Expectations as a Healer
To this day it is still amazing that so few people understand courtesy and etiquette when dealing with others. What I find even more disturbing, though, is that many people do not understand how to fulfill their function in a group. In no particular order, and with quite a bit of repetition from my previous etiquette post, here we go:
- I know my job in a group. I expect you to know yours. I have no reason to yell out “In need more DPS on (x) now!” and I fully expect you not to yell out “I need healing!”
- Unless you are the tank you should not have aggro. If you do more than likely you will die. Even with the proliferation of AoE tanking and DPS, and the ease of heroics in Wrath, I still expect you to control your threat.
- I expect you to move out of something causing massive damage to you. If you’re standing in that big, black circle of death, or deciding to relax in a cloud of poisonous gas, I’m going to let you die. It may take a lot longer to finish the fight, and we may even wipe as a result, but it’s better than me running out of mana trying to keep you alive for being stupid.
- If I die then everyone who dies runs back unless there is another person in the party who can resurrect us all.
- If you’re an ass, or you act like a jerk in any way, you will die. Either be courteous or shut up.
- I’ll heal and resurrect pets as much as I can. I actually like to keep everything alive or I wouldn’t be playing a healer. However, pets will be the first sacrificed every time. Get used to it. I also expect you to make sure your pet isn’t pulling aggro or standing in a puddle of death. If it is I’m not wasting the mana to heal.
- I watch what goes on around me. Sometimes I have no choice but to stand and take hits in order to keep someone alive. I expect you, as a tank, to be aware of mobs going after me. I’ll try to bring them to you, but you should be prepared to come to me if necessary.
- I also expect you, as a tank, to hold aggro. I’ll try to time heals where I won’t pull threat if I can, but I don’t get the same luxury the DPS does with being able to really hold back. If I stop generating threat, more than likely, someone dies.
- I realize your class has the ability to tank. Unless you are specifically in a group as the tank, and read this very carefully, you can not tank. The same rules apply to you as everyone else, do not pull aggro unless told to do so.
- When someone does something well it will not kill you to pay them a compliment.
- Respect. Learn the definition. Apply it.
- Be prepared to demonstrate anything that you claim works, or to “put your money where your mouth is.” One of the few things I cannot stand is someone who repeats opinions or things they have heard as the only way to do something, or as fact, without any knowledge of the issue.
I know there are more, but these are the main ones that have annoyed me as of late. Seriously, are we getting an influx of morons all of a sudden, or am I just finally encountering those people everyone talks about? (Rhetorical question by the way.)
/applaud
Darn tootin’ ! Everywhere I go, I find the words I say the most are “Know your class” and so many out there don’t seem to.
I also am commenting to ask your opinion. When I run a raid or instance (hunter) I put myself right next to the healer, so that if something comes running at them I can yank aggro and then misdirect it back to tank. At the same time, my being next to the healer means that if I am forced to feign, or if i die, my lost aggro will most likely be taken by the closest threat, the healz. My opinion is that standing next to the healer is the safest bet, if anything is around me long enough to kill me then the healer would have been screwed anyways. As a healer, what do you think?
Just hoping to stir up discussion really. Loved the post.
–Dav
Davlin-Hydraxis’s last blog post..Happy New Year!
Good post. No matter your role, you should know it. Have I “oops’ed” and pulled some aggro while DPSing? Yes, but I don’t expect anyone to save me. (My main is an aff ‘lock) Heal me if you can, when you can, if I’m losing life for something beyond my control.. as in I didn’t pull threat, boss AOE damage that I can’t escape, whatever. I watch my own hp and will use pots/hs as needed… and sometimes receive a heal just as I use one. When I play my hunter, I don’t expect the healer to heal my pet or revive my pet – that’s my job, in my opinion. One thing I do find frustrating sometimes is when I see heals are needed on the tank, but the healer is dpsing… and it’s not necessary (as in they aren’t being attacked or dps is not lacking). I don’t want to say it’s that there is a huge influx of idiots/ignorance that was never there before, but perhaps you are just encountering more of this than before? Or maybe it’s related to more people returning to the game after a long absence and have, somehow, forgotten their roles?
@Davlin
I’ve found it beneficial to have a hunter near me most of the time, though I’m also guilty of getting in melee range with the tank depending on the fight. Every group will find something that works best for them, and should be encouraged to do so. You never know when someone will come up with a creative way to handle that type of situation.
We employ a few methods:
1) I stand in one of our Paladins’ Consecrations and/or our Death Knight’s Death & Decay (or Pestilence, or both… whatever it is those guys do).
2) I stand in melee range so our tanks can grab them quick (note this is not, by any means, an ideal method. It can get very confusing very quickly having so many people in melee).
3) (Preferred method 1) A Hunter, Lock, or Mage stands near, ready to use some form of CC (obviously dependent upon type of being) or, with the Hunter, a combination of CC and a Misdirect if necessary.
4) (Preferred method 2) Our Death Knight watches and uses that “Come Over Here!” move (Death Coil I think… or Death Grip… or Death something or other).
Another benefit for me is Shadowmeld. If things get bad and I need to try to get rid of aggro it is a very effective life saver. I try to use this as a last resort though, primarily as an attempt to avoid a complete wipe.
@D
We should definitely remind people that potions and bandages are there for a reason. I forgot about that one, though I know I’ve ranted about it before.
I know my damage output is pathetic as a healer. That’s why I heal and the rest of the group worries about killing whatever is in our way. Can it be done and make a difference? Sure. Should it be done? No. Never.
As far as I am concerned, if a healer is having to do damage for the group to succeed then the DPS is not doing their job correctly. It may be through no fault of theirs and simply a bad group composition. It happens. The answer is to replace one DPS’er with another, more qualified DPS’er.
(I know you weren’t debating, but that inspired a quick rant!)
We all make mistakes at some point (that gives me an idea for a blog post… ), but there is a noticeable difference between those who try to pay attention and those who don’t. That’s more what annoys me than anything.
It’s certainly possible you’ve ranted about pots and bandages before, but I’m a fairly new reader.
But certainly DPS needs to try and take care of themselves health-wise as much as possible since the healer’s main focus needs to be (and should be) the tank.
I definitely agree that if DPS is not where it needs to be, something needs to be changed with DPS. With the healer I had in mind when I said that bit, our DPS and tank were doing well, but I think he was missing his DPS toon a bit much and had some unnecessary scary close calls on healing the tank. Another time I’ve seen the healer start DPSing because I think they were bored since things were going pretty smooth and the tank didn’t need much topping off. (The tank was several levels higher than the rest of us, lending a hand with the run.)
And I totally hear you on your last point in the comment above. *nodnod* (Hmm, maybe I should spend less time commenting and more time blogging myself….
)
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I’ve been in situations where the healing was easily done and so I did some damage as well, but I think that is an entirely different situation anyway.
One of the things I find disheartening at times is that people don’t do what is necessary when a group just isn’t working. It doesn’t do anyone any good to continue to bang their heads against the wall trying to down something instead of figuring out what the issue is and fixing it (like replacing subpar dps, or a bad healer).
I’m bad about not commenting on other blogs, so I don’t mind you continuing to comment here for the conversation. One of these days I’ll actually start contributing on other blogs too… maybe…
Amen. Good show
I particularly like the “If you’re an ass, or you act like a jerk in any way, you will die. Either be courteous or shut up.” I can not tell how many times that situation has come up (in PUGs), and it is funny to see the reaction after they realise they haven’t been healed because they are a total asshat.
Cheers.
-V
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