[Night_Stalker]

This is why I dislike being healer in almost every MMO. People seem to take for granted the fact that you alone keep the team alive, and you have to work hard doing it. Nobody stops to say "Thanks for not letting us die at that level 200 raid boss, it would have really sucked if we all wiped."

Instead, people will say (in WoWs case) "Wow, that was some insane DPS" or, "Nice combo!". Never have I heard "Wow, nice heals", or "Great job ".

Honestly, it's nice to be recognized for your good/hard work, and we enjoy it when people compliment us on it; it makes us feel like we contributed to the success of the group. But 90% of the time, nobody says anything to the priest other than "wtf, why didn't you heal me? I was at low hp!" after you had just spent all your mana trying to keep the zergers alive.

Sort of a rant, but I felt the need to express my opinion on the matter :p

[Omegaforce]

Heh, I know how you feel sometimes. It never fails with me, every MMO i play I'm always a healer. True it might be a thankless job because your expected to just heal and keep people alive when someone does compliment me on my heals though it makes me feel like I'm going above the norm. Not to mention if you get a good reputation on your server people will always ask you to heal for parties, quests, or fights. That's my drive to continue healing for people

[Midgarsormr]

Healers get complimented depending on how good of healers they are or if they have crazy mana/mp, just like how DPS get complimented for doing crazy damage. The reason they don't seem to get as thanked as much is because it -is- the healer's job to heal you. Just like in real life, people don't usually get thanked for doing their jobs. DPS don't get thanked for DPS'ing either, it's only if you're incredibly good at the class that you are complimented. And healing is also a hard job, which is why most healers are criticized for doing a "mediocre" job. They aren't discriminated against, it's the same for -every- class. Warrior: "Wow, what a weak warrior", or "Could you stop taking hate"? Paladins: "Good job keeping the hate off me ", etc. etc.

Also, it's not like healers are supposed to be worshipped endlessly for doing their job. Healers need you as much as you need them. They have no defense and do no damage, so being by themselves is a pain in the ***.

[Necrosis]

Whats so special about healers role that they need to be thanked? Everyone has their role and only when done incorrectly does it become evident. Or should my next game include chat hotkeys thanking my healer everytime I get healed, everytime I get buffs, and everytime the tank gets the aggro off me?

[Marchosias]

From my experience, actually, the better the healing the less you notice it. I've seen people come in with a quick save and whoever they saved from that last-minute death will tell "Damn, nice heals, man," when really it was them being lazy that let the person get so low in the first place (I'm definitely not saying every time someone gets low/dies it's from the healer being lazy, just in this circumstance). Whereas the best healer keeps everyone topped off fairly well throughout (again, not always the case... sometimes it's good to let the dps get low if they're not getting hit that often, then just throw them a heal to top off every now and then so you can concentrate on the tank... just saying in this circumstance). I've never played a healer, I can't stand it personally, this is just an observation from a buddy of mine who played a priest in WoW (and he was pretty damned good, so I believe him).

However, I played a rogue... and an alliance at that, so believe me, if I got a heal period in pvp, good or not, I appreciated the hell out of that. If someone healed me once I'd usually either bow or give them a "thanks, man." If someone actually healed me consistently throughout a fight... well, that person is getting one hell of a verbal e-hug. In PvE, though, I suppose you're pretty much right, although I would disagree on other classes getting praised. I've heard "nice heals" a hell of a lot more than "nice dps." Usually, I think it's pretty situational who gets thanked. Take Vael for instance, if the tanks rotate well, they get commended. If rogues were supposed to watch kicks and make sure a boss/add didn't get a cast off (I suppose add more than boss... I can't think of a specific boss that you could interrupt like that), then they might get commended. So, while heals may be harder on one particular fight, the healer isn't doing anything out of the ordinary aside from having to step up their game a bit, so it's not noticed as much when they put in that extra effort.

[Cynthe]

I've been finding myself really enjoying being a healer more and more. I don't feel like it's a thankless job, I'm supposed to heal why should people thank me? Should I thank the tank for keeping hate and making my job easier? Well maybe, but generally I don't. However in good parties that function well I end up adding people to my friend's list and vice versa, you get asked for help on other things and that's all the 'thank you' I need personally. :D

Now the only time I'd feel like an abused healer is when people demand things of you that aren't really part of your job, like some dude in another party harrassing you to rez them.. Like I said in another thread, but that can be attributed to bad social skills as well.

[Meleoffs]

Thankless indeed, but I still like playing them. :P

I just hate how they can't do anything alone... including the starting levels.

[Kolossus]

I have always made it a point to thank and give praise to every member of my Linkshell for the jobs they do.

Whether they are outside of the alliance, taking care of adds, providing backup cures/status cures from the outside, or in the main alliance, providing the heavy fire power, the main cures, or our main buffers. Everyone makes the team successful, simple as that. We've even had lower level members come out on jobs in the 40's and 50's, just to lend a hand with cures, status cures, and to cheer us on. It's a great morale boost to see a level 50 BRD make their way up through dangerous mobs that would slaughter 75's, just to help out the team.

As a once main tank, now backup, I thank all of you healers who don't feel you receive any praise or gratitude. Without you, tanking wouldn't really be able to happen.

[Ether]

Often in lineage 2 videos when the player gets healed, there's a thank message on the screen. I get thanks all the time as a healer.
Sounds like you've been encountering a lot of disrespectful newbs in game...:rolleyes:

[Knite]

No one says,

"Thanks for being a good tank."
"Thanks for the DPS."
"Thanks for the heals"
"Thanks for the nukes."
"Thanks for the crowd control"

What people thank for are what directly affects them... when combat isnt happening. ie:

"Thanks for the res."
"Thanks for the buffs."
"Thanks for the group."

Why, I'll never know. Just take a sec when you're done to say good job everyone and more people go away happy. If someone went above and beyond, recognize it.

[Dakin]

In my experience in FFXI the only times people were thanked for exceptional performance was in big fights/raids. In normal xp parties it was pretty much understood that each person was doing their job correctly or they would get crap about it. I would go out of my way in the future to invite nice/good healers to parties and events and such. It is true many players don't get the thanks they deserve for being awesome at their job.

[Shinkotetsu]

Ether said:

Often in lineage 2 videos when the player gets healed, there's a thank message on the screen. I get thanks all the time as a healer.
Sounds like you've been encountering a lot of disrespectful newbs in game...:rolleyes:

I sure as hell thank the healers in the party, they keep us alive, lol, that goes for all mmo's.

[Dallyoop]

I played both WHM and a BRD in FFXI. Then tanks in later games.

And i actually found that in my experience, and this MIGHT be due to the fact that FFXI had just come out in NA at the time, But there was sooooo many BAD tanks and healers and players in general... that people went out of their way to compliment people that did a good job.

In FFXI i started off as a WHM, but i got so sick of bad tanks letting me die, that i finally switched over to BRD. I don't think i died because i was a bad healer (like pulling too much hate), as i tended to get alot of compliments and re-invites whenever i logged in.

Funny enough though, i found that i actually got the MOST compliments when i became a bard class. Mostly because i took the time to set the party up in such a way that i was able to make sure each group got exactly the song they needed. And i actually took the time to practice in order to have the song order down and the perfect distance between groups so that i could cast properly.

So i guess my point is, it all comes down to being a good player, but not just raw talent or any garbage like that...but actually taking the time to learn to do things RIGHT. THAT is the thing that will get you compliments. Not healing... but healing well and learning your class to the best of your ability.


Healing is NOT a job for slackers or people with low attention spans. A-D-D will get your party killed.

[Swati]

Necrosis said:

Whats so special about healers role that they need to be thanked? Everyone has their role and only when done incorrectly does it become evident. Or should my next game include chat hotkeys thanking my healer everytime I get healed, everytime I get buffs, and everytime the tank gets the aggro off me?

Kneel and kiss the feet of your healers while your at it cupcake :D

[Dakin]

I played DRK in FFXI, my healers should be thanking me for dishing out huge numbers and sustaining myself!

[Fayeth]

Healing has always been my favorite role, in every game ive played. It takes certain type of player i believe in order to enjoy heal bot. Healers really only get thanked in 2 cases:

1) The person talkign to you has a healer alt or is a healer main and is fimilar with the quest/ fight youre doing and you preformed much better then they did at it OR impressed them with something different you tried that they haven't thought of.

2) The tank or group make up is clearly poor to everyone in the party and its a statement of fact that you quick reation time and knowledge of your class (along with good burst dps or if it was teh dps that sucked... awesome tanking) where the only things pulling the group thur the encounter.

But really... isn't this true of all classes? You only thank your tank when you yourself know how hard the job is, or he went god mode and tanked the crap out of everything and poped prefectly timed abilites and pots to make up for poor healing or added mobs. Or your dps, you only say somethign to them when the tank keeps dieing/sucking but they are able to kite/cc it up and just shear force burn the mobs.

Sure the healer keeps the party alive, but the tank keeps the healer alive and the dps makes it possible to kill the mobs in teh 1st place. It just goes back to balance. TBH if people thanked me all teh time for beng a good healer then it wouldnt mean as much to me as it does when you actually do hear it.

Marchosias said:

From my experience, actually, the better the healing the less you notice it. I've seen people come in with a quick save and whoever they saved from that last-minute death will tell "Damn, nice heals, man," when really it was them being lazy that let the person get so low in the first place

I have noticed this to be true, where i looked away to my cat or something and came back to throw some quick instance casts ans such and peoepl are all impressed and youre just liek mm well if i wasnt a dumbass that wouldnt have happened at all. I wouldnte really call this being thanked tho as these statements normally come from peopel that dont know what they are doing... real players would have noticed that you stood there for 50 second standing still with full mana while your party died.

[Flep]

Meh. Everyone has their role, and no one really gets thanked. There's not much difference between a DamageDealer not being thanked for nuking and a healer not being thanked for healing.

If however in WoW I had a long ghost-run ahead of me, I would lavish a decent wedge of praise and thanks on a passing healer who resses me, so they get more thanks than most.

[Tez]

i think you all healers and those who do there jobs and are incredible healers always get thanks

[Melinah]

Every job is thankless unless you excel at it. That mage who nukes stuff down isn't going to get props unless they pulled some stellar move.

I always worked hard and healed my bum off, paid attention in raids and parties when I knew the other healers were off getting pizza or something. So I did better and got thanked more.

I didn't care, it was always about personal challenges for me. I didn't need someone telling me I'd done a good job to know wether I had or not.

If a tank can't tank and a rogue can't damage they suck, if they can it's expected. Same goes for healing.

[Onikage36]

I am going to get to the main point of this. The healers, I thank for healing, i for the first time started playing one in Guild Wars and it is vital to do you job. If they thank me or not, I don't care, I am just glad the job is getting done. When I played FFXI, I had a bad experience were the healer was not doing their job and go off and just start attacking and die before rest of party or cause the aggro and pals to come and wipe out the group.