Healing 101

           This guide will give you the basic understanding of how to heal in MMORPG's. Healing is one of the most important tasks in almost any game, since without a healer you won't be able to handle a lot of the higher end content. The most important thing to understand as a healer is your job isn't to DPS and Heal, It is to heal. At almost no point in time should you be assisting your group in doing damage.

1. What Is A Healer?
2. Healer Lingo
3. How To Play A Healer
4. How To Master A Healer

What Is A Healer?

           A Healer is the person in the group or game that mends peoples wounds. He/She heals them for any damage they take. Generally most healers will also have a set of mediocre damaging abilities and also Buffs. A Healer usually can do enough damage to make soloing semi-enjoyable, but still at a slower pace then a damage dealer.

           A Healer is generally the heart of most groups, without heals you probably won't be able to progress through dungeons or any hard content. Healers are generally very group dependant, since they don't do much damage alone and really can't take much damage. This means you will have to learn to work with people very well in order to effectively play your class.

           Another upside to a healer is you will almost never be stuck looking for a group for a long period of time. Since not many people play healers you're kind is almost always in demand.

Healer Lingo

This is a quick list of Abbreviations that you will need to know as a MMO player. These are very commonly used, chances are if you've been playing any MMO for at least a month you already know them.

HoT - Heal over Time (Any heal that heals the target for a certain amount over a period of time.)

DoT - Damage over Time (Any damaging ability that damages the target for a certain amount over a period of time.)

Regen - Regeneration (Referes to the Regeneration of your mana.)

Tank - Tank (Not an army tank, but the person that is taking all of the damage for your group.)

Mob - Monster (Just means the monster you're fighting, about to fight or they're talking about)

Agro - Agro (If you cause to much threat and pull "agro" of the mob, it will attack you.)

DPS - Damage Per Second (This refers to any damage dealer, generally)

Spike - Damage Spike (When the tank or someone takes a crap ton of damage at once)

med - Meditation (Lingo for regenerating mana)

How To Play A Healer

           Playing a Healer might sound easy and straight forward, but It isn't. You will need to be very observant of you, your mana and your group. You will also need to be able to think fast and react fast. Something that is very important is making sure that your group is almost always topped off. If anyone in the group takes damage you'll want to throw a HoT on them.

           Also, along the lines of HoTing people, you will always need to prioritize your heal order. The most important person to keep alive is the Tank. If he dies the mob will generally run around and just smash everyones face in. On a similar note, if some of the DPS in your group keeps pulling agro, it would be better to just let them die. Hopefully they will learn their lesson.

This is the order that I find it most important to keep people alive in groups.

1. Tank
2. Myself
3. DPS

           If the tank dies, the mob will run around and destroy your group. If you die, then the tank will die and the mob will run around and destroy the group. The DPS is really just convience, they're needed of course but no where near as crucial as you and the tank.

           Usually you will use all your "Bigger" heals on the tank, anything that heals for a lot that has a cast time, just continually spam on the tank. EVEN if he is at full health start to channel a heal, incase the tank gets "spiked" for a lot of damage. If the heal has a second or half a second left before it goes off and the tank is still full health, just interrupt it by moving side to side or front to back.

           For normal mobs you won't have to worry about doing it like this, however for harder mobs like bosses or raid mobs you will need to use the Channel a heal at all times method. Also it is very useful to always keep a HoT up on the tank at all times.

Quick Recap:

1. Keep a HoT up on the Tank at all times
2. Continually be casting a Heal on the tank at all times. Interrupt it if need be
3. If a Melee takes damage, throw a HoT on him.
4. Try to always keep the tank fully healed.
5. Keep the group buffed

How To Master A Healer

           Mastering a healer is much harder then just playing one. In order to master a healer you will need to be 100% familiar with your class and your role in groups and other enviroments. A good healer will always keep the tank and the group topped off. Also a good healer will use much more then just the healing skills in his arsenal to help the group.

           For example, healers will usually get an ability that will stun an enemy and also an ability that will silence an enemy. A good healer will use both of these abilities to cause the mob to deal less damage. Thus causing him to have to heal less. Of course, this is if the mob isn't immune to etheir of the abilities.

           Another important thing for a good healer to know is how much damage the tank is taking as well as how quickly/fast he takes this damage. This will give you more time to med during fights and keep the tempo of the group up.

Thats All I can think of right now. If you have anything you'd like to see added to this guide, or any suggestions please feel free to email me.