A new healer's many questions...

[tamar]

OOC:

Though a huge number of different games (online, not online, and even so far as back to pen-and-paper), I have always played a healer. I enjoy the role and the RP that generally accompanies said role...

However, Ryzom presents me, as a player who wishes to be a healer, with several interesting problems.

1) What do I do when my groupmates kill things so quickly that I cannot land even the smallest, fastest of heals? (or, they take zero damage or even use zero stamina)

2) Is it wrong of me to ask them to slow down thier damage so that I can?

3) What do I need to do to make my heals faster and still manage to keep my tank fighter alive? (They seem to take a HUGE amount of damage very quickly..thus their desire to kill even faster) I have already modified almost all of my spells to remove the casting time stanza and my largest heal even takes as much health as mana to cast.

4) How do I go about ensuring that I am healing the RIGHT person in combat if everyone is taking damage....as it seams that heals (even fast ones) are so much slower than the game moves.

I'm honestly rather confused by the entire system and have already found myself two skill levels below my husband's fighter character, due to kills that occurred too quickly, etc.

As much as I enjoy the game and the community (so far as I have seen of it), I am becomming increasingly more frustrated.




..and please don't tell me to level defensive casting with fear, sleep, or stun. What good is fear if it's running away from my fighter who cannot catch up to hit it? I don't have sleep yet, as I can't manage to level defensive magic to 30 to get it, and as I understand it, stun is 40...which is even further out of my league.

Please help?

[mishi]

If a fighter's stam and health isn't going down enough for you to heal any, then you should try taking on harder mobs. It's kind of a waste for a fighter to recruit a mage for a heal every 2 minutes. Ask the fighter to go for harder mobs, so the fighters heal drops quicker, you can heal more, and you also get more EXP from the mob from it being a higher level.

[oldmess]

1) What do I do when my groupmates kill things so quickly that I cannot land even the smallest, fastest of heals? (or, they take zero damage or even use zero stamina)

They're using at least some resource (hp, sap, etc). Fire off a small heal the minute you see them start the attack even if it's not needed. That'll let you get xp unless you're killed before the mob is and then do it again.

2) Is it wrong of me to ask them to slow down thier damage so that I can?

Usually isn't needed if you do the pre-emptive heal when they start, but otherwise, it's not unreasonable. I've only seen it be necessary for the melee. Sometimes the nukers kill the mob before the melee gets a hit in and we ask the nukers to use time credits to slow them down.

3) What do I need to do to make my heals faster and still manage to keep my tank fighter alive? (They seem to take a HUGE amount of damage very quickly..thus their desire to kill even faster) I have already modified almost all of my spells to remove the casting time stanza and my largest heal even takes as much health as mana to cast.

Better amps. There's a speed % associated with the amp; higher = faster.

4) How do I go about ensuring that I am healing the RIGHT person in combat if everyone is taking damage....as it seams that heals (even fast ones) are so much slower than the game moves.

Guess it depends on the team, but we usually assign one of the melee as "tank" and tell him to do as many taunts as needed to keep the mob on him. That way, you know that his life is priority 1. Everyone else can wait if you have to heal him.


You don't state what mobs you're hunting, but a different mob might be better. Some do a lot of damage but die pretty quick; some do less damage but have more hp. Finding the right mob might make things better too.

[sehracii]

The problems you're mentioning really only occur very early on in the game. Silan mobs and players on Silan have very little HP and high damage, so combat moves extremely quickly.

On the mainland as you get up in levels, everything has more hit points (mobs and players) and combat slows down to give you time to prioritize, see who's getting hit, react, and almost always get XP as the healer, which is an extremely essential role to Ryzom combat

[naratuul]

1) What do I do when my groupmates kill things so quickly that I cannot land even the smallest, fastest of heals? (or, they take zero damage or even use zero stamina)

They need to fight higher mobs. Leave a small bit of damage on the tank between mobs and cast a heal as soon as he/she goes into combat. (old healer trick)

3) What do I need to do to make my heals faster and still manage to keep my tank fighter alive? (They seem to take a HUGE amount of damage very quickly..thus their desire to kill even faster) I have already modified almost all of my spells to remove the casting time stanza and my largest heal even takes as much health as mana to cast.

Add range credits balance out the hp and sap credits and never use time credits. also get the best amps you can find. amp stats count: weak, slow amps = dead tanks.

4) How do I go about ensuring that I am healing the RIGHT person in combat if everyone is taking damage....as it seams that heals (even fast ones) are so much slower than the game moves.

Use a target team member macro instead of clicking on the team box. also make sure you are using your keys to select spells instead of the mouse. Healing is all about timing. Bombs and double heals are pretty useful, but their over use by lazy healers has wiped many a team. A smart 150 healer with a good set of amps and good timing can easily keep up a kincher team.

[oldmess]

The problems you're mentioning really only occur very early on in the game. Silan mobs and players on Silan have very little HP and high damage, so combat moves extremely quickly.

bah, didn't even occur to me she was talking about Silan. Yeah, if you've reached the point were y'all understand how the game works, come on over to the mainland and find some mobs that can take the punishment.

[tamar]

If a fighter's stam and health isn't going down enough for you to heal any, then you should try taking on harder mobs. It's kind of a waste for a fighter to recruit a mage for a heal every 2 minutes. Ask the fighter to go for harder mobs, so the fighters heal drops quicker, you can heal more, and you also get more EXP from the mob from it being a higher level.

((not really an option on newbie island - at this point, I can't manage to finish some of my quests due to the grouping system... they kill something once and run off, leaving me dead due to healing agro, dead due to the tank dying and the mob suddenly finding me tasty, or without xp or a quest completion because they are done with theirs...

Perhaps it's just that it's newbie island.

The things there seem to hit for half of my tank's hit points per swing...yes, the tank is wearing the best quality heavy armor we can get our hands on and uses a shield. (my husband's character)

They're using at least some resource (hp, sap, etc). Fire off a small heal the minute you see them start the attack even if it's not needed. That'll let you get xp unless you're killed before the mob is and then do it again.

That's a very helpful suggestion that I have already been using to some degree...mostly due to the fact that some of the Kitins we've found take near to half my tank's hit points on the first swing...very scary as a healer.

Better amps. There's a speed % associated with the amp; higher = faster.

That means I really need to get my weapons crafting up, as I can only make up to quality 30 items at the moment and my big heal is above that, now. Probably something that will have to be remedied on the mainland...or I'm just going to have to figure out how to skill up crafting differently <chuckles>

Guess it depends on the team, but we usually assign one of the melee as "tank" and tell him to do as many taunts as needed to keep the mob on him. That way, you know that his life is priority 1. Everyone else can wait if you have to heal him.

<nods> I have been doing that, just seems like the fighter in leather with two daggers likes their taunt key more than my husband's shield and heavy armored self. When it's just the two of us, there is never a problem with him keeping their attention.

And, in all honesty, this seems to be a newbie island problem...at this point, however, we are both very tentative about leaving the island due to the Kitin invasion. Not that we would not enjoy the adventure, but being one-shot killed in a home city while we're still trying to figure game mechanics out would be even more frustrating than trying to convince perpetual-free-subscribers not to train us in the jungle. Hehe.

Thank you both for your advice. A special thanks to you, oldmess, for your detail. ))

[tamar]

The problems you're mentioning really only occur very early on in the game. Silan mobs and players on Silan have very little HP and high damage, so combat moves extremely quickly.

On the mainland as you get up in levels, everything has more hit points (mobs and players) and combat slows down to give you time to prioritize, see who's getting hit, react, and almost always get XP as the healer, which is an extremely essential role to Ryzom combat

((THAT, sehracii, gives me hope, at least. ))

[rivoth]

OOC:
..and please don't tell me to level defensive casting with fear, sleep, or stun. What good is fear if it's running away from my fighter who cannot catch up to hit it? I don't have sleep yet, as I can't manage to level defensive magic to 30 to get it, and as I understand it, stun is 40...which is even further out of my league.
Please help?

There is one defensive spell that you can open up with, even at low levels. Good ole root. Start the fight with root, then your fighter jumps in. This can make things slightly more exciting for both of you since sometimes the root will fail...

[tamar]

(( Holy Cats, I"m getting replies faster than I can reply! ))

Use a target team member macro instead of clicking on the team box. also make sure you are using your keys to select spells instead of the mouse.

EXCELLENT suggestion, thank you - I have had a small problem with getting Vaeza targetted.

Healing is all about timing.

Hehe, in every game I've played, healing has always been about timing, keeping calm, and using the proper spell for the proper situation... I have never ever healed with less than half a bar of heal spells up.

Bombs and double heals are pretty useful, but their over use by lazy healers has wiped many a team. A smart 150 healer with a good set of amps and good timing can easily keep up a kincher team.

I'm honestly not sure what bombs and double heals are...and I have the best amps I can get my hands on thus far... I suppose I simply need to skill up weapon crafting more...and faster.

Wow, thank you all for the speedy, wonderfully helpful, and encouraging replies! ))