‘Heal Me!’
Sephrenia’s post is something everyone should understand by now. Really. Nothing irks me more than an “omg heal me!” being shouted over teamspeak or party-chat by dps and especially when they’re not only asking for their own healing, but for someone else.
Shouting “heal the tank!!!!” when the healers are, most probably, doing the damndest to keep said tank alive is not only annoying, it can be counter productive, too. For example, if a number of healers is assigned to each tank and someone shouts to ‘heal x!’ some healers, we shall say the ones less ’sure’ of themselves, will switch their healing target - causing another tank to die. This can also when a dps character calls out for healing and too many healers actually listen to them.
Now, I know a lot of people would say ‘but just ignore them, do what your assignment is’ and I’d agree to some extent but also point out the fact that quite often, in Burning Crusade, there are fights which require you to redirect your efforts mid-encounter. People are used to being reactive to damage and, especially raid healers, are equipped to switch targets quickly or cover said targets with ’splash healing’. When someone calls out for healing not only may the tanks lose healing but those reactive healers may change their primary focus and end up wasting healing time as four large heals land at the same time on one dps char who stood in the fire too long.
When is it ok?
Some would say that its never ok to call for additional healing but I think there are circumstances where it is valid. Some of our tanks have macros which call out when they have used their defensive capabilities - saying them in teamspeak is a little quicker “coming off shield wall in 5…4…” etc. Not directly calling for healing, perhaps, but close enough in directing it.
However, in general, asking directly for healing is not really going to get your healers to heal you more. Like Sephrenia says - it’s very tempting for a healer to let said players die on trash or somesuch so they stop messing around. Not the most mature way of handling things, perhaps, but effective in calming your temper.
I don’t need reminding that you need healing - it’s something that I am acutely aware of. It’s all I watch on my screen - those little grid boxes of dwindling health. I never see much else.
I reiterate her point here - your job is to dps or tank, keep an eye on your own rotations, your own dps and your own threat. Stop telling the healers to heal, it’s what we do and it’s all we’re concentrating on besides not stepping in the fire. If you’re telling us to do our job I doubt you’re doing your own effectively…
Totems
The same thing goes for telling shamans which totems to put down. You can mention to us why an encounter might favour another totem in a way we might not have considered as the spec we are but unless you are the raid leader - and sometime even if you are! - you should think about the fact that totems are part of the shaman class and, as such, we also usually understand how and when certain ones should be used.
No Sunday Screenies today (I’m sure you’re all crying at the loss) - I’ve not gotten any particularly good new screenies except ones I’ve taken for tommorrow’s post!
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Letting yellers die only makes them yell more, if they die on trash they think that the healers really don’t know what they are doing.
Note: ofc, if they are DPS, it’s their own fault.
Bravo.
Seriously though? She’s right. It’s all I do during a raid. Watch that corner of my screen and put HoTs on people. If you need healing, I KNOW THIS. In fact, if you look, there’s a 90% chance that there’s already a HoT on you. If not, I’m in the middle of getting around to it.
If you’re DPS, you can stop and bandage. A dead DPS = no DPS. It’s more effective for you to stop and bandage than to keep going if the healers are currently busy.
Heal yourself, or wait for us. Say “heal me”… well. I hope you like the taste of floor.
/end personal rant
Aurik is a man. A man dwarf. With a man purse.
I made a simmilar post on my blog the other day after a 5 man in blood furnace went bad because of overpulling and according to the dps who overpulled it was the healers (aka my) fault. I think there comes a point where healers just have to walk away, and there is plenty to consider rather than just the healers skill. there is also the healers gear, the tanks gear, the tanks skill, management of pets/abilities, lv differences, knowledge of an instance etc that can all contribute to a wipe, not just the healer.
To be fair, how many wipes have you seen that wiped after pulling the number of mobs the party was supoose to and can handle as apose to overpulling? I struggle to think of any
Ha. As a Resto Druid I had a tank yell at me after a wipe “WHY DIDN’T YOU F*KIN B-RES ANYONE!”
But I had - one of the healers who’d fallen right at the start. I told him politely to not presume I didn’t know my main class and spec.
Screw him tbh. Screw him.
“Heal me” is probably the best way of annoying me in an instance. I find it way more annoying than continually pulling aggro. My response is usually something along the lines of
“Oh, that’s a good idea, now why didn’t I think of that?”
Sometimes the recipient is smart enough to lol. If they don’t I hover my mouse over the Astral Recall, though I’ve not clicked yet, the group rarely lasts much longer anyway.
I’m a lot more cautious about switching from my healing assignment after I wiped the raid on Prince, the best anyone is going to get from me is a chain heal bounce, and they’d better be grateful!
@Matticus - I think the reply from Lin was aimed at my linked post and I am female ;)
Thanks Auric for linking my rant which followed the arrival of a new warrior to our guild. After a little quiet word, he spent an hour locating the offensive add-on and removing the “..calls for healing” part. I think I was probably without chocolate when I wrote my blog, but it is something that has bothered me for a while.
A mage friend replied on my blog and said he has similar feelings about being asked to re-sheep (pig/penguin, whatever), so I’m going to watch my vent chat on that one - I do only usually shout if the said sheep is eating me (I hope).
I used to hate it when people kept yelling for me to heal them in MC - like my whole screen wasn’t already filled with the bars and their green-ness! /sigh
I never get yelled at to heal now… and people almost expect the boomkek to die from stupid shit. ;)
It’s more irksome when you’re the one healing that tank that someone called out to heal. I know my limits and I know when to call for help, but when I’m solo healing my assignment and some idiot calls to heal my target because he dropped 3,000 hit points out of his pool of over 20,000 it makes me feel like people don’t trust me to do my job right.
I find that the place that it happens most is during the Council of the Illidari. With how much maneuvering there is during that fight due to the “don’t stand in the fire!” mantra, sometimes the tank dips a little lower than some people seem to feel is safe. Yet in two seconds I’m capable of applying both a bubble (which can be done on the move!) and a heal that not only heals him for 6,000 health but also reduce damage by 3% — a buff I try to keep on the tank for the entire duration of the fight!
One of the worst offenders is another healer who recently went Retribution. When he switches back to Holy for a fight, I make sure to call healing on his target every time it drops even a smidgen of health. I hope he catches on soon…
Seriously. Trust the healers to do their job.