The Healing Game

[:1]Just an observation I had on healing: It's almost like the healer runs a differant dungeon and plays a differant game than everyone else. Where the group is all about doing damage to the boss/mobs, the healer really only focuses on keeping everyone healed and, aside from some situational awareness, doesn't need to be too concerned with how much damage everyone is doing... As long as the DPS doesn't pull threat!!!)

The healer's game is really just keeping the group alive while the dps race to do the most damage and the tank races to keep his/her threat above the dps.

Anyone else have this thought/observation?|||I think all healers have come to appreciate this fact at some point in their career. The healer portion of a group effort is totally different in viewpoint and outlook from both the tank and the DPS. We stare at the others health, keeping an eye out for any dips in that total (and try to recall to look at our own health also--though that can be amazingly hard to do sometimes). Stealing a glance at the actual action is usually reserved for those fights that require movement, otherwise it is a glance that almost insures a sudden violent blow to someone under your care.

Being a healer is different and can make the difference in the success of the run. A brilliant performance as a healer rarely gets the public acclaim that other roles gets, but every now and again, it will be noticed and commented on. Cherish such moments, for most of the time, getting a "good heals" from the tank is about all you can hope for and that will become rare as the tank becomes accustomed to receiving good heals.|||I've healed for older raids and now healing for AN and up. Your spot on OP.

I knew the color of the instance and that was it after starting and finishing the raid. Couldn't tell anyone what we fought, how many etc... It's completely different as a healer indeed.|||Staying in range, in LoS and away from the "bad stuff". That's all you need to know about the content of the instance.|||LOL, aye, it is all that a healer "has" to know, but every now and again, about all of us do like to know what the mob looks like...|||Quote:








LOL, aye, it is all that a healer "has" to know, but every now and again, about all of us do like to know what the mob looks like...




Couldn't agree more. Dual speccing as dps can help in this regard... Or even main being dps and offspec being resto. otherwise you'd never get invited as dps . Allthough ppl usually welcome any healer, even an undergeared one, over no healer at all...|||Quote:








Where the group is all about doing damage to the boss/mobs, the healer really only focuses on keeping everyone healed and, aside from some situational awareness, doesn't need to be too concerned with how much damage everyone is doing... As long as the DPS doesn't pull threat!!!)

The healer's game is really just keeping the group alive while the dps race to do the most damage and the tank races to keep his/her threat above the dps.




As it should be, no?


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A brilliant performance as a healer rarely gets the public acclaim that other roles gets, but every now and again, it will be noticed and commented on. Cherish such moments, for most of the time, getting a "good heals" from the tank is about all you can hope for and that will become rare as the tank becomes accustomed to receiving good heals.




Not true at all. I almost always get a "nice job" comment. Likewise, I try and thank the others in the run.|||Quote:








As it should be, no?




It is, yeah... I'm just a little new to healing and recently had the observation.|||Quote:








LOL, aye, it is all that a healer "has" to know, but every now and again, about all of us do like to know what the mob looks like...




My GM: Damaris...how can you be lost? We've been in Black Temple so many times...

Me: But...I only follow you guys!

It would be nice to see more of a raid than the mass conglomeration of health bars which normally take up the majority of my screen. To see a boss. To watch something other than (hopefully) green bars.|||I have to disagree here.

It is part of being a good healer to think ahead. To know the boss abilities and know when big damage is coming up. To know when to expect Aoe damage, when to expect damage spikes on the tanks etc. To have a extra eye on the cloth wearers when they have to AoE something. One will always pull agro from at least one mob. If you only react when his health bar is dropping, you will be too late.

You dont get there by just walking behind your raid and staring at health bars.