Although my leveling pace may be slow overall (I only just hit level 84), I have almost been exclusively running dungeons as a healer to level.
Random dungeons, with PUGs. When on the very slim occasion I random a good group, I smile, and remember why in fact I chose healing all those years ago: it’s fun. The other 99% of the time.. I shake my head in disbelief.
I honestly do not recommend healing PUG groups to anybody. I am amazed at the amount of fail I have seen these past four levels.
I’ll provide an example of a normal run for me.
Vortex Pinnacle, second boss down. We jump across to the last platform with the humanoid pulls. The mage and rogue in the group refuse to use CC, even though I mark and ask nicely. All DPS are not following my kill order. The tank is holding aggro, but only if the mobs are next to him; any caster will just keep beating on me as the tank doesn’t bother to hold them.
I explain that the Adepts heal, and need to be killed ASAP (or CCed.. but no, that’s MUCH too hard for those poor DPS). The tank runs in, and what results is a 3minute failfest of frantic healing all over the place as the Adepts can not be killed. I barely manage to pull through.
I mention I need a mana break and begin drinking. The tank runs off and pulls the next group with the DPS, and they all die.
“Dumbshit healer.” I here from the tank, and I am votekicked.
This wasn’t the worst run. This wasn’t uncommon. This is basically a normal PUG run for me.
Whenever I try to mark and explain a kill order, request CC and the like, the tank will most likely get fed up and threaten to leave, resulting in me being vote kicked. I can’t even ask for a mana break without potentially being kicked.
I just don’t understand. The smoothest run I have had was with a group with the tank being an alt character, only level 81 and tanking VP. With only ~65k health and one of the DPS only pulling about 2k, I was expecting another bumpy run. It all worked out the opposite.
Everyone said hello at the beginning of the run. I marked a kill order for every pull, including CC (frost trap) and it was all followed. People asked me questions, I answered them. The tank was new to tanking so we went slowly, but did not wipe once. It was the most fun I had healing a PUG in such a long time.
In contrast, the worst runs for me seem to come from tanks with 120k+ hp, which really proves skill > gear.
At one point, I almost thought my healing was actually really bad. I couldn’t understand why my groups kept failing. I queued for a dungeon run with a guild group, nervous of what to expect, and everything was completely smooth.
Healers, seriously, stick with guild runs.
). This guide was written for Windows XP, but Vista users shouldn’t find it much different.
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