Well, This is Why!
Derevka over at Tales of a Priest decided to ask every healer one question: Why do YOU heal?.
The question is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting to see responses to. I have seen good healers and horrible healers, and most of the time the ones who do not do so well are healing because they feel forced to do so (for whatever the reason).
Before I go off on a tangential rant, let me get back to the focus of this post: why do I choose to heal?
- I’m good at it.
- I know I’m directly responsible for our success or failure, just like the tank(s). (And I’m not really a fan of tanking personally. DPS I don’t mind, but tanking I just don’t enjoy as much.)
- People tend to not notice just how much effort goes into healing. Maybe it is the “strong, silent type” kind of thing, but I don’t mind not being in a spotlight. Let the tank(s) get the glory, I know how hard it was to make it through the fight.
It really all comes down to the same answer from good healers (and I don’t mean people who manage to get the job done relatively easily, I mean GOOD healers… I’ll get to that in a moment though), and I couldn’t say it any better than Phaelia of Resto4Life in Derevka’s Post.
So, my question to you becomes something different: What makes a GOOD healer?
A good healer…
- … enjoys healing.
- … understands that sometimes you can’t save everyone.
- … is calm and collected under pressure, even if on the inside they’re screaming and wanting to run away and hide in a corner, tears streaming… and trembling, violently.
- … knows, at the end of the day, they’ve contributed to the success of the group. A GOOD healer knows they couldn’t have done anything more, but they still try to find ways to do so.
- … is a GOOD player (see here).
And now I pose the question to you: what, to you, makes a GOOD healer?
Oh! Oh! Oh! Me! Me! Me! /waves hand insanely!
I just did a post on Dav’s list of the bests.
http://heroesofthealliance.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/the-best/
What does Dav think is a great Healer?
A Good Healer: Anyone that can keep me alive through almost everything.
Almost. Meaning I’ll forgive deaths caused by mine own stupidity as well as things that are just ridiculous. I mean….you and I aren’t going to two-man Naxx….are we?…can we? Dude we so need to two man Naxx…
I haz Spirit Beast…With Healz I can do anything!!
Sorry bout that. I’m a hunter, I’ve got an ego.
–Davlin
Davlin-Hydraxis’s last blog post..A Letter to My Meat Shield
Well, if you were on Hellscream I’d certainly be willing to try two-manning Naxx. I mean, I have a lot of faith in my heals anyway, why not!?
(Commenter formerly known as “D” here)
A GOOD healer, to me, certainly fits the description you posted of what a GOOD player is, first and foremost. I also think a GOOD healer is knowledgeable about their spells, know which spells to use when, and mana efficient. (As in, not constantly overhealing and then running out of mana way too early in the fight.) I think a GOOD healer can keep the tank and most of the group (minus the DPS that stand in fires
) alive and well to finish the fight. But, I also think a GOOD healer knows when they may have difficulty healing through damage on a tank and can spot “bad” tanks/dps that are going to make healing nearly impossible to clear the place.
Although, what do I -really- know, as I have not played a healer very much. I’ve dabbled in some low level healing, and would like to have a high level healer.
Syrana’s last blog post..The Stroll to 80 – Level 78
Hey Byaghro, just thought I’d drop a line. Epic Dwarven Blogger is now at a new location, http://epicdwarvenblogger.wordpress.com if you could change your blogroll that’d be great. Thanks buddy.
Saw your post, loved the topic. My thoughts on the subject are at the link below!
Aertimus’s last blog post..Why We Do the Thing We Do
@Syrana
The interesting part about this question is that, regardless of whether one has played a particular class or role or not, or even maybe just a little, is that we all know what makes someone good at what they do in our minds (so, basically, what do you not know about what makes a good healer? =p )
@Aertimus
I was going to actually comment on that one, but Blogger always gives me an error when I try to do so. Very well written!
I’m so glad my post got people thinking! Great replies and nice post expanding on it! /cheers
-Derevka of Talesofapriest.com
Derevka’s last blog post..New and More 3.08 News
Ok, ok, you got me. So I know too much!
Syrana’s last blog post..X Marks the Spot
Not too long ago I ran a pug heroic Old Kingdom with a DK and a priest form the same guild. During that run I became much more familiar with what it’s like to run with a healer that isn’t even remotely good.
Essentially this particular healer let our tank (who was extremely well geared), die at least 4 times before we finally kicked them from the group. Each time the healer (and DK) kept making excuses for why she let the tank die. The best was the claim that she got aggro. Our tank was a paladin, doing roughly 2k DPS on the trash pulls. The chances that this under-geared priest could pull aggro off the tank is ludicrous, to say the least.
As I watched on the last of the pulls, I saw the priest essentially standing there doing NOTHING, while the tanks life ticked away. Now I’m not going to say you have to keep the tank near full health, but lets face it, if the tank is close to 50%, and doesn’t have any HoTs on them, then you need to either be casting a big heal, or start spamming quick heals… not standing around.
Frankly I’m at a loss to explain the actions of this particular priest. I do know that the mobs on this pull can silence casters… but if you know that, particularly because it’s happened before, then you need to be more proactive with healing: cast faster heals, more instant cast heals, or cast heals before they are needed. Whining that the tank isn’t holding aggro, when the tank is dead, just makes you look like a retard. If the tank didn’t have aggro, he wouldn’t have been taking enough damage to die in the first place. Tanks aren’t that easy to kill.
In any case, this was fortunately a rare exception. Most of the healers I’ve seen are more than competent… then again, that was also one of the few occasions I’ve run with a healer other than Byaghro. ^_^