Did you mean to double post?

Sometimes your random healer may not know the fight very well or may be distracted keeping the DDs alive, particularly if the mechanics are intensive.

However, if you don't have the stamina to block the Boss's big attacks, you should probably re-evaluate your build and/or your combat strategy for resource management. It's really important to have the resources you need to to follow mechanics, block, bash, and so on, along with self heals. Some of those resources can come from your healer, so make sure you synergize their orbs/shards. Its not a bad thing to run more "selfish" builds that give you the resources and healing you need, especially in random groups. If you are running low and struggling because of it, that's something you can fix.

I also find that if the boss does a big attack and we all take damage, that's the moment when I need to self heal and hunker down because often the healer is spamming a heal on the DD who's about to keel over, and the healer will get to me in a second. That may not be the best strategy for the healer, but that's how it works in most random groups I end up with.

Random groups are a grab bag, and not every healer pays close attention to the tank, especially if you've been doing fine up til that fight or if there's a DD who needs extra healing.

In short, I'd say that if this is something that's happening to you a lot AND you want to keep running with random groups, you could look at using a more selfish tanking build that focuses on boosting your resources, sustain and/or self-healing.

No I didn't mean to double post. And as far as not having resources I was spending them all staying alive while the healer was dpsing.

Rampeal wrote: »

No I didn't mean to double post. And as far as not having resources I was spending them all staying alive while the healer was dpsing.

So if resources aren't normally a problem in vet dungeons when you have a decent healer, I wouldn't worry about changing your build, unless you want to be more self-sufficient in the event of getting a not-decent random healer.

Its up to you whether you have this problem enough to warrant a change, or whether it might be easier to queue up with a healer you know and trust.

SaltySudd wrote: »

For some reason, for reasons which I do not understand, I have come across several healers who flat out refused to heal players if that player was not playing exactly how that healer wanted them to.
Not tanking the boss at the exact pixel that the healer wanted them in while not facing perfectly NW? No heals for you.
As a dps, you accidentally ran through a red circle. No heals for you.
And when the person asked why they weren't receiving heals, the healer basically answered along the lines of "I'm not going to heal you if you aren't going to [insert their preference]".

So it sounds like you probably just ended up with either bad or fake healers. As a tank you should be able to self sustain, but it shouldn't be an excuse for the healer to not heal you at all.

I remember once pugging vSpindle2 for a pledge and got a healer who refused to heal or do anything because I was on my Sorcerer tank then. My Sorc tank is in meta/BiS gear mind you, but the healer stood at the far back during each fight, being carried until the rest of us decided to kick him. We carried on like no one was missing.

To OP, for starters I recommend building your tank to be able to self-sustain and self-heal completely up to non-DLC vet dungeon standards (while using group support sets of course). As in you'd be able to do every base game dungeon with 3DDs no problem. As for DLC dungeons, always select your group members instead of pugging.

Iskiab wrote: »

SaltySudd wrote: »

For some reason, for reasons which I do not understand, I have come across several healers who flat out refused to heal players if that player was not playing exactly how that healer wanted them to.

And when the person asked why they weren't receiving heals, the healer basically answered along the lines of "I'm not going to heal you if you aren't going to [insert their preference]".

I don’t know the specifics of the situation, but some healing abilities are directional.

I’ve done some DLC vets where dps were running around like chickens with their head’s cut off. In a mechanic heavy encounter, if dps run around they can make it hard to heal them. Without good positioning you can’t afford to be turn around to heal people, a hot at best is what they’ll get.

When healing a PUG dungeon, the first skill I hit when I see significant health bar movement is almost always Ward Ally. Then I figure out what to do next. Facing the wrong way is no excuse for missing a heal.