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[Guide] How To Be Healed


xKiesix

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Intro:

I love healing. I love monitoring everyone's HP bar like a nurse monitoring your heartbeat. The minute you slip below 100%, I am healing you back in place. Some people are all about the damage, or the amount of killing blows, or even how many goals they scored. I care about one thing: Did I keep you alive?

 

As the result of the influx of new players, not only to this game but MMOs in general, I decided to make a guide on HOW to be healed. Some of it may seem obvious, some not. Essentially it's to instruct players on how to get the most out of their healer.

 

How To Be Healed:

 

Healing is the backbone to everything. Want to survive a heroic, flashpoint, operation, or warzone? Get a healer. However, just having a healer does not necessarily instant wins, especially if the opposing force acknowledges his or her existence.

 

1.) Kill the Adds (Additional Monsters) - When healing a flashpoint, my needs come last. If necessary, I heal the tank, then the dps, then myself, typically with a low HoT (heal over time). When adds are present during a boss fight and no one is killing them, my rotation is screwed. I have to heal whoever is an inch from death at that moment. I can't attack the adds that are attacking me without risking losing someone. God forbid the boss has a blue circle of death that I have to run from. If you are DPS or even if you are the tank, TAKE OUT THE ADDS.

 

2.) Watch my back - It takes a lot to get a good healer in a warzone. Nine times out of ten, I'm left to die on my own unless I go in with a premade. I'll see an area in danger, rush in and heal, and then suddenly everyone who was there makes a mad dash for it while the opposite faction is riddling my body with holes. Sometimes I'll be in an area healing, several members of the opposite faction will see what I'm doing, and start attacking me. I die, literally five feet from three teammates who could have literally done ANYTHING but didn't. If you see your healer in danger, protect them. They will keep you alive. Don't leave them to die, because we remember that crap.

 

3.) Look for Circles - Most healers that I have encountered have an area heal spell. This means you receive minor to medium healing while standing in them. While it may not seem like alot, it actually helps us save on our force/ammo/whatever. We can now apply lower-level spells to you to keep you alive instead of moderate to high levels. I'm not saying you should stand in the circle forever, but if you're guarding a door, or a base, or you're fighting a boss where you could literally stand anywhere around and it wouldn't matter, stand in the freaking circle. Don't be afraid of it and keep your eye out for it. If green numbers are flying over your head in rapid succession, you're inside it.

 

4.) Stop Running Away - Healers have to stand in one place to heal higher level spells. Sometimes we are there for up to three seconds calling on a spell. When you walk outside my bounds, I now have to go find where you went and attempt to heal you. In warzones, this equates to you being dead. With three levels to try and find you, if you aren't in front of me, forget it. In PvE scenarios, this equates to me being very angry as I attempt to heal the damage you caused by running away. I get as a dps it can be frightening when an elite attacks you, but seriously, you are OK. I will not let you die--unless you run away from me.

 

5.) My first priority is the tank -- but I love you too! - Things get heated up sometimes in flashpoints. Often this means everyone is taking damage and my spells are having a hard time keeping up. This is when I switch priorities: Tank first, then you. It doesn't mean I hate you. It doesn't mean you are going to die. It just means you might dip below half health before I get around to healing you. Don't freak out. I am doing my best not to let you die.

 

6.) You have the ability to heal yourself between fights. Use it! - As a healer, I don't heal between fights. We each have a recovering ability. If you see me using it and you're at half health, consider USING it. It saves me on my ability pool and you're not running into a boss fight with half your health. Also, if you have healing abilities or even medpacks, consider throwing some support heals around when things get difficult. It helps me SO much, even if it isn't that strong.

 

7.) Stay in my line of sight! - Little note: Healers have the worst vision ever. If you are hiding behind a chair, or in a crate, or doing anything where there isn't a direct line of vision, I apparently can't see you. Which means I can't heal you. Make sure to know where you are in relation to other players.

 

8.) If you pull, talk to the tank! - I understand you accidentally attacked the wrong mob. I understand that now you're dying. What I don't understand is why you are talking to me about it. Any heals I give you will be moot if the tank doesn't take control of the situation. Talk to him and you will live. Scream "HEALZ!!" at me and you will probably die.

 

9.) Don't break my CC's! - If you see a guy floating, paralyzed, doing anything other than attacking you, DON'T ATTACK HIM. He's floating for a reason. By attacking him, you are overwhelming the tank, the dps, and myself.

 

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.

 

11.) Stay by the tank - SWTOR has introduced ranged tanks, which means that tanks can actually stand pretty far away from mobs. However, by rushing forward as a melee dps, that means mobs are scattered. The tank can't take control of the situation. Stand BY him to make sure he can't target everything in the mob and increase threat as needed.

 

12.) Make sure I'm there! - Before you go attacking a mob, check behind you. Am I there? If there was an elevator and you start attacking the minute you get off, chances are, half your team didn't make it, including me. Elevators don't work once your team has entered into combat. Also, sometimes I'm a room away. Maybe I discovered a chest, maybe I was looting a mob, or maybe I was using my skill. Whatever the reason, I may not be directly behind you. That doesn't mean yelling at me after you died. That means waiting for the five seconds it takes me to get to your position.

 

13.) Shield me! - If you have a shield, and we are in a PvP setting, throw it on me. That way when I get spotted, it won't be instant death. If we're in a FP, throw it on either me or the tank. I will love you for it.

 

14.) Don't Stand in the Fire! - Bosses tend to have area-attack abilities. This means they will target an area on the ground and bombard it with a heavy attack. This is an easily avoidable attack. By simply leaving the area on the ground, I no longer have to heal the majority of your HP.

 

15.) Try to play a healer - Even if you don't like healing, the best way to understand how your healer ticks is to actually play one. Try doing it for the first 5 levels of your AC and just run a few flashpoints. By playing the healer, you understand their wants and needs, and be able to better communicate to them as a DPS or a tank.

 

16.) Check my ability pool before you attack! - If we just exited a fight and you are at 100% health, its because I healed you until my resource pool went dry. I need 8 seconds to recover. Let me have those eight seconds and we won't have to wait the 20 seconds it takes to die, call a droid, and recover to try it all again.

 

17.) Resurrect the guy with the cooldown LAST - So we wiped. Except for you. And without asking about cooldowns, you start rezzing someone. Then he tells the rest of the group that we have to walk because he still has a five minute cooldown. Before you rez---ask. Make sure everyone can revive before you rez. Do anything else and I will /ignore you.

 

In conclusion, thank you for reading this guide and I hope you found it enlightening. If you are a healer, please write below other suggestions you would like to be added to this.

Edited by xKiesix
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+1. I agree also.

 

I would only add this: As a healer my priority is the tank, as the tank keeps us all alive, especially me. Don't panic if your health gets a little low, as I am probably healing the tank, who is again, keeping us/ME alive. I will get to you as soon as I can.

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My additions:

 

Dear DPS: I love you, I really do, but when things start going seriously ugly, my first priority is the tank and my second priority is me. I'm very sorry if you die, but know that you gave your life for a good cause.

 

Everyone: Especially at low levels, before either I or the tank have all our tools, keeping everyone at full health can be a serious strain on my resources. I can often keep you all alive better and longer if I'm not wasting my energy/force/ammo trying to keep all the bars completely full.

 

Also, between fights, you are much more capable of healing yourself than I am of healing you. Please do so.

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Also, know your positioning and the healers, don't expect heals if you go out of line of sight. Many do this when they want to chase someone with low HP and it is very frustrating, when I heal I go with the attitude ''If you don't stick close to me then suit yourself.''
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Agree wholeheartedly with one exception-- "My needs come last"

 

It isn't any desire to be self-centered but rather cold-blooded logic. If I am in a situation where I know I can keep myself or one of the dpsers alive I will probably be putting myself first because the chances of coming out ahead at the end of the day are much higher with one dps dead and a still active healer then they would be with no healer and hoping you can burn mobs down before that health pool runs out.

 

 

 

 

That said PICK UP ADDS cannot be overstated. 9 times out of 10 if a mob is not picked up properly by the tank it will find its way to me instead as the healer, the exception being an errant dpser targeting the wrong mob in which case if he goes down then the mob will likely move on to me.

 

 

Different classes have different strengths and weaknesses, but for virtually all classes (even those with good group heals) it is a lot easier to deal with a tank taking heavy damage then everyone taking a piece of that damage pie all at once.

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This is great. I agree 100%.

 

One thing I would add is this: please don't force healers to have to lead on mission objectives in PVP. We're not as equipped for this. It is my job to heal you so that YOU can accomplish mission objectives more so than us. When you stay back to kill those two guys with 1/3 health left, you may not realize it, but you're actually giving the enemy an opportunity to regroup, move to the doors, move to the turrets, gather around the huttball etc., and you're also helping to cause the dispersal of our team, allowing for easier pickings by the enemy.

 

I will attach myself to those tanks or DPSers who understand the warzone's objectives and then stay in your range for healing. However, like this post said, don't allow the enemy to make us the sacrificial lamb. Good PVPers know to take out the enemy's healers. Good PVPers also know that they must protect their own.

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The only thing I would add to this is remember if you break your line of site with your healer they lost their cast of they are doing direct heals. If i had a dollar for as many times as someone keeps running between pillars and breaks my line of sight and then blames me when they die *sigh*. Especially when I warn them that I can't heal them if they break LoS :rolleyes:
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I'm enjoying this thread! But I do have one more very important piece of advice for DPS:

 

If you pull aggro, do NOT run towards me in a panic hopping up and down and screaming "HEALS!!! HEALS!!!"

 

Instead, calmly go to the TANK, so they can more easily pull aggro off you. the added benefit of this is that I guarantee the tank is in my LOS and range, so it will be easier to heal you.

Edited by eGraced
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+1

 

also if there's a wipe, and someone is trying to make a plan...follow it. "I'll cc this marked target" doesnt mean you fly at it with your double sabers, and try solo tank it, while everyone else is trying to tank/dps other targets.

 

also when mobs are mysteriously floating the in air, or mysteriously stunned while on the ground...dont attack them, or aoe by them, thank you.

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Hey everyone :)

 

Good guide ,

 

i would like to add the use of healing frames and focus targets

 

i coudl write it all down but instead here are 2 links to some

youtube vids that explain it pretty well.

 

Focus Target :

 

Healing Frames :

 

Greetz.

 

 

Edit : I play as a Jedi Sage myself , and what i also find handy

is when your fighting some tuff enemies , takes some out of the

fight , for a Jedi Sage , Force Lift is very usefull ,

so you group can pick off the rest first and then focus on the big ones

other classes have skills also that can take enemies out of a fight for a

short duration.

Edited by RWitteveen
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ANOTHER thing to consider is that all these neat little titles you wear in warzones is more of a hindrance to healing then it isn't

 

Top that on top of me trying to click your toon to find you while you run repeatedly in circles darting left to right like you're dodging flaming meteors falling from the sky

 

Take the title off, it will help me find you on the raid list quicker, or if you want to wear your titles stand still so that I can mouseclick and heal you... you have an extremely small hitbox that makes it almost impossible to target you while you're on the move.

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+ 1 - Great Post.

 

As a Jedi Sage I can agree with everything that has been said by OP and the others.

 

I'm new to MMO's and so have been learning what is required of my when I have been in groups. As there are many people picking up MMO's for the first time too, I would like to point out a few things that will help us Healers.

 

I feel that the healer is the most important member of any group and therefore you should do everything in your power to keep me alive, without jeopardising the current quest.

 

As others have stated Pulling and Keeping Threat is extremely important, not just by the Tank but also by those DPSing. Healing can and will at some point pull a load of Threat, and the Adds and, possibly, any Bosses will turn their attention to us. Keeping these away from us will help us keep on healing you and could provide crucial in long battles.

 

If the healer is lvl 35 or below then they will probably not have any AoE Heals yet and so will have to heal individually. Theres a saying which comes to mind from this: 'those who fight and run away live to fight another day'. If you notice your health is at about 25% 1/4 don't just stand there getting hit, Run, run towards the healer and this will give them time to cast a few heals on you and then you can get back into the fight (they do have 3 people to heal at once and sometime they cannot heal you as fast as you take damage).

 

Another thing that I find happens is that people get to far ahead of me. There is a limit on our range and therefore if you've gone off and gotten into a fight before we're in range to start healing this can lead to you getting killed. Jedi's with Force Leap are prone to this. They run towards a mob then Leap into battle and it then takes me a couple of seconds to catch up, by this time your health will be quite low. Jedi Sage's have an ability called Force Sheild (I'm sure other healer classes have similar), at least wait until we cast this, it should protect you until we arrive.

 

... when mobs are mysteriously floating the in air, or mysteriously stunned while on the ground...dont attack them, or aoe by them, thank you.

 

Beware of breaking CC. I've had this happen a fair few time and it often led to me dying, which has caused everyone else to get killed.

 

Lastly: Don't forget to us your class Stun ability. This will give you time to heal or be healed.

Edited by Apollo-Rayne
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+1 to OP

 

As an added note for PvP:

 

Tanks, guard (the ability) us! It's great in warzones having 50% dmg redirected at you especially since it makes it so we only have to heal one target instead of you and me. Throw the extra 30% mitigation of dmg to taunted players and that will keep us both alive a lot longer.

 

So remember, guard your healers and taunt as often as possible. That is all. :D

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1.) Kill the Adds ....

 

2.) Watch my back ....

 

3.) Look for Circles ....

 

4.) Stop Running Away ....

 

 

Just needed to read those titles to agree to those points, without reading the text, one thing you might add "watch your CrowdControls" so the adventure doesn't end up in a desaster ;-)

And of course i am a healer myself! healing is awzum! :ph_cheers:

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Adding on to this guide, from a veteran tank and a DPSers point of view.

 

Focus Target

Unless told otherwise, stay on whatever target the tank is focusing on. Not only does this make it die faster, but it keeps the healer from having to watch multiple people at once. It might be ok to take out those standard mobs, but strong and higher, you should focus on the tank's mob. It's not about what you think you can take, it's about working as a group.

 

Watch the Healer

If you see a mob break off and charge towards the healer, don't wait to see if the tank will notice. Start blasting that thing and draw its attention towards you. You can likely take it on you for the few seconds for the tank to catch it far easier than the healer can. Plus, your healer will love you for it.

 

Run TOWARDS the Tank

Yes, this game has ranged tanks. That doesn't mean you should just stand there while a mob beats on you. Running towards the tank isn't just to make it easier for the tank to catch the mob. It also serves as a visual cue to the tank that a mob is loose making it easier for him to switch to it and get aggro off of you. Making the tank's job easier also makes the healer's job easier.

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I've been a primary healer since the launch of EQ back in 1999 and you pretty much nailed every point I've made clear to my groups since then.

 

I've been doing raid healing in Rift for about 9 months now, and to take a small break I took a DPS class in SWtOR, but I expect I'll be making another healer if they patch up some bugs and make it worth keeping my sub going.

 

Great post.

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