Advice on Constantly Being Targeted in PVP

[Kuvox]

For the first 1.5 weeks after 1.1 life in 50s PVP was great. I and my other Sage healer friend did 500k+ in healing on a consistent basis. Now we are lucky to hit 350k because we have become the enemy's #1 target match after match.

 

The Republic still wins at least 80% of the games on my server, but I am being targeted like never before.

 

Here are the three ways I am attempting to mitigate this but would appreciate feedback:

 

1) Guard. I can hold my own when the enemy is attempting to zerg me when guard has been cast on me. However, no one in my guild who PVPs is a tank and those who are tanks in the matches often put guard on their friends, even if they don't need it.

 

2) Making love to columns, walls, and obstacles. I find that hiding behind objects and getting just enough LOS to heal has helped. However, the enemy now looks for me behind these, often--in fact very often--to the detriment of their game objectives.

 

3) Staying in groups. I make a concerted effort to never, ever be alone. However, just an hour ago a group of 5 picked me out of our group of 4 and killed me through chain stuns, pull back, etc. I have rakata, champion, and columi gear and had my shield on yet was down in 15 seconds. The enemy never even touched my teammates until I was down. In fact they lost one of theirs to my teammates while I was going down. They didn't even bother to defend themselves as they were killing me.

 

This is not a complaint. I understand that it's good strategy to go after healers. I would just like to hear how other Sage healers deal with being targeted endlessly. I would really like to see my healing numbers go back up.

[perato]

seems natural that as time goes on people are learning what they should be doing, i.e. focusing on you and bringing you down at all costs. also sounds like you have run into more than your fair share of decent pre-mades who are able to co-ordinate this strategy effectively.

 

your sample not withstanding, most WZ teams are still TERRIBLE at identifying and shutting down healers. i am constantly amazed at how on my scoundrel or sage i can stand there spam healing the dps/tank standing a few metres away while people's tunnel vision stops them from noticing, let alone trying to stop it.

 

i think dedicated healers are relatively few and far between in WZs and as a result the majority haven't really effectively learned how to deal with it, except in some instances like in your recent experiences.

Edited February 13, 2012 by perato

[Shiredragon]

I really don't know what else to add except for my experiences and expounding on the LoS strats.

 

My experience is from the killer of healers (currently PvP DPS spec) and from being focused because I am a Sage DPS. I find that in any GOOD PvP group, the leader will mark the enemy healers. This means you stand out like a sore thumb. Anyone who is not new to an MMORPG will sit there and go "Oh, kill THAT!" This is automatically problematic because it greatly reduces the value of standing in a group. Now you are a target for AoE and everyone knows where you are.

 

Another note from killing healers. Any Good PvPer will have Nameplates turned on. This means that anytime you cast a heal, you are announcing yourself to these people. If they can see you, they know who is healing.

 

My experience being focused as a DPS is that sometimes you just need to cut it all and run like a freaking chicken. Pull out all the stops. Force Slow, talented Weaken Mind Slow, Stun, Force Lift, Bubble, Knockback, etc etc etc. You will do 1 of three things.

1: They take a lot longer to kill you. This is a net gain for your team.

2: Your team wonders *** you are doing and starts killing the guys chasing you.

3: They get tired of chasing you can change targets. Then you go back to healing all the damage they do.

 

So. My advice to add. LoS is your friend and enemy. Learning to use it properly is key to a good PvP Healer (and DPS). As you stated. However, there is the 'pillar hump' maneuver. It was not explicitly stated in your post. This consists of abusing the LoS of a pillar or other object to constantly break LoS of the persons targeting you. Either buying you time to heal, or forcing them to move to try and re-engage you. I have successfully 'pillar humped' and kept 3 people busy allowing my team to have a 7 v 5 on the other door in Voidstar to end in a door cap. Don't forget to switch directions too. Starting, Stopping, and Changing direction are all part of a good Pillar Hump.

[Sylvan]

This might sound counter intuitive, but don't stand off to one side near a pillar or box. That just screams "I'M A HEALER".

 

Get into the action. You'll be obscured by so much fire and lightening people won't notice you healing, and because you aren't attacking anyone, you have a better chance of not getting attacked.

 

Yes, you might get hit by AOE's, but they are easy to avoid.

[Ruuprect]

This might sound counter intuitive, but don't stand off to one side near a pillar or box. That just screams "I'M A HEALER".

 

Get into the action. You'll be obscured by so much fire and lightening people won't notice you healing, and because you aren't attacking anyone, you have a better chance of not getting attacked.

 

Yes, you might get hit by AOE's, but they are easy to avoid.

 

This ^^^

 

is what I do and it works for a while until you get marked. Also if you can throw in a few dps attacks it makes it harder for them to distiguish you as a healer for a while.

 

I know dpsing isnt always possible but if you can it can help some.

[eldelphia]

Can you use the group icons to mark other players in PvP ?

 

I have the same issue exactly. You're probably a victim of your own success. As you become known as a career healer... people single you out. I took down my titles in PvP pre 50 and that helped a lot but at 50 its kinda irrelevant.

 

I've found that standing off to the side gets me killed more than standing right in the middle of a pack. The minute you cast an AOE heal or are spamming bubbles people zoom in on you.

 

I hit 50 in the last week or so so I'm really new to it but I've started to buy PVP gear and it's helping quite a bit. The warzone in which I have the hardest time is definitely the turrets because you can get soloed whilst running from location to location. During one fight I almost left because I was being hunted by a pack of 4 players, exclusively to stop me from helping my team. Unfortunately what they didn't seem to realise is that just left the rest of my team freer to to actually win the game...

 

So you can (and I have) run as decoy when things are really bad. Keeping them busy killing you is another way of helping to win.

 

Otherwise, don't be afraid to speak up during the intro stuff and ask people to guard you or to pair up with you. Eventually you find certain DPS and tanks tend to do it naturally because they know you'll keep em alive.

[Khadroth]

For the first 1.5 weeks after 1.1 life in 50s PVP was great. I and my other Sage healer friend did 500k+ in healing on a consistent basis. Now we are lucky to hit 350k because we have become the enemy's #1 target match after match.

 

The Republic still wins at least 80% of the games on my server, but I am being targeted like never before.

 

Here are the three ways I am attempting to mitigate this but would appreciate feedback:

 

1) Guard. I can hold my own when the enemy is attempting to zerg me when guard has been cast on me. However, no one in my guild who PVPs is a tank and those who are tanks in the matches often put guard on their friends, even if they don't need it.

 

2) Making love to columns, walls, and obstacles. I find that hiding behind objects and getting just enough LOS to heal has helped. However, the enemy now looks for me behind these, often--in fact very often--to the detriment of their game objectives.

 

3) Staying in groups. I make a concerted effort to never, ever be alone. However, just an hour ago a group of 5 picked me out of our group of 4 and killed me through chain stuns, pull back, etc. I have rakata, champion, and columi gear and had my shield on yet was down in 15 seconds. The enemy never even touched my teammates until I was down. In fact they lost one of theirs to my teammates while I was going down. They didn't even bother to defend themselves as they were killing me.

 

This is not a complaint. I understand that it's good strategy to go after healers. I would just like to hear how other Sage healers deal with being targeted endlessly. I would really like to see my healing numbers go back up.

 

You pretty much nailed it. There's no better advice to give someone in PvP other than LoS, lol.

[Elrathion]

One of the things that made the greatest difference for me is starting to use my benevolence. I use to think his heal was crap and inefficient, but the fact is you can't get a big one off in pvp. Knowing when to cast the small heals, instead of tunnelvision dps, will change the way you look at your class.

[Khadroth]

One of the things that made the greatest difference for me is starting to use my benevolence. I use to think his heal was crap and inefficient, but the fact is you can't get a big one off in pvp. Knowing when to cast the small heals, instead of tunnelvision dps, will change the way you look at your class.

 

Also helps to feint your heals. If you know they're going to interrupt you, cast one that you don't mind getting interrupted, then laugh as they burn their CD and start casting the one you really wanted to get off.

 

For me as a dps at least, I normally feint deliverance, and transition to benevolence. If they don't interrupt it or fail at it, I win anyways since I got off a huge heal.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Khadroth

[Ewgal]

For the first 1.5 weeks after 1.1 life in 50s PVP was great. I and my other Sage healer friend did 500k+ in healing on a consistent basis. Now we are lucky to hit 350k because we have become the enemy's #1 target match after match.

 

As your fame grows in PvP as a healer you will be targeted on a regular basis, goes with the turf. Either continue or just PvE and roll a new character for PvP.

 

The Republic still wins at least 80% of the games on my server, but I am being targeted like never before.

 

Here are the three ways I am attempting to mitigate this but would appreciate feedback:

 

1) Guard. I can hold my own when the enemy is attempting to zerg me when guard has been cast on me. However, no one in my guild who PVPs is a tank and those who are tanks in the matches often put guard on their friends, even if they don't need it.

 

That's the way it will go outside of pre-mades. Pre-mades are fun, but so are good PUGs in war zones.

 

2) Making love to columns, walls, and obstacles. I find that hiding behind objects and getting just enough LOS to heal has helped. However, the enemy now looks for me behind these, often--in fact very often--to the detriment of their game objectives.

 

LoS is the tactics of the seasoned healer sage.

 

3) Staying in groups. I make a concerted effort to never, ever be alone. However, just an hour ago a group of 5 picked me out of our group of 4 and killed me through chain stuns, pull back, etc. I have rakata, champion, and columi gear and had my shield on yet was down in 15 seconds. The enemy never even touched my teammates until I was down. In fact they lost one of theirs to my teammates while I was going down. They didn't even bother to defend themselves as they were killing me.

 

When you get to full champion it will be bait easier to survive.

 

This is not a complaint. I understand that it's good strategy to go after healers. I would just like to hear how other Sage healers deal with being targeted endlessly. I would really like to see my healing numbers go back up.

 

Can always re-spec a little for a more PvP healer spec and take some damage reduction and +heals received. That can help survivability a lot as a healing sage. These builds are still pretty viable for PvE too.

[KaosuKoden]

I'm relatively new to PvPing, and even newer to healing. I've always ran DPS on any other MMO i've ever played, and I find I actually enjoy this challenge of healing. I am spec'd 100% to healing, and some of the most helpful things i've found is:

 

1. Bring a group. Not a full party, but make sure you have at least a tank and DPS with you. Make friends and play with them. A tank will, as you stated, guard you, and a DPS will do the damage needed to hammer the opponents. I've found my most effective team was a DPS and another Sage spec'd half heal half dps.

 

2. RUN LIKE HELL! I've found that sticking in the middle of the group is the best way of avoiding being a target, but sometimes you simply gotta get the hell outta there. Someone else mentioned all the effective tools, and I find i use my lift and force slow and my force sprint to simply get away and find a quiet spot. Also if your persuer continues to chase you, you can keep the chase going and keep one of thier players busy long enough for your team to complete the objective. The other thing about this is obviously (but needs to be said) don't run away from your team... run toward a group of your own.

 

3. Communication is the key. I know it's hard when you're dealing with a pick up group, but we use our vent, and as long as we have at least a good team (see #1) we can usually not only win, but I can communicate with my team quickly and easily and usually either get away or get the help I need to bring down the person attacking me. Not only does this allow me to get back to healing, but I found that if an individual, or even a group, decides to single me out, they soon learn that it's not a good idea because my teamates react quicker than they can generally expect.

[neeman]

Can you use the group icons to mark other players in PvP ?

 

Yup. Little known but extremely useful (on my bar).

 

It's a social item named Targeter or something, available at the social items vendor.

[Shiredragon]

Yup. Little known but extremely useful (on my bar).

 

It's a social item named Targeter or something, available at the social items vendor.

 

Actually there is another more versatile method. The Ops Leader can mark opponents with up to 8 (I think) different symbols. Thus you can mark more than 1 healer per ops group.

[Primeh]

To the OP what kind of spec are you playing normally?

 

Im certainly recognised by some of the better imps as a good healer so come under alot of fire from them. Im specced full seer into salvation but I tend to play with friends 95% of the time, 1 of whom is a healer and another who can guard me, we are always on skype so i have help which prolonges my life. However when i dont have this luxury its sure as hell frustrating to the point i was considering speccing seer/tk to get force wake and kinetic collapse something like this

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GGMRbdodZf0rr0Mb.1

 

i think this could be a much more survivable pug healing spec than full seer but it will probably have regen issues

[Reiina]

You're lucky imo. I think BH/Trooper healers and IA/smuggler healers are a lot more obvious, you see them really quickly because of the green canon(though I met once a trooper healer that had not that on, took me a while to see he was actually healing), or the floating hots droids(and an operative/scoundrel not in a cover is most often than not a healer).

 

For sages, you just see another bubbled sage, it takes a while to identify compared to the other 2.

 

edit:

Forgot to add, if you do quite a bit of pvp, people will start to recognize you at once, I know a lot of the healers on rep's side(yes I'm an imp, *runs away*). This is one of the side effects of having single server pvp warzones(I personally like it, not sure I would if I was a healer).

Edited February 13, 2012 by Reiina

[Arrys]

2. RUN LIKE HELL! I've found that sticking in the middle of the group is the best way of avoiding being a target,

 

Click targetting in this game is epic fail, inside the group can be a very safe place as a result. Or inside that missile spammer or well you get the idea.

 

Isolated you are easy to click or tab target. Backside of the pack from the DPS rush works as well. Basically as many bodies between you and the threat as possible.

 

Yes it's abusing the targetting limitations of the game but how miserable do those limitations make you as a healer. There is no raid box to target the enemy after all.

[Shlamorel]

For the first 1.5 weeks after 1.1 life in 50s PVP was great. I and my other Sage healer friend did 500k+ in healing on a consistent basis. Now we are lucky to hit 350k because we have become the enemy's #1 target match after match.

 

The Republic still wins at least 80% of the games on my server, but I am being targeted like never before.

 

Here are the three ways I am attempting to mitigate this but would appreciate feedback:

 

1) Guard. I can hold my own when the enemy is attempting to zerg me when guard has been cast on me. However, no one in my guild who PVPs is a tank and those who are tanks in the matches often put guard on their friends, even if they don't need it.

 

2) Making love to columns, walls, and obstacles. I find that hiding behind objects and getting just enough LOS to heal has helped. However, the enemy now looks for me behind these, often--in fact very often--to the detriment of their game objectives.

 

3) Staying in groups. I make a concerted effort to never, ever be alone. However, just an hour ago a group of 5 picked me out of our group of 4 and killed me through chain stuns, pull back, etc. I have rakata, champion, and columi gear and had my shield on yet was down in 15 seconds. The enemy never even touched my teammates until I was down. In fact they lost one of theirs to my teammates while I was going down. They didn't even bother to defend themselves as they were killing me.

 

This is not a complaint. I understand that it's good strategy to go after healers. I would just like to hear how other Sage healers deal with being targeted endlessly. I would really like to see my healing numbers go back up.

 

I feel your pain buddy!

 

My most personal suggestion is to somehow, somewhere, make a tank pvp friend. If you don't have any in your guild (like you mentioned), keep your eyes peeled in warzones for a good tank and befriend him. Just like DPS have to have a healbot/good healer to take on more than one person in a lot of situations, a healer needs his protector too.

 

If you can find a tank PvPer to queue up for warzones with you (at least for the majority of queues) your PvP experience will become a lot better.

 

Otherwise, my only advice is to use Force Armor way before you actually need it, that way when a DPS busts it off of you you can pop it again immediately. Other things: make sure you are only using noble sacrifice when you have the free proc from healing trance (sorry, forget what it's called). This way you aren't having to train your health to use the ability.

 

You can also consider taking survivability/CC talents rather than raw healing talents. For example: 1) instant force lift 2) reduce cooldown on stun 3) make your knockbacks root the target for 5 seconds 4) when your shield breaks it incapacitates nearby targets (just to name a few).

 

Also, you could try buying and using prototype fortitude stims from the GTN - these last for about 2 hours and persist through death. These are good to pop for warzones if you feel like you're dying a lot, as the investment pays off in the amount your health increases.

 

Hope some of these suggestions helped.

[FourTwent]

For the first 1.5 weeks after 1.1 life in 50s PVP was great. I and my other Sage healer friend did 500k+ in healing on a consistent basis. Now we are lucky to hit 350k because we have become the enemy's #1 target match after match.

 

The Republic still wins at least 80% of the games on my server, but I am being targeted like never before.

 

Here are the three ways I am attempting to mitigate this but would appreciate feedback:

 

1) Guard. I can hold my own when the enemy is attempting to zerg me when guard has been cast on me. However, no one in my guild who PVPs is a tank and those who are tanks in the matches often put guard on their friends, even if they don't need it.

 

2) Making love to columns, walls, and obstacles. I find that hiding behind objects and getting just enough LOS to heal has helped. However, the enemy now looks for me behind these, often--in fact very often--to the detriment of their game objectives.

 

3) Staying in groups. I make a concerted effort to never, ever be alone. However, just an hour ago a group of 5 picked me out of our group of 4 and killed me through chain stuns, pull back, etc. I have rakata, champion, and columi gear and had my shield on yet was down in 15 seconds. The enemy never even touched my teammates until I was down. In fact they lost one of theirs to my teammates while I was going down. They didn't even bother to defend themselves as they were killing me.

 

This is not a complaint. I understand that it's good strategy to go after healers. I would just like to hear how other Sage healers deal with being targeted endlessly. I would really like to see my healing numbers go back up.

 

I have a DPS sage and they still like to gang up on me. I think the 1 light saber and light armor tends to make me a juicy target.

[Ervashi]

I have this issue as well. All I can say is, I'm secretly very satisfied when I can get 2 or 3 of them to chase me mindlessly, particularly in something like Huttball. For 60 or 90 or 120 seconds, I can give my team a 7v5 advantage. Silly Imps.

[Lugh]

 

Run like Hell.

[Mavnas]

This might sound counter intuitive, but don't stand off to one side near a pillar or box. That just screams "I'M A HEALER".

 

Get into the action. You'll be obscured by so much fire and lightening people won't notice you healing, and because you aren't attacking anyone, you have a better chance of not getting attacked.

 

Yes, you might get hit by AOE's, but they are easy to avoid.

 

I find that attacking someone, usually one of their healing sorcs is the best way to escape notice. I get picked on a lot less if I toss the occasional heal between TK throws than I do when i try to do nothing but heal. Bubbles and the insta HoT are great because they're not really traceable.

 

One of the things that made the greatest difference for me is starting to use my benevolence. I use to think his heal was crap and inefficient, but the fact is you can't get a big one off in pvp. Knowing when to cast the small heals, instead of tunnelvision dps, will change the way you look at your class.

 

With conveyance from the insta HoT you can push your big heal down to the same cast time. Then with a bit of alacrity (well, ok a lot), you can get a couple of them off in 1.3 secs each.