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And as a priest dont forget that if anyone is being a pain and pulling for a tank grip them back before the situation does get out of hand and the tank can asume control of the fights Or just troll people with life grip :) |
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I found out how to heal holy on this char because (Dare I say it) LFR, It was the only on demand 25man place I could go to see how it played out and well... while there are a lot of people backing you up (Other healers) it is almost impossible to die!
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In my opinion, there are two ways. The by far better one is to take a friend who knows the instances well with you. It doesn't matter that much what role that friend fulfills in the group. Tank is usually better, since it would mean your friend controlling the fights, but it isn't necessary. This way, you'll have someone with you who will be able to explain some finer points of the situation to you if need be, there will be someone you can be certain to not foul up constantly and in case everything goes wrong anyway, you are not starting with a blank group afterwards again. Also, from my own experience, when playing with friends, people tend to do better then when they play with complete strangers.
The other way is just to take it slow and gear up through obtaining justice points obtained in normal mode instances. That way you will get to outgear older heroics rather easily before even stepping into them, and the newest ones are quite easy, if done correctly. I wouldn't recommend this route, since it prevents you from gaining the "feel for instances", as silly as it sounds. In general - if you get into a group with horrible players and it goes downhill, don't feel bad about it. Random groups are like picking sweets from an opaque jar - you don't know what you get until you taste it, and then the sour taste from the evil sweet isn't your fault. As long as you don't intentionaly break the jar. |
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Edited by Tunng on 03/08/12 14:46 (BST)
My 2 cents on how to become better at healing: 1. Learn the fights. Even in 5mans (which should be rather forgiving if there aren't complete nimwits in your group that ninja-pull etc.) it helps a ton to know where you should stand, when you can expect damage, how to omit silence effects. It also helps you to realise when you should preload HoT's or shields on people, or when you can begin precasting AOE heals. (For example, in the Warmaster Blackhorn fight, everybody has to stack to soak ALOT of damage. I always have a Healing Rain running on the stackpoint before it hits, and usually have a Chain Heal finishing it's cast time a split second after it hits.)
2. Learn your class. This might be more important than #1, but you'll have some basic knowledge of this anyway from leveling. Read guides. Noxxic.com can help get you on your way, but it's not very in-depth. (for my class, there's some stuff that I don't really agree with) So read elitistjerks.com (the amount of information can be a bit daunting), or icy-veins.com, if you wanna go the extra mile. Now I don't really know how flexible Holy Priests are, but you should probably NOT try to follow these guides for the full 100%. Situations/fights differ, people differ. You might not be as comfortable spreading HoTs around, or you might struggle keeping track of buffs/debuffs (addons can help there). Or if you're experiencing higher latency, you might have to resort to fast heals more often. Regardless, it's still very helpful to read them and better understand your class.
Oh yes, this. Definitely. Grouping with people you know will also ensure that they will be more patient with you, as they know you're practicing instead of farming valors. IDEALLY, you would have a tank you know, and a holy priest in his shadow offspec, and you'd be communicating through ventrilo/mumble/teamspeak. |
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I recognize myself soo much when I started my resto shaman.. Was fun in the beginning but as soon as I hit the Cataclysm heroics (Stonecore HC, etc) it just wouldn't work. I'm so afraid of healing HoT on it as well. Can do LFR because I can depend a bit more on the other healers but I tend to avoid that as well.
Then I tried a holy priest and everything just went so much better. Perhaps you should try another healing class if you are insecure of the priest? Otherwise the other advice are really nice as well, been helping me a lot too :) |
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Brie, i've played a holy priest since the time i started playing at the end of TBC, it's always been my main from day 1. I can assure you every healer i've spoken to including myself have felt this way at the start of playing, heck i still get incredibly nervous when a boss gets down below 10% in raids now. As others have said in the thread its down to experience.
I'd suggest letting the tank in your 5 man know your a 'new' healer, most are quite understanding. then when your gear rises go into LFR where there is no pressure. This is the precise point of LFR which alot of people don't understand. even if you dont get the loot drops you are learning your trade which is good for everyone involved in your group. Also maybe join a casual fun guild with ventrilo where you can take a look at normal modes in your own time with no pressure of going for realm firsts. Trust me, this is how we all started healing and if people tell you they jumped straight into a world top 200 guild as a new healer they are either lying or they have played the game for many many many years. Elitist jerks healing compendium is a great read, maybe a little outdated now but the fundamentals are still there- http://elitistjerks.com/f77/t110245-cataclysm_holy_priest_compendium/ my last bit of advice, and this is the most important is- DON'T WORRY :D i've been in full biS gear and accidently let a tank die whilst eating food or something. players dying is inevitable, try and relish the thrill of keeping them alive than dreading it. if you embrace the tension rather than let it take you over, you'll learn to LOVE PvE :p |
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<- Even the best healers does mistake aswell. It's a game afterall. :)
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I would also suggest installing the addon Death Note, it's slightly intimidating when you first use it, but in a nutshell it gives a list of death, and shows the ~30 seconds leading up to that death. This includes cooldown usage, other general buffs, damage intake and healing intake. I would suggest running a dungeon, and looking at Death Note after the dungeon is done (or the group has disintegrated, whichever comes first).
It gives you a chance to evaluate your own performance, check if the deaths were you fault or the person stood in the fire, got one-hit-killed or whatever. 30 seconds before the death is usually time enough to do a proper evaluation. However, I've said it before and will say it again, it can easily be intimidating to get used to, but when you do it is VERY useful. |
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I use to have the same feelings when I started tanking, I never wanted to tank but I disliked the queue time for dungeons even more.
When I started tankin it felt really stressful, I got called all sorts, but I also came across a few decent players who were patient and helpful. My advice to you is similar to what's been posted already - check youtube for videos on fights you're not sure of, cross reference with the dungeon journal ingame. it also helps to make sure your gear is gemed and enchanted correctly, for advice on this try noxxic. Noxxic isn't perfect but the format the information is presented is easy to digest. And if you do find yourself in a group with a moron, don't forget you can ignore players by right clicking on their name, a bit extreme but it helps minimize any undue stress. Remember this is a game and games are meant to be fun. |
I'm so gonna use that in LFR/LFD as a kick reason if someone doesn't behave. Reason for kick: "Not-so-fashionable transmog set". Thanks! |
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Its already a good that healing since from a beginning and not turn to dps. You get basic you get known a situation if have looked around at a sametime and learn about your tanks.
Yes just take a chance on them and accept that mistakes can happen and not all are your fault if party wipes. '' you cannot heal stupidy ''. So far what i have healing i have seen only very few tanks, even dps´s who full will they duties as perfectly as they asking from a healers to be perfects. Always. If a healer is under attacked not many take them of from you as they job is if not a tank is dps job to do it. Yes they job is not just stand still and click talents. spells cannot be cast while running, except instant. I have got negative and positive comments at my way mostly a tank whining because they dont know how to read if i have written something like. (wait i am taking a quests) '' or they already crying if life bar is in a half while shield it '' healer what are you doing ??? Even some dps´s have told me what are you doing ? when they own stupidy have taken them to a half ''ranged'' mostly shield them because i know soon mending jumps around and heal it enough. Smart tanks dont charge in a middle of everything to put a healer in a place where your healing can aggro a mobs around, but also they should know if they do that it is possible and if he/she have done so its his job even a healer can pull ''wich is kind of funny happened in a blackrock spire once in a place where is that first ogre boss. tank charge on those two ogres wich was on a small bridge, and some orcs was far in a right. I shield him and put renew (holy spec) mostly where enough to this way nowadays. My renew aggroed orcs from far away from bottom of a stairway (even those orcs wich was on our right was closer then them. Did notice i was red mark around my portrait was wondering first who is attacking me, took a short while until noticed a orcs running from behind a walls. I got blame from a tank aggro because i have to heal him in that position.(or i just should have let him to die and get blame also) (never happened that kind of before in there even i did run a few times at those places) Most frustrating is when you have Aoe heal, if can be fatal or not but sometimes you dont have a time to single target heal them in a order. ''main priority is a tank'' wich determites a healers time to focus others if they have pulled, stand on a fires or so just saying to themselves '' he heals if his job my job is just stand still and dps '' What i wanna say on this, i accept when its totally my fault but also looking. A team running around like they would do all themselves. (still see so much that dps does a first strikes even a tank just finished another monsters.) This is a small thing in a most fights but sometimes very important. Where you fight, if a tank and dps have decide to stand just up on a stairs that means you need to get really close because objects etc can do that '' you cannot see that target '' and healing cannot be done. ( if a healer does need to run all around because of it, it means also healings cannot be done because of it. ) |
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Well games and gamers have changed a lot over the years, when i started playing everquest back in 2001 the community was very different, if you where bad and rude you got chased of the servers cause you had a rep that people knew about, and well grinding xp in some zone and people died thanks to lack of heals people laughed at it even though dying means loosing xp and back then ressurect from a cleric did not give much xp back at lower levels.
I feel the same anxiety when i play but partly because i play all classes so there is no way for me to know all the ins and outs of every class and well it is a game not a damn job but many people in wow are rude beyond belief and rather piss on you then give some friendly tips. Being called a noob by some random lvl 60 for i failed to kill a lvl 85 war with my 85 spriest is a typical example, my priest has crafted pvp set for some 2200 res and iLvl 368 Vs a war with 4600res and iLvl 402, gear difference alone is huge and my skill is bad i know but still get pissed when called a noob without any kind of tips how to improve. Hmm do i sound bitter? guess i am but :) |
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Edited by Nuvielle on 06/08/12 20:51 (BST)
In the introductory 500something post thread thread there were several who did actually. Many of them mispelt it or hypercorrected it. Generally the native English speakers -didn't seem- to have any trouble with it, less than the French, Dutch, German, Spanish or Scandinavian native speakers who had a tendency to cut the word into either trans (more common in the Spanish native speakers), mogg/mog, or transmog/transmogg. Jah, I do interesting stuff^^ |
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Blue-post is right here.
If you screw up, so be it. What does it matter if people rage or w/e? They should probably get less tense, and it's not your problem that they overvalue the seriousness of the game. The healers usually get the blame. Even if they don't deserve it. The important thing is that you have a mindset that allows you to look back and figure out if you could have done things differently. If you should have prioritized healing someone else, or if you should have used a different spell. Maybe you could have saved some mana or a CD somewhere. Doing that will make you improve rapidly. Also, unless you're doing a 5 man dungeon, you will have healers with you. Just don't worry about it :) |
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Edited by Lessiel on 07/08/12 09:54 (BST)
If it hasn't already been mentioned:
Do you have a tank friend? A tank you trust? Who may be a bit well geared? Get this friend to go with you. If he's a good tank he can help you out with cooldowns if you mess up. Maybe you can go on skype or ventrilo so you can talk together during the dungeon. AND this guy would have your back if you messed up, or if someone started blaming you. In addition I always thinks it's more fun to play with a friend. For example, I've always hated pvp, always been SO bad at it, but when I go in with friends it magically transforms into happy fun laugh time. And now, with the cross realm invite function, you can invite real-id friends and queue together. With MoP you can exchange battletags through the forums (if you're uncomfortable with exchanging real-id with forum-trolls ;) and ask us to queue with you (I'd be happy to tank for you). PS: the bring-a-friend tactic works with a dps friend too.
... That explains all those wipes our guild had on Heroic Spine now doesn't it! (that time I turned around to tell my mother "in a moment mum!" - and that time I was texting my friend back - and when I was surfing the internet between wipes and woops there we pulled...) |
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Edited by Selené on 08/08/12 17:42 (BST)
Hi there.
I am in an european server. And as a matter of fact in a french one. I realize that the healer community here is wise and helpful. As i am concerned i am a new player in WOW ( i began 3 weeks ago). I mastered healing in everquest 1 and 2 before. Leveling with my dear druid, i chose the Balance tree in order to be more efficient in PVE. But as Brie said : " i was stressed " and my first experience in as a restoration druid healer was terrible. In a random dungeon in a 5 group, i was unable to heal at my level. I have always played healers. Every players that dies is a heart break... And that first experience was terrible... DPS not assisting tank ... pull with plenty of adds and so one... They made them understand that it was my fault and finaly, i decided to leave... For a first experience as a healer i am very disappointed. You give such good advices in that post. Thanks. Blessings Sorry if my english is rusty |
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Edited by Nuvielle on 08/08/12 21:28 (BST)
Welcome Selené :) How nice to see players from other forums. Don't worry about the English, my French is much worse.
You met idiots. I still remember my first idiots (levelling in Zul Farrak!), so expect the experience to be stuck for awhile. But don't give up! There are nice players out there, and resto druid is very much fun :) In a random dungeon in a 5 group, i was unable to heal at my level. I have always played healers. Every players that dies is a heart break... It's nice to be the actual saver and really feel the exhilirating thrill of sm-rejuving up a player on 5% hp, but you just have to let that feeling of failure if a player dies go, or you'll go crazy ^^. Especially in the group setting you met. Thumb of rule: if it's your fault, apologize. If it's not, don't let them get to you. Worst case scenario (like you did) you leave. Sometimes it's not worth it. Worry about yourself and the tank, heal aoe damage, and remember that it's not a disaster to prioritize groupmembers to avoid a wipe. When you get rebirth, if a dps goes down due to their own overaggro or standing in flames etc, just let them die. We can can punish them by letting them die and give them extra repair costs without hindering the group too much, hehe. I've sometimes given a warning for idiocy, then given them a rejuv and when they die I just ress them. If they then continue their flameloving/void zone-hugging/overaggroing I let them die again. They usually get the point after a third rebirth, if not first, when they see that I actually will not give them more than a rejuv. Good luck in your next group :) |
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when you master your healing, it will be awesome! Dont be afraid to start, everyone has been there.
good luck :) |
