I had never really raided on a healer role when I actually did the raids back in 2.X; I was mostly PLD or WAR OT, and went DRG when we ran a solo tank strat. However, when our FC's group needed a healer and DPS for the Eden's Verse raid, my wife and I jumped at the chance; she went BLM, her classic job she's been playing since the start of the game, and I went WHM, a job I was comfortable enough with to perform at the minimum requirements to clear content.
And my parse showed. I was regularly gray, and occasionally barely reached green. It was pretty disheartening.
My co-healer was an Astrologian at the time, and since Noct is...not the best to prioritize DPS, I leveled Scholar and switched jobs; my WHM parse was pretty bad anyway. If he could DPS better on AST at my expense, it made sense to me, especially since he regularly parsed blue without issue. Scholar was a fun adventure for me as I experimented with shields and pet management, and I found I enjoyed the extra management much more than the perceived boredom of WHM's simple set of abilities. I was also a solid green parser with occasional, albeit rare steps into blue territory.
Near the end of the tier, it became apparent that my co-healer was going to go RDM and my new cohealer would be SCH, and knowing how bad my parses were on WHM, I elected to level AST and dive into the button spammiest job I've ever played. There were cards. Everywhere. My opener was cards. Trick Attack needed cards. The tank complained about not getting a card. I was basically just a walking booster pack and everyone wanted a piece of me.
...but it was incredibly enlightening. I wasn't a great AST, yet my regular blue parses clearing E9S gave me a lot of confidence. I understood the importance of oGCD management and how not to clip the massive amount of abilities I was constantly juggling. I learned how to prep for burst windows and how to get efficient use out of Earthly Star. I learned how to throw out oGCD abilities while moving and realized I could save GCDs specifically for damage. There was so much to keep track of, but I felt so heckin' accomplished when everything aligned perfectly.
And then we hit enrage in E10S. Our group is not great in overall DPS. And we were making mistakes that cost us at least one full party damage down every pull. It was frustrating to know our DPS just wasn't enough, and my personal DPS reflected that. So I went back to the SSS Dummy to test my WHM against my AST.
It was a 2k difference. Normally my cards add around 1.2-1.5k DPS, which means WHM was a net gain. Pleased and hoping for the best, I went into E9S on my WHM to test the waters and see if I could output more damage than my AST. To my surprise, our E9S clear this week, the first clear on my WHM, was a purple parse. PURPLE. I've NEVER had a purple parse, and it was on WHITE MAGE. WHERE I COULD BARELY ATTAIN GREEN.
I now realize that my time strategizing with the other healer roles had taught me the value of positioning, how to hold on to Misery for burst windows, making sure I didn't overcap on my lilies, and when to weave in oGCDs. It also taught me to TRUST in my heal power by never utilizing Medica II when a Rapture was enough to heal up the party. As WHM, I used to feel like I needed to punch out heavy heals or I wasn't doing enough to support the party, but SCH and AST taught me that simple heals are oftentimes powerful enough to take care of the party, especially when a rapture is essentially banking 300 potency of damage on my way to a 900 potency Misery (seeing it crit at 120k+ is BEAUTIFUL).
And when you get Presence of Mind with a Thin Air just mauling the boss with 300 potency glares over and over and over as mechanics are going on around you that you've already positioned to avoid... It is a wonder to behold.
I am back in love with WHM.
tldr; I used to be a pretty mediocre WHM. Playing SCH and AST in raid taught me important priority systems that I brought back to WHM and managed to achieve my first purple parse. I even fell back in love with WHM.
submitted by /u/jaxomnautilus
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And my parse showed. I was regularly gray, and occasionally barely reached green. It was pretty disheartening.
My co-healer was an Astrologian at the time, and since Noct is...not the best to prioritize DPS, I leveled Scholar and switched jobs; my WHM parse was pretty bad anyway. If he could DPS better on AST at my expense, it made sense to me, especially since he regularly parsed blue without issue. Scholar was a fun adventure for me as I experimented with shields and pet management, and I found I enjoyed the extra management much more than the perceived boredom of WHM's simple set of abilities. I was also a solid green parser with occasional, albeit rare steps into blue territory.
Near the end of the tier, it became apparent that my co-healer was going to go RDM and my new cohealer would be SCH, and knowing how bad my parses were on WHM, I elected to level AST and dive into the button spammiest job I've ever played. There were cards. Everywhere. My opener was cards. Trick Attack needed cards. The tank complained about not getting a card. I was basically just a walking booster pack and everyone wanted a piece of me.
...but it was incredibly enlightening. I wasn't a great AST, yet my regular blue parses clearing E9S gave me a lot of confidence. I understood the importance of oGCD management and how not to clip the massive amount of abilities I was constantly juggling. I learned how to prep for burst windows and how to get efficient use out of Earthly Star. I learned how to throw out oGCD abilities while moving and realized I could save GCDs specifically for damage. There was so much to keep track of, but I felt so heckin' accomplished when everything aligned perfectly.
And then we hit enrage in E10S. Our group is not great in overall DPS. And we were making mistakes that cost us at least one full party damage down every pull. It was frustrating to know our DPS just wasn't enough, and my personal DPS reflected that. So I went back to the SSS Dummy to test my WHM against my AST.
It was a 2k difference. Normally my cards add around 1.2-1.5k DPS, which means WHM was a net gain. Pleased and hoping for the best, I went into E9S on my WHM to test the waters and see if I could output more damage than my AST. To my surprise, our E9S clear this week, the first clear on my WHM, was a purple parse. PURPLE. I've NEVER had a purple parse, and it was on WHITE MAGE. WHERE I COULD BARELY ATTAIN GREEN.
I now realize that my time strategizing with the other healer roles had taught me the value of positioning, how to hold on to Misery for burst windows, making sure I didn't overcap on my lilies, and when to weave in oGCDs. It also taught me to TRUST in my heal power by never utilizing Medica II when a Rapture was enough to heal up the party. As WHM, I used to feel like I needed to punch out heavy heals or I wasn't doing enough to support the party, but SCH and AST taught me that simple heals are oftentimes powerful enough to take care of the party, especially when a rapture is essentially banking 300 potency of damage on my way to a 900 potency Misery (seeing it crit at 120k+ is BEAUTIFUL).
And when you get Presence of Mind with a Thin Air just mauling the boss with 300 potency glares over and over and over as mechanics are going on around you that you've already positioned to avoid... It is a wonder to behold.
I am back in love with WHM.
tldr; I used to be a pretty mediocre WHM. Playing SCH and AST in raid taught me important priority systems that I brought back to WHM and managed to achieve my first purple parse. I even fell back in love with WHM.
submitted by /u/jaxomnautilus
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...