Healer's Dynamics in Group Play

Selstad

This is mostly because of how WoW dungeons have turned out, in WoW you could just stand still and top your DPS, no effort required, and as a healer I could easily heal through all the damage done to the others. Even if they stood in the worst kind of filth on the floor.

So now things hurt, they hurt a lot and you have to move. Many of those that don't move or don't work as a group, are players used to the WoW formula of doing dungeons. It's going to take a few months before that one is out of the system.

Left_Hand

Raynekatt wrote: »

thisisdustinsemail_ESO wrote: »

You know, my Blessing of Protection never seems to do anything besides heal people... They still lose health just as quickly, so I don't really feel like the increased armor rating is actually happening...

It could be that you are noticing the short duration time it has or that the mob/boss has knocked it off your target. The skill places the shield on, but it can be knocked off.

If you're looking for a shield that cannot be knocked off and has to expire try the Circle of Protection from Fighter's guild. It gives the buff to armour and spell resistance as long as the target is in the circle. It's a bit tiny, and you have to run in to place it, but quite worth it. Particularly as it doubles the numbers if fighting undead, daedra and later werewolves.

Indeed, i use it constantly, but sadly the circle is incredibly small in area and with how mobile the boss fights are (most of them) the tank rarely stands on it for any amount of time.

Turial

Left_Hand wrote: »

{snip} one thing i have noticed is the complete lack of understanding from other players about how their classes should work in a group environment.

This occurs in every MMO, asking the devs to fix other peoples stupidity is a big wish..... that I would hope comes true lol.

Left_Hand wrote: »

The healers in this game will go out of mana very fast if they spend every encounter just spamming heals, so we need to actively regen in the case of the sorcerer by either attacking with the staff or using dark exchange later on.

If you are running out of mana as a Sorcerer I am quite surprised, you must be healing every single hit your party takes. Being a good healer doesn't mean you need to keep the party at 100% the whole time, just make sure they survive the encounter without dying. Sometimes it is about knowing when not to heal.

Are you wearing light armour btw? There is magic passives there that should be more than enough, food to boost and potions to boot. In short, if you spam heals then you will run out of mana every time.

Left_Hand wrote: »

This has lead to groups complaining that i should focus on healing instead of doing DPS or that i was a bad healer because i was always OOM while healing them.

Roles should be decided before you enter the dungeon and don't flip between unless agreed, or if it is a team you run with often.

Left_Hand wrote: »

In my view players should learn to also take care of themselves by having either leaching abilities slotted or self heals or damage mitigation abilities, allowing more leeway for the healer in the group to properly manage their mana and guarantee everyone survives an encounter. Also blocking and dodging seem to be alien concepts to most people.

This I agree with, players need to be proactive in their own healing, not just relying on the healer, the exception to this rule can be the tank depending on the approved party set-up.

This occurs in every MMO sadly.

Left_Hand wrote: »

Another big problem with the current group setup, is a gameplay mechanic one, the group window doesn't show other players mana, so the group never knows when the healer is going OOM or if they should wait before charging on to the next encounter. This is troublesome because due to how near each pull is, by the time i type (we need to wait to regen mana) they are already pulling another mob.

This should be looked at, if not added as an option then at least as an addon somewhere, if it has not already been made, I have not checked though. As a healer if members of the group charge in without waiting on regen or other players then I let them die, they learn soon enough that they need to wait or they learn not to *** with the healer.

Left_Hand wrote: »

This is very frustrating to players who want to dedicate themselves to a healing role, as it all adds up to having less of an incentive to do so and just rerolling as DPS instead.

This occurs in every MMO, the hate is always directed at the healer if the group fails, you need to be able to handle this if you play healer, if you cannot then I suggest just sticking with your DPS and focus on something less stressful. Healer is not for everyone.

Raynekatt

Left_Hand wrote: »

Indeed, i use it constantly, but sadly the circle is incredibly small in area and with how mobile the boss fights are (most of them) the tank rarely stands on it for any amount of time.

Definitely, quite small. I place it in one of 3 ways to counter this and your group dynamic would affect if this works for you.

1. In half the fights I run up to the tank and place it at him then run to the edge of it and stand. When I run away, I run to the side of the tank and a bit "forward" so that I am next to the boss an out of most of the cone AoEs. We like the tank to keep LoS with healer where possible in case of adds and such. This means that the tank gets the circle and my cleanse. Dodging then lets the tank stay in the circle, assuming he does not need to run to the back of the boss due to some of the red attacks.
2. Some fights this sooooo doesn't work. The tank doesn't bother with the circle but the DPS do. They get it where they are standing and I join them. Just like I do for the tank, but ALWAYS keeping LoS with tank.
3. I set up a "safety" zone. This allows for those red attacks that are AoE's to cover at least a third of my Circle of Protection so that when the others run/dodge out, they aim to do so into the circle. If they do not quite make it out, they at least do not get KOed and the damage is not as great as it would have been.

BETAOPTICS

I am personally playing as a Tank with a twist of second roles as DPS and healer. I have personally researched the gameplay mechanics and based on your experience it seems that not many are aware of the fact that Healing based spells generate the most aggro in the game and the spells cost a lot of mana so you are unable to help at times.

Not only this but they are expensive and the pure healers are usually quite fragile since they are usually running with light armor.

They are support characters that draw aggro, and people seem to forget that. Healers need to be protected as much as possible and give them time and I usually try to, but some just tend to blame healers because they just don't understand the game well enough. I personally know better than that.

You have to understand others too though. DPS is very self centered role to begin with so, they are not used to think anything other than killing their targets as fast as possible while trying to sustain trough DPS.

Left_Hand

I think the most ridiculous situation i have seen as a healer was a few days ago, running city of ash i think (not certain).

The group was doing fine except for one DPS that kept pulling the groups instead of the tank, until on one pull he died, it was the first sign when he complained "why you no heal?".

I said "let the tank pull, you cant survive all the aggro and damage".

Again in one of the bosses, he ended up the fight dead, because he couldn't get out of the AOE damage, myself, concentrating on the tank, i couldn't spare attention to the silly thing running around getting hit by AOE and out of line of sight from myself.

He again complained "healer why you no heal?".

Last boss, he dies again due to the same issue. rest of group was fine and didnt die once through entire instance. I rez him and then he proceeds to loot a nice shield from the boss, which the tank asked nicely if he could have.

The DPS's response was "i would have given it to you except for the *** healer who kept letting me die".

These are the types of people who make pugging a nightmare for healers.

reggielee

I was waiting for the inevitable 'blame the healer cuz I stood in the AOE or ran way past the group to fight' syndrome to start. happens every game. but thats a new one... hey dont shoot you need to healz!

lolol tell them to shuddap, thats my mana regen


thanks for the advice about later levels and needing more pure templar skills, ive been going more restor staff line lately. will expand out more for the later difficulty