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Too many bad healers in dungeons

ixthUA
ixthUA
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After healing for 2 years, i've been tanking dungeons for several weeks and realized there are a lot of bad healers.
1/3 of healers are DDs with only self heal slotted, even on veteran.
1/3 of healers are not using spell power cure set, a must-have set for healers. I can see a big difference in my own damage when this set is not present.
1/3 of healers are using Hollowfang set, which is mostly useless: 6 meters effect radius and restores only magicka (a lot of DDs are stamina, tank needs mostly stamina).
Many healers are not stacking HoTs and dont know how to emergent burst heal (lots of dead healers and DDs).
For dungeons, i consider Spell Power Cure + Powerful Assault + Symphony of Blades to be BIS: +730 weapon/spell damage and main resource regeneration when needed. Haven't yet met a healer using this combo.
PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • Jaimeh
    Jaimeh
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    ixthUA wrote: »
    1/3 of healers are DDs with only self heal slotted, even on veteran.

    Well these are not bad healers, they are just fake healers. Also, I don't think sets are so much the issue with a lot of pug healers, as the fact that they don't have a rotation, or a variety of skills, or a rudimentary following of cooldowns. Most will spam rapid regen, and heavy attacks, throw a few aoe heals or orbs infrequently, and they won't buff/debuff or if they do, they won't keep them up, and lastly won't weave light attacks (which is not a requirement, but skilled healers do), and generally just wait around. If more healers played also as DDs, I think they'become better as healers too.
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    newtinmpls wrote: »
    OP, you had some specific comments:
    ixthUA wrote: »
    After healing for 2 years, i've been tanking dungeons for several weeks and realized there are a lot of bad healers.
    1/3 of healers are DDs with only self heal slotted, even on veteran.
    1/3 of healers are not using spell power cure set, a must-have set for healers. I can see a big difference in my own damage when this set is not present.
    1/3 of healers are using Hollowfang set, which is mostly useless: 6 meters effect radius and restores only magicka (a lot of DDs are stamina, tank needs mostly stamina).
    Many healers are not stacking HoTs and dont know how to emergent burst heal (lots of dead healers and DDs).
    For dungeons, i consider Spell Power Cure + Powerful Assault + Symphony of Blades to be BIS: +730 weapon/spell damage and main resource regeneration when needed. Haven't yet met a healer using this combo.

    I'll touch on them one at a time, and I'll slightly re-name them to get at what I see as the main issue

    DD with self-heal slotted AKA crappy random healers
    I have not seen this (and I am not saying it doesn't exist) that being the case what I have seen comes close - a DD with resto backbar and maybe one or both of regeneration or grand healing. If a sorc, possibly Twilight heals as well. In a NON vet, NON DLC dungeon this is usually just fine.

    This can be tricky to judge on Vet, partly because I've not seen (nor would I want to see) an addon that tells me exactly what set who has (although the "purple forearms" of SPC are pretty obvious).

    Which Sets should/can a Healer Use
    I'll start by saying I do have favorite sets (we all do) and Spell Power Cure + Sanctuary + Chokethorn - that is my default and it can heal most Vet dungeons, even when used by a "non standard" healer class (by which I mean anyone NOT a templar).
    Sanctuary is relatively easy to get - Banished Cells (I & II)
    Chokethorn is also - Elden Hollow I
    Spell Power Cure is the hardest of the three and it comes from Imperial City Prison

    What does a healer need? Depending on the speed of the DPS, boosts to healing, to magicka and (especially if things are NOT going smoothly) SUSTAIN.

    So for folks not yet good with sets (or not CP 160) you might also consider:
    Armor of the Seducer - a really accessible crafted set (2 traits needed) which gives
    Magicka Recovery
    Maximum Magicka
    Magicka Recovery
    Reduces the cost of your Magicka abilities by 10%.

    As an aside...
    Come to think of it, wonder how this would go with Worm's Raiment (also known as "Worm Cult") [it's a drop from Vaults of Madness - base game dungeon] which has
    Increased Spell and Weapon Damage
    Max Magicka
    Magica Recovery
    Magica Recovery you and up to 11 other group members within 28 meters of you.

    Another thing to consider is unusual sets that dovetail well with particular skills.

    For example my Warden Healers
    Lamia's Song
    Max Magicka
    Magicka Recovery
    Max Magicka
    When you activate your Ultimate, you and your group members within 20 meters restore 23 Health, Magicka, and Stamina per point of the Ultimate's cost

    By itself this isn't that awesome of a set, but works really well with the Warden Ulti Secluded Grove - which is a nice heal over time, but the initial burst could use some improvement.

    The other set that is great for Warden Healers is Winter's Respite (overland drop from Western Skyrim, so available in guild stores if you don't have that DLC.

    Magicka Recovery
    Max Magicka
    Max Magicka
    Casting abilities that leave an effect on the ground will create a circle of healing frost for 10 seconds. You and your allies restore 2358 Health every 2 seconds while inside the circle. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.

    The reason this works so well with Wardens is that they have a LOT of abilities that leave ground effects. For that matter if things are going seriously south in a PUG you could also trigger this healing with scorch (from the Animal Companions line) or Impaling Shards (from the Winter's Embrace line).

    What is needed from a healer AKA stacking and resources

    In a non-vet dungeon including lowbies, you are simply not going to get a lot out of the average healer other than heals. As the healer becomes more skilled, other things come into play. Resources being a biggie.
    This means besides a boost to health, the team will do better with a boost to other stats.
    There are a few ways to do this:
    Templar Skills
    Restoring Aura (magicka steal to your team) and it's morph Radiant Aura (gives Health, Stamina, and Magicka Recovery by 15% to your team)
    Spear Shards (depending on the morph it restores at least the primary of Stamina/magicka and on one morph both) needs to be triggered as a synergy.

    Fighter's Guild
    Circle of protection and it's morphs gives +15% stamina regen to anyone standing in the rune area. Second skill in the line, so not too hard to get if you fight a lot of daedra or undead.

    Undaunted
    Necrotic orb and it's morphs will grant Stamina/Magicka (whichever stat is higher) to anyone in the group in range of it (needs to be triggered as a synergy). This is the LAST skill in the line, so even middle range healers may not have access to it.

    Resto Staff
    Siphon Spirit
    Morph of Force Siphon that allows party members damaging the target to gain back Magicka as well as Health. This is the last skill in the line - so lowbies will not be likely to have it.

    Destro Staff
    Elemental Drain
    A morph of Weakness to Elements that allows party members damaging the target to gain back Magicka. This is skill 4 of 5 in the tree, so again, not likely in a super low level healer.

    Trick is, that the lower level the character, and the less experienced the player, the fewer options the character will have access to or the player with think of.
    Long story short, if you meet a healer that's not that good at healing, ask if they want help. A few runs through someplace to get better gear, or even a guild recommendation.

    Sorry but this is a lot of wrong info. Also i havent tanked a single base game normal dungeon.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • ixthUA
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    Word of Advice - if you want healers who meet your standards, take note of them when you see them. Ask to friend them if they'd be interested in running more dungeons with you. Running with random is going to get you random people with varying levels of skill and wearing random gear. When you meet a healer who meets your checklist, friend them, and you'll end up with a list of good healers for you.

    When i see a 1000+ CP healer i expect them to have similar experience to mine, yet they are not on the same level, which is a mystery for me.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • NerfSeige
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    ixthUA wrote: »
    Word of Advice - if you want healers who meet your standards, take note of them when you see them. Ask to friend them if they'd be interested in running more dungeons with you. Running with random is going to get you random people with varying levels of skill and wearing random gear. When you meet a healer who meets your checklist, friend them, and you'll end up with a list of good healers for you.

    When i see a 1000+ CP healer i expect them to have similar experience to mine, yet they are not on the same level, which is a mystery for me.

    They might be roleplayers, pvp only mains, questers/overland that want to start on group pve content and that dungeon might be their first few ones. Your exact attitude [snip] can sour a person’s first experience and can drive people away so please just stop and join premades.

    [edited for baiting]
    Edited by ZOS_Icy on January 3, 2022 2:23PM
    Avid reader of wes’-pts-diary[RIP]

    NerfAS and Shill ruins everything

    Skinny-meta-fake, graded D, and can’t explain the law of diminishing marginal returns.

    I won’t post that Wes, I’ll get [snipped] for the last time

    Revert this patch - Audens, 2022
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    NerfSeige wrote: »
    Your exact attitude [snip] can sour a person’s first experience and can drive people away so please just stop and join premades.
    I have my best attitude towards teammates. Also i am not going to join a premade, due to it's inconvenience.
    I have seen many good tanks, but havent seen good healers yet, which is a mystery.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • Elendir2am
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    I prefer Olorime to SPC to be honest, Symphony of blade as monster set and winter's respite. Last set is far from OP, but I can go more on offense with it and compensate if DD has low DPS.
    PvP - Recruit.
    PvE - Dragon food
    RPG - A guy who thought, that he can defeat daedric prince, yet guards still chase him off when he accidentally touches some object during daily writs.
  • ixthUA
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    Hollowfang is useless to the majority of team (i explained why in the 1st message) while Powerful Assault as healer set is second only to SPC (in dungeons).
    Today in vet DLC dungeon i got a healer (700 CP) with only radiating regeneration equipped, after 2 wipes he ragequit.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • VaranisArano
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    ixthUA wrote: »
    NerfSeige wrote: »
    Your exact attitude [snip] can sour a person’s first experience and can drive people away so please just stop and join premades.
    I have my best attitude towards teammates. Also i am not going to join a premade, due to it's inconvenience.

    I guess you'll just have to weigh for yourself whether the inconvenience of joining/making a pre-made group with a healer who's up to your standards is better or worse than the inconvenience of queuing up for random and getting "bad" healers [snip]

    Both of those seem somewhat inconvenient to me.

    [edited for baiting]
    Edited by ZOS_Icy on January 3, 2022 6:17PM
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    ixthUA wrote: »
    NerfSeige wrote: »
    Your exact attitude [snip] can sour a person’s first experience and can drive people away so please just stop and join premades.
    I have my best attitude towards teammates. Also i am not going to join a premade, due to it's inconvenience.

    I guess you'll just have to weigh for yourself whether the inconvenience of joining/making a pre-made group with a healer who's up to your standards is better or worse than the inconvenience of queuing up for random and getting "bad" healers [snip]

    Both of those seem somewhat inconvenient to me.

    Ever since i started tanking, dungeons failed only few times, while i get instant queues whenever i want (like at 7 AM in the morning). However there are many DD and healer deaths, which could be prevented by proper healing. I think that keeping several HoTs stacked + 1 emergent burst heal is not a rocket science, but most of PUG healers cannot do even this much.

    [edited to remove quote]
    Edited by ZOS_Icy on January 3, 2022 6:18PM
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    Whilst SPC is a very good set it's one a lot of players won't have ground dungeons to get. It's also btw not true that tanks always mostly need stamina, there are plenty of magtanks in the world too.
    I thought WGT is a free DLC for everyone, it's also a very easy dungeon. Tanks need pierce armor and pull, which cost stamina, otherwise they are not doing their job.
    So I have a bunch of fancy healing sets and staves (master's, black rose etc). In normal dungeon content I don't normally run most of them because it's not what the group actually needs.

    1. They don't need that many heals, even when doing DS2
    2. For a four man dungeon I can either give two DDs a damage buff or deal damage. Guess which is the win. Trials are different. In a trial I'm buffing 8 or 9 DDs for damage.

    So I generally run winters respite and proc it with exploding wall flipping back to the masters resto now and then to top people up and keep up combat prayer. I don't need a second healer set and I spend most of my time blowing up trash instead.
    I dont do base game normal dungeons as it's just a mess that can be soloed by 1 DD. If you try a veteran DLC dungeons:
    1. All heals are needed.
    2. You cannot DD and heal, so providing buffs to DDs is necessary.
    Winters respite is useless in difficult dungeons, because DDs will be running around avoiding ground AOEs.
    Doc45 wrote: »
    Stacking HoT's isn't needed either if the group knows mechanics. Overhealing's easy and necessary for SPC, but otherwise wasting a healer's resources.
    When doing PUGs, people may know mechanics, but not have enough experience with them, so having sufficient healing is important.
    Edited by ixthUA on January 5, 2022 5:15AM
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    Today i did DLC dungeon with healer who had no self heal slotted, he died several times, 900 cp.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • caesarvs
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    I am a healer main also, and we have to agree that the game does an awful job on teaching support roles how to play properly. Concepts like buff uptimes, enemy debuffs, group sustain are kinda non-existent through ingame texts. Sure, there are several guides out there on the internet, but a person should not be expected to go "wiki" around to learn them to do something so basic. One time, when i was pugging pledges as dps, i tried to explain to a cp1000+ healer the benefits of providing orbs for the team, the resource/sustain aspect, and they completely ignored me saying that the "heals are not enough", that its better slotting breath of life, and i was like "what lmao, you have 10 skill slots, what are you doing with them?", so i just pug as dps assuming we have no healer, providing myself all the important stuff like spell damage, critical and recovery.
    Edited by caesarvs on January 5, 2022 1:59PM
  • ixthUA
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    Healing orb is not very useful in dungeons, i dropped it and never looked back.
    So some people come with 20+ years of MMO experience, and for others it's their first MMO, and game puts them together.
    There are 12 skill slots available.
    1 bar should be for DPS, when DDs are bad, even full support healer can do a lot of DPS.
    1 bar for support, when team is taking enough damage that you cannot DPS, or when DDs are good.
    There are a lot of good skills that i'd like to have equipped, i would be much happier with 40 skills instead of 12.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    I am not telling anyone what to wear in this thread. Also dungeon is not raid.
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • ixthUA
    ixthUA
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    BiS is not the same as right, it means the best to use. Other sets can be used as well, but they will not be as good.
    In dungeons, 7.2k was the highest spellpower i had, wearing only support sets and CP.
    Edited by ixthUA on January 7, 2022 7:18PM
    PC EU: Senilia Bright - Healing Bard. I live in Kiev, Ukraine.
  • Paramedicus
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    there are too many bad healers in dungeons because they arent needed that much. If there was enough pressure to git gut, players would git gut (at least some of them).

    Enemy's damage in dungs is usually too low, and self-heals too good, so true healer isnt needed in 95% of cases.

    Damage gap between good DD and some casual PVEer/typical PVPer is so big that using damage/sustain buffs/sets is a risk (you can actually lower chances to finish the dung if you go full support instead going DD).

    It's a game design flaw.
    PC EU
    /script JumpToHouse("@paramedicus")
    
    ↑ feel free to visit my house if you need to use Transmute (or some other) Station
  • the1andonlyskwex
    the1andonlyskwex
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    there are too many bad healers in dungeons because they arent needed that much. If there was enough pressure to git gut, players would git gut (at least some of them).

    Enemy's damage in dungs is usually too low, and self-heals too good, so true healer isnt needed in 95% of cases.

    Damage gap between good DD and some casual PVEer/typical PVPer is so big that using damage/sustain buffs/sets is a risk (you can actually lower chances to finish the dung if you go full support instead going DD).

    It's a game design flaw.

    Enemy damage isn't just too low, it's often also too high, resulting in one shot mechanics that can't be mitigated with healing.

    Also, while I totally agree with you about support sets, I think there is one exception. As long as you aren't getting Major Courage somewhere else (which is likely, because Major Courage has so few sources), SPC is both a support set and an above average DPS set for anyone with even a minimal amount of healing. Compare the 5 piece bonus of SPC to the 5 piece bonus of Julianos. As long as you're overhealing regularly, SPC is better, even solo. Unfortunately, this results in terrible build diversity for healers, because SPC is almost always the obvious best option and has been for years. (At least the DPS meta tends to change over time.) That said, I don't run SPC on all of my healers because, while SPC is best, I'd rather have fun trying different things than always focus on being optimized.
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