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Mini(?)-Rant 3 (Healers)
15 years ago
General
God it took me long enough to actually man up and do this. NOTE: This is not meant to incite anyone into anger. While I love offending people as a pastime, this is simply a journal of me pointing out the things I've noticed as a healer in many different games now. If you feel guilty of anything written in here, well... YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON.
Before I start, here's the short version for those who don't like reading miles of writing:
"tl;dr: Healers aren't at fault for most of what you bitch about. Look around, if there's any reason they might not have gotten to you, this includes your own stupidity, suck it up and bite your tongue. If not, then feel free to be the smug jerk you were. "
Now then, how to begin. In most, not all, but most games the healer is the most stressful job. You have to look after your own life bar (something I honestly forget about quite often), along with the life bars of between 1 and 7 (possibly more in end game content) other people, who are all running around in and out of your range.
Now, you may be saying to yourself: But if you have a good tank, you only need to look after one person! To this I'd say simply, "Splash damage". Many mobs, not including bosses, have AoEs of some form. Even with the best tank in the world, there is nearly no avoiding other people in the group getting hit. If you happen to be the only healer, and the group is spread out, this problem is only compounded.
And endgame content, this is compounded further, as you now have to look after up to 5 times the people. There's nothing like going into an endgame dungeon with 5 healers, having 3 on the 2 tanks and the other two taking care of the other 23 people, including those other healers. If you ever wonder why someone stops being a healer, it's because they can't deal with this level of multitasking. Or in my experience, I've actually had a fellow healer completely snap under the stress they gained in a 'raid' over a normal group dungeon.
In addition, before you're looking after other people, in most games a healer is often slow to level, especially if they're like me and prefer soloing. If you group, you're going faster, but you're also dragging someone behind as payment for it. In many games this is still a viable option. You'll level with something that's heavy DPS, you pay them by keeping them alive for as long as you can, and they pay you by giving you experience. Win-win. Yay.
On the other hand, you could pay for a 'leveling service'. I don't mean pay someone to play your account and grind your levels, I mean pay someone to rush you through things for quick exp. This is faster, in most cases, and you don't drag anyone down. You do, however, lose a lot of currency paying these people. Even more if they have the stipulation of 'I get all the loot'.
Now that most of the downsides have been looked at, let's see some perks: You're the most valuable role in the group. This is mostly true. You can say a tank is most important, or that they're on equal footing. I'll give you equal footing. At no time would a tank be more important to a group than a healer unless it's an endgame dungeon, and even then, you'll still need more healers than tanks. So if you're a competent healer, you're all set.
Note my wording there: competent healer. There are tons of healers out there who are there because their friends made them, or their guild wanted them to, and they honestly could care less about playing them right. These are the people who give healers a bad name. I won't say that every healer doesn't have quirks. I, for example, as I said above, forget about my own HP. I'll die faster than paper out in the rain while a hurricane is coming. At the same time though, I will be the only one dead. A healer without a slight quirk is a robot and shouldn't be trusted. (Though, that means the best healers in the world are soulless machinations...)
Now, as for what I had originally written this to talk about. When I was playing World of Warcraft during Burning Crusade, my guild had a saying. "If a tank dies, it's the healer's fault. If a healer dies, it's the tank's fault. If a DPS dies, it's their own damn fault." In that instance, for that time frame, it was very true. Then again, during this time frame the way to keep DPS alive was to yell "GET OUT OF THE FUCKING FIRE!!!" So your mileage may vary.
These days it's more complex, but you can still simplify it back to that point. You have to make certain concessions. If a tank isn't tanking, and a DPS dies, it IS the tanks fault. Really, the only time a death outside of a tank's is a healer's fault is if there is no tank, with one exception. I'll touch on that in a bit.
I've had rogues and other squishy characters pull crap off of me when a tank wasn't doing their job. I also felt remorse when they finally died after 5 minutes of healing spam. I know there's nothing more I could have done, doesn't change the fact.
Now, the only time it really is a healer's fault outside of a non-tank is when there is heavy group damage. It could be something as simple as the healer is undergeared. It could be as complex as trying to weave heals through waves of silence/stun. But in these instances it is the healer's job to keep people up. However, there is one major exception to this.
Before a battle, everything should be arranged. This means that you know exactly where the healers are gonna be. If you run off into a corner away from all the healers, then it's your damn fault you died. Generally, your setup will keep you near two healers. This gives you some leeway.
To emphasize this, there's a boss in a recent dungeon I was in who yells something and then spins around, moving rapidly through a room. When I was fighting this boss, I could easily stand in one place and not take a huge brunt of the damage, but it sent everyone else into a flying panic. I was spamming heals on everyone I could, and then someone, who had run all the way across the room, called me out for not healing them. I got a bad rap for it, even though I was doing everything in my power. Even if I had gone into a panic, odds are I still would've been too far to heal him.
Even more recently, I've been playing a game where you choose a separate character at the beginning of the game. I have actually had people quit in the selection screen when they see my best champion, because of so many bad players. Alternately, when they all chose fighting characters, they bitched about me being the healer I was, saying I'd be useless. About 20 minutes later when the bout ended, they were praising me.
The moral of all of this: Be kind to your healers, and don't look a gift heal in the mouth. Or I'll take my mace/staff/dagger and stab you with it. Repeatedly. I don't need your shit on top of the stress of keeping your ass alive.
HAPPY READING
-Grey
Before I start, here's the short version for those who don't like reading miles of writing:
"tl;dr: Healers aren't at fault for most of what you bitch about. Look around, if there's any reason they might not have gotten to you, this includes your own stupidity, suck it up and bite your tongue. If not, then feel free to be the smug jerk you were. "
Now then, how to begin. In most, not all, but most games the healer is the most stressful job. You have to look after your own life bar (something I honestly forget about quite often), along with the life bars of between 1 and 7 (possibly more in end game content) other people, who are all running around in and out of your range.
Now, you may be saying to yourself: But if you have a good tank, you only need to look after one person! To this I'd say simply, "Splash damage". Many mobs, not including bosses, have AoEs of some form. Even with the best tank in the world, there is nearly no avoiding other people in the group getting hit. If you happen to be the only healer, and the group is spread out, this problem is only compounded.
And endgame content, this is compounded further, as you now have to look after up to 5 times the people. There's nothing like going into an endgame dungeon with 5 healers, having 3 on the 2 tanks and the other two taking care of the other 23 people, including those other healers. If you ever wonder why someone stops being a healer, it's because they can't deal with this level of multitasking. Or in my experience, I've actually had a fellow healer completely snap under the stress they gained in a 'raid' over a normal group dungeon.
In addition, before you're looking after other people, in most games a healer is often slow to level, especially if they're like me and prefer soloing. If you group, you're going faster, but you're also dragging someone behind as payment for it. In many games this is still a viable option. You'll level with something that's heavy DPS, you pay them by keeping them alive for as long as you can, and they pay you by giving you experience. Win-win. Yay.
On the other hand, you could pay for a 'leveling service'. I don't mean pay someone to play your account and grind your levels, I mean pay someone to rush you through things for quick exp. This is faster, in most cases, and you don't drag anyone down. You do, however, lose a lot of currency paying these people. Even more if they have the stipulation of 'I get all the loot'.
Now that most of the downsides have been looked at, let's see some perks: You're the most valuable role in the group. This is mostly true. You can say a tank is most important, or that they're on equal footing. I'll give you equal footing. At no time would a tank be more important to a group than a healer unless it's an endgame dungeon, and even then, you'll still need more healers than tanks. So if you're a competent healer, you're all set.
Note my wording there: competent healer. There are tons of healers out there who are there because their friends made them, or their guild wanted them to, and they honestly could care less about playing them right. These are the people who give healers a bad name. I won't say that every healer doesn't have quirks. I, for example, as I said above, forget about my own HP. I'll die faster than paper out in the rain while a hurricane is coming. At the same time though, I will be the only one dead. A healer without a slight quirk is a robot and shouldn't be trusted. (Though, that means the best healers in the world are soulless machinations...)
Now, as for what I had originally written this to talk about. When I was playing World of Warcraft during Burning Crusade, my guild had a saying. "If a tank dies, it's the healer's fault. If a healer dies, it's the tank's fault. If a DPS dies, it's their own damn fault." In that instance, for that time frame, it was very true. Then again, during this time frame the way to keep DPS alive was to yell "GET OUT OF THE FUCKING FIRE!!!" So your mileage may vary.
These days it's more complex, but you can still simplify it back to that point. You have to make certain concessions. If a tank isn't tanking, and a DPS dies, it IS the tanks fault. Really, the only time a death outside of a tank's is a healer's fault is if there is no tank, with one exception. I'll touch on that in a bit.
I've had rogues and other squishy characters pull crap off of me when a tank wasn't doing their job. I also felt remorse when they finally died after 5 minutes of healing spam. I know there's nothing more I could have done, doesn't change the fact.
Now, the only time it really is a healer's fault outside of a non-tank is when there is heavy group damage. It could be something as simple as the healer is undergeared. It could be as complex as trying to weave heals through waves of silence/stun. But in these instances it is the healer's job to keep people up. However, there is one major exception to this.
Before a battle, everything should be arranged. This means that you know exactly where the healers are gonna be. If you run off into a corner away from all the healers, then it's your damn fault you died. Generally, your setup will keep you near two healers. This gives you some leeway.
To emphasize this, there's a boss in a recent dungeon I was in who yells something and then spins around, moving rapidly through a room. When I was fighting this boss, I could easily stand in one place and not take a huge brunt of the damage, but it sent everyone else into a flying panic. I was spamming heals on everyone I could, and then someone, who had run all the way across the room, called me out for not healing them. I got a bad rap for it, even though I was doing everything in my power. Even if I had gone into a panic, odds are I still would've been too far to heal him.
Even more recently, I've been playing a game where you choose a separate character at the beginning of the game. I have actually had people quit in the selection screen when they see my best champion, because of so many bad players. Alternately, when they all chose fighting characters, they bitched about me being the healer I was, saying I'd be useless. About 20 minutes later when the bout ended, they were praising me.
The moral of all of this: Be kind to your healers, and don't look a gift heal in the mouth. Or I'll take my mace/staff/dagger and stab you with it. Repeatedly. I don't need your shit on top of the stress of keeping your ass alive.
HAPPY READING
-Grey
