Updated.

Just for the record, I am not a level 50 healer. (Level 42, QQ) So I haven't really had any experience with HMs or revive. I will update this better once I understand how those two work.

10.) Focus on the TANK'S target - The tank is the attention grabber. When he attacks a target, he's building threat. Often he's not actually doing a whole lot of damage in comparison to the DPS. You are supposed to kill what the tank is attacking. Don't attack other targets unless they are non-elites, non-champions, and non-strongs. OR unless the tank tells you to.

Don't simply assume this is the case. A good tank will mark a kill order using the target symbols ... Make sure you know the order and follow it. Often tanks need to switch target to build aggro across a couple of baddies, and simply following who they're targeting will lead to confusion.

Discuss the kill order as a group and follow it == win.

Agree wholeheartedly with one exception-- "My needs come last"

 

It isn't any desire to be self-centered but rather cold-blooded logic.

This. If I'm dead, the odds are the tank and then the DPS will also be dead shortly. Whereas if I and the tank are alive, as long as there isn't an enrage timer, we can probably win the fight and revive the DPS after.

This. If I'm dead, the odds are the tank and then the DPS will also be dead shortly. Whereas if I and the tank are alive, as long as there isn't an enrage timer, we can probably win the fight and revive the DPS after.

This is mostly written from my perspective. As a healer, so long as I have good Tank or DPS, my needs do come last--simply because nothing is targeting me. Obviously if we start dying, that changes, but as it is, I can usually throw a HoT and a shield over me and I'm good. Meanwhile, if the tank or DPS are taking some nasty damage, I'm going to do everything to keep them alive and sort of keep my HP in the back of my mind but not worry about it too much.

Also, in a case of a boss or enemy with little health--I will do all I can to keep the dps and tank alive long enough to finish him off. If that means I die, whatever. We have revive. I personally feel if the healer is alive and everyone else is dead, he did his job poorly. However, if everyone is alive except the healer, that guy fought tooth and nail to keep his teammates up.

+1, and +1 and another +1, I could do this all day.

I've played all positions, but do love to heal the most. I've found it amazing sometimes how other players don't understand or try to understand healing and what a healer needs from them to do a good job. Those are also the players that often throw a hissy fit if the don't like the way the heals are going. Non healers should remember it's easier to replace DPS then heals or tanks. H@ll I've even healed a party threw a flashpoint without a tanking class to tank. It's hard but it can be done. So remember if you die don't take it personal it just happens sometimes.

I do as well have a few things to mention.

While all the points made by the OP and others are true, healing can be very situational. As a Tank or DPSer, you need to be aware of what is going on and how that will effect your incoming heals. Sometimes you won't get heals when you expect them, so don't panic, it's coming. If you feel your taking too much damage just slowly walk backwards in my direction. This will get you out of the target's AoE damage if any, and I will have a visual prompt to throw you a heal.

If you know or find out that a mob/boss has a knock back ability please position yourselves in such a manner that you don't get pushed out of my healing radius. The best is have them push you towards me.

Till they get around to putting in some sort of macro system (at least for chat) keep an eye on the chat for things like "pat", "get them off me" and "can't see you".

A healer is often in a position where they have a better overall view of the battle so we'll try to give you important information. But typing this takes time, with out macros, a lot of time. Please don't ignore these.

If you see "pat" have a quick look around, you can sometimes save a wipe by pulling your current target away from the path of the patrol. If not, at least your aware, because the "pat" will often go for me first.

If you see "get him off me" or something like that, say "healer taking damage" or "help your healer" that means we've aggro'd something and need either the tank or an off tank to pull them off me. If your not the tank it's a good idea to lead the mob once you've taken them off me back to the tank so he/she can grab the aggro from you. Remember if I'm fighting a mob, I'm not healing. Which isn't good.

Of course the line of sight message is pretty straight forward.

Well those are the big three, healers can sometimes use others, like warning about being in a AoE damage ring or what have you, so be prepared to pick up on the messages as you progress. Doing so will only make things easier for everyone.

Finally yes some healers do act like prima donna's and it can be a major PITA. Especially if they hearth and strand you because they didn't get the drop they wanted. This used to happen in WoW a lot. But if your a good healer you have a right to be a bit proud of the fact. It's not an easy position to play, and a party is hooped without one.

How to be healed in Jybs group -

Make jokes, break all CC as fast as possible, los me behind walls whenever possible, only companions are allowed to tank.. all dps!@!! I love groups that make me stress and demand that i be a better healer and keep people up in the worst of conditions. Those groups are just more fun anyhow.

How to be healed in Jybs group -

 

Make jokes, break all CC as fast as possible, los me behind walls whenever possible, only companions are allowed to tank.. all dps!@!! I love groups that make me stress and demand that i be a better healer and keep people up in the worst of conditions. Those groups are just more fun anyhow.

Yeah, till they boot you cause your such a lousy healer.

I once had a couple of jokers using a skeleton potion in Strat (I think, was quite awhile ago). Then I got "where's my heals?" from one. Where I mentioned that it was just a bit harder because they kind of looked the same as half the mobs we were fighting. Did they stop? No of course not, they thought it was funny as h@ll.

Yeah, till they boot you cause your such a lousy healer.

I once had a couple of jokers using a skeleton potion in Strat (I think, was quite awhile ago). Then I got "where's my heals?" from one. Where I mentioned that it was just a bit harder because they kind of looked the same as half the mobs we were fighting. Did they stop? No of course not, they thought it was funny as h@ll.

IDK i seem a different breed o healer from most in this thread, i just enjoy when people keep me on my toes. I've played a healer as my first character in every mmo since FFXI, after a bit at max lvl i do become altaholic perty fast. Anyway i like to be "trained in fire" in just about any class i play. I mean sure there's gunna be times where things need to be semi serious cuz it's a new raid/boss fight that nobody has done, but... idk... guess i just get bored sometimes if everyone is doing their job perfectly in groups.

Don't get me wrong for new players this is a great! post! I just kept seeing it bumped and wanted to add my 2 cents i guess.

IDK i seem a different breed o healer from most in this thread, i just enjoy when people keep me on my toes. I've played a healer as my first character in every mmo since FFXI, after a bit at max lvl i do become altaholic perty fast. Anyway i like to be "trained in fire" in just about any class i play. I mean sure there's gunna be times where things need to be semi serious cuz it's a new raid/boss fight that nobody has done, but... idk... guess i just get bored sometimes if everyone is doing their job perfectly in groups.

 

Don't get me wrong for new players this is a great! post! I just kept seeing it bumped and wanted to add my 2 cents i guess.

For sure I hear you. There's times when you rise to a challenge and then do it, and the feeling can't be described. Like when I mentioned in my first post to this thread how I healed a flashpoint group without a tank class tanking. We didn't die a lot till the last boss. then we died three times till we took him down. The funny thing was I just died (again) and the boss went down 5 seconds later. Now that was a rush, and I have to say I felt pretty good about it.

A good healer IMHO doesn't wigg out if someone makes a mistake and will do their best to heal threw anything. But sometimes it's nice to have everything go smooth as well. I mean they don't have to wring their hands if they forget to do some of these things. But it'd be nice if non healers were at least a bit aware of how they can make a healers job easier.

+1 great post OP. I play Healer, DPS and Tank. I am learning on what each class can do and cannot do (currently got 6 characters over 30 now woo! one of each type and advance class. I haven't work on Sith Juggy and IA ops)

note: know your healers' limitation. Merc BH healers have AoE (area of effect) heal around level 21. It is a small area heal, if you follow the advice on OP and stay near the tank, you can be sure you are topped off.

This is awesome and very helpful! I'm new to MMOs, so have been reading tips and tricks all over the boards to make sure I'm at least adequate when I group up.

I have a Balance Sage as one toon and have tried to do some healing, but it's tough, especially with folks who don't know how to be healed. I think this has helped me a bunch in being a better player with my other toons, as well.

Right now, I'm playing primarily as a Guardian tank and loving it. Have teamed up with a couple of fantastic healers that have made all the difference in 4 man heroics. With a good healer and a good tank, the heroics are pretty much cake. At least so far.

So, thank you for this, and I'm glad to see that so far, I've been following these pointers already!

+1? T'heck with that!

+100

Excellent post and diplomatically stated.

Have played healing classes since MMOs began, one learns early on that the mantra of points outlined in the OP is requisite to state clearly and often to those we play with who either (a) dislike and never play healers, or (b) are of the persuasion that a healer's job is to "keep everyone alive no matter how ridiculous they act/behave".

I can heal through most foolery, but no matter how good a healer is, they can't heal stupid. (grin) Of course, most times it isn't truly stupidity as much as it is folk just not thinking about how their choices impact others.

I usually tell my regular group members (or pickups) right off the bat that my priority is the tank. My job is to see to it that I keep the tank up so they can make things dead. The job of DPS is to help the tank make things dead faster, not compete with the tank to see if they can out-damage them on the mob.

If I were to add a point to the list, it would be to keep in mind that if/when your damage exceeds that of the tank, you're putting everyone in the group at risk of death/loss. Aggro transfer can be swift, terminal, and ugly. A solid DPS player both knows where the threshold is found and modifies their tactics to stay under it. While we do not have a way (yet) to know definitively what our damage output is, we can reasonably gauge that boundary simply by bearing in mind that DPS by definition puts out ridiculous amounts of damage in very short periods of time.

This said, and knowing that tanks are made to do high, slow damage with great damage mitigation, a wise DPS player throttles back on the initial pull, regulates DPS over the course of the fight, and knows how to use aggro dumping abilities if/when they accidentally pull something off the tank.

Not only does this benefit the entire group by ensuring fights are more often successful than not, it conserves your healer's mana/force/ability to continue healing for the longer fights... which makes a healer want to love you LONG TIME, trust me.

Wonderful post! Healer has been my main class for the last 6+ years I've played MMO's, and if everyone who didn't play a healer read this post, we would all be better off.

My two cents worth:

1) Don't yell at the healer if you die; and

2) Be nice to your healer.

If I'm in a party and keep getting yelled at, I most likely won't drop (I'm pretty stubborn and don't like to leave parties in the lurch), but I WILL remember the toons that yelled at me and certainly the toons that are nice to me.

Most healers are pretty good, and I'm sure we all do our best. Yelling will NOT help you (even if I don't intentionally put you at the bottom of my priority list, you might just end up there anyway) and being nice will help. Trust me.

Don't simply assume this is the case. A good tank will mark a kill order using the target symbols ... Make sure you know the order and follow it. Often tanks need to switch target to build aggro across a couple of baddies, and simply following who they're targeting will lead to confusion.

 

Discuss the kill order as a group and follow it == win.

Fantastic OP!! +1 and more!!! Thanks for breaking it down so well.

Im a DPS and Im happy to be one at the moment and I cant say I disagree with the comments that have been made so far. Im also a newbie to the world of MMO - SWTOR being my first foray into this crazy world (lovin it like a sweet drug). As a DPS I see my role as being adaptable - In the Heroics that I have done (i dont do all of them because often its a real pain just trying to rally a group together) ... Ive made it a point to (1) specifically initiate discussion with Tank to mark targets with symbols and identify which will be CCd, which I will happily do; (2) then focus fire from afar on whichever mob the tank is going apesht on; (3) throw shields on Tank, Healer and any other DPS in the group, (4) support heal the tank; and (5) go mental on any mob that comes within hitting range of the healer. Ive more or less followed this and we hit success and score objectives in record time.

As a DPS I dont have a fix role, except to ebb and flow according to how the battle plays out - staying at a distance and using range attacks allows me to adapt easily as circumstances rapidly turn.

Makes life a whole lot easier when there is a brief discussion before any notable battle, marking targets with symbols, allocating roles and sticking with it unless circumstances force you to adapt on the fly.

This is mostly written from my perspective. As a healer, so long as I have good Tank or DPS, my needs do come last--simply because nothing is targeting me. Obviously if we start dying, that changes, but as it is, I can usually throw a HoT and a shield over me and I'm good. Meanwhile, if the tank or DPS are taking some nasty damage, I'm going to do everything to keep them alive and sort of keep my HP in the back of my mind but not worry about it too much.

 

Also, in a case of a boss or enemy with little health--I will do all I can to keep the dps and tank alive long enough to finish him off. If that means I die, whatever. We have revive. I personally feel if the healer is alive and everyone else is dead, he did his job poorly. However, if everyone is alive except the healer, that guy fought tooth and nail to keep his teammates up.

wow!!! i'll say it again: wow!!!

there's so much to love this for!!

you rock!!

As an MMO veteran, and MUD player before that, I can say, without a doubt, every SINGLE POINT here is a "oh hell yea" *facepalm* kinda stuff that can mean the difference between a great run, and a "aww ****, we wiped again?" run..

I've played Dark Age of Camelot, EQ1 and 2, Rift, WoW, LOTRO, STO, Aion..

I've played healers, DPS, tanks.. I prefer to tank, but sometimes I heal..

One thing I would add is: As a tank, it is VERY important to know what type of healer will be healing you, and modify your playstyle accordingly.

If your healer is a HOT-heavy healer, then you will probably notice your healthbar never really drops past 50%, and if it does it might be time to use your Oh**** ability (every tank has one..), but if it's a Direct heals type of healer, then dropping to 50% may just be par for the course, as the heals hit for larger, but not as often.

Usually after the first couple of trash pulls, you should be able to tell what type of heals you'll be getting..... Makes it easier when you can synch with your healer..

Great post, I just started healing today. Its been a long time since I healed in an MMO, forgot how hard it was.

Note to self; Stop screaming at the monitor Hehe.

k.

+1

great post, don't know if anyone has mentioned this b4.

As I've played a healer, a dps, and a tank, I'd like to add that dps should always kill weak mobs first, all classes have the abilities to stun the weak mobs for secs (often an aoe skill with low cd) often times it's not worth the effort for tanks to grab them since they die so fast, but if no one touches them, they'd rip the healer apart.

So, I'd say, for dps players, your priority is weak > strong > elite. Plz follow this and your tank/healer will love you, especially healer!

Oh another thing, smart dps will use his/her knockback abilities to knock the mobs closer to each other for tank, not the other way around.

my 2 cent