05-05-2005, 04:35 PM
I think every person should be try being a primary healer in a group at least. Until you've actually played one, I don't think you have an appreciation for what playing a priest / druid / pally / shaman is like.
The primary healer has to concentrate more than almost any other player in the party except for perhaps the main tank. In battle, about 90% of my attention is on those precious life bars. More than once I'm found myself so intent on the health of my party that I don't even realize I'm under attack.
When a battle is under control (no one but the main tank needs healing, and he only needs renew and the occasional flash heal) I'll sometimes throw out a Shadow Word: Pain, or Mind Blast a mob near death. But often I just sit back and take breather before the next intensive session of keeping everyone alive.
Being a healer can be one of the most exhilirating experiences in the game. I did a Blackfathom Deeps run last week. We were going pretty smoothly until we got to the entrance to the shrine room with Lord Kelris in it, and somehow we seemed to aggro almost everybody. I think I used every spell in my book, and then some, all the while keeping a worried eye on my mana bar, and hoping we could get control of the battle before the blue bar drained completely. (I was even looking for bandaging opportunities to conserve mana). But we got through the battle without a single death, and it was rush knowing that we avoided a potential wipe because I got my Shields, Renews and Flash Heals to the right people at the right time.
My main character is a warlock, and my Friends list is filled with Priests. You can never know enough competent healers. When I'm playing with a priest, I try to make life easier for them by avoiding taking aggro away from the tank, intercepting adds or runners, bandaging myself, and trying to help if they are under attack.
The two things that groups usually don't understand about healers:
1) Mana is life. Priests especially can only keep people alive as long they have mana left. A good party will keep an eye on the priest's mana and realise when the mana is being burned too fast.
2) Priests often won't defend themselves when under attack (this applies to me anyway). Druids, shamans and pallies have better tools to take care of themselves. But for priests, killing mobs that attack them requires both time and mana which are usually in short supply. It takes a bit of practice to get into the habit of running *towards* the tank rather than away from battle. If I run towards a player while being chased, the last thing I want to see is the player running away. The fact is, for a priest almost anything we do to the mob will only create more aggro, making them harder to peel off, and distracting from keeping the rest of the party alive for longer.
Chris
The primary healer has to concentrate more than almost any other player in the party except for perhaps the main tank. In battle, about 90% of my attention is on those precious life bars. More than once I'm found myself so intent on the health of my party that I don't even realize I'm under attack.
When a battle is under control (no one but the main tank needs healing, and he only needs renew and the occasional flash heal) I'll sometimes throw out a Shadow Word: Pain, or Mind Blast a mob near death. But often I just sit back and take breather before the next intensive session of keeping everyone alive.
Being a healer can be one of the most exhilirating experiences in the game. I did a Blackfathom Deeps run last week. We were going pretty smoothly until we got to the entrance to the shrine room with Lord Kelris in it, and somehow we seemed to aggro almost everybody. I think I used every spell in my book, and then some, all the while keeping a worried eye on my mana bar, and hoping we could get control of the battle before the blue bar drained completely. (I was even looking for bandaging opportunities to conserve mana). But we got through the battle without a single death, and it was rush knowing that we avoided a potential wipe because I got my Shields, Renews and Flash Heals to the right people at the right time.
My main character is a warlock, and my Friends list is filled with Priests. You can never know enough competent healers. When I'm playing with a priest, I try to make life easier for them by avoiding taking aggro away from the tank, intercepting adds or runners, bandaging myself, and trying to help if they are under attack.
The two things that groups usually don't understand about healers:
1) Mana is life. Priests especially can only keep people alive as long they have mana left. A good party will keep an eye on the priest's mana and realise when the mana is being burned too fast.
2) Priests often won't defend themselves when under attack (this applies to me anyway). Druids, shamans and pallies have better tools to take care of themselves. But for priests, killing mobs that attack them requires both time and mana which are usually in short supply. It takes a bit of practice to get into the habit of running *towards* the tank rather than away from battle. If I run towards a player while being chased, the last thing I want to see is the player running away. The fact is, for a priest almost anything we do to the mob will only create more aggro, making them harder to peel off, and distracting from keeping the rest of the party alive for longer.
Chris