Simple Software Independent Healing

[Svpernova09]

A lot of people ask me how I manage my healing. So here is how I accomplish healing in my group. This is software dependent. When I first started running instances and really needing a dedicated healer, I was bouncing between KeyClone and ISBoxer setups so I needed something that worked in both.

This is not the best way to heal, this is not meant to be the end all be all healing. IMO the best way to heal is to use repeater regions + clique with ISBoxer. I can't stand clique so I don't use this method. There will be different ways you can do what I do, you can easily setup key maps for this instead of using key binds. It all comes down to personal preference. The method of making this happen is not as important as what is actually happening.

My normal team: (Shaman Healer)
Baylen - Tank
TheRuiner - Melee DPS
Menage - Healer
Aahh - Ranged DPS
Trois - Ranged DPS

F4-F12 is unbound on the 4 toons that are NOT the healer.
F4 - Macro:

/tar theruiner
/cast lesser healing waveF5 - Macro:

/tar menage
/cast lesser healing waveF6 - Macro:

/tar aahh
/cast lesser healing waveF7 - Macro:

/tar trois
/cast lesser healing waveMy healer's assist key is this macro:

/tar party1So when I need to update everyone's focus (party leader change or just want to make the healer target the main again), I hit this key and it makes the healer target the main. So his default target is the party leader. I also manually invite my alts, so that they are always in the same order, you can substitute whatever you like, but it was easier for me when I was learning to heal, since F4-F7 was the party order on my main.

F8 - Riptide
F9 - Oh shit Macro

/stopcasting
/cast nature's swiftness
/cast healing waveF10 - Healing Wave
F11 - Lesser Healing Wave
F12 - Chain Heal

All 3 shaman have this macro to where if I need focused heals on the tank for some reason.


/stopcasting
/tar party1
/cast lesser healing wave


As well as this to heal themselves in the event of massive damage on the ranged toons.


/cleartarget
/cast lesser healing wave


So now I run around and start blowing stuff up, and oh look, the tank is bleeding. Since I've hit my assist macro, which assigns party1 to focus on the slaves, and targets the party1 on the healer, I can simply hit F8-F12 for whichever heal I need. If my DK starts taking damage (he's a bit of an aggro whore, Frost Presence is good for DPS rite?) I can simply spam F4 so the healer targets him, and spams some LHW. Same for anyone else in the party.

BUT SVPER! YOU RUN AROUND QUESTING WITH A DEDICATED HEALER OMG DPS LOSS!!!oneoneone!!

No, this is my instance setup, when I'm just running around doing dailies, my healer is dual specc'ed as Elemental. So I have the 3 shaman Chain Heal bound to Control +1. So if I need to heal up, I simple tap Control + 1 a couple times.

So this is how I keep my team alive. Hopefully this gives you some insight into how you can easily implement a dedicated healer in your setup.

[Bloodcloud]

this is also the base of how I do it , except
- with the num pad
- target not on name base but party[1-4], player

- additional on screen buttons (software dependant)

see for HKN setup: http://www.dual-boxing.com/showpost.php?p=231037&postcount=5

[shaeman]

Thanks for posting this - very timely, as i've just duel specced one of my shaman to resto.

I came up with pretty much the same setup as yours - although I was going to have the target macro seperate from the lesser healing wave, however I like your way better (and could kick myself for not thinking about that :) )

Originally I was going to have some cast sequence on there that would cast riptide and a couple of lesser healing waves, but realised you can't guarantee you haven't already used riptide on another toon.

About the only changes I might make are the addition of one macro that heals the tank's target's target.
Just using the party specific heals for after AOE damage or damage from adds and a macro that has my elemental shaman all lesser healing wave the tank, just in case the healer died towards the end of a fight.

[Svpernova09]

Just using the party specific heals for after AOE damage or damage from adds and a macro that has my elemental shaman all lesser healing wave the tank, just in case the healer died towards the end of a fight.


I forgot to add, I do have all 3 shaman have a macro bound that is:



/stopcasting
/tar party1
/cast lesser healing wave
As well as this to heal themselves. will add to OP.


/cleartarget
/cast lesser healing wave

[shaeman]

/cleartarget
/cast lesser healing wave


Now that's neat - wouldn't have thought of that one. I would have been chain healing, but that's a great top off, or keep yourself alive macro.

[Bettysue]

I know solo healers usually like to keep their last healed target targetted so you might like to try

/cast [target=player] healing spell

for the self heal. Then whoever you targetted last will still be targetted and you can emergency heal yourself. Then again with your system it would make too much of a difference I guess it's just another way, without the visual cue...

[Khatovar]

I really don't like Clique/Grid/blah. I set up my healing to use a pass-thru region in HKN so I could use mouseover healing/curing without having to worry about targetting or slowing up on DPS. If I mouse over the group portion of my screen, I cast heals. If I'm not over that region, I'm purging and casting Riptide on my tank and Enh Shammy.

Makes things a lot easier for the transition between 5-man and 10-man, as well, since I don't have to specify 5 more units for heals and if I need to swap out someone, it has zero impact.

[Coyote]

My personal setup is rather simple:

a key which casts riptide and lhw's on the tank
a key which casts chain heal on the tank
a key which makes all my shammies chain heal themselves

So far it has been enough, but its pretty awkward when a random shammy takes a big hit. When that happens, I either have to rely on 3-4 healing stream totems to top them off, or bounce a chain heal off my tank to get them.

Binding a key to heal each party member just doesn't work for me. I need one hand in the 'wasd' region of my keyboard to tank/dps & move, and one hand at the mouse for tagettting, looking around, look-strafing and keybinds on my mouse buttons. I simply don't have a spare hand to manage F1-F12 or the num pad, and I can't spare a hand for those when the brown stuff hits the fan (which is when I really need those targetted heals mostly).

I guess a grid/clique-like or pass-region setup is more for me, but I have been reluctant to leave Keyclone. KC works for me, and I don't look forward to the hassle of setting up HKN or ISBoxer from scratch.

Is there perhaps a completely different way of managing party heals that doesn't require me to grow an extra arm or switch software?

[Greythan]

I used to be a numpad healer. I had every numpad key bound to something and even had 6 or so set up for "alt" usage. Probably close to 20 keys.

Worked fine.

However, I switched to healbot using repeater regions in IS and have not looked back. My healing is much better now as I don't have to remember what key goes to what toon, but simply what click casts what spell.

Highly recommend it.