and Spell Power Cure and you won't be far off. I also throw on Hiti since it's another heal over time that also helps the Tank out with cheaper blocking and dodge rolling. Also Hiti helps keep SPC on the group while DPSing and I love how I can proc Hiti with the Blood Fountain. I also play a vampire healer so I'm constantly healing myself from self inflicted injuries and Sated Fury so the build just synergizes with itself perfectly!

I see Spell Power Cure mentioned often, how do I get it?

Also, if you buy Key Fragments, you can get White-Gold Tower loot for them. But that's an expensive option. (75 fragments per piece.)

Goregrinder

Starlight_Whisper wrote: »

Malkiv wrote: »

LettuceBrain wrote: »

I'm just curious since everyone seems to think that 3 DPS and 1 tank are needed. I only really want to play healers in group content but I want to know if I am actually needed.

Most of the time, buff bots (i.e. healers) are not needed in a normal dungeon, nor in non-DLC vets. Having a buff bot in a vet DLC dungeon is nice, so you can just focus on mechanics and parsing the boss. Where buff bots really get their time to shine is in trials and pvp.

Such a cringey name " buff bots"

It's an old school MMORPG term, probably before your time. Basically in games like DAoC and SWG, you'd have an alt logged in somewhere that was built to give other players buffs, and that's all that toon was for. In SWG you'd have it sitting in a house facing a chair or something, running macros, so other players can walk into your house, sit in the chair, then after a minute it would automatically target the player and throw all relevant buffs on them, and then they'd be off on their way to do whatever. In DAoC you didn't have in game macros, so you'd just park it somewhere, and log it in when your group needed buffs. DAoC eventually added NPC's that gave similar buffs, but it was still handy to have a buff bot you can bring anywhere.

A bot that provided players with buffs....hence "buff bot". In ESO, our buffs are from food and mundus stones. Players can provide temporary buffs to other players while in combat, but they aren't the same kind of buffs.

Cypherus

First off, I think anyone's main should be whatever they like playing with the most, after all, games were made as an entertainment tool.
That being said, my main is a magSorcDPS but since it takes 30min-2h in LFGs I decided to create a healer just to do vetDgs and get the monster sets.
nDgs = nobody needs healing and you can just tag along for the daily random xp.
vDgs = nonDLCs ones are the same as nDgs. Now, as for vetDLC_Dgs, every now and then my healer has prevented complete wipes to the point where I was the only one standing and was still able to revive the rest of the team. But it will mostly depend on your group's sustainability. My healer has 2 settings: PVE = healing+dps, PUGs = 100% healing with 2 debuffs.

PS. I know I still have a lot to learn, for I'm still a newbie who started playing in February 2021.

Bottom line, go with whatever class appeals to you the most and enjoy your game because that's what games are for!

Astrid

svendf wrote: »

Astrid wrote: »

Unless it’s moongrave HM due to healing debuff or Stone garden HM to babysit your tank, dungeons it’s a no. 3 dd and a tank running Olorime is far far easier. PvP and trials, healers are absolutely viable and good ones are very sought after : )

Look at the post above your´s. This poster is both wise and have knowledge. That 3rd dd may be a good idea as you most of the time have to spam selfheals and looses dps - maybe I missed the line, where dd´s also equip sets to buff the group.

Do not misunderstand me here. Im not saying you and your grroup/groups or mates can´t do it. What I try to say it´s maybe it´s a good idea too add to your post that this can only be done by the "few". same as going in with 4 tanks, with low dps in some vet dungeons, which I don´tt recomment if you don´t have the knowledge.

It is allway´s a good idea to remind some folks, that these kind of grouping´s isn´t for every one, but can be tried out on preformed groups.

Three dd´s form a group for a vet dlc or norm dlc pledge or just to farm, one skip the healer que and the cool kids zone in and wait for the pug tank. I know in most cases this will end up as an wipe party or tank will leave after first trash pull as something is misssing.

I have seen at first hand dds spaming heals to the point, where there is no reason to stay in group. As a healer I pay much attention to the tank role and if it´s a fake tank it´s just bye, bye. Just reminding you we are talking pugs, right ? Not preformed.

As a dd I would do the same and if im on one of my dds and se fake tank and healer in same group it´s just bye. Im not in a dungeon to spam selfheals, Im there as a dps.

If the cool kids wanna do these kind of things, they should form a premade group and take it from there and actually give them a positive result as a bonus.

These kind of runs is not for every one, wwhich I feel you should have added.

Thank You

I’m literally a healer main, and it’s what i love to do more than anything. But once you hit a certain point you’re just losing damage having a healer there, you don’t/barely play mechanics with 3 dds you just straight nuke majority of content.
There’s nothing “cool” about this, it’s just more efficient. I’ve healed dungeons that don’t necessarily need one and i am bored to literal tears. Yes it’s not for everyone, and it’s mostly not recommended in a PUG (which are notorious for all bad roles and even fake roles). But getting together a group of people who are capable, you’re better off 3 dd for speed and efficiency. You’re not even spamming heals, just don’t be stupid, let the tank do their job and nuke it. If you wanna PUG stuff with questionable tanks/dds, sure a healer is likely your best bet and you can stand and heal people through their own mistakes for 12 years.

DukeCybran

I don't know why but as a healer, I find people in dungeons are afraid of me more than Molag Bal, running like headless chickens and trying their best to stand in a triangular position to avoid my buffs to cover everyone.

Also, some of them are good at picking the red circle more than my buffs, and some DPS think of themselves as a tank, blaming me as a bad healer not to keep them alive.

So, I decided to change to hybrid DPS/healer and do normal dungeons most of the time.

jssriot

beagles wrote: »

Echoing: If you want to feel appreciated as a healer, do PvP.

I cannot tell you have many time I, a PVP healer, will join a PVP group with role assigned to healer,, literally spamming heals and purges and siege shields and popping barrier, with only one offensive DD skill slotted for when my group leaves me in the dust to chase after some 1vX'r and I have to fend off gankers by myself (as happens...a lot), has had to hear someone else in group Discord go "Well, since we don't have a healer at the moment..."

Honestly, I mostly feel "appreciated" as a PVP healer when someone in a large group of enemy players notices I'm the group healer and a flank of 4 or 5 of them break away from the main battle to charge after me.

Lerozain

It's definitely okay to play a healer in 4-pack content, just make sure you are able to deal some damage.

When healing in trials, you can get away with not dealing very much damage, since your primary role is to buff the other 8-9 dps and tank(s), debuff enemies as applicable and keep everyone topped up.

When healing in dungeons, ideally you should config the character do be a buffer / debuffer and damage dealer while keeping your hots up. Even if you have half the dps potential of the other two dps, it will noticeably shorten the duration of encounters which makes it a bit easier for everyone involved.

Dungeon healers who stand back and do nothing but heal aren't very helpful.

kindred

In pvp yes. My guildies run all vet content including vdsa without a healer. It sucks because healing is what I love but I'm left out. Healers in pve seem to have been made obsolete which is why I picked up ff14 online, because I'm needed over there.