Raid Rx: 4 more healing lessons
by Matt Low 
Jan 28th 2011 at 4:00PM
First, I wanted to add that there was some awesome discussion going on in the last Raid Rx post I wrote. I wanted to just stress that the purpose of the post was to help illustrate the various challenges that healers faced. It wasn't meant as a "hate on healers" type of post. Tanks and DPS players could help alleviate some of the strain and the pressure placed on the healers just by keeping a few things in mind. At the same time, the healer perspective is often different then the other two roles. That's why I wanted to open up a dialogue to see what we could do to help each other get better and the gaming experience much more enjoyable. I figured that if we all tried to present our different perspectives, then maybe heroics and raids would go easier for everyone.
It is rather surprising the different things you learn if you take a moment and just listen to what other people have to say. As a guild leader, a player, and a writer, I've learned to keep my mouth shut and hear or read what others have to say about stuff. It is a difficult skill to pick up.
You know, the next time I need to take time off from writing a Raid Rx column, maybe I'll get a tank or that Christian Belt fellow to fill in.
In a continuation from last week's post, I wanted to raise a few points.
Don't be stubborn on healing
Some damage is avoidable. Some damage can be mitigated. Some damage is going to come through, no matter what. Like it or not, it's our duty as healers to keep players alive within reason and to the best of our ability. If someone needs to die, let him drop. But if you're on a boss like Rajh who has that big sun bomb thing that just nukes everyone, you absolutely have to use everything you can to keep people alive. I personally don't think it is feasible to expect players to keep themselves alive through that. The damage from it isn't exactly lethal, but you can't shrug it off, either.
In a raid setting like the Omnitron Defense System, Magmatron has an Incineration Security Measure that hits everybody. It is a part of the encounter, like it or not. If it were me, I could either tell people to heal themselves up or I could do what my role is and help sustain them. It's really a no-brainer at that point. The underlying message I want to get across here is to not be unnecessarily difficult. I've worked with and played with difficult healers in the past, and for whatever reason, they would just refuse to do what was being asked. Encounters ended up being tougher and would take longer overall. As a result, everyone loses.
Besides, some people make a mistake. You can bail them out. Could you imagine if hockey goalies just told the defense men that it was entirely up to them to prevent the opposition from rushing into their zone and scoring? Those teams rely on their goalies to bail them out because they're the last line of defense. Well, guess what? As healers, we are the last line of defense, and we should bail our team out. If we don't, we all lose. The hallmark of a disciplined healer is someone who can keep that level of irritability in check.
Resurrecting players versus running back
Herein lies an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, there is a wipe. If everyone dies, everyone runs back together. We can all agree on that.
But recently during trash, I've started adopting two different conditional mindsets where I'll tell players to either stay dead or run back, depending on how we're doing.
Let me give you a brief example. The initial trash packs in Bastion of Twilight consist of pulls of up to 10 mobs. When we first started, the odds of someone dying were quite high. If a player died in the opening seconds of a trash pull, I'd immediately bark at them to start releasing and flying back. If a player died while the group was about to finish off the last remaining trash mob in a pull, I'd tell them to just stay down.
Why?
Because of time and efficiency. I realized early on that there are going to be times when it is quicker to tell a player to run back or it might be quicker for them to just stay dead and get someone to resurrect them. If I tell them to run back, they'll usually zone in while we're halfway through a pack of trash. A few quick heals, and they'll be back on the front lines DPSing their hearts out. In the second situation, I'll resurrect them because the 10-second cast on my resurrect is faster than the 50 seconds it takes for them to fly back and head to our position.
The sooner we get going, the sooner we get out. This is especially true based on where how far the group is in any instance.
We should adjust to the tank
This took a bit of time for me to really digest. We're not exactly the center of the world here. The tanks have an extremely difficult job when it comes to positioning bosses and rounding up mobs. We can work with them to determine the most optimal places for us to do our jobs. No healer wants to get breathed on or cleaved or tail swiped. We have a better look of the encounter then a tank would (usually). It helps immensely if the tank adjusts his position to the boss, then the healers adjust to the tank, and then the rest of the DPSers adjust their positions accordingly.
Tunnel vision affects everyone
Yes, even me. On our first Chimaeron kill on 25, I fat-fingered my character sheet halfway through the encounter. Didn't even realize it until minutes later. My peripheral vision was constantly working overtime between my raid frames and the center of my screen. Everything else was just not noticeable. The best way to prevent tunnel vision is to just try and remain conscious of the fact.
Yeah, I call that hitting the zone. When you can land precision heals and stay alive through everything being thrown at you with random whispers, or Post-It notes or other stuff on your screen, you are in in that zone.
If you're doing these things already, great! If not, then I urge you to at least consider them first before outright dismissing them. Nothing wrong with trying to explore ways where we can improve at what we do.
Need advice on working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered. Send your questions about raid healing to mattl@wowinsider.com. For less healer-centric raiding advice, visit Ready Check for advanced tactics and advice for the endgame raider.Filed under: Raid Rx (Raid Healing)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Necromann Jan 28th 2011 4:16PM
The zone your supposed to stay in.
Cambro Jan 28th 2011 4:24PM
Great thoughts. Kind of a side note, I've been finding myself fat-fingering a lot lately no matter which character I play, to the point that I unkeybound a lot of the defaults, so I don't have the character sheet, guild pane, professions pane, quest log, talents, or achievements randomly popping up. Technically I re-keybound all of those to be shift+the key.
jfofla Jan 28th 2011 4:32PM
I have a funny story from last night's raid. I was healing on my Holy Pally during the Valiona and Theralion fight in Bastion of Twilight. The ranged and healers were all clumped together to absorb the Twilight Meteor, and I saw the tank was a bit low on health. Since we are moving alot, I decided to just Lay On Hands and bring him back up quick.
The very instant my key is depressed to cast Lay On Hands I get Engulfing Magic. It was like an Atomic Bomb went off. Every ranged and healer in our 25 man raid was one shot for 150,000.
Vent was quite for an instant, then somebody said "Uh, what in the hell was that?" At which point I said "That was a Lay On Hands".
We all had a good laugh, and now I am know as the deadliest boss in Bastion.
brammage Jan 28th 2011 6:02PM
For anybody who doesn't know what Engulfing Magic does:
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=95639/engulfing-magic
benbettis Jan 29th 2011 12:49PM
Believe it or not, I've done this exact thing too. Possibly the funniest thing ever.
I'm also (unfortunately) known to be "too" good at dispels. On fights like the twin dragons (or lich king or rotface) on the first attempt of the night when I'm still in a fog and sleepy, I've literally dispelled these debuffs as they're landing... only to have that person blow up.
HUGE /facedesk for me... but when the dps says "...seriously, you goddamn Twitch, that was so fast I didn't even get the raid marker above my head", we can all have a light chuckle :)
Xtofer Jan 28th 2011 4:32PM
The best advice that I can give is to try and not lose focus on the task at hand. As a resto druid, it's easy to get caught up in trying to maintain the three stacks of lifebloom on the tank at all times, roll rejuvination, and try to hit WG on cooldown, but it means nothing if you're not actively looking at abilities that the boss will use and finding a way to counter them with the right healing ability. It may be better to save WG (or AE heal equivalent) when a major AE ability lands on the raid. It may be better to let LB bloom on your tank if you cannot get the big heal off in time. If the raid isn't in any need of diar help, maybe throw a rejuv here and there on the lightly wounded without going overboard.
It's easy to also get caught up in raid frames, but all of the Cataclysm encounters so far rely on mechanics that you can't simply ignore anymore. Know your surroundings, triage the raid as needed, move when you need to (and where you need to), and if you feel like you should pop a cooldown (in my case, Tree of Life form), don't hesitate and pop it.
e-girl Jan 28th 2011 6:25PM
quote"(in my case, Tree of Life form), don't hesitate and pop it."
Evey time I see Tree Of Life mentioned I die a little more inside.
Give me back my proper TreeForm permanently dammit
Aarcial Jan 28th 2011 4:49PM
I would add a clause to the stubborn thing in a heroic. If a dps is still doing dumb Wrath things, like pulling for the group, or even pulling their own aggro when its obviously not a mistake (or in the latter case, after it being pointed out once or when it happens repeatedly regardless).
Lipstick Jan 28th 2011 4:55PM
I was watching an old George Carlin special last night (god I miss him!) and he said "as humans we tend to assassinate the people who tell us to get along together in peace and harmony." Not sure what that says about our value system necessarily, but as much as I love George .. I'm going to have to go with Gandhi on this one. "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
Start practicing the habits and behaviors you want to experience in your pugs and raids, and positive things will soon happen.
Which means as healers -- we have to agree to stop refusing to heal people -- and we have to be flexible in situations where things aren't always the way we prefer them to be. On a personal level we need to remember that practice doesn't make perfect -- that perfect practice makes perfect. If we're being lax, or lazy -- we need to agree to challenge ourselves to kick it up a notch -- and improve our own games.
If all of us stopped worrying about what everyone -else- was doing wrong and started focusing on our own mistakes. We could make the game a more enjoyable place to be.
Vasco Jan 28th 2011 5:26PM
If you have to constantly heal a DPS that can't understand the basic principles of moving to avoid damage, then healing him will only drain your mana pool. Making it impossible to keep the tank up through the duration of the fight which will wipe the group. Most of these fights are not DPS races so if they need to be sacrificed to keep the others up I think its worth it.
Vasco Jan 28th 2011 5:37PM
To make the game more enjoyable maybe people should stop entering instances and raids with out any clue of what to expect. There is a large array of video and strategy blogs out there where you can learn how to complete an instance. If you don't want to invest the time to educate yourself, then i think it is fair for the other people to get angry with you. If I get put into a situation where I don't feel I can be a benefit to the group I do what is best, I exit, so they can get someone who can help. If you want to make an enjoyable time for everyone do what you can to educate yourself and show your party members respect by doing so.
Plus lets face it there are basic ways to mitigate your strain on a healer, that few use.
1. Stand behind the enemies to avoid cleaves.
2. Use any self healing you can.
3. Don't pull aggro unless you are trying to get an add off the healer.
4. Don't stand in stuff that does damage.
5. Pay attention to what is going on around you not just your rotation.
Your DPS pretty much does these things then they are doing all you can ask of them, beyond that its a matter of skill.
Lipstick Jan 28th 2011 9:41PM
Two wrongs don't make a right. If you stop healing people -- when you're the healer -- you are just as at fault as the dps who is standing in something that they shouldn't be. People sometimes take avoidable damage -- not intentionally -- but by accident. If you see something -- say something to the dps in party chat. If they continuously make the same mistake -- vote to kick. If you've given them warning and they're still not improving/doing it wrong and not asking for additional help -- then you're right, they shouldn't be there any more, and should be removed.
But you need to give people a chance and not take it upon yourself to "teach them a lesson" by stop healing them. All that accomplishes is making them think you're a bad healer -- and making you resent them for being a bad player. Nobody wins then.
Everything that you said about preparation I more or less agreed with. It goes into what I said about perfect practice makes perfect.
Vasco Jan 29th 2011 10:58AM
Unfortunately you don't have the mana reserves anymore to constantly save poor players. Plus you know as well as I do. That if you try to tell someone what they are doing wrong they take offense and become irate and usually cause problems. The players you want to think exist in this game aren't there anymore. You have people coming from Xbox Live who think its cool to argue and be asses in the game. When Blizzard watered down the content they also watered down the player base where all you have left is poor players who have no real desire to learn or research fights but just want quick successful action, and to be carried to get gear. In most fights, if a DPS is doing what they should be doing they require very minimal heals and will survive fine.
Phelps Jan 28th 2011 5:03PM
I'm one of those "difficult" healers, in that I won't EZ-mode you through at the expense of my mana pool. I do a lot of DPS healing, though. You know what I want to see?
Movement
Cooldowns being used
"Recently Bandaged" debuffs
If I see those, then the player is doing what he reasonably can to help me, and the rest is my job. If he's never moved since the tank charged, hasn't popped a cooldown that didn't translate straight into 'uber nukz", didnt even show up with any bandages in his bag, and is standing in fire? He's dead.
Jack Spicer Jan 28th 2011 5:38PM
Here is one issue that bugs me. If I have to drink after a pull, am I responsible for healing everyone up to full as well? I get annoyed when I have to drink after healing up everyone after drinking.
Brett Porter Jan 28th 2011 6:49PM
As someone that does all roles, but whose main is DPS, I never expect a heal, especially when out of combat and I can eat/bandage myself back to full.
If, when a healer, I am able to heal someone close to full without draining my MP, then I'll do it, but wouldn't tolerate those that demand it. Granted, I'm running nearly 100% guild runs, but I still don't do that with non-guildie healers.
Jeff (Not that one ^ ) Jan 28th 2011 8:11PM
No. If you have time to sit and drink, so does everyone else--especially if you've had a mage table down during your run.
On my Holy Pally, I'll sometimes activate Holy Radiance to AoE heal and then sit and drink. Anything that HR doesn't heal, doesn't get healed.
Wildharp Jan 28th 2011 6:10PM
"Besides, some people make a mistake. You can bail them out. Could you imagine if hockey goalies just told the defense men that it was entirely up to them to prevent the opposition from rushing into their zone and scoring? Those teams rely on their goalies to bail them out because they're the last line of defense. Well, guess what? As healers, we are the last line of defense, and we should bail our team out. If we don't, we all lose. The hallmark of a disciplined healer is someone who can keep that level of irritability in check."
This. Ten times over, this. I learned it when I had played my priest at 85 for a few weeks and finally got my kitty druid there, too. It can be pretty hard to avoid damage with everything else to keep an eye on. And yes, I do stupid things sometimes (just like everyone else). A healer who will just toss me a heal and not lecture about it, gets an apology from me and my eternal gratefulness on top ;-)
Corrin Jan 28th 2011 6:34PM
I suggest banning anyone in your guild getting guild achievements whilst raiding. We wiped last night on a very promising attempt on a new boss when a couple of guild achievements popped up. Most people were 'nice one' over vent. But every single healer screamed in fury as stupid little achivement boxes popped up over their healbot/grid/whatever. Our healing team was not very happy I can tell you.
Pullclick Jan 28th 2011 7:26PM
HAHAHA, lovely attitude. You are def correct. It's other peoples fault you stick your gridbox where achievements appear on YOUR screen. I'm particularly fond of your me first attitude. A solid UI setup can be a very powerful tool in a raiders bag of tricks.