Respect for Healers

[BlazeTomahawk]

I just leveled my first Agent (Medicine). Only to 50 for dvl event.

 

Holy Cow. I have much respect for people who do this as fun. Playing a healer class for me was a nightmare and I have totally new respect for anyone specializing in healing.

[ikinai]

No respect, I get no respect. An operations tank phoned me the other day and said... 'Come on over, there's nobody home.' I went over. Nobody was home. I tell ya, healers, we get no respect.

[lightSaberAddiCt]

Agent is a particularly challenging healer class I have found. I can heal good as a sorcerer. So when I played that class, I got a whole new respect for really good operative healers.

[KWONRYU]

No respect at all.

 

Let me tell you, not even my dog respects me.

 

We call him Egypt. Because in every room he leaves a pyramid.

[Ruskaeth]

Agent is a particularly challenging healer class I have found. I can heal good as a sorcerer. So when I played that class, I got a whole new respect for really good operative healers.

Only if people knew how to co-op as healers on operations for an example. Operatives can be amazing healers and even more if they have an understanding with their co-healers on operations. Regardless of time from 1.0 to 4.whatever.

[JattaGin]

Commando medic here. Not much respect, but often thinking about respec.

[SFDebris]

No respect, I get no respect. An operations tank phoned me the other day and said... 'Come on over, there's nobody home.' I went over. Nobody was home. I tell ya, healers, we get no respect.

 

I told my psychiatrist everyone hates me, he said I was crazy. Not everyone's had a chance to meet me yet.

[TUXs]

I just leveled my first Agent (Medicine). Only to 50 for dvl event.

 

Holy Cow. I have much respect for people who do this as fun. Playing a healer class for me was a nightmare and I have totally new respect for anyone specializing in healing.

I could not agree more. Tanking I get. DPSing I get. Healing? It takes a different mentality than I have. THANK YOU healers!!!

[Pirana]

I rarely get that experience now, although when I first started healing nearly ten years ago in mmos, I was a complete noob. I read/heard it all the time how I stunk it up. Even had people leave the group, because I couldn't keep their health bars near half, let alone full... And to be honest, I don't blame them for bailing. Then a guildy advised me on how to heal and keybind the group members that you could. Fast forward a week or two later and I would put my heals up against anyone.

 

I run mostly healers and tanks, and of course dps for fun. In regards to respect, it's always another persons fault why the group fails, but usually the healer is the person to look at first, when in reality, it's rarely their fault. Usually groups fail because the tank has aggro issues, or he/she shields the healer, first sign a tank doesn't understand threat/aggro. Or the dps pulls before the tank, breaking cc'd targets and of course killing strongest to weakest. The most common dps mistake you'll find in this game. If you know all this and understand the blame will almost always be put on you, the healer, your life will be a lot less stressful as long as you know your class and are good.

 

Regarding hardest to easiest healer, it's always subjective, but through my nearly five years in this game I find that:

 

Operative/Scoundrel requires the most work, simply due to the HOTs.

Commando/Merc somewhere in the middle.

Sage/Sorc still to this day, is the easiest of the healers to play.

[BenduKundalini]

There comes a time in a gamer's life when he or she needs to pass on the torch.

 

I'll be that guy today

 

 

[Loadsamonie]

Tanking is a pretty thankless job too. Often they get blamed for wipes even more than healers.

[StupidWiz]

Tanking is a pretty thankless job too. Often they get blamed for wipes even more than healers.

Yep.

 

Tanks and Healers are essential in a group yet they're the ones who usually get bullied first, even by themselves (Healer blames Tank, Tank blames healer). It's just sad, and in the end people will complain that the server is empty cause the queue is taking a terribly long time.

[Loadsamonie]

Yep.

 

Tanks and Healers are essential in a group yet they're the ones who usually get bullied first, even by themselves (Healer blames Tank, Tank blames healer). It's just sad, and in the end people will complain that the server is empty cause the queue is taking a terribly long time.

 

DPS wouldn't have to wait such long queue times if more of them rolled Tank or Healer.

[BenduKundalini]

DPS wouldn't have to wait such long queue times if more of them rolled Tank or Healer.

 

Absolutely

[Banegio]

No. Never DPS fault, ever!

 

It is universally accepted and politically correct to .....

 

Blame the healers, blame the tanks, blame EA, in that order.

 

Edited August 30, 2016 by Banegio

[MayhemofChaonus]

I rarely get that experience now, although when I first started healing nearly ten years ago in mmos, I was a complete noob. I read/heard it all the time how I stunk it up. Even had people leave the group, because I couldn't keep their health bars near half, let alone full... And to be honest, I don't blame them for bailing. Then a guildy advised me on how to heal and keybind the group members that you could. Fast forward a week or two later and I would put my heals up against anyone.

 

I run mostly healers and tanks, and of course dps for fun. In regards to respect, it's always another persons fault why the group fails, but usually the healer is the person to look at first, when in reality, it's rarely their fault. Usually groups fail because the tank has aggro issues, or he/she shields the healer, first sign a tank doesn't understand threat/aggro. Or the dps pulls before the tank, breaking cc'd targets and of course killing strongest to weakest. The most common dps mistake you'll find in this game. If you know all this and understand the blame will almost always be put on you, the healer, your life will be a lot less stressful as long as you know your class and are good.

 

Regarding hardest to easiest healer, it's always subjective, but through my nearly five years in this game I find that:

 

Operative/Scoundrel requires the most work, simply due to the HOTs.

Commando/Merc somewhere in the middle.

Sage/Sorc still to this day, is the easiest of the healers to play.

 

Please enlighten me! I've been guarding the healer and only the healer in Flashpoints (I don't do ops) for YEARS! What am I supposed to do with my guard to be a good tank?

[LyraineAlei]

Please enlighten me! I've been guarding the healer and only the healer in Flashpoints (I don't do ops) for YEARS! What am I supposed to do with my guard to be a good tank?

 

I'd like some advice on this as well for my own tanks.

 

I generally guard Healers first, but if they have another's guard on, I toss the guard onto Agent/Smuggler/Sorc/Sage since those guys can be more squishy (yeah yeah, Sorc/Sage can heal themselves and can be durable if the player knows how and soforth).

[Jagaimee]

Please enlighten me! I've been guarding the healer and only the healer in Flashpoints (I don't do ops) for YEARS! What am I supposed to do with my guard to be a good tank?

 

The way I understand it - I've read a bunch of contradictory statements about Guard and where to put it and this or that - is that you put Guard on the person with the highest threat output, other than yourself.

 

So if there's a DPS who's just slamming the boss with everything they've got, and you're finding it hard to keep holding aggro because they keep ripping it off of you, you put Guard on them. (*wearily raises hand* Protip to tanks: if somebody rips aggro off of you, and you can't get it back even though the DPS aggro-ripper is frantically backpedaling/using their threat drop/doing everything possible to get the boss away from nomming on their head...TAUNT, FOR HEAVENS' SAKES.) If your healer is phenomenal and makes all the bad guys attack him because hhhheeeeEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLZZZZZZZ, then you put Guard on them.

 

If you have a bunch of low-level players in a tactical flashpoint and you're the only higher-level there...um. I have no idea. If everybody's fantastic and the healer is healing like there's no tomorrow and both DPS are whaling on the boss, I have no idea.

 

Um. So there's the limits of my knowledge.... Help?

 

As for the topic of "Healers, we salute you" ...heck yeah. Healers, your job is really, REALLY hard. Sometimes you have unruly DPS/tanks that lose health just as quick as you heal them up because reasons. Sometimes (often?) you get blamed for wiping the group, even when it was absolutely NOT your fault. And yet there are still many, many dedicated healers, devoted to keeping us DPS and tanks alive during tough fights.

I salute you.

[Loadsamonie]

Please enlighten me! I've been guarding the healer and only the healer in Flashpoints (I don't do ops) for YEARS! What am I supposed to do with my guard to be a good tank?

 

Guard the person who is building the highest threat. USUALLY that's one of the DPS.

 

You don't use Guard for damage reduction; you use it for the threat reduction. Therefore the Healer probably never needs it. And if they do, Guardian Leap them for an immediate threat dump. Or Taunt.

 

If there's melee and ranged DPS in the group, priority should probably go to the melee DPS since they're in more danger of taking damage by virtue of their class.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Loadsamonie

[Mubrak]

Please enlighten me! I've been guarding the healer and only the healer in Flashpoints (I don't do ops) for YEARS! What am I supposed to do with my guard to be a good tank?

 

I'd say be flexible and decide according to the situation and the team.

 

Guard reduces incoming damage by 5% and reduces the threat generated by 25%. If someone is the only one generating threat on a mob, then they will keep aggro no matter what, the threat reduction will just make it easier to rip aggro off them without using a taunt, but the damage reduction will still be useful.

 

The healer will be the first to get on a new add's threat list, but they generate such a puny amount of threat, that it won't matter whether it was reduced by 25% or not, IF the tank or the dps react in time. When the healer has to start spam-healing himself and the tank, because everyone else is tunneling the boss, the 5% damage reduction come in handy, as by that point you may have to use a taunt to get the mobs off the healer, even with thread generation reduced to 75%.

 

A dps on the other hand generates a high amount of threat, even when reduced by 25% they may rip aggro just from doing their thing, and when the boss just has to turn around to pummel the squishy dps, healing them will be 5% easier if they have guard. So it really depends on how you judge your dps. A good dps may know when to hold back as to not rip boss aggro, an undergeared dps may have no chance to ever rip aggro from you, but both might be quick to pull a horde of adds that would go for the healer otherwise.

 

IMO the best approach is to start with either the healer or the strongest dps (especially if their gear is much better than yours) and then see what happens in the first few larger fights. When you constantly have to pull mobs off the healer then give guard to the healer, when a dps keeps ripping aggro off you or does stupid (aoe-pulling a group) or heroic (aoe-pulling a group that is on the healer) things then put guard on that dps.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Mubrak

[PetFish]

As a healer, I'd like to show my respect for tanks that guard not just me, but guard-swap to those who need it as well.

 

When it comes time for my MVP vote I always look for a high protection score first, then usually objectives, then heals.

 

But, yeah, when I get a tank that guards me it's pretty much gg.

[Deaconik]

Depends, commando healer can generate a HUGE amount of threat if the boss starts with AoE. All hail the mighty trauma probes Not a problem to have a number that takes the boss from tank. E.g. Trasher and tank is not jumping on her but wants the boss to come to him(the "I don't know how to walk with this boss yet we need to get on the upper floor" approach). Sage can get there too if the boost part is right at the start but that should be still threat lower than DPS(usually the same) so no problem at all, the problem is when a DPS sage is boosting(lesson learned on NiM Writhing Horror ) and the person knows what's doing.

 

In general healer should be guarded only when the boss generates a lot off AoE dmg and healers don't have the time to heal themselves(+ sages are squishy). E.g. Brontes - fingers phase(after the lightning phase). (and yes, I know this isn't AoE dmg per se but still, don't have the time to heal me when everyone else is screaming "MEDIC!", I bet they forget their IFAK at home again, damn it! )

 

As a healer, I'd like to show my respect for tanks that guard not just me, but guard-swap to those who need it as well.

 

When it comes time for my MVP vote I always look for a high protection score first, then usually objectives, then heals.

 

But, yeah, when I get a tank that guards me it's pretty much gg.

well in PvP the protection is significantly higher, there's a really good idea to start on healer and stay on healer as the healer is usually the #1 target in unranked. If the enemy is smart enough(usually ranked, arenas, premades) and switches targets tank is supposed to switch the guard, but in unranked WZ it's really good start as there is healer generating the most aggro :D

Edited August 30, 2016 by Deaconik
wz update

[Steefr]

For the tank asking who to guard; the dps with the best gear and/or whichever dps is playing the highest burst spec, like ap Pt's. At 65, if they do their opener properly, there's a high chance they'll rip aggro away from you unless you do a near perfect high threat rotation + taunts. Any adds going for healers dont need to be taunted, hitting them as a tank should be more then enough since they only went for the healer in that case because they were the ONLY ones generating threat.

 

Healers generate threat (tho a very small amount) on all bosses/adds in the fight, dps/tanks only on those they hit so that's why adds would go for the healers. Guarding the healers does nothing to prevent this since guard is only a threat reduction and in this secenario they would still be the only ones generating threat for those adds so the reduction is meaningless.

 

Guard can be made irrelevant just by doing a proper aggro rotation and using taunts but it can be useful for large add packs where it's harder to maintain aggro on every add in the pack. But yeah guard dps, guarding healers does nothing that can't be fixed by hitting the aggroed enemy.

[masterceil]

Why thank you : )

 

As someone that mains a healer (though I'm capable in all three roles), my respect goes to tanks that know how to grab and keep aggro, use their DCDs, and play mechanics as needed (e.g. dragging the sand boss in Czerka Core Meltdown to the lit up nodes with a quickness). Also, much respect to DPS that knows how to play their role (weakest -> strongest, peels for healers, and has a solid rotation for smashing bosses and making dps checks).

 

Sadly, the lack of both such players has me no longer queuing for HMFPs, and not even accepting a Tac FP pop if there is no healer, because I don't trust most groups to survive without one. But yeah, oodles of respect for the ones that could : )

[Storm-Cutter]

Commando medic here. Not much respect, but often thinking about respec.

 

If you think Mando healer is hard, try being a combat medic in PvP.