Re-activating your WoW account, or interested in "Trying Before You Buy"?WoW Healing Tips: When To Let Them Die
Heal Timing Is Critical With Adds
However, as a Healer, one soon learns that sacrifices need to be made, because mana is not infinite, nor are our heals all instant-cast with huge instant hits.
And sometimes as a reward for our Healing, we actually get group-attacked by monsters if things aren't going right!
Letting Them Die In Dungeon vs Raids
In this particular instance, there is absolutely no difference between Dungeon Healing and Raid Healing when it comes to deciding who to let die and who to focus on making sure lives.
Someone I know has a forum signature which is an awesome rule of thumb for a Healer, even though it doesn't go into great detail nor does it cover all healing scenarios:
If the Tank dies, it's the Healer's fault. If the Healer dies, it's the Tank's fault. If the DPS dies, it's their own damned fault.
Of course, many DPS don't like this statement, because they figure it's the "healer's job to heal them", but there's important information they're missing when they get upset.
If The Tank Dies, It's The Healer's Fault
Simply put, the Tank is the Healer's main priority in a group setting, because at certain levels, if the Tank dies, then the whole party is doomed to die very quickly afterwards.
Who's The Healer Healing?
Once you get to Outland instances, and certainly into Northrend ones, having a specific person performing "tanking duties" helps coordinate the efforts of the team, and the concentration of the healer must improve from pre-Outland levels as well. This is where DPS players have to start improving their game as well, instead of relying on the healer to save their ass every time they pull aggro.
At this Outland point, Healers will begin to feel more pressure from DPS who haven't learned how to control their aggro - it's funny how some dead DPS think it beneficial to be demanding on the Healer while the fight is still going on, asking why they didn't get any heals in a chaotic situation.
If The Healer Dies, It's The Tank's Fault
You and me, Tanky, are a team.
Dual Priest Angelics
Like the Tank, if the Healer dies, unless there's a backup healer to pick up the slack, the rest of the party is generally doomed to death as well.
Of course, this isn't always true, depending on when the healer died and how many mobs were left, and what level of dungeon you're in.
Because the Healer is so critical for the Tank's own survival, one of the Tank's responsibilities is to make sure the Healer is defended and watched over more than anyone else in the group. (hey DPS, you can earn brownie points with both the Tank and Healer if you help out with this Healer defense)
Thankfully, a good tank gets to the point where taunting the attention of a mob off of a Healer or a DPS becomes second nature, and therefore DPS who mistakenly pull aggro once in a while don't get their faces bashed in each time ;)
If The DPS Dies It's Their Own Damned Fault
Here's the final part of that statement, and the part that holds the most controversy.
After all, DPS are just as important to the overall success of the party as the Tank and Healer, right? If there were no DPS, dungeon runs would be slow and painful, and some boss fights would be impossible because the boss would hit an enrage timer and squish the Tank and Healer no matter how well-geared they were.
Yes and no - Sure, DPS are important, but the definition of a good damage dealer is something like this:
Quality DPS players are able to generate maximum damage without pulling aggro from the Tank.
That being said, we all know that very few dungeon runs or raids are perfectly coordinated in a way that doesn't result in DPS pulling aggro or getting aggro in some way, and that DPS are an important member of the overall team and cannot therefore be ignored completely.
So, how does a Healer go about deciding when to let a DPS die?
When To Let Them Die
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Some people enjoy the challenge of a chaotic group because it challenges their own healing and healer self-defense skills, and for them, I say "don't let any of them die"!
But for the average healer, the problem boils down to this:
The more you heal, the more threat you generate with mobs in battle, and the higher your chance is of pulling aggro and being killed yourself.
How it often happens is this:
Battle is started, and DPS pulls aggro early in. The heavier the heals the squishy DPS needs to be kept alive, the more Healer threat generated on every mob in the battle, and the harder the Tank has to work to keep the mobs from making a bee-line to the Healer. Chaos ensues, death usually results somewhere.
If you're tired of dying because the Tank couldn't keep the mobs off of you, consider these suggestions:
- Give the Tank a few seconds to get aggro on all the mobs in a pull before casting your first heal.
- Optimally, the Tank should be the first one to get a heal in a fight, and DPS should only need occasional heals. Healing DPS too early in a fight is a recipe for pulling Healing aggro which regularly results in Healer death.
- If a DPS pulls multiple mobs by accident, let the Tank get into the battle before casting any heals, even if it means that DPS dies in the mean time.
- It's unlikely the DPS has enough control of all the mobs to protect you, the Healer, from being mass-attacked after your first heal lands, so wait until your Tank buddy gets in there and gets control, or you'll end up dead.
- If you ever have to decide between giving the Tank a heal and giving anyone else a heal, decide on the Tank unless it's you who is just about to die.
- Dead Healers do crappy Heals. Stay alive as a priority.
- If you're low on mana and the fight isn't just about over, save your mana for the Tank.
- Saying "low on mana, dps watch yourselves" in the party line is adequate warning to the team.
- If you've got a DPS who seems to be obsessed with doing a lot of damage but is constantly pulling aggro, one or two deaths usually slows them down a bit.
- If you feel this DPS is carrying the entire group, you may wish to pretend they're actually the Tank, but if you know your Tank is a good one, support your Tank and their role as group leader as a priority.
- If you've got a DPS who attacks the wrong targets, or stands in the wrong place and pulls extra aggro, they probably spend more time running around screaming than they do DPSing, so it's okay if you let them die.
Using Your Healing Power For Good
As a Healer, you'll always have an easy time getting into dungeon groups and if you're interested at level 80, raid teams. Dungeons cannot be run without a healer for the most part (farming instances or running friends through aside), and the grand majority of World of Warcraft players select damage-dealing specializations even if their character is capable of specializing in healing.
Because of this, you, dear Healer, will also be able to pick and choose your dungeon-running friends over time, filtering out players who made your Healing job harder and playing more often with those who contributed to those fast, clean, smooth runs we all get so much joy out of.
So don't worry about letting some of the chaos-lovers die, and don't worry about the cruel words they throw at you during their moments of frustration at having died AGAIN...
When those chaos-loving DPS want to run another instance and whisper you asking to heal it (and they will, even if they insulted you for letting them die), YOU have all the power and control.
Say yes to heal in chaos in order to improve your own healing skills!
Say no to healing in chaos on the days you just don't have the patience for it.
And let the DPS die whenever they piss you off.
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I was tanking a speed UP run last night and an overeager pally kept on putting agro... result, we let him die 3 times I think. It was easier than try to pull agro away from him and letting the rest of the party die. We could have probably 4 maned the rest of the instance but he got rezzed and never really learned the lesson. It was quite puzzling. Wow that is a lot of zz, lol.
logtar´s last blog ..WoW Meme SPEED!
@logtar I love watching DPS Pallies, Warriors and Shaman die in Heroics. In fact, I used to call the Enhancement Shammy spec the "dead on the floor" spec in BC heroics.
As a healer, I love Heroics because it ain't my fault when DPS dies - there's no healing through a one-shot.
how about the topic of letting people die on purpose. I was in a PUG a few weeks ago where the raid leader was changing loot rules to suit himself (assuming a he). When on trash, he set himselve on loot master, after the first (and only boss) he waited til the rest of us were busy and set it as free for all, looted the boss, then set it back to loot master so we "wouldn't see." I as the healer, let him die soon after that...he was griping in group chat, but in /w chat the rest of us decided to let his corpse fester down there and left group and hearthed out. Oh, and Gratz on Yogg....
@ myself, we healers can be your best friend, or your worst enemy....we are, in general, nuturing people, but don't be an idiot like the fella I was talking about above...we do our bestest that we can...
Geez, love the post... Mind if I link it to people who yell at me when I try to tank? :P
Mandaril´s last blog ..Random screenshots... again...
I'm just starting heroic / raid healing in hopes that it will spark my interest in WoW again. So, in short, I'm slowly waking up to the fun game of healing. This really is good information that new raiders should learn. When I first started raiding (middle of BC), I remember these scenarios being a complete puzzle to me.
i have played both a healer (priest in vanilla, palli in bc) and a tank (bc and wrath) and i can say there are certain folks that provoke a healer or tank to the point of letting them die.
i know if someone pulls agro too many times, i tend to forget where my taunt button is, and as a healer, i watched a certain rogue in molten core die on every pull.
the healer's responsibility is to keep the tank alive so that the whole group can succeed so if a dps is taking damage for pulling agro, i usually let them die :)
My druid recently hit Outland and the first 2 dungeons were so different from the easymode stuff of Vanilla... Good thing I landed myself a nice group with an understanding tank who didn't yell at me for the 2 times I let him die.
Offtopic, can anyone recommend an alternative to Grid that shows health bars... like health bars? I can't follow Grid very well because of the colors...
I use XPerl unit frames. It has been a bit wierd since 3.2 came onto the scene, but still works well enough for group / raid healing for me.
Great tips, gonna pass it to my WoW addicted brother.
mmorpg games´s last blog ..Aion Open Beta Client available
Having been on both ends of the healing stick (As a Healer and DPS) I am very understanding towards healers letting me die when I overaggro by accident. The truth is being with my death knight or my rogue, I agree that I am somewhat expendable. If I die the battle gets harder but is still doable, if the tank dies - everybody dies.
P.S. For the players who never tried healing in a dungeon/raid: walk a bit in someone's shoes before blaming them for some fault only you see.
DeathKn00b´s last blog ..Some thoughts on leveling
You are a bitch who hates dps.... i dont even care if this get posted, i just wanted you to know that.
LOL!
Thanks for the entertainment, one too scair't to post their real email address.
Now I won't feel so bad when I let the fools die. Thanks for reinforcing my thoughts.
I lol'd at "dead on the floor" spec. It's so true.
well as a healer i get yelled only by dps'er (who run in mobs, who run to bosses when i am drinking for mana, and even the second healer(if there is one) is doing so.)
tanks and other who play healers or played healers understand us more. people who only dps don't. this topic is not anti dps, since there are dps who know how it works and where the priority's are.
so some dps guy, don't call this topic a dps hating topic. if you read it well you already should see that.
Good Post. There exceptions to this rule but most the time its true. The first raid I ever healed, ToC on Lord Jarraxuss, this mage got legion flame and just stood there. I saw it, riptide, started casting lesser heal, he died before it got off. The mage than proceeded to blame me and make a huge scene about how shitty a healer I was. Even the best DPS will take damage and need to be healed. Yes, thats true BUT. I can't heal through stupid dude. If you're mindlessly pulling aggro or standing in fire or don't move when you get a "GTFAway from me buff" ... you're gonna die, deal with it. One other time I was topping the heal meters for Marrowgar in an epic fail pug. The last pull before it fell apart I got bonespiked twice before the wipe (about half the fight) The raid leader tried to blame the whole thing on my heals... well he was tanking and not turning the boss away quick enough... so the whole raid was getting cleaved. An even better rule of thumb... even if it's someone else's fault, ask yourself what you could have done better before you throw blame. And better yet, don't throw blame, tell them what they did wrong and how to do it right, a wipe doesn't have to turn into an argument. I think the game would be a lot better if even casual players learned to act a little more professional sometimes. Its not hard to do.
Thanks for the information! I'm just now getting into healing so I decided to do some research and find out what I could about it. What was said about players choosing damage specs while they could be a healer is very true, but I am finding that it's much easier getting into dungeons as a tank (my normal role). As a tank it gets really frustrating for us when the dps is pulling and we take it rather personally when the group wipes. So as a healer are there any tips you can give me for when the group is about to be wiped?