Last night we had a scheduled raid into Labs. We only had 14 people so it was decided we would do AoAx2 working toward Deathtoll Access.
Our guild leader normally 2 boxes his Templar in MT group and his Dirge in dps group. Last night I felt very humbled when he dropped his Templar moving me into MT group and he played his Dirge. I took that as a complement and vote of confidence in my abilities as a healer. I know it may seem silly because EQII is only a game after all, but I was nervous to make sure I didn’t disappoint.
Well at the same time, one of the other fellows in guild was speaking to me in /tell and encouraging me to do more dps. He said to me that some Templars can do up to 1K dps, but I should be doing around 300 dps. Really up until now, my philosophy has been healers should heal and leave the dps to the dps classes.
Being the obliging sort of girl that I am, of course I tried something different, and indeed did hit around 300 dps in a few combats. But I was not very comfortable with it. I felt that my healing was not at it’s best and there was one encounter where Wazza died and maybe he should not have. He did manage to pull a few adds too 
but I wonder if I had been on my game whether I could have adjusted and kept him standing – after all that is my job right. In addition, I was having trouble with managing my power which I normally have no problem with.
Now I am still not sure if it is because it is just unusual and I am not used to it, or if I am just plain uncomfortable with healers also doing dps instead of pure healing in raids.
Thankfully, I had a quick talk to Stargrace about her philosophy. I very much respect her advice because she has been healing in raids since way before I even started playing the game. Lets just say I was not surprised to find that once again we have similar thoughts on the matter
At this point then I had a bit of a revelation. I may only have been grouping / raiding for a little over 2 months, but maybe I should really trust in my own instincts and not allow myself to be influenced by the advice of too many people. I guess that people will always have different perspectives, but if I do my bit to keep the MT up while the dps classes do their thing, then my work is done. In the virtual world as much as the real world you are never going to keep all of the people happy all of the time. Although I may not have as much experience as my fellow guildmates in groups and raids, I should still have confidence in myself as a player and my girls’ contribution.
I have blushed in the last few days when various people have complemented Kil on her healing (so that tells me I don’t completely suck as a player), and I know myself how far she has come in just 2 short months even though she still has a long way to go. I would like to think that I will always be thinking on how to improve and play her better, but I don’t ever want to feel that I am not enjoying playing my girl.
I am not sure exactly how many raids I have been on now – but if I went back through my blog I could count. I estimate that it is somewhere around 15. I still have a lot to learn and experience that is for sure, and I guess that there will always be lots of people wanting to give their sagely wisdom. The trick is balancing all of that against the advice of those few folks whose advice I respect and trust.
As always – happy hunting everyone
July 18, 2007 at 3:30 am |
One of my pet hates is people “telling” me how to play my class.
I’d say if you like playing your Templar a certain way and it works then stick to that. Maybe review suggestions from other people at a later time but not when you’re in a hectic situation like a raid?
When I’m in groups I don’t expect the healers to be doing massive amounts of damage. Especially when I’m counting them on keeping me standing
Personally when I play my Templar in a group I don’t touch the strikes etc unless it’s to complete/progress an HO. I’ve configured him to do max melee damage from swinging his hammer and save his power for healing and the occasional debuff.
July 18, 2007 at 4:23 am |
You see Selaici, I have been playing Kil just like you described. At the beginning of the night last night I guess my subconscious thinking was “I have not been raiding for very long so I have to listen to everything that other people tell me because they know more than me”
The revelation for me has been – “I may not have been playing as long as some of these guys, but I still do a good job in my own right”
I am not too proud to listen to advice from experienced players because I believe I still have a lot to learn about the game. However I think that this has taught me to trust my own judgement more, and not to allow myself to be pressured.
I am pretty sure I know what my groupmates would say if I gave them the choice between their healer doing more dps less effective healing vs less or no dps and better healing.
July 18, 2007 at 5:49 am |
Hi Kilanna,
From the opinion of a fellow Templar, this is my opinion. Templar’s primary role is to heal. DPS is a lower tier job.
#1 HEALS
#2 Debuffs
#3 DPS
Dar can crank out 600-700 DPS, but I have yet to see 1K DPS from a Templar in a raid situation personally. We do have an inquisitor that does some sick dmg in raids (1300 DPS).
In saying all of this…in a 12 man raid, DPS is pretty key, so I can see him mentioning it in the slim chance you were doing nothing but healing, but his inflated DPS numbers are not valid. Nor should he demand that you DPS. Demanding is doing the raid a disservice and possibly jeopardizing the raid by switching your focus on your role.
Nonetheless,
HIya!!!
July 18, 2007 at 7:16 am |
First of all – fun is the key to every game. So play that way to have fun.
I’m raiding with my templar for two years now. I started like you, concentrating on healing, healing and healing. But you’wii learn that every encounter favors different healer. There are one’s like Lord Vyemm from lab or Mayong, that we can outheal shammies. But sometimes there is little space for our reactives. And that you could try and learn how to dps in raid
Our first priority is always healing. But standing and doing nothing is wasting a slot on raid. On raid I’m always in MT group and can easily hit 1.1-1.3k dps or with good group and good mob I can do 1.7k dps. Every dps help raid to kill mob faster.
July 18, 2007 at 1:10 pm |
It’s all in how you play the game. Some folks are simply not comfortable dps’ing with a healing class. I personally, would much rather keep my tank up, and alive, then have to worry about my dps parse. Sure, I debuff, but there’s never a time I’m just standing around doing nothing to begin with.
If I wanted to play a dps class, I’d have made a T1 dps type, instead of a healer.
Especially since you said you thought your healing suffered for going dps. Healing should never be sacrificed for dps, not ever. The only time my healers are doing straight up dps – is in the Chel’Drak fight as I mentioned before, with class specific adds.
July 18, 2007 at 9:55 pm |
I may have come across as a bit more defensive than I had intended
It was the end of the day and I was tired and grumpy. Practicing for being a senile old man…
Anyway, yeah advice is always good. Saying that you “can” do more DPS is fine assuming they explain just “how” this is achieved
There’s a lot to be said for the way people give feedback. With all the cultural differences, age gaps, communication medium, etc… it’s very easy to offend when you don’t mean to.
People also have their own ways of playing their class. I’ve tried to do DPS with my Templar but these days I just prefer to focus him on the heals. I may change this in the future to shake things up. Possibly once I’ve gotten a few more points in the Templar Tree
I’ve read somewhere that Templars can be quite deadly in the endgame against undead with the right spec but it comes at the cost of reduced healing…
July 18, 2007 at 11:39 pm |
I didn’t think you were defensive at all Selaici
At one point I had Kil spec’d down the Wis line with the extra undead smackyness if there is such a word
I also had a mellee line on her Templar Tree – That was very good for solo particularly if you focus on hunting a lot of undead.
Once again – there is the trade off – to go down the Wis line you will miss out on either your DR or your Mellee/heal crits. I guess it really just depends on what you want to do with Drac in game as to which suits him best.
In general, I dont think I would ever be standing around doing nothing in raid – even if my own group and MT are all in the green – there are usually spot heals needed to help out other groups, Hex dolls to be used, Brocks thermal shocker, debuffs, Heals over time etc. I would hate to be caught short of power when my big heals were really needed.
July 19, 2007 at 11:59 am |
DPSing with templar cost almost zero power (with Smite line)
Beside if you had to heal others groups, that mean someone else is not doing his job well.
Nowadays, on most of fights templars spent most of time on dotc curing. Why? Shammies had to keep wards always up, and it takes time to cast it. Druids are for group regen and spot heals. And templars for debuffing and curing (mostly ofc). Buf it dot’s do nothing, and your group is super green go and have some fun with your smites