Legendary Healer Item?

[Jarulf]

O.
M.
F.
G.

Tal understands now.  :)

(Yes, I know you understood before, just hearing you explain how you heal like Cleo does after all this time amuses me.)

Now STFU, tank, and get to 5% health without worrying again!  You know I'm there!  :)

-Bolty
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Out of curiosity, how does it goes when there is suddenly a larger ammount of damage done, perhaps critical hits (what are they called?), additional mobs beating, or some other reason, that causes an increased damage equal to about 5-10% of a tank's health during the seconds it takes to cast the spell?

[Rinnhart]

Out of curiosity, how does it goes when there is suddenly a larger ammount of damage done, perhaps critical hits (what are they called?), additional mobs beating, or some other reason, that causes an increased damage equal to about 5-10% of a tank's health during the seconds it takes to cast the spell?
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The tank dies and vent goes wild.

[Legedi]

The tank dies and vent goes wild.
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Ah, good memories there.

[MongoJerry]

Out of curiosity, how does it goes when there is suddenly a larger ammount of damage done, perhaps critical hits (what are they called?), additional mobs beating, or some other reason, that causes an increased damage equal to about 5-10% of a tank's health during the seconds it takes to cast the spell?
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You always take into account the possibilty of critical strikes in the timing of your spell. That's why I cast longer heals when the tank is at nearly full life and shorter heals when the tank is at lower life -- PW:Shield when the tank is at very low life.

But when tanks die, just tell them to get better tanking gear or ask them why they didn't use Shield Wall or Last Stand or pop healing potions. That goes over well.

[Bolty]

Out of curiosity, how does it goes when there is suddenly a larger ammount of damage done, perhaps critical hits (what are they called?), additional mobs beating, or some other reason, that causes an increased damage equal to about 5-10% of a tank's health during the seconds it takes to cast the spell?[right][snapback]107956[/snapback][/right]

Tank dies. :) A good healer accounts for all this. The times I mention when Tal gets to 5% are the times when he's reaching the edge of my safety margin. Before 1.10, I wanted my greater heal landing on the tank at around 20% health, depending on who the tank was, because my greater heal would take a tank from 20% to 100%. Now, my greater heals hit for less than before, but I will often wait as long just because I want to avoid aggro. It depends on who else is taking damage. The more time you give your tank to build aggro, the happier they will be, since no tank (except an idiot) likes to see mobs peeling off for the healer.

You can't really write a "guide" to this, because there's too many variables. The tank's playing habits, gear, the mobs you're facing, the composition of the rest of the group - all these play a role on how you heal the tank. I've even used healing offensively at times. Tank's suddenly getting swarmed at the beginning of a fight? Give em a quick heal and start running - you'll actually kite the mobs off him, buying the tank time, and when the mobs finally get to you, you cast Fade. Then you get to watch the mobs run all the way back to the tank...and in all that time, they're not damaging anyone. Your tank has to understand you're doing this on purpose and trust you to Fade at the right moment, of course.

Remember, it's a group game. Tanks and healers form a special relationship because they're both forced to adapt to each others' style, and over time they learn how to be effective with each other. Tal and I have been doing things so long that we can each read each others' thoughts on how we're handling encounters. I've been healing in Avarice so long that I know the behaviors and damage intakes of its various raiding tanks as a matter of habit. Any raiding healer who's been doing it long enough is the same way, if only realizing it subconsciously. It grows on you.

We know Tal and I are both monkeys. :) I know when he's going to dual-wield and go berserker stance on X mob, giving me a hard time. He knows I'm going to charge in and pull if he waits even a second in between pulls and I have mana, giving him a hard time. It's all good. :) Part of my problem now is that since 99% of the time, I'm the healer, I have trouble being in a 5-man group where I'm not the healer because I can't adapt my tanking or DPS play to another healer's style.

Also, none of this stuff applies to 40-man raids. You don't screw around there with 20% hit point safety margins, not with the amount of incoming damage that hits the entire raid at times. Raid healing is vastly different than 5-man healing.

Man, I love the healing game. Writing posts like this makes me realize why.

-Bolty

[MongoJerry]

Man, I love the healing game.  Writing posts like this makes me realize why.
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I know, and I've met so many people who say, "I could never play a healer. It's so boring. You just heal people." Meanwhile, I'm juggling the health of about seven people (my group plus the tanks), choosing between eight different healing spells and ranks to get the right amount of healing without wasting mana, dispelling, fearing, being watchful of aggro, anticipating the moves of other players and mobs...

And then I play a dps class, and it's target the mob, squeeze the trigger, repeat. It's so boring.

[Tuftears]

Personally, first thing I try to figure out for healing a tank is how much of their health bar my max-rank healing touch will cover (2267-2677 not including +heal), then I don't start casting until they're halfway through that, anticipating that they'll take enough damage from then to make the healing touch 'worth it'.

If they take damage faster than expected, I interrupt the spell, cast Nature's Swiftness, and drop the healing touch on them.

That's why I'm resto-specced. :lol:

[MongoJerry]

Personally, first thing I try to figure out for healing a tank is how much of their health bar my max-rank healing touch will cover (2267-2677 not including +heal), then I don't start casting until they're halfway through that, anticipating that they'll take enough damage from then to make the healing touch 'worth it'.

But why not cast a lower rank Healing Touch when the tank is at full life from the beginning? The tank's health will stay higher that way and your mana efficiency will be higher. You can still cancel this Healing Touch if the tank doesn't take any damage while you're casting. Or if the tank takes too much damage while you're casting, your Healing Touch will still land shortly after the tank took the damage, healing part of the damage, and then you can choose at that point whether to use a higher rank Healing Touch on your next cast or use an emergency NS heal.

[Rinnhart]

Also, none of this stuff applies to 40-man raids.  You don't screw around there with 20% hit point safety margins, not with the amount of incoming damage that hits the entire raid at times.  Raid healing is vastly different than 5-man healing.
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This is particularly important. Every single mob in MC does more damage than any non-raid encounter. Or AE's. Or Stuns. Or knocks. Or dots. Or does all of that. Raid healing doesn't compare to small group healing, at all.

[Drasca]

And then I play a dps class, and it's target the mob, squeeze the trigger, repeat.  It's so boring.
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Only applies for raids ;) But yeah... raids are not all always that fun for dps.

Of course, max heal efficiency is not particularly entertaining for me. I do healing in Guild wars. If they die and I'm healing... I say bye bye! Too bad suckers!

[Tuftears]

But why not cast a lower rank Healing Touch when the tank is at full life from the beginning?  The tank's health will stay higher that way and your mana efficiency will be higher.

Cancelling the healing touch doesn't always go through, either because of lag or response time. I noticed this problem with CTRA's mana conservation feature; now that people have to do it by hand, the problem is worse. It's a good strategy if you have low lag and high twitch reflexes.

[MongoJerry]

Cancelling the healing touch doesn't always go through, either because of lag or response time.  I noticed this problem with CTRA's mana conservation feature; now that people have to do it by hand, the problem is worse.  It's a good strategy if you have low lag and high twitch reflexes.
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Oh, trust me. My computer's terrible, so I have local computer lag in addition to normal server lag. So, when I cancel a heal, it's about half-way through it. I don't expect to cancel it at the last second. And anyway, this cancelation issue is again another reason why I use lower rank heals when I can. If a heal goes through that ends up overhealing, it's no big deal, because I only lost a small amount of mana.

[Rinnhart]

Ok, it's the wrong color.

But still. :blink:

[MongoJerry]

Ok, it's the wrong color.

But still.  :blink:
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Priest item! Dibs!

[Rinnhart]

Priest item!  Dibs!
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41 fricken dps.

[Bolty]

Ok, it's the wrong color.[right][snapback]108530[/snapback][/right]

First time I saw that I figured it HAD to be a typo.

I mean, geez. Want. Plop a Sartura's Might in there with that and...dayum.

-Bolty

[Frag]

But when tanks die, just tell them to get better tanking gear or ask them why they didn't use Shield Wall or Last Stand or pop healing potions.  That goes over well.[right][snapback]107962[/snapback][/right]

Oi! /murmers something about epic repair bills :P

Don't misunderstand me.. I love my healers... but they firmly, firmly believe in not overhealing under any circumstance. I'm getting ulcers. :D

~Frag

[Tal]

We know Tal and I are both monkeys.  :)  I know when he's going to dual-wield and go berserker stance on X mob, giving me a hard time.  He knows I'm going to charge in and pull if he waits even a second in between pulls and I have mana, giving him a hard time.  It's all good.  :) 
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Minor nit: I go two hander in 'zerker. :)

One of the funnest times I've had in the game was tanking a 45 minute Baron run in dps gear with the UTB. Charge ->WW ->Cleave the entire way. :) I lead the dps charts, damage tanked and was second in healing. :D