Ok, I realize this might not be an easy question to answer. I consider myself a pretty good healer, and the other healer I usually do HMs with is pretty good too. However, I have a guildy who claims he can carry a group of "bads" standing in stupid through a HM, while carrying the other healer, while doing everything else flawlessly and still having time to "play around" by not stepping out of stupid immediately and stuff like that. Now, I just don't see how this is possible. Tanks always take a lot of damage and if the dps are standing in infernos and taking 12k damage per second then most of the time I will not be able to heal both the tanks and the derpy dps, especially if they are far apart, resulting in the death of some people. I believe it is everyone's responsibility to stay out of bad and reduce the amount of incoming damage.

 

My question is, seeing as I do my part as a healer (I stay out of stupid, I cleanse when necessary, I know my healing priorities as far as targets and skills go, I know how to cast 2 heals in a single GCD, I have good gear though not quite yet BIS, and I parse about where I should parse if I compare myself to other healers, and often higher). I am just not sure if there is anything major I'm missing that would cause my raid group to wipe consistently. I realize that it's not my fault as far as what the dps and tanks do, but according to him a healer should be able to fix that. I do occasionally cause a wipe, mostly due to getting caught up in healing like crazy and momentarily forgetting about a certain mechanic that I should watch out for, but this only brings me back to my original question of how it's possible to not feel overwhelmed when you have to pick up your group's mistakes. If everyone's doing things properly, I don't screw up and forget about a simplification or a bomb, because I have adequate time to realize it's on me.

 

What is everyone's opinion on this? Are there any super-advanced tips for healers that I'm somehow not aware of to miraculously carry a group of people who don't know fights or screw up constantly through a HM? I honestly feel like there's nothing more I can do, but I am certainly willing to learn any other tips. I would definitely like to be able to help my HM/NiM groups through more screw-ups without sacrificing the self-awareness I need to have. For some context I have decent HM experience but not like those who have done them hundreds of times. I have maybe attempted each one (DF/DP) 10 times total. From what I gathered a group with 4 new raiders who have never cleared it can do the whole thing in a few hours with just one good healer in the group. I need to know how that can be me.

 

Thanks for any help

Edited March 27, 2014 by smilingbee

First of all does he have any proof or is he just boasting?

 

And as to your question, one of the most important things to improve your raiding, is to know fights, specifically the healing rhytm of reach. Not only does this help with not getting tunnel visioned but also it allows you to quickly spot if something is out of ordinary, i.e a DPS taking too much damage, so he is likely standing in stupid and such.

I really don't know if it's true or not... And honestly I would love some proof but unfortunately I only have healers and I am always paired with the same other girl for healing so I never get to heal with him and see for myself.

 

So what you're saying is that when I know these fights like the back of my hand I'll be able to handle more mistakes. It makes a lot of sense, and that's probably what will end up happening eventually, although he did say that he taught a tank how to heal and the guy healed through a DF or DP right away with no issues and he wasn't carried at all and even parsed higher than the other healer. It's making me feel like crap

"bads" is relative

 

In a high end progression teams that aim to have 100% perfect execution for nightmare content, you can be called out as bad when your position is an inch off.

 

In a sm pug, standing in some shxt is kind of accepted. Some mechanics are often ignored/unaware of entirely and expect to be healed through.

 

===============

 

Back on topic. I consider there are always room for improvement (just whether I am lazy or not). Just a couple to share maybe you find useful:

* know what your healing partner is doing

* anticipant the next screw up

 

There are also other non-technical aspects to raiding. An example would be to provide honest and useful feedback to the group during progression. Some simple feedback would be "It was my healing mistake that cause the wipe; don't worry about it" or "it was too much damage to heal; we need to identify the problem and change the strat" or "xxxx can be healed through; so focus on max dps on that phase"

Edited March 27, 2014 by Banegio

until you see proof of his claims, treat them with a grain of salt.

 

the only suggestion I have, honestly, is to do an op with him (you said you have healers - plural? see if you could maybe co-heal with him one day), in a setup he describes being able to manage - and then watch what he's doing. and/or ask for some parses, so that you could see for yourself, what he's doing and when.

 

honestly? he sounds like an empty boaster to me.

 

I've healed with some amazing healers, I've watched amazing (we're talking nightmare mode clearing) healers do their thing, and I just don't see how you can compensate for multiple mistakes of half the group consistently. but if he's not an empty boaster, heck, I'd love to know his secrets as well.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Jeweledleah

I appreciate your insight guys. I wanted to check with other people, because it's getting on my nerves lately. I've always been appreciated by my guild and all of a sudden I'm feeling inadequate since he joined us. It's worse when we have to pug a person or two since I can anticipate their screw ups less and everybody gets frustrated. I know he's a good dps, and probably a good healer too, but I'm wondering how much of it comes from having ran these dozens and dozens of time and having full 78 BIS, and how much comes from pure awesomeness.

I really don't know if it's true or not... And honestly I would love some proof but unfortunately I only have healers and I am always paired with the same other girl for healing so I never get to heal with him and see for myself.

 

So what you're saying is that when I know these fights like the back of my hand I'll be able to handle more mistakes. It makes a lot of sense, and that's probably what will end up happening eventually, although he did say that he taught a tank how to heal and the guy healed through a DF or DP right away with no issues and he wasn't carried at all and even parsed higher than the other healer. It's making me feel like crap

 

I hate to say this, but if he thinks he can carry the entire raid, let him. If your guild will allow it, go in as DPS one raid, or if not, sit it out and get the skinny from the other healer later. He may be the Force's gift to healz, and if so you may learn a trick or two just by observing. Not sure if your guild will allow it though. The alternative, is to ask him specific, pointed questions. If he is as good as he brags, he can give advice freely that will help not just you, but everyone in the raid.

 

Please don't let someone make you feel like crap if you're doing well. Some people love bragging, some love tearing others down to boost their own ego, some love humiliating others or sowing doubt. He may even have an axe to grind against you, and is stirring up trouble. Keep in mind, he's saying it, but hasn't shown you yet. Unless others will vouch for him or you see him in action, he's pushing empty air. Take some advice (it's about a thousand years old)

 

The miserable man and evil minded

makes of all things mockery,

and knows not that which he best should know,

that he is not free from faults.

 

The unwise man thinks all to know,

while he sits in a sheltered nook;

but he knows not one thing, what he shall answer,

if men shall put him to proof.

-Hávamál

Why care about that other guy? He may be good or just lying, but as long you handle your job well it shouldn't matter what does he do:)

Even with really good gear, there's only so much effective healing you can throw out in a given period of time to a limited number of players.

 

In short, he's full of it. There is no elite player skill that overcomes cooldowns, resource pool, and ignorance of lethal mechanics.

 

I'm a pretty decent healer, even though i only recently hit 55 with my sorc and my gear is still awful. I can cover for a lot of mistakes, even with my current limitations, but it's just not possible to focus heal a tank and save a bunch of derping dpsers at the same time during phases when heavy damage is going out.

First of all, I agree with the others, that the guy is very likely just spewing hot air. If the DPS behave like idiots and stand in Infernos (f.e) even a master healer will get into big trouble keeping them AND the tank up.

 

Now as for tips. I am not yet a really experienced Healer. After miserably failing at my Operative Healer a couple of month ago (I hated the constant reapplying of KP), I usually sticked to my favourite and prime role: Tanking (mostly Vanguard, but also Shadow and Guardian), but to do something inbetween raids I started a Sage healer as well and love how it works.

I feel that having done almost every fight from a tank perspective does help me with healing a lot. I am pretty confident, that I know when and where heavy damage will be coming in on the tank, what mechanics each fight has and so on. A good example might be Draxus. Since I tanked him numerous times I know that the guy hits like a truck on steroids with his attacks and the tank will need a lot of healing while he is up, I don't need to see and realize his health dropping in seconds before I start shielding and healing.

So trying out a different perspective, especially the tank's (who is most bound to the healer), might help.

 

Another thing I do consider a rather nice training are WZs, which must sound strange. I am also not a PvPer by a long shot, but as a healer in WZs you have to deal with a lot of damage coming in on a 8-person team usually (not counting Arenas), while also being under the stress of completing objectives and getting attacked yourself. In such an enviroment keeping people alive is a nice simulation for raids and while you won't be able to keep people up for too long, you can work on healing burst damage as long as possible.

There is no replacement for healing SM fleet PUG as practise I never healed NiM (I only tanked and DPSed so far), but I healed 16-man HM Dread Council in my guild and it feels much less hectic then some SM PUG's from the fleet Especially trash with reflective shields in S&V or the Drouks in DP You will usually find that tanks have no clue, deeeps are blind and other healers don't do anything useful and if you want to keep everyone alive you just need to go into some crazy zen state where world ceases to exists and there are only health bars

 

(no offence intended to anyone, just my experience from when I learned my healing)

Edited March 27, 2014 by AAAAzrael

It's hard to give direct healing advice without seeing what you do already and without knowing what classes in particular you want to know about. A lot of it is about knowing the intricacies of the class.

 

The easiest way to get some help is to talk to a helpful healer who is very good at their job. Try asking around on your server. Find out if there are any healers in the top progression guilds on your server who are willing to talk to you for half an hour or so, or do a run with you. Better yet, ask this person who keeps bragging about how awesome they are at healing, as others have said.

 

And it's not YOUR fault if the group wipes because you can't heal stupid. It's the stupid players' fault.

 

Please keep us posted about the situation

 

PS- if you happen to be on The Harbinger I would be happy to give you some advice about Sage/ Sorc or Scoundrel/ Operative healing, PM me if you want to arrange a time to talk.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Kufuffelupagus

Ok, I realize this might not be an easy question to answer. I consider myself a pretty good healer, and the other healer I usually do HMs with is pretty good too. However, I have a guildy who claims he can carry a group of "bads" standing in stupid through a HM,

If you're talking HM flashpoint, not HM raid, it's plausible.

 

A raiding healer in full gear should be able to carry bads through a HM flashpoint, possibly losing some of them, but as long as they at least do some of their part, the FP should be won.

That said, most of the same can be done by a progression geared DPS or tank. There's a huge chasm between flashpoints and hardest operations.

 

A single player or even two or three of them can never carry a HM operation unless it's EV or KP. Ops are designed too close to the edge.

"bads" is relative

 

In a high end progression teams that aim to have 100% perfect execution for nightmare content, you can be called out as bad when your position is an inch off.

 

In a sm pug, standing in some shxt is kind of accepted. Some mechanics are often ignored/unaware of entirely and expect to be healed through.

 

===============

 

Back on topic. I consider there are always room for improvement (just whether I am lazy or not). Just a couple to share maybe you find useful:

* know what your healing partner is doing

* anticipant the next screw up

 

There are also other non-technical aspects to raiding. An example would be to provide honest and useful feedback to the group during progression. Some simple feedback would be "It was my healing mistake that cause the wipe; don't worry about it" or "it was too much damage to heal; we need to identify the problem and change the strat" or "xxxx can be healed through; so focus on max dps on that phase"

 

Good post. I strongly agree with all of your points. I did a HM FP the other night. The group was looking for a new healer for one of the Czerka FP's (not even a 'hard' one for a HM lol) because the other one they had dropped. I offered to help even though I don't need anything from HM FP's. I'm in about 8 pieces of 78 gear and the rest 72's. I do mostly Operations in my gaming time and I would say I am a pretty good healer.

Anyway... I join this group and right away start seeing issues. Right when I joined they were chatting about how horrible the healer was so I said "What was the problem with your last healer?" Right away the tank chimed up to say "Oh they said I can't tank!" So we start heading towards the Desert Sandstorm boss (can't remember the name) and this is when I see the issues unfold. I literally had to unload everything I had to keep this tank up. Jedi Shadow if that matters. Usually in guild runs I can toss a few heals on the group and then contribute my lackluster Scoundrel DPS to help. This time though... not a chance. We actually wiped twice on the boss before getting by. We even wiped during the last mob pull before the final boss lol. From what I was able to deduce the tank was just taking insane amounts of damage. They were in all 66 level gear so it shouldn't have really been that big of an issue but it was.

It's only a game though. I said thank you at the end and didn't slam the tank for anything. My point being don't be quick to blame yourself. As others have said you should look at each fight and see what exactly is going on. What's causing damage to everyone? Maybe run a program like Parsec and see if you're healing enough of the damage coming in. See how much damage people are taking in each fight and then you'll know where you need to step up your own game at times. It's usually not one single thing that causes a problem but a whole variety. Practice makes perfect though so keep it up!

@OP

There will always be peopole who think they are the most amazing players in the world and in their pathetic attempt to make other people believe that as well, they feel the need not just to tell how awesome they are but also how bad (they think) other players are. Some people just need this game to get some ego. Don't worry about them, because when this kind of talk actually makes you think you're not as good a healer, they actually got what they wanted.

 

Anyway, there are certain mechanics that are not meant to be healed through. With some RNG luck and crits at the right moment, maybe you can still heal through them once. But if DPS stand in Inferno all the time, you will lose them or the tanks sooner or later. Even a better example is probably Mass Affliction in the Draxus fight. You can easily heal through it when one Corruptor is not interrupted and finishes his cast. But when Mass Affliction gets through all the time, you will find yourself in trouble as a healer. Same is true for Concussion Mine of Corruptor Zero. You can make up for it when people don't get rid off it with having 4 or 5 stacks. That will work once or twice, maybe even three times. But when this happens a fourth or fifth time, you will definitely wipe, because that amount of damage is not meant to be healed.

 

Once I was in these ops with a very experience group. It was awesome to see them work as a team and everyone in the group was doing the boss fights flawlessly as some kind of routine. Healing them was very easy because there was almost no unnecessary damage incoming at all. On the other hand, the exact same boss fights can be very stressfull as a healer with less experienced players. And at some point you can't make up for it as a healer. I'm sure even the guy who wants to let you know how awesome he is, will come to that point eventually.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Rithoma