OK...to start, I just turned Level 58 and got Tunares Renewal. I thought now I would be Uber. I created this character in March 2000 and have played part time and levelled slowly.
Due to time constraints I was not in a group or a Healer in a group since May 2000 when fighting Gnolls at the Spires in SK.
Last night I joined a new guild. Great folks. We were camping the Coterie Castle in Tenebrous Mountains. The other 2 players are a lvl 56 Cleric and a lvl 57 Paladin. Both are great players.
Well I was pulling from inside the castle, but realized that unless I allowed the Vampires to follow me and beat on me, they run back to the upper floors of the castle. But fine...things were going great and we were killing some named mobs from in there. I was pulling the mobs to the outside of the castle.
WELL......I pulled a Coterie Corruptor along with a Coterie General and another one. The Corruptor resisted everything and the Paladin tanked him great head on for a while. The Cleric kept healing him while I killed off the adds.
PROBLEM...........I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HEAL IN A GROUP SITUATION.
By now the Paladin had the Corruptor to 78%, the Cleric was Chain Healing. I threw in heals here and there, but I thought I should cast DOTS and my Epic.
But the Paladin would go from 80% health to 15% health almost instantly. The problem is our Heal spell Tunares Renewal casts so so SLOW. By the time I realized I should be a back up healer, my heals were landing at the same time as the Clerics. I was wasting precious time. I then thought my DOTS would help.
I looked at the screen and saw the Paladin at 83% health. I was watching my ever so slow Tunares Renewal cast. I then went for Winged Death when i realized the Paladin was DEAD. The Cleric was killed right after. I couldnt keep her alive. When the Corruptor had me down to 4% health my Succor kicked in and i safely gated, with tons of guilt. I didn't even think to cast Succor during fight because it looked like things were going well.
****If you are a back-up Healer, how do you time your Heals to avoid wasting them, such as avoiding landing them as the Cleric lands her Heals? Also..should I avoid nuking? I felt horrible becuase deep down I really think the 3 of us could kill the Coterie Corruptor, the add ons didnt help....but I guess I failed my group.
I have read here so often that Druids should avoid solo and group to learn, I should have taken that advice. I am comfortable at Quadding, Root/ROT, single and double or even triple pulls. I dont die that often while solo.
I realize now that after 5 and a half years playing this character, I truely don't know how to play him.

Tunare's Renewal is a "High Powered" Heal at that level, witht he trade off being a long cast time.

The other heal you should be keeping up in such a situation is Chloroblast, which casts at 3.75 seconds or quicker if you have spell haste. It heals for a base of around 1k.

I am not that fimilar with the mob in question, but I do know it was for the Paladin 1.5 Epic Quest.

Chances are, if the paladin was taking that much damage, you would have been better off patching with Chloroblast rather then trying to CH since the tank was having issues standing for 10 seconds.

DoTs are awesome to add in if you can without killing the tank, but from the sounds of the battle you probly should have patched.

At your level I kept both CB and TR up, and used TR after a mob was slowed, or the tanks hp was dropping in a controled rate, and the quicker heal if I had to patch him.

-Fenier

TR is on the same cast timer as Complete Heal - 10 seconds cast time. So it is what we call a "pseudo-complete heal". Back in the day.. it did completely heal characters due to their low HPs, but nowadays it might not.

You want to "patch" with what Fenier says, Chroloblast. Especially when you think the CH won't land in time... that is the time to blast your heal. Tunare's Renewal and Karana's Renewal are only for main healer situations... and you gotta start casting them when your tank is at 60-50% HP, maybe even higher than that.

Another trick I'd use is form a 2 person CH chain. The cleric calls their CH and you cast 6 seconds later, from there on out it's just back to back healing, and if you call yours and the cleric catches on you can easily bump up that delay if you're over-healing.

A rule of thumb I keep is if the healers mana is going down faster than the mobs health let the group know and be ready to evac. It sounds to me like that mob was too powerful regardless of your effort or skill.

Thank you for the advice, i never considered having 2 heals loaded, but now i realize i must change my tactics. Thanks and i will give it a try.

Where you casting Tunare's Renewal or Chloroblast? Was it just the three of you?

Is the General rootable? Don't both the Corruptor and General lifetap? I seem to recall an awful lot of lifetapping going on with the Coterie.

You don't want to use Tunare's for patching. Use Tunare's if you've taken over healing from the cleric. It helps if the cleric calls her heal so you have some idea when it SHOULD land. If it doesn't look like it will land in time, you patch. With an instant heal, not Tunare's. Make sure you have spell haste from the cleric (and item spell haste if possible), because Chloroblast (3.75 cast time) isn't all that fast either. Doesn't do any good for a patch to land after the CH landed (and after the tank is dead :P)

I'd have thought evac immediately with that pull, but I tend to be cautious. Since my partner and I talk (Skype) while we play, either he'd have told me to evac on the pull (he pulls, not me), or I'd have asked him if we should evac. Especially if it was just him, a cleric, and me with the Corruptor, General, and an add.

As a backup healer, you'll probably do damage most of the time. When you need to heal, it will be because the cleric died or because the cleric can't keep up with the healing. Again, use an instant heal for patch healing. Switch to Tunare's if the cleric is dead (IF there is time for that 10 seconds). If the cleric died, I almost always evac'd. Might be different with our current heals. A 1000 HP heal (Chloroblast now) at 55 gives you more options than a 428 HP heal (Chloroblast then). Especially, if you have the mana pool to survive the doubled mana cost.

Most important though is communication with the cleric, so both of you know what's expected.

I base some of this on my experience grouping from mid 40s to 61 with a pally, cleric, and beastlord. and well ... that was something like two years ago, and EQ has changed since then. Nowadays, if I'm grouped with a cleric, I rarely heal. Unless the cleric needs to get a cup of tea :P

Chloroblast Heals have been doubled for level 55+ players? I have been off a while, when did this go into effect? Do we have to buy a new Chloroblast spell to make it work or is it automatic?

Chloroblast Heals have been doubled for level 55+ players? I have been off a while, when did this go into effect? Do we have to buy a new Chloroblast spell to make it work or is it automatic?

It is automatic... all heal spells were upped a tad.

I can tell you the healing pattern I use. Even barring the difference in lvls, the same tactics apply. I always keep two heals loaded (in my case its the druid CH and Chlorotrope, for you, just sub whatever your best quick heal is) and group regen running. Depending on who's tanking, I start the CH at 60% health, or 65%, and stick to just snaring and Ching, with an occasional nuke. I can safely say the only times someone dies when I main heal is when I am slacking by watching tv (it's right beside my PC, this can be bad lol)
If you're not the Main Healer, then just patch the others, and play keep the cleric alive by watching his or her health. If it looks like the tank is dropping too fast, and you have already started the CH, just duck to interrupt, and quick patch him back up. (by the was, this tactic doesn't work with silk wearing casters..I have never used a CH on them, sometimes my patch isn't quick enough to save them.../rude to Sony for making the 65 God heal so hard for me to get, and /rude to myself for never having enough plat to get it now that it is researchable!!

I agree with most of the comments here. I have focused on the healing gift line of AAs to compliment my "fast" heals (currently Chlorotrope). Using CH can be ok to conserve mana when its appropriate (given slowed mobs and big tanks) but if you see that health bar dropping quickly switch up to the fast heals. Also, get your Exodus AA as you can always be the "emergency exit" for things when they are just going south on a bad pull or whatever.

You might even, post 65 end up with as many as 4 heals loaded(if you end up as primary healer) and use TR to patch(to 90+) pre-pull and KR during fights. Same with the quick heals, situational us is important. But at 58, TR and your Blast heal. And don't worry about wasting mana as a backup healer in a semi-unknown group. Better to have wasted mana than to lose a tank, but best to have strategy planned before overpulls.

Pretty sure the most heals I have *ever* had loaded was 3. and that was back in the day when I used TR, NT and Cblast during ToV runs.

Post 63 tho, I have tended to keep a Infusion and a Renewal Loaded.

When I used to raid, or raid with friends on my nights off, I tend to keep Infusion and Anicent becuase there is no way I am going to land a 10 second heal on someone when the mob is hitting 2500+.

If I solo, I drop the second heal and just use Infusion.

-Fenier

Only advise i can offer, when backup healing, always stick to your fast heals. IMHO backup healers are there to keep the target alive til the main healers spells land. Then its just timing.

With spell awareness you can get an idea for what spells the clerics is using, if you seem them start a cheal and the tanks hp starts to drop fast, throw in your heal. If their spell lands, duck out yours to save mana. If the cleric is spamming lights, stagger yours and let your land, most times they faster heals won't completely heal the tank, and by staggering your a couple seconds, the mob does more damage, and your heals land for full.

If you haven't worked with the other healer before, have macros on your heals. It lets them know and plan where to land their heals.

Also, if 2 people in the group are taking damage, try to get an idea of what the primary healer would do, through their past actions, or macros, or even /assisting them for their target. Then throw your heal on the other.

Just my 2cents...