Spell Order in Raids and Instances?

[Seidhkona]

From watching my sister, who is a mystic, completely move up the healing parse to #1 simply by changing her spell order, I'd like to ask what kinds of preferred spell casting order other furies use. I mostly am running EoF instances these days with my guild, but I do raid once or twice a week as well.

[Haciv]

<cite>Seidhkona wrote:</cite><blockquote>From watching my sister, who is a mystic, completely move up the healing parse to #1 simply by changing her spell order, I'd like to ask what kinds of preferred spell casting order other furies use. I mostly am running EoF instances these days with my guild, but I do raid once or twice a week as well. </blockquote>If you are trying to top the heal parse, it wont happen if you have a good Shaman who know's what they are doing.  You can't get on the heal parse if there is nothing to heal.

[Seidhkona]

<cite>Haciv wrote:</cite><blockquote>If you are trying to top the heal parse, it wont happen if you have a good Shaman who know's what they are doing.  You can't get on the heal parse if there is nothing to heal. </blockquote> No, not at all what I'm after. I'm well aware of where furies parse out (grin)... but I also suspect there are furies out there who have this down to a fine art who have suggestions taht will help me do better!

[HBP]

<p>Well, for starters, I normally don't care too much about the heal parse.  It doesn't really tell the whole story.  Like has been said, the shaman will always top the parse if he/she knows what he is doing.  When it comes to spell order....well, I really don't rely on one.  Every fight is different.  So many variables to worry about.  I usually rely on my reflexes.  But I usually cast my single target regen on the tank first (i'm the only druid in raid atm..our warden is MIA). Then throw out my single target heals to help stabalize the tank...from here on, the MT healers usually have things under control.  I'm in the mage group so i'm constantly keeping hibernation up and basically making sure my group stays alive.  I"m usually DPSing some while keeping my single target regen on the tank.</p><p> For the most part, I"ll be up there in the heal parse if there is a lot of AE damage, which means I'm group healing a lot. I"m the lone healer for my group so all my heals go to them.  But if everything is going smooth, I'll hardly be healing at all except for the intial pull and the occasional damage spikes.</p><p> Hope this helps.</p>

[Vashte]

<p>*edit</p><p>completely misread the question..!</p><p><img src="/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Catsy]

For nearly every battle, it's going to be situational. Ignore the heal parse. Due to the way shaman wards and cleric reactives work, druids are almost always going to be at the bottom of the heal parse, and for the most part any raid leader using it as anything other than a curiosity is wasting their time. For healing lifeburning necros in my group, I open with Hibernate, then ST HOT, then big direct heal, then little direct heal. What happens next depends a bit on my timing--if I got Hibernate off quickly enough, then I'll start casting my group HOT to add to the ticking heals, because it means Hibernate will hit during that long casting time and fill in some health. If the necro gets dangerously low at any point during the casting, I'll throw in Back Into the Fray, then resume the cycle. Usually this is sufficient to keep the necro alive and get him back to full health, but sometimes I need to refresh ST HOT to top him off. For when I have to burn hard to keep a tank alive, it depends on if there are other druids in the raid. If there are, then I'll cast my ST HOT occasionally, but for the most part it's a waste of power as we will overwrite each other's HOTs. I open with little DH, then big DH, HOT, little DH. If the tank's really taking a beating I'll throw in BItF, but I like to reserve that to throw in when he's low on health, as it does more good then. Usually there are at least a few beats where all of my out-of-group heals are cycling, so I'll take that opportunity to refresh my debuffs or use my manastone/heart/shard. If there are no other druids in the raid, or we've made duty-sharing arrangements to this effect beforehand, then I'll do my best to keep my ST HOT running on the MT at all times. That gives me around six seconds before I have to refresh the HOT again, which is plenty of time to throw in at least three direct heals. Generally speaking, keep in mind that your small direct heal refreshes around twice as fast as your big one. Don't neglect it; it's not as power-efficient but when you have to burn hard, throw it in every time it comes up. Remember that BitF heals twice as much if the target is below 50% health, so not only use it in emergencies, but try to time it in your healing rotation for when it'll do the most good. It cycles quickly though, so don't be afraid to use it as just another direct heal. Unless you are in a long battle where you really have to conserve power, it is never a bad idea to cast Hibernate every time it comes up--especially in fights where you can expect to be stunned/feared/stifled by something you can't range or block. It throws in a heal ten seconds later that you don't have to do anything to cause. Nothing short of your death will stop it from going off. It casts very quickly, and your group will appreciate being regularly healed, for something you'll have to take little or no time out of your casting cycle to do. It's especially beneficial if you've AA specced to have Hibernate trigger early on low health, as this essentially turns it into an extra quick-casting group heal in emergencies. If you really want to pad your heal parse stats, you can burn hard to save someone who pulls agro, but with rare exceptions it's usually better to let them die--especially if they're a mage, and especially on fights where the mob has a nasty AOE that people are trying to range. The longer you keep them alive, the more time the mob spends over where the casters are before going back to the tank. Hope this helps.

[Rutabegah]

The only way you are going to have a chance at topping the heal parse is to "baby-sit" your raid window.  That is, make sure your MT is taken care of in the first 4-6 seconds, then watch your raid window like a hawk looking for anybody who drops below 100% health.  If you see someone's health: - dip down slightly, use your small or large direct heal as you see fit - go between 50% and 75%, use your single regen on them - go below 50%, use your back into the frey followed up with the single regen Also: - manastone yourself everytime it comes up - Use group direct heal first on any big group hit, follow with the owl's if all members are still less than 75%.  Otherwise, wait for group direct to refresh again. - rez anyone you can, as fast as you can.  Follow up with a back into the frey, along with a regen. - use hibernation only if your groups health seems to be going down more than it should be

[Catsy]

<cite>Rutabegah wrote:</cite><blockquote>- rez anyone you can, as fast as you can.  Follow up with a back into the frey, along with a regen. </blockquote> Most of what Rutabegah said is good advice for padding your heal parse, but not so good advice for raid tactics. While on occasion it's not bad to pitch in to help heal someone in another group whose health drops, most of the time you should be focusing on the MT and your own group. An exception is when I see a melee DPSer get rezzed, or a defiler casting Soul Ward, I'll throw a BiTF and ST HOT on them if I'm not busy and the tank looks safe, to help them, well, get back into the fray. In particular I want to highlight the line I quoted above. I can't stress this enough: unless your raid leader instructs you otherwise, or the designated rezzers are all dead, <i>never, ever, ever do this</i>. Let the dirges, necros and pallies worry about rezzing during a battle. That's one of their roles, and the reason for that is to keep the healers focused on healing instead of taking their eyes off the MT with a long-casting rez. Another reason is that because they won't be expecting you to rez, you will end up overlapping, and both of you will waste your in-combat rezzes, which have long recasts.

[Rashaka]

While there has been alot of very good information given out so far, the OP really needs to understand that alot depends upon your group setup. I did not see the OP mention where his guild has him on most raids. My guess would be scout or mage dps groups but would be interested in his response.

[Mystfit]

<p>May I ask a question not really related to what the op said but what osmeone said in reply?</p><p>**</p><p>most of the time you should be focusing on the MT and your own group. </p><p>**</p><p>How do you pick between these two? It seems like I THINK the mt is ok...he's got his own healers (I was in secondary group today) and switched to heal my group and next thing I know...tank is down <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> And I fell responsible (whether rightly or not) I mean an alive mt is vital..but if everone else is dead, he's not gonna last long either as he can't take out the mob by his lonesome. </p>

[PsycoSWG]

<p>This really becomes a problem in certain raid zones. FTH comes to mind, 3rd named. Cure dot or keep mt alive while other healers cure dots? All comes down to assigning people to jobs.</p><p>Best bet is to just let the MT healers take care of the MT (unless otherwise instructed, but try to help a little). If they can't do it, then they should not be with the MT imo. In dire situations or where necessary, you'll sometimes sacrafice an assassin's hate or something for a druid in the MT group, but not too often. Druids, imo, are better spot healers for anyone who needs it. Otherwise..we're gonna always be last on heal parse. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Something fun to do though, and challenging..do a raid zone with nothing but druids. It will make you appreciate clerics and shamans so much more. Like labs or something, holy spike damage. And thank goodness for MT mit buffs lol..</p>

[toenukl]

<cite>Mystfit wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>May I ask a question not really related to what the op said but what osmeone said in reply?</p><p>**</p><p>most of the time you should be focusing on the MT and your own group. </p><p>**</p><p>How do you pick between these two? It seems like I THINK the mt is ok...he's got his own healers (I was in secondary group today) and switched to heal my group and next thing I know...tank is down <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> And I fell responsible (whether rightly or not) I mean an alive mt is vital..but if everone else is dead, he's not gonna last long either as he can't take out the mob by his lonesome. </p></blockquote>I have a macro set to hotkey 1 that /target's MT in my raid. I use F1-6 to target group members and if MT gets a little low I quickly hit 1 to retarget him. Also, usually in a caster group if one person is getting hit, all of them are (long range AE), in which case I keep target on MT and just pop my Hibernate, then Group direct heal, then Group HoT. Sometimes go w/ group heal then hibernate, depends on how low their health drops. Also agree on not rezzing dead members or healing out of your group, unless the other groups healer bit the dust.

[SpritRaja]

Quarter@Venekor wrote: <blockquote><p>This really becomes a problem in certain raid zones. FTH comes to mind, 3rd named. Cure dot or keep mt alive while other healers cure dots? All comes down to assigning people to jobs.</p><p>Best bet is to just let the MT healers take care of the MT (unless otherwise instructed, but try to help a little). If they can't do it, then they should not be with the MT imo. In dire situations or where necessary, you'll sometimes sacrafice an assassin's hate or something for a druid in the MT group, but not too often. Druids, imo, are better spot healers for anyone who needs it. Otherwise..we're gonna always be last on heal parse. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Something fun to do though, and challenging..do a raid zone with nothing but druids. It will make you appreciate clerics and shamans so much more. Like labs or something, holy spike damage. And thank goodness for MT mit buffs lol..</p></blockquote> While that dot is on someone in the raid the name is AEing big every half second about 6meter radius. Cure Trauma here is primary objective. MT healers should keep their emergencies up for this time.

[TheBu]

<p>I guess i normall cast like this. </p><p>ther diffrent stages to healing.. the intro. wer ther need for mad healing. </p><p>[before inc] Hibernation Greater Bloodflow ( hot) to MT </p><p>[engaded] Barbarous Intimidation (debuff) Maddening Swarm  (debuff)</p><p>Greater Bloodflow ( hot) to MT  Nature's Elixir Killing Swarm</p><p>When a tank/someone has agro in my group and mt steal needs alot of healing i use bloodflow on the mt and group heals. Hibernation Owl's Reparation( group hot) Shriek of the Untamed(group heal)</p><p>[WTSHTF] is wer we rock is when it gets bad. Druids are the fastest healers..  so u need to heal who ever on that raid window that is not at 100% group heals to the group and all other heals to other groups. </p><p>if u want ot out parse a warder then u need to make sure everyone at a 100% health as fast as possable.</p><p>[edit]ps someone said something about a macro... it is good to have 5 macros 1 to target mt, one for each of the three main heals usablitly bloodflow, btf, and elixir on the mt. and the all mighty /assist macro so u can heal who getting hit</p>