Teach me how to be a healer

[Vampiregenesis]

Ok i went 2 mythics today , first one i died a lot but i managed to end it and the second i managed to do 2 bosses then got kicked , i currently have 826ivl gear , my style of healing probably works for heroics and maybe for mythics if the team is good but i think overall its too slow and confusing and certainly not optimal , here is what i do:

i move with mouse , i focus heal the tank and i heal the rest of the team with healbot (clicking bars with mouse buttons) and i also use buttons for aoe healing , the problem is that i move with mouse and clicking bars is not the easiest thing when things get messy like wrath of azhara etc , i would like to be a raid healer but i just cant see how it will be possible if i play like this , here is what i want:

I know that autotarget healing is not possible but i think that moving frames under cursor automatically should be possible , i think it should be possible for frames based on conditions to appear under the cursor and this would convert the mouseover macros to autotarget healing macros

This is the only way i can think , my biggest problem is that i move with mouse and i will never get used to move with keyboard , i play like this since 2004 , for those of you who move with mouse , how do you do it? Post your styles of healing , i really need to improve and iw ould like advice.

[PeopleReady]

Keybind or die.

[Caladia]

You move with the mouse as in you push both buttons to run forward, or as in you hold down right button to strafe and spin the camera?

[Vampiregenesis]

Keybind or die.

i play with keybinds , clicking bars means that flash heal is keybinded on left click as mouseover

You move with the mouse as in you push both buttons to run forward, or as in you hold down right button to strafe and spin the camera?

push both buttons

[Icoblablubb]

uff you can't help someone who dont want to use keyboard sry .. how can u even move out of shit when u have to heal a dropping player i don't see u even in a normal raid sry ... its either u heal and can't move and die to every shit or u have to mousemove and let everyone else die

[Haywire5714]

Moving with your mouse will fuck you if you're going to click on health bars with healbot. I also click on health bars with healbot but I move with WASD so there are no problems. I would recommend switching to mouseover macros (aka keybinding spells to your keyboard) if you want to continue moving with your mouse, but doing both with your mouse is going to cause serious overlap problems regardless of how many side buttons it has.

[Vampiregenesis]

So what im doing wrong is moving with mouse right? but i think there is another option using mouseover macros and trying to make it so that the frame appears under the cursor somehow.

[Caladia]

If it were possible, there would probably already be an addon to take advantage of that. Considering you've got Healbot already setup for your mouseclick heals, it would be the easier route to re-train yourself to use the keyboard for movement. If you find it hard to do while also doing dungeons, it might be easier/better to start a new character and level while questing and forcing yourself to use the keyboard. That way none of your interactions are indeed life threatening for your new toon with heirlooms.

[Ealyssa]

This is the only way i can think , my biggest problem is that i move with mouse and i will never get used to move with keyboard

Don't heal then. Simple as that.

There is no magical solution. You need the mouse cursor to heal, so you have to let it free while moving.

Actually I can think of a solution. Make a macro @raidmember for every spells and every players of your raid/dungeon. Enjoy the keybinds.

[anon5123]

You cannot heal while using mouse to move. You just can't.

You might be able to, by using a Razer Naga and just using hotkeys to switch targets...but even then, healing in a raid would be impossible, unless you restrict yourself to 10mans and use F1 - F10 for targeting.

What is so hard about WSAD?

[Holofernes]

nobody that does difficult content does move with mouse. mouse is needed for mousepointing unitframes ,combined with mouseover keybinds for spells and any unitframe and camera adjustment to see where adds are coming from/ where other players are and how they are positioned to make decision of what spells to use.

Und u dont want a frame pop under your cursor, because u need to see stuff. thats the most important thing in this game as a healer, its awareness of surroundings.

[Vampiregenesis]

I just noticed you cant switch camera if the cursor is on the frame which is enough on its own to ruin this method , another way would be to move with arrows and let mouse cursor on the frame but if i can learn to move with arrows then i may aswell learn to move with wasd , anyway.

As a dps i never had a problem playing the way i do , the only hard part was mouseover wand tremor totems (back on wotlk) and using abilities like death and decay , nevertheless i toped the meters and played on high ratings pvp , i assume that healer requires a different playstyle , if you dont have a naga mouse or something then im pretty sure my method is much faster and easier as a dps at least because you cant hit keyboard keys easily when you move and you cant use as many.

Anyway , so how do you keybind your moving keys ? whats the best way? w move forward then a-d strafe or turn?

[Fascinate]

I just target the person by clicking raid frames, and have every keybind on my naga. The only buttons i press on my keyboard are qwes/spacebar/ctrl/shift. Mouseover macros are not a good habit to get into or are healing addons, this will cripple you eventually.

[Leyre]

either learn to move with w-e-r-d, or quit healing

[Deleted]

Unbind the mouse movement you have set since 2004. For at least three days it'll be horrible, the following week it'll feel weird but bearable, within a month you will get used to it enough that it doesn't feel unnatural, after that it'll just be routine. Not a big investment for becoming a raid healer.

For movement keys, don't bind (Q)W(E)ASD as is default. Move it at least one key to the right, the further the better. That way you have access to more keybinds. => Using W for forward your little finger has no access to keys on the keyboard. Using E for forward, Q and A are now free to keybind spells on, with no loss of space towards the right.

EDIT:

[...] Mouseover macros are not a good habit to get into or are healing addons, this will cripple you eventually.

Why the hell are mouseovers bad?

[callipygoustp]

The advice has been given several times : learn to move with the keyboard or forget about being a competent healer. It really is that simple. You can keep hemming and hawing about it, but, there's no getting around it.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Bit of an advanced topic, but since you are asking I'd take a moment to watch this.
Very important part of being a healer now.

[Morgenna]

You can heal while using your mouse to move. I use mouseover macros on raid frames without any problems. Don't use healbot, use Elvui.

[Fascinate]

Unbind the mouse movement you have set since 2004. For at least three days it'll be horrible, the following week it'll feel weird but bearable, within a month you will get used to it enough that it doesn't feel unnatural, after that it'll just be routine. Not a big investment for becoming a raid healer.

For movement keys, don't bind (Q)W(E)ASD as is default. Move it at least one key to the right, the further the better. That way you have access to more keybinds. => Using W for forward your little finger has no access to keys on the keyboard. Using E for forward, Q and A are now free to keybind spells on, with no loss of space towards the right.

EDIT:



Why the hell are mouseovers bad?

Never said they were bad, i said they will cripple you eventually. There are so many different types of situations in this game relying on them is just a bad starting place. Get some good keybinds and click to target, get good at this and you will be thankful later.

[Djriff]

Never said they were bad, i said they will cripple you eventually. There are so many different types of situations in this game relying on them is just a bad starting place. Get some good keybinds and click to target, get good at this and you will be thankful later.

For the longest time I believed that, however i started using them about a couple months ago, and honestly it made healing a lot easier. You don't have to mouse over everything, but in the long run it saves me around 10-15 seconds of delay over a 2-3m fight which can be the difference between life or death.