Have you ever looked at your adventuring friends and thought, “While this is fun, it would be a lot more fun if I had complete control over which one of these people lives or dies?” Well, then healing might be for you. There are three different healer classes as of this writing, and all of them play very differently. While their respective styles of healing are worth talking about, that’s not what we’re going to be talking about today. I’m not going to explain how lillies work or what the cards do. Today we’re just going to talk about the very most basic aspects of being a healer to get you started on your way.
First of all, the top-right corner is where you’re going to be looking the most. I find healing with a controller more convenient than using a mouse and keyboard because you can easily switch between targets with the D-pad.
Now onto the actual playstyle, the golden rule of every spell casting class is this, “Always Be Casting”. If you’re not running your MP into the ground at any given moment, you are being a bad caster.
However, that doesn’t mean you should be casting your heal spell at every moment of the day. Contrary to your instincts, you don’t actually need to keep everyone at max HP at all times. Anything more than none means they’re ready for action. In fact, spamming cure every time someone scrapes their knee is going to actively harm the group. Healing puts you higher on the aggro list, which means that the tank is going to have to work harder to keep the monsters from eating your face.
But if you’re not healing, what should you be doing?
Let’s talk about Healer DPS. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but on the North American servers at least, DPSing is everyone’s job. Most people don’t like being stuck with a healer who doesn’t do any DPS.
You have those damage skills for a reason. If nobody is in immediate danger, you should be doing as much damage as you can. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You won’t need to do any healing if everything that could be doing damage is dead.
That being said, you’re still the healer. Make sure you glance at the HP of your party members every now and again, otherwise you’ll find yourself alone in a sea of monsters.
It can be difficult to learn how to balance these two skill sets, especially in earlier dungeons. You won’t have all the tools that you would like, and more experienced tanks will try to pull the entire dungeon without taking it up with the rest of the party. Because of the way the level and equipment scales in lower level dungeons, even the strongest characters can be overwhelmed if you aren’t careful. It can be alarming to watch the tank’s health melt away while you watch the cast timer of your heal spell decrease, not knowing which one will give out first.
If you’re uncomfortable with how fast the tank is going don’t be afraid to ask them to slow down the party chat. Most players will understand, especially if you tell them that you’re still learning.
You’ll notice that the first thing most healers do in a dungeon is cast Protect. It is a small but useful buff. Your party will feel it if you don’t have it up, so they will usually wait a moment to let you cast it. Sometimes they won’t, and you’ll have to chase them down. You might think that you can head the runners off at the pass by casting it before the barrier comes down, but Protect will not affect party members who are watching a cutscene.
Which brings us to our next point, preparation. More than anyone else in the party, the healer needs to know the fights inside and out. When is the tank buster coming up? When should you stop DPSing and start focusing on keeping everyone alive? When is an AOE going to take out your Dragoon?
Being caught flat-footed will only end in a party wipe. I would suggest leveling a different class and trying to pay attention to the boss’ patterns while going through the first time. Or if you don’t feel like investing that kind of time, you can look up a dungeon guide on Youtube. Personally, I prefer MTQCapture, but Mr. Happy is an acceptable alternative. The point is, you need to be methodical and know what’s coming. Don’t try to rush things.
My final piece of advice is this. Sometimes you will mess this up. There will be times when you will lose the panic-heal race. Usually, nobody will make a fuss if you just apologize in chat. Everyone was new once, so don’t sweat it too much if you make a mistake.
Keep these rules in mind, especially you Arcanists who want to be Scholars when you grow up, and you should be able to keep your party alive.
First of all, the top-right corner is where you’re going to be looking the most. I find healing with a controller more convenient than using a mouse and keyboard because you can easily switch between targets with the D-pad.
Now onto the actual playstyle, the golden rule of every spell casting class is this, “Always Be Casting”. If you’re not running your MP into the ground at any given moment, you are being a bad caster.
However, that doesn’t mean you should be casting your heal spell at every moment of the day. Contrary to your instincts, you don’t actually need to keep everyone at max HP at all times. Anything more than none means they’re ready for action. In fact, spamming cure every time someone scrapes their knee is going to actively harm the group. Healing puts you higher on the aggro list, which means that the tank is going to have to work harder to keep the monsters from eating your face.
But if you’re not healing, what should you be doing?
Let’s talk about Healer DPS. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but on the North American servers at least, DPSing is everyone’s job. Most people don’t like being stuck with a healer who doesn’t do any DPS.
You have those damage skills for a reason. If nobody is in immediate danger, you should be doing as much damage as you can. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You won’t need to do any healing if everything that could be doing damage is dead.
That being said, you’re still the healer. Make sure you glance at the HP of your party members every now and again, otherwise you’ll find yourself alone in a sea of monsters.
It can be difficult to learn how to balance these two skill sets, especially in earlier dungeons. You won’t have all the tools that you would like, and more experienced tanks will try to pull the entire dungeon without taking it up with the rest of the party. Because of the way the level and equipment scales in lower level dungeons, even the strongest characters can be overwhelmed if you aren’t careful. It can be alarming to watch the tank’s health melt away while you watch the cast timer of your heal spell decrease, not knowing which one will give out first.
If you’re uncomfortable with how fast the tank is going don’t be afraid to ask them to slow down the party chat. Most players will understand, especially if you tell them that you’re still learning.
You’ll notice that the first thing most healers do in a dungeon is cast Protect. It is a small but useful buff. Your party will feel it if you don’t have it up, so they will usually wait a moment to let you cast it. Sometimes they won’t, and you’ll have to chase them down. You might think that you can head the runners off at the pass by casting it before the barrier comes down, but Protect will not affect party members who are watching a cutscene.
Which brings us to our next point, preparation. More than anyone else in the party, the healer needs to know the fights inside and out. When is the tank buster coming up? When should you stop DPSing and start focusing on keeping everyone alive? When is an AOE going to take out your Dragoon?
Being caught flat-footed will only end in a party wipe. I would suggest leveling a different class and trying to pay attention to the boss’ patterns while going through the first time. Or if you don’t feel like investing that kind of time, you can look up a dungeon guide on Youtube. Personally, I prefer MTQCapture, but Mr. Happy is an acceptable alternative. The point is, you need to be methodical and know what’s coming. Don’t try to rush things.
My final piece of advice is this. Sometimes you will mess this up. There will be times when you will lose the panic-heal race. Usually, nobody will make a fuss if you just apologize in chat. Everyone was new once, so don’t sweat it too much if you make a mistake.
Keep these rules in mind, especially you Arcanists who want to be Scholars when you grow up, and you should be able to keep your party alive.
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