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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria news10 ways to build a healing mentality
by Justin Igo 
Jun 6th 2010 at 2:00PM
The below could probably be applied to most things, though it's targeted to healing and PvE. My advice is general, because if you have the attitudes and habits of a great player, you'll find the specifics. Some might claim my advice is also targeted at newer healers; while this is true in a sense, having trouble with the issues below is common even amongst veterans.
1. No, you didn't have lag -- accept responsibility. Lag is to healing as dogs are to homework. Let's take a moment to be honest with ourselves: Most of your healing errors occurred because you messed up. Step up and admit to your group that you mistimed, misjudged, zoned, went AFK, etc. People appreciate others who take responsibility. "I'm sorry about that, everyone, it won't happen again," will earn you respect much more than, "I had lag -- don't look at me!" How will you progress as a healer if all your healing mistakes occur at the same time as "OMG LAG"?
2. Be critically positive. When I used to raid lead, I tried to foster an environment of taking responsibility. After one wipe, the other healer whispered me to list every mistake she made. Five minutes later, I got her calmed down and we won. Hooray, loot for ... oh no! Five more minutes ... Next boss ... We wiped ... Elune, please not again! Ten more minutes of said healer apologizing for every mistake. I considered what I could say to restore her confidence and make her more positively critical. Ahem: "Get over yourself. You will make mistakes."
3. Mistakes = Opportunities. The third thing that healers should realize is that mistakes are learning opportunities. The very first raid I ever healed, I was pathetic. I spammed Greater Heal for 30 seconds and spent the rest of the fight wanding. Afterward, I sat down determined to learn from my mistakes ... and eventually, I did. Every mistake is a chance to not make it again and get better, if you will pursue it as such.
4. Patience reaps rewards. To prevent burning out faster than a Roman candle, all healers need to understand that even if you play perfectly, the team can still fail. No, that doesn't make it a fail team that you should swear at, then drop group. There will be times where a group has to wait for you to learn. When another member of your team is learning, realize that he waited for you and that the best thing you can do for your team is to be patient.
6. Find your rhythm. A funny thing happened to me once; I happened to be raid healing while my wife played piano a few feet from me. When she finished, she turned and stared at my hands on the keyboard. "Are you sure you don't know how to play?" My epiphany: Good healers are constantly in motion, and when healing, their hands dance across the keyboard with a distinctive rhythm. To play a healer well, you need to be able to get in sync with how healing flows. To do this, practice healing, alter your UI setup, change your keyboard. An excellent healer's goal is fluidity, to make healing music.
7. Seek out senseis. There will always be someone better. Take time to learn about your class and keep up to date. You will never know all you need to about healing. Find the best healers and figure out how to become just as good. Being able to identify a great healer makes you a pretty good one, too.
9. Forgiveness is a virtue. I have noticed an antipathy between healers and DPS. Realize that DPS are not all running to stand in a fire to irritate you. They don't all blame you for their mistakes, and they're trying to get better too. As a healer, your place is to heal, not judge. Falling into seizures for having to heal the DPS, stupid or not, takes away from what a classy healer you are.
10. Tanking is a responsibility; healing is a job; DPS is a game. If you said, "Definitely!" -- you shouldn't be healing. Play a healer because you love healing. That love of healing will make you into an amazing healer. If you hate what you're doing, I doubt you will ever measure up.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
sooper Jun 6th 2010 7:52PM
-To heal or not to heal the DPS in the fire? Personally, I'm firm on this one and I will not change my opinion. I won't withold heals but I will rank them low in priority. As long as there is time to heal them up in a good group I don't mind. But in the cases where the fight is hectic and they're STILL in the fire after 4 or 5 seconds then I'm going to alter my decision flow.
1. Can they help it? Melee following where the tank kites... probably not.
2. Are they just standing there casting in dead center of a pretty obvious conflagration?
If it's not acceptable for me to stand in the fire and be expected to heal, then it's not acceptable for anyone, especially range. The DPS that will stand there expecting me to deal with it is basically saying, "I'm going to make your job harder while you make mine easier. If I can just stand here = more DEE PEE ES *see my meter*" - Again, if there is no pressure then I'll do it. But when I'm also watching out for other mechanics built in to cause sudden damage, random aggro on a member, or other things, the fire is the easiest thing in the game to avoid. Here, I may say "watch out for that fire" and after that they can do what they want.
As far as lock's tapping. That's never bothered me at all. Just don't tap when we're first pulling a group of trash with casters in it. If the tank doesn't have aggro on those stragglers then guess who gets the aggro over everyone when I go to heal the lock so that he/she can withstand the incoming aoe shadow/fire/frost spells? Tap as soon as you can or once aggro is established please and I'm good. If not, I'll deal with the aggro till the tank can help me out.
uncaringbear Jun 6th 2010 8:31PM
Any healer who withholds heals on a DPS just to "teach them a lesson" really should just delete their toon. Show some class and stop being a holier than thou douche bag.
Fired Jun 7th 2010 11:03AM
Define irony...
mightymom7 Jun 6th 2010 2:38PM
My husband is a great healer (Roberth of Silver Hand server). I've been amazed at him healing raids and everyone living. I can only ever aspire to like him. Me....I have a shadow priest. Mwwwaaaaahhhhhhh! The light BURNS!!!
Thanks for the awesome article. Definitely confirmed that I need to follow my dreams.
Avan Jun 6th 2010 2:42PM
#10, "Play a healer because you love healing. That love of healing will make you into an amazing healer. If you hate what you're doing, I doubt you will ever measure up."
I play a healer because I like healing. Every DPS spec has a rotation that can be played out by a machine, regardless if it's based on priority or GCDs. It's very boring not having to think, with the only reactions made being "OMG FIRE! *strafe left*" Meanwhile, tanking is the same way. It's a bit more interactive than DPS, having to actually pay attention to what's going on (especially when tanking adds), but it could still be done by a machine. Healing is more engaging, where the best thing to do at any given time is not a single or preset answer. Having to decide what to do and when is much more fun than anything else.
At the same time, I hate healing... in WoW. As DPS gets better gear and their rotations change, there is a quantifiable difference in what they were doing before and what they're doing now. DPS makes much more progress from gear progression than the other roles; The more damage they do, the faster the boss dies. A similar thing happens for tanks, where the better gear they get, the less damage they take/avoid and the more health they have to take hits.
What do healers get? They heal for more, they use less mana, they heal more often, but none of that matters. A boss will continue to deal out the same amount of damage regardless. Tanks, because of their better gear, will take less damage and not be in immediate danger of dying if you don't heal them because of their bigger health pool. Same thing goes for the raid, where their bigger health pools put them at less risk of dying if you don't heal them immediately. So, it really doesn't matter if you're healing for more or healing more often if there is less damage coming in! So healing gets mind-numbingly easier with better gear.
So, I like healing, but I don't like healing in WoW. I doubt I'll like healing in Cataclysm, judging by the way GC describes the new healing environment.
zdave Jun 6th 2010 2:55PM
i have to agree about cataclysm. less mana and less mana regen doesn't sound like more fun to me.
toddcore Jun 6th 2010 3:11PM
"I play a healer because I like healing."
Wow. Nothing that you said there would lead me to believe that you enjoy any aspect of healing or WoW if you hadn't said so.
clevins Jun 6th 2010 3:29PM
@toddcore - I understand what he's saying and he was clear. He likes healing, but not the way it's implemented right now. Healing in general is fun for some of us - you're a key member of the team and you get to save people.
The issue he's talking about is that I get better shadow gear (I'm dual specced) I'll see my DPS go up *even in heroics*. A tank can see their HP increase and notice that they're taking less damage. But a healer in such a group ends up not getting much out of more gear because the increase in capability isn't needed. Yeah, I can cast more and heal for more but at a certain point it's all overheal. The only places you see your better gear help is in raids, usually on the fights where the group's being challenged.
Nirva Jun 6th 2010 3:32PM
It sounds like you're just saying 'Healing is the hardest job, what's that? Yes, I am a healer.'
You say with healing there is never 1 best pre-set thing to do. You're a holy paladin, tank takes a 40k hit, what do you do? You're a holy priest, and 4 raid members get hit by a slime pool, what do you do? etc. etc. etc...
I'm not saying a healer never has to improvise. What I am saying is everyone else has to improvise as well. DPS often get a bad name, and it true, often they don't have to do much but press their castsequence macro (Rotface). At other times though they're doing a lot and have to focus maybe more then healers (Deathwhisper). Tanks as well, it can be a boring 'go gen threat' fight (Bloodqueen) or it can be a lot of work (Princes OT,VD).
About the progressing though an expansion though, yes getting new gear to do more overhealing isn't that thrilling for a healer, and that undeniably sucks =(.
Avan Jun 6th 2010 3:44PM
@toddcore:
I do like healing. It's far more fun than DPS or tanking, for the reasons I laid out above. It's much more mentally stimulating, and once I get into my groove it feels like I'm conducting a symphony.
I don't like healing in WoW, though. A boss will do the (relatively) same amount of damage, week-in and week-out. Healers exist to replenish lost that health. As everyone else (especially the tanks) get better gear, they will lose less health per hit. On top of that, they've got more health, making it far less urgent that they have to get healed NOW; It makes it far less dynamic because there are less choices to be made and when to make them starts becoming irrelevant.
Have you ever purposely landed a spell on someone less than a tenth (0.1) of a second after they've taken damage to bring them up to full with less than 50 overhealing? I have, and it's a rush. Doing that requires having to figure out who is going to be taking damage next and how much, coming up with the right heal to fix that damage ASAP, and casting the heal at the right time, all while managing those figures for 7+ other people. It's really boring going from that to just dropping a renew on the tanks and proceeding to spam smite until someone starts taking damage, especially when solo healing a 10-man raid.
To put it succinctly, I do not like healing in WoW because waiting around for something to happen sucks.
Kylenne Jun 6th 2010 4:08PM
"Every DPS spec has a rotation that can be played out by a machine, regardless if it's based on priority or GCDs. It's very boring not having to think, with the only reactions made being "OMG FIRE! *strafe left*""
Bullshit, bullshit, and more bullshit.
If you think that's all there is to DPS, maybe it's better that you're a special snowflake of a healer. Because this mentality right here is why so many DPS are so terrible. Bad DPS don't ever have to think. Good DPS are thinking every moment of every boss fight. As a mage I am sick to goddamn death of primadonna douchebag healers and tanks thinking they're $deity's gift to WoW, and that DPS are mouthbreathing, expendable idiots whose job could be done by monkeys. Yes, anyone can /afk their way to sub 1k dps and be carried--(and, contrary to popular belief, healers can and do get carried also) but to maintain a high level of situational awareness and take care of whatever utility role or gimmick the fight calls for (kiting, CC, handling adds, biting people, etc) all the while pumping out enough damage to beat the enrage timer, and knowing that somebody's running a chart to scrutinize how much damage you do? It's not exactly a stroll in the park. Certain roles are harder or easier than others depending on the fight, anyway. Tanking is the easiest goddamn job in the world sometimes--spam your rotation, taunt when necessary, use CDs on certain phases, rinse and repeat. Healing is super intensive on some fights and a total snoozefest on others. The only reason DPS is considered "easier" all the time is because you have slightly more room for mistakes than tanks or healers, and you have numbers to hide behind if you fuck up. But that can just as easily apply to healers, particularly in 25 man raids.
People who reduce a healer's role to a game of whack-a-mole/rolling Rejuv & WG and going afk/bubble spam are obnoxious, and people like yourself who reduce a DPSer's role to facerolling the keyboard and staying out of fire are equally obnoxious.
Avan Jun 6th 2010 4:32PM
@Kylenne:
Nice nerd rage, mage. I can tell you just want to hit me with arcane blast 3 times before delivering a swift, unpredicted arcane missiles.
Have you ever heard of the term, "sweeping generalizations?" If not, I'll enlighten you to the basic concept: Understating something to a point of simpleness so it is easily understood.
See, I also have a mage (fire-specced), as well as a demo lock, a mut rogue, a prot paladin, a prot tank, a fury warrior, a shadow priest (offspec), and a death knight. I *know* that there is more to doing DPS (and tanking) than facerolling, as I've been called on to offtank Keleseth for Blood Princes as my warlock, I've had to switch from DPS to offtank during Anub'arak, and quite a bit more over the years.
Also, you started to lose me when you said: "or gimmick the fight calls for;" I could tolerate you saying bullshit repeatedly (as if you knew what I was talking about), I lol'd my way passed you saying you have a mage (who is most likely arcane-specced), but I've got to make a stand here. If you're calling fight mechanics a gimmick, something that has to be done so that you can't just faceroll your DPS Patchwerk-style, then you really have no place opening a can of nerd rage on me for stereotyping DPS classes.
zdave Jun 6th 2010 6:34PM
@kylenne: i could see where your argument would be valid if you were say, a rogue, where spending 5 combo points on the wrong thing can really hurt your dps for a few seconds. however, being a mage (probably arcane): ABx4, then barrage proc? c'mon dude. you can't tell me you have to think as much as other dps. the current mage state just is not that demanding broheim. or if you were at cat druid, unholy dk, or shadow priest. those are complex priority systems. yours is not.
Cyanea Jun 6th 2010 7:10PM
I like healing.
It feels like a job.
But I still like it.
I guess that means I like my job.
Avan Jun 6th 2010 8:01PM
@zdave:
Their arguments have merit in some regards, notably regarding situational awareness. Are you standing in fire? Are you standing too close to another caster for splash damage effects? Is the orange ooze about to come out? Are we about to change into phase 3? Are there enough people at range? Did a trinket or talent proc? It's a valid argument, except for the part where everyone else in the raid has to be aware of these things, tanks, DPS, healers, everyone except for pets (the lazy bastards.) DPS are not special snowflakes for having to react to procs, manage cooldowns, get out of fire, or keep a self-buff active.
The other core argument they had was about fight mechanics, and having to work around them to down a boss. It's another valid argument, but I can't discredit it anyways. See, they play a mage, and they nerd raged when a comment was made about facerolling. That means they play an arcane mage, the spec that is most known for having a damn easy cast sequence and self-defending the "complexity" of their spec; Common sense says that if every arcane mage says they aren't faceroll, then they must be right! (They are, to the extent listed above about every spec having procs and cooldowns to manage.)
Now, I discredit that argument because of the following: "Gimmicks." That's how fight mechanics were described, things like killing Val'kyr ASAP or biting people, basically anything that has DPS stop attacking the boss and doing something else. Gimmicks is a word that is typically said with scorn (Kylenne definitely said it with scorn here, given the nerdrage pretext) as it is generally viewed as an unnecessary feature of the fight. The thing is, those gimmicks exist to differentiate one fight from another! What's funny about it is: Gimmicks create things (fire, biting, phase changes) that one has to be aware of, so emphasizing the need for DPS to have situational awareness while also chastizing the source of that need, all while coming from a spec that is defending how complex DPSing is--that is to say, not faceroll--is just hilarious. Why?
Without gimmicks, every boss would be just another Patchwerk, a fight where DPS can go crazy with their rotation (what is errantly referred to as facerolling, even in this thread), and maximize their DPS.
Think about that for a second. Everyone is up-voting a DPS'er ranting about the role being more complex than facerolling, while at the same time suggesting that what they really want is to just faceroll bosses, Patchwerk-style.
gg
Avan Jun 6th 2010 8:17PM
@Kylenne:
"As a mage I am sick to goddamn death of primadonna douchebag healers and tanks thinking they're $deity's gift to WoW, and that DPS are mouthbreathing, expendable idiots whose job could be done by monkeys."
For the record, I did NOT say anything about DPS being expendable, mouthbreathing idiots that are subbing for monkeys. Honestly, I am fucking appalled by your statement. As a healer, I would be remiss in my role if I let so much as one of you die. I don't give two shits if you've wronged me in the past, or if you're a dick, or if you've got terribad DPS. If you die, then we're down one DPS. Who's going to kill the boss now, me? Not likely.
Honestly, now: We healers and tanks, "Elune's gift of primadonna douchebags to WoW" as you called us, may crack jokes about DPS having an easy job or their rotations being loleasy or what have you, but fact of the matter is, we're not going to get bossed killed on our own.
So, get off that high horse and realize that we're all in it together. It's not worth the wasted hours wiping repeatedly to a boss over petty squabbles. I, for one, value the time of my fellow raiders and would like to actually get something done.
Trickshots Jun 6th 2010 9:10PM
You have innacurately judged the strategic levels of both DPS and Tanking. As an altoholic who has bothered to level every class and Raid in every role, I'm here to tell you that there are strategies, challenges and complicated dynamics to all roles. All roles are vital, do not forget. I've called wipes due to losing dps just as often as from losing healers. Part of the fun and beauty of the game is composing and tuning the wonderful deadly symphony of a good tactical team. Don't belittle any role -- it is frankly nubbish behavior. Might as well talk next about how "Ally r tards" and "Horde sux"
Stilhelm Jun 7th 2010 12:18PM
The difference is, when you call a fight due to losing (or not having enough) dps, then it's usually the DPS's fault. They didn't watch out for the avoidable damage, they didn't manage the Festergut spores properly and didn't pop iceblock/dispersion to compensate, they didn't use their cooldowns properly, they didn't watch their aggro and got splattered by the boss, etc.
Yes, in most cases the dps has more to worry about than their rotation. It can make a fight annoying (ghosts on Deathwhisper that you can barely see, are untargettable so you can't see where they are going, and can one-shot most), unchained magic/chilled to the bone on Sindragosa. It can make a fight different (spores/vomit on festergut, infections/explosions on Rotface. It can make a fight interesting (add priority on Valithria, blood beasts on Saurfang). Guess what? Healers have to watch for the exact same things, but instead of being able to look around and maintain raid awareness while following a relatively simple rotation (yes, most dps rotations are simple, the big exception is kitty dps), healers have to maintain the same raid awareness while also watching a collection of hp bars in addition to their own mana (and the other healers' mana as well to some extent).
I've performed all three roles in all WOTLK raids, and I can tell you, it is *by far* the most difficult to perform well *and* maintain proper levels of raid awareness when healing. The whack-a-mole nature of healing in Ulduar/ToC/ICC due to the high levels of spike damage requires immediate quick heals because once someone takes damage, their TTL (time to live) is usually measured by the time until they next take damage. Sometimes there is time, sometimes there is not, and sometimes it is due to RNG. Sometimes it's like our ret pally with 30k+ buffed hp getting knocked from 100% to 0% in 2 seconds in the add phase of Deathwhisper (2 ticks DnD, with frostbolt and add cleave while getting out of the DnD between those 2 ticks). By the time you see they've taken damage, they're dead before you can land a heal.
I for one am very glad for the healing changes coming in cataclysm. People getting wasted from full health in less than 2 seconds due to mostly unavoidable damage is just bogus and not fun to try to heal. Blood Queen was actually fun in spite of the high damage levels because when people aren't taking unavoidable damage, it's about combining maximum healing with efficiency while keeping track of your mana. Festergut was also fun, transitioning from raid healing to "OMG tanks are getting pounded" and back is cool. Getting wasted instantly on DW from a ghost you can barely see while you have to focus on dropping health bars is not fun.
TL:DR; dps who take unavoidable damage on purpose because they're concerned with the damage meters, who complain about "gimmicks" that lower their damage or break their precious rotation, etc. get my vote for "most uninteresting person to heal". By far my preferred role in a raid is DPS because it is much easier (and in ICC, much more interesting). ICC tanking is flat-out boring (stand here...don't move...taunt...taunt...taunt and use tanking cooldown...), and healing is way too much whack-a-mole reaction to damage and not nearly enough strategy. When a dps rotation gets boring you at least have your numbers to keep you company during/after the fight.
NighttimeApparition Jun 6th 2010 2:54PM
I recently started healing, I found I love it. While I am a rogue at my DPS heart, healing has given me tons of fun and made me a better player. I am more aware of my surroundings, and even as DPS, I have a better idea of what my group is doing. I've also found that I don't 'stand in the fire' or do other common DPS mistakes, because I have had to heal people through it.
My highest level healer is just about to ding 50, so I'm sure it gets harder from here, but somehow I think I'll still enjoy it.
Andy Jun 6th 2010 2:55PM
Many healers and tanks carry an elitist mindset that demonizes dpsers as mindless facerollers while tanks and healers are doing roles that are of infinite importance. I'm glad this article didn't conform to that mindset.