Getting frustrated, need help...

[Rudedawg14]

I am now a lvl 10 FVS and although I really enjoy playing the class.

I'm getting tired of running out of spell points.

Players in groups think they can get a heal anytime they want, they die - I rezz. I do a bit of healing - but it's amazing how many won't drink a pot or use a wand.

So I just leave them - because I honestly feel they haven't a clue how much sp I go though.

Any suggestions before I just play a melee class and let someone else worry about healing/buffing/rezzing me?

Or does it get better with some more levels?

Is there gear I should be looking for?

[Matuse]

It does get a lot better, in one level. Heal cures all your ills...literally and figuratively.

Also, learning to not just top people off because they feel insecure about a slight gap in their HP bar is a help. Heal them when they need it, not because they want it.

[vVAnjilaVv]

For clerics/fvs that are focused on healing, as u go up in level it gets way easier. All your spells become mass so you save a ton of mana....but you have to be vocal and take charge........tell the meathead melees to stay tight so they all get the heals......you know what a healers best friend is?.....

TOUGH LOVE.....if they wanna play stupid let them die a few times and don't feel bad about it or give it a second thought. If someone if just draining you, don't buff or heal them at all.

You'll never be a succesful healer until you learn how to put people like this in line.....if you don't have it in you......play a battle cleric or an offensive specc'ed cleric.....but do so warily.....you'll be shunned from a lot of parties.

On the flipside...cleric/fvs are extremely easy to get wealthy with......if you can learn to solo some good loot runs plat will be less of a burden and getting resources to heal will be easy. When I am feeling generous I am a healing machine....melees can go nuts if they want and I will just burn through scroll/wands...never mnemonic potions tho, those are for very difficult quests and raids.

Remember...your life is in thier hands a lot of times.......which means you have A LOT of say.

[Dendrix]

Don't top people off between fights by overhealing them. Never ever do that.

Use mass cures. Tell people you are casting mass cure and tell them to come to you. If someone ignores you tell them they get no individual healing until your next mass cure.

[herzkos]

what the above posters said . . .
plus, devotion or potency items are critical to conserving spell points.
I prefer potency (works for all spell schools) but devotion will
work just as well if you're a healer type.
Also, using wands and scrolls when your spells are on timer helps preserve
your spell point pool. (IMPORTANT: if you are in a group that is going
through your sp very fast, be extremely cautious about using any expendable
resources as you will likely lose money in that quest if you do)

[MithrilSoul]

In any MMO, tough love (as some have called it here) is really important. I've never played a dedicated healer but in my main MMO (LOTRO) I play a tank. And my general rule on tanking is I know what I'm doing, if a DPS class pulls aggro from me than that's because they're playing stupid. And I'm not going to get all worked up trying to cover for someone else's stupidity. So if it's a PUG or whatever, I tell them all up front at the beginning of the quest: "you pull aggro from me, then I'm presuming you're wanting to tank that mob. Have fun with it." And since I am usually with the same healer (who has the same understanding of this that I do), the healer will then chime in with, "the tank is the only one who gets heals. Anyone pulls aggro from the tank, you're on your own...I hope you have healing pots." (Obviously the healer WILL heal damage to others caused by things like unavoidable AoE attacks and so forth. But he won't heal damage people take because of their refusal to play their character intelligently.)

People tend to learn really quickly--that is, they either learn to play their class properly...or they learn not to party with me. Either option is fine as far as I am concerned.

[Aerendil]

OP : If it's any help, I have a pure caster FvS around the same level as you, so I know exactly how you feel.
Not quite at the "launch a Blade Barrier and giggle maniacally" stage yet, so we tend to play healer / buffer mode for the moment knowing that our day will soon come.

My advice (and as others have stated) is to get yourself a Devotion item, as well as a Power item. When soloing or meleeing, I'm all for sword / shield - but in pure heal-mode I tend to dual-wield a Greater Devotion III sceptre (+40% to CLW, CMW and CSW spells) and a Power VII wand (+140 SP).
For the record, he does not have Empowered Healing nor does he use any Mass spells at this point (although I will eventually change out my single target spells for mass-versions), and he generally holds up quite well. The key I find is to not overheal, and to cycle through spells if someone is taking heavy damage since the timers are separate (i.e. CLW -> CMW -> CLW, etc.).

I also carry some healing wands and remove disease/curse wands on me, but only tend to use them in the most dire of circumstances. If the group is too lazy to buy their own potions or there are a couple of people who prefer to zerg ahead alone and have near-death experiences simply so that they can have +5 kills, then I'm too lazy to wand-whip them back to full health. Simple as that.

Anyways, hope that helps.

[MsEricka]

if a DPS class pulls aggro from me than that's because they're playing stupid

ummmm sure it is, or maybe it's because they're better than you?

"you pull aggro from me, then I'm presuming you're wanting to tank that mob.

Then your DPS is inadequate or they have superior DPS than you Either way wouldn't you want them doing it because they can get it done faster which means less resources/SP used?

"the tank is the only one who gets heals.

If they pulled aggro because you are inadequate or they are superior, they are now the tank, therefore logically they get the heals. And in fact it might even cost less SP because they could have more healing amp than you which requires less SP to heal them.

Seriously, no matter what game you're playing if you get someone doing better than you then say thank you. Don't spout off that they won't get healed because your ego is hurt that you're not the best in the party.

[MithrilSoul]

ummmm sure it is, or maybe it's because they're better than you?

Whoah...okay so a DPS class puts out more DPS than a non-DPS class, therefore the DPS class is "better." Hello? Do you have a brain? If there was a game where a tank (a real tank, not what sometimes in DDO passes for tanks) could put out more DPS than a pure DPS class, then that is a game that is broken. In a real MMO with real tanking classes, tanks generate aggro not through DPS but through class-specific, tanking threat-building skills that operate independent of DPS.

I realize often DDO doesn't work that way. It's an odd game in that respect.

Then your DPS is inadequate or they have superior DPS than you Either way wouldn't you want them doing it because they can get it done faster which means less resources/SP used?

No, because typically a DPS class has a fraction of the defenses of a tank class. So a mob that is hitting a tank for 20 damage per hit is probably hitting the DPS class for 60 or 80 damage a hit. You don't want that. Again, DDO is kind of an odd game--for example, any class (if they get the right item) can have heavy fortification. In LOTRO, basically only 1 class in the game (the main tanking class) can have the kind of critical hit protection that DDO calls "heavy fortification." So if you have some nasty boss, the absolutely LAST THING in the world you want is anybody other than your tank getting hit. There are bosses in that game who could, on a crit, 1-shot most of the classes in the game (and by 1-shot, I mean 1-shot then even when they are at full hp)...but a true tank can turtle up and take a beating from them for quite a while. That's why you don't want anyone other than the tank pulling aggro...it's basically an automatic death sentence.

If they pulled aggro because you are inadequate or they are superior, they are now the tank, therefore logically they get the heals. And in fact it might even cost less SP because they could have more healing amp than you which requires less SP to heal them.

No, the key thing that makes a tank a tank is damage reduction/survivability. And in an MMO with clear distinctions between tanking and DPS classes, a tank class is always going to have not only more defenses but also more "healing amp" (as it is called here) than a DPS class ever would.

Seriously, no matter what game you're playing if you get someone doing better than you then say thank you. Don't spout off that they won't get healed because your ego is hurt that you're not the best in the party.

No matter what game you're playing, groups succeed when everyone in the group understands THEIR ROLE and is able to accomplish THEIR ROLE in a way that works in teamwork with everyone else in the party. Individuals that go yahoo cowboy and have no comprehension of teamwork, no comprehension of how to play their class, no comprehension of where their character is strong and where it is weak, no comprehension of how each of the classes bring different strengths and weaknesses to a party...those players are not "better" by any definition of the word. Those are the kinds of players that lead to party wipes.

Understand YOUR ROLE. Play YOUR ROLE. Simple as that. It's not rocket science.

[Rudedawg14]

OP : If it's any help, I have a pure caster FvS around the same level as you, so I know exactly how you feel.
Not quite at the "launch a Blade Barrier and giggle maniacally" stage yet, so we tend to play healer / buffer mode for the moment knowing that our day will soon come.

My advice (and as others have stated) is to get yourself a Devotion item, as well as a Power item. When soloing or meleeing, I'm all for sword / shield - but in pure heal-mode I tend to dual-wield a Greater Devotion III sceptre (+40% to CLW, CMW and CSW spells) and a Power VII wand (+140 SP).
For the record, he does not have Empowered Healing nor does he use any Mass spells at this point (although I will eventually change out my single target spells for mass-versions), and he generally holds up quite well. The key I find is to not overheal, and to cycle through spells if someone is taking heavy damage since the timers are separate (i.e. CLW -> CMW -> CLW, etc.).

I also carry some healing wands and remove disease/curse wands on me, but only tend to use them in the most dire of circumstances. If the group is too lazy to buy their own potions or there are a couple of people who prefer to zerg ahead alone and have near-death experiences simply so that they can have +5 kills, then I'm too lazy to wand-whip them back to full health. Simple as that.

Anyways, hope that helps.

Thank you - a very helpful post.

Exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

[Chilly76]

ummmm sure it is, or maybe it's because they're better than you?



Then your DPS is inadequate or they have superior DPS than you Either way wouldn't you want them doing it because they can get it done faster which means less resources/SP used?



If they pulled aggro because you are inadequate or they are superior, they are now the tank, therefore logically they get the heals. And in fact it might even cost less SP because they could have more healing amp than you which requires less SP to heal them.

Seriously, no matter what game you're playing if you get someone doing better than you then say thank you. Don't spout off that they won't get healed because your ego is hurt that you're not the best in the party.

He is talking about LotRO silly...

In LotRO and WoW a tank will pretty much never out dps the dps. Also if the dps pulls aggro it will die. This is not DDO where a dps can have insane saves and ac.

[Gercho]

Well, i dont see the point of talking about a LotRO example in this thread, there are plenty of examples on ddo of when someone is playing stupid, using some from another game, that in fact is counterintuitive to DDO makes no sense.
Besides that you cal a real MMO to LotRO cause it has real tank classes as opposite of DDO is dumb, each game is different, and one is not more real or better because that, if anything, i like DDO flexibility over other games single mind approach.