Forum post of the day: Life Tap dancing
by Amanda Dean 
Jan 28th 2009 at 9:00AM
Breaking news: a few people still play Warlock and many of them still drive healers crazy. Bravely posting on a Level 1 Alt, Suepah of Wildhammer posed the question, "Why do healers care if I life tap to 10% or so?" She says that even if she taps down when the tank is pulling, she uses a bandage and stays out of the way of the mobs. Timing is a major key, life tapping while the tank is pulling draws attention away from the task at hand. It also draws away from the healer's mana. My healer gets very frustrated when a Lock takes over his mana pool. To the point where he wanted to take a third rogue instead of a Warlock in a PUG. Life Tap is a cool ability in extended combat situations, but Warlocks can eat or drink at the end of a fight just like any other class.
Some healers don't mind, or even encourage Life Tapping. Lorina of Cenarian Circle mentioned that he asks Locks to Tap because it makes things go faster. Her comment to the OP concluded with "Be thankful you actually have healers that are concerned if you (as DPS) live or die, it's a rarity these days. And for good reason. "
I haven't healed a Warlock in ages, but as a tank it drives me crazy because I need my healer to maintain his mana pool and attention for my big bear butt. I'm also keenly aware of the fragility of a clothie in the red. I just have to remember our dungeon heuristic "If th healer dies, it's the tanks fault. If the tank dies it's the healer's fault. If the DPS dies, it's the DPS's fault." There are exceptions, but with Warlocks, this is spot on.
My best suggestion is to talk to the healer about his or her preference at the beginning of the instance. If you Life Tap inappropriately, don't be upset if you don't get healed.
Filed under: Warlock, First Aid, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Instances, Forums, Forum Post of the Day
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
Zloen Jan 28th 2009 9:14AM
Most healer want to move, and as long as you let them know you are going to get that with a bandage, they have no problem with it.
Groth Jan 28th 2009 9:08AM
Life Tap and Lifebloom are a wonderful combo.
Ceipe Jan 28th 2009 1:18PM
That is indeed what I was going to say. Having tried all three trees of the Druid, I must say I'm more than happy to heal up a lock so we can full uptime DPs from them, just one or two little HOTs, which is what us druids are all about and they're fine. If the lock dies he isn't that good a lock to begin with.
Horris Jan 28th 2009 10:02AM
Warlock + Herbalism
I love having that HoT to counteract my tapping when needed.
Robert M Jan 28th 2009 10:19AM
/agreed
I have always ran with a druid that tells me she will let me know when to lifetap with a lifbloom.
@mandy,
Though I appreciate the lock hatred here, aren't you being somewhat ridiculous when you say, "as a tank it drives me crazy because I need my healer to maintain his mana pool and attention for my big bear butt." I have parked my lock (and former main) to play my tankadin and resto druid, and can appreciate the unique relationship healers and tanks have, but you are not the only priority in a fight. Priority number one yes, but the only thing a healer should worry about, NO.
There are some who might say gear up appropriately of L2Tank noob. Keep in mind, I'm not one of those said people, but demanding that all the healer mana be allocated for you certainly opens you up to that sort of criticism.
yazah Jan 28th 2009 11:04AM
@Robert M
Yes, dps needs heals too, but lifetapping in 5-mans is almost always optional since you can drink between pulls just like everyone else.
When you life-tap during pulls, all you are doing is "mana-tapping" the healer, since they are now compelled to heal you, and trade their mana to suppliment yours.
But then again, affliction locks can drain life, etc, enough to take care of themselves, so they only need occasional spot healing from AoE damage.
Jardal Jan 28th 2009 11:11AM
@Robert M
As a healer, a lifetapping warlock really does bother me simply because suddenly there's this nearly empty health bar, so I throw my mana at it. I do this because I know it's a clothy and their DPS may have gotten away on them.
This has resulted in wipes before. The lock lifetapping away without letting me know, taking one of my situational cool down heals away, then the fight either goes wonky or we get a bad add. We could have handled it, but because of the lack of teamwork we're in trouble.
It's not lockhate, it's careless lifetapping hate.
Tharko Jan 28th 2009 11:28AM
Its not a "cool ability," its a "core ability." Dont write off Life Tap as situational. It is constantly used by any Lock that is worth his weight in Soul Shards. We have an ability that gives us an excuse not to sit and eat/drink after every fight so we are going to use it as a means to speed up the instance/group run.
Thebum Jan 28th 2009 11:33AM
True, but if you lifetap, then the healer need to drink more often (that is if he doesn't overgear the instance) so you're not really speeding up the instance.
Manatank Jan 28th 2009 12:26PM
Lifetap really isn't that big of a deal, but it does seem like a liability of the class. Why would a raid leader bring a warlock if another DPS was available? Warlocks no longer bring any unique buffs unless you consider healthstones and summoning a buff. At best they are tuned to do damage that is equivalent to that of the other pure dps classes (in practice this rarely seems true in Wrath), except that those classes don't do damage to themselves.
The LT mechanic is interesting and different, but you don't get a raid slot because your class is interesting.
rosencratz Jan 28th 2009 12:37PM
@ Manatank - No you get a raid slot because you can DPS whilst maintain an almost infinite supply of mana.
Most warlocks can lifetap and never require anymore heals than they would get normally anyway. The issue here is that some warlocks are crazy and tap down to 10% for some reason apparently, not that i've seen it.
Life tapping usually though is barely noticable to healers if done properly.
Punkenjoy Jan 28th 2009 12:47PM
If you need to drink to heal the Warlock life tab, you probably need a lot beter gear.
I healed, tanked and played a warlock and what i can say it's that:
1) Some warlock build (like destruction) are not very mana efficient, it can happen on long pull that ill have to lifetab before the end of the fight
2) the ratio Mana --> heal --> Mana of the life tab is nowhere near 1:1
it's like 2-3% of the healer mana will translate into 100% of warlock mana. a healer with average gear can heal it without impacting too much the tank. And it can be healed with heal over time
But: there is a right time to Life tap. During an encounter where you will need more mana and at the end of the fight.
The worst time to do it it's just when the tank is pulling.
And i complain a lot (as an warlock, and tank) all these $#@%ing healer that jerks themselft at their mana bar.
Lilene Jan 28th 2009 12:54PM
@Tharko
How much are you speeding up the instance, though, if you're just standing around with your mana and/or health bars only partially full while others eat and drink? Because I've seen 'locks do just that.
I agree that Life Tap is a core ability, but I think it should be used wisely, not just to shave fifteen seconds off every couple of pulls.
jrizutko Jan 28th 2009 1:51PM
Who are these healers that have such mana problems? They really need to audit their gear.
Aykwa Jan 28th 2009 2:19PM
As I am currently raiding with both a warlock character and a resto druid character, I can certainly understand where most of the arguments on both sides are coming from. Some thoughts:
- A smart and courteous warlock would never tap as a tank pulls or during a simple pull unless absolutely necessary to prevent deaths. There is a right time to tap and a lot of wrong times to tap.
- For warlocks (and other casters) mana used = damage done (for the most part). So to some degree you'd want a warlock (assuming he's geared ok for that situation) to burn through their mana as fast as possible because that means they are putting out more damage faster, and mobs die faster, resulting in faster moving through instances and less time to wipe.
- "Mana tapping" healers can be VERY efficient overall. I can watch a warlock tap from 0% mana to 100% mana, throw 2 dots on him and heal him up to full. That takes 4-5% of my mana and about 3 seconds of my casting to full up 100% of his. And now with 100% mana he can put out another 100,000+ of damage, all because I took 4% of my mana and 3 seconds of my time to heal him. I don't know of anyone else who can effectively contribute 100,000+ damage with 4% of their mana pool and 3 seconds of their time.
- Communication is the key. The warlock and the healer simply need to have a quick chat before it starts or as it starts, so that they can talk about what will happen. Affliction locks usually don't want to be healed after they tap because they have a ton of life-taking abilities which they use to deal damage. A healer might want to make sure the warlock knows when it is appropriate to tap. Etc. Communicate and don't stress out about it.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Jan 28th 2009 3:33PM
Hmm.
My problem with the article is that it’s a rant and not exactly helpful except to release steam. Complaining about specific warlocks who lifetap at the wrong time makes sense, but the overall sense of the whole article seems to focus at ALL warlocks and this clearly is misleading.
The whole theme of letting the DPS die to keep the tank alive is understandable - when I main tank as my prot pally I expect to get those heals. However, I also expect my allies to be healed as well - I don’t selfishly think I’m all that because I’m nothing without my healers and my dpsing friends. Sure I’ll keep the boss off my raid, but the raid are what kill it - I just annoy the big guy enough that he doesn’t look away from me. ^-^. Often enough all that’s needed is a quick cast rejuv or renew - something that barely takes much from the healer. But a lot of time people panic and focus on what they know.
To go a bit off topic, I was in 25 Naxx as an off-tank and I had to use my Hand of Sacrifice skill to help the main tank out. I ended up dying, but the main tanked lived. I received NO heals, no hots, not even a flash heal from the pally healer - they simply just let me die after I did what I was told to do. The raid didn’t need heals, they didn’t have threat (neither did I have threat btw and you’ll understand shortly why), I did my job to share out the damage so that the main tank wouldn’t die on the Spider Boss (you know the stuns, enrage...hitting hard - webbing people)... but the healers refused to even throw me a life-line. So if they were following some hard resolution for healers to main tanks - while understandable, I felt that they were still careless and sloppy. I can’t bubble if I’m second on threat or close to it. If the main tank does die, the bubble will wipe my threat. No one else except the main tank and me needed heals so one healer could have spared a hot - so what do you do there? Do you whine and say “healers on main tank only?” I don’t really think so. (And if you’re wondering I had used my lay on hands on the main tank earlier- the warrior needed.)
Groth Jan 28th 2009 5:34PM
Just to point out that this is an article referring to a forum post, and Amanda's take on warlock who (as in the forum post) Life Tap stupidly, leading to intervention from the healer.
As a healer and a tank, I love that warlocks keep going for EVER! Having had a warlock shout at me for not saving him when he tapped down n got one shotted, I agree whole heartedly that this type of lock is a right mare.
If you got killed as an OT (unlucky :( )then you need to have a word with your healers- if the MT had gone you'd have been needed!
vexis58 Jan 28th 2009 8:40PM
As a resto druid, I really don't mind if warlocks take my mana. As is well known by Blizz right now, mana regen is out of control to the point of being a nonissue. I'll toss a rejuv or a lifebloom on a warlock who isn't topped off, regardless of whether it was due to AoE damage or his own lifetapping, obviously prioritizing the tank if he needs heals more.
A part of me is a little miffed when they do it without asking me, but since I literally never have to drink, I don't mind speeding things along by letting the warlock keep going without drinking too.
Kangaxx Jan 28th 2009 9:08AM
As an afflock, my 'problem' is healers who heal me whenever I lifetap, even though I tell them that they don't have to - with haunt, siphon life and fel armor there's really no need to ever heal me, except in AoE situations.
That said, I don't think tapping to 10% during a pull is smart.
Dark Jan 28th 2009 9:13AM
On boss fights I put a light well down right in front of our lock. He loves me for it and I don't have to worry about his health from tapping.