DrZaiusDrZaius Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Hey everyone, So I'm currently leveling my Sage as a TK build, but I'm curious if I should try leveling as a healing build instead. My end-goal is to be a healer for my guild, but I haven't really played a healer in an MMO before. Is leveling PvE content as a healer untenable compared to a DPS build? What's the learning curve on learning how to effectively heal my team, i.e. does it make sense to have me start learning how to heal now, or should I be able to pick it up pretty easily once I get to 50? My goals really are 1) have fun 2) level to 50 3) Heal in flashpoints/Ops for my guild. General thoughts? Thanks for your input ahead of time. -DrZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leiloni Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) Well if you've never healed before I would suggest either leveling as Seer (which is definitely doable since we have companions) or spending some time practicing in warzones at 50 before you go into flashpoints and ops. You can get used to your keybinds, UI layout, and what each skill does in a warzone. Healing will be a little different in PvE than PvP but it's a good low pressure place to practice because people are going to die anyway. For anyone whose healed in other MMO's though I think Seer is pretty intuitive. Edited January 20, 2012 by Leiloni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirana Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) You mentioned you've never healed in an mmo before. With that, I would definitely level as a Healer. As mentioned above, it'll help you learn the basics. And the most important aspect is to learn your abilities, when to use them, and where the buttons are. Last thing you'll want is a wandering eye and start glaring at your keyboard/mouse buttons searching for the correct ability to use, those should be second nature. In addition, leveling as a Healer in this game is fairly easy, the Tanking and dps your companions have is more than sufficient. Good Luck! Edited February 24, 2012 by Pirana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slagartist Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) Hey everyone, So I'm currently leveling my Sage as a TK build, but I'm curious if I should try leveling as a healing build instead. My end-goal is to be a healer for my guild, but I haven't really played a healer in an MMO before. Leveling as healing and pvping while leveling as healing are by far the best way to learn how to heal. Make sure you put your heals on your main keybinds (1/2/3/4/F etc) and put your DPS (project, TK throw, etc) on your secondary keybinds (shift+1/2/3/4 etc). You won't really need all of those and then some until ~25/30, but the reason this is important is that though you will be using DPS to help yourself quest, you will learn to react instinctively for heals and don't want to have to relearn it all due to switching KBs. I know this applies to every class/role, but really, for healing, it's incredibly important. Healers have to have quick reaction times--quicker than anyone else. It's our job. So arrange your heals while leveling as if you're already lvl 50 and you'll be happy you did end-game. My advice? Use Qyzen 99% of the time - switch between his DPS and his Tank stance depending on the difficulty of the mobs you're fighting. Make sure to kill the easy **** first on mixed mobs (it should always be like this, but DPS can get away with a lot more since they can kill **** so fast). Use your Force Lift, your Stun and Slow and you can handle just about anything with Qyzen at your side. Make sure to keep his gear up to date, though -- if you're not getting enough through quest rewards, hit the AH and buy anything with high Aim and Endurance and slap it on him. He'll do most of the work for you. It can be a little slow. You may not find yourself wanting to do all the bonus missions due to how long it will take to kill 60 rakghouls. If you find yourself in this situation (ie, on Taris and short a level or two before Alderaan is appropriate), just do a dozen or so PVP matches. You'll start to stock commendations, get pvp heals experience, make some decent cash to fund your crew skills/speeder training, and level up. Also, finding groups for heroic quests and FPs will never, ever be difficult for you Edited January 21, 2012 by slagartist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanos Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) So I'm currently leveling my Sage as a TK build, but I'm curious if I should try leveling as a healing build instead. My end-goal is to be a healer for my guild, but I haven't really played a healer in an MMO before. Same situation as mine. I've had xp in MMOs before tanking and dps-ing so I wanted to try healing for a change (plus my guild is very small and I'm the only healer for my sorry bunch ) To add on to what was said above, lower level Seer can have some problems maintaining force. I found this build suited me perfectly (lvl 31): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GhMRbZf00M.1. With this as a basis you can heal through any flashpoint of your level easily. Additionally, I use this as my lvl 50 build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GGrRbd0dGzZfo0MZ0M.1. Edited January 21, 2012 by alanos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artisanttt Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Level your character as DPS but put your points in like a healer. So you will still do Heroics and FPs as a healer, but the usual class quests and trash quests you will do as a DPS/healer. Personally I suggest just set up your bar 1-4 DPS like normal and have your heals as clickable with the mouse for now. Early on all the way up until 50 healing is no fast movement rush especially not as a Seer Sage. Once you hit 50 Just set your bars up like how you want them for healing and help some lower level clan mates with FPs or Heroics to get used to the set up. Much like anything, you will learn it quickly and it will be like riding a bike. If you level solely as a healer, it will be a long and tedious way to 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elyx Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I agree with the above posters. Level as healing spec. I tend to have specific keybinds that I use for "healing" spells in most MMO's I play. But I tend to play multiple games across the same time period, so for an old brain like mine it makes it easier when all my heal kind of spells fall under the same keys. But I intermix my spells on my setup so my most common casts are within easy reach, my heals/Aoe next out, and my least used skills the farthest. I also bind my hotkeys directly around my movement keys. either way, I end up with my primary DPS skills closest, and my heals and AoE skills about equa-distant apart on the keyboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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