Since I started playing MMORPGs, I have always played the role of the Healer. I did have a few jobs that require direct contact, but I wanted a challenge. That changed when I started playing World of Warcraft. I’ve been playing the role of a Warlock for a year now. Actually, the very first character I rolled was a Human Warrior. After hooking up with friends I met in Final Fantasy XI, I re-rolled Horde and made an Undead Warrior. After some coaching from a good friend of mine, I retired Warrior after 10 levels (20 levels as a Human before re-rolling)…and rolled an Undead Warlock, which I traded later for a Blood Elf when Burning Crusade was released. Well, that’s enough of how I started playing the Warlock class. This is about treating those who are helping you [and the group]. I’ve been running around healing people for a few years. All this time helping others and I never get anything in return, except for the times when I get reimbursed for tele-porting another player in Ragnarok Online. It was the same in Final Fantasy XI. There are some examples of Healer abuse I have witnessed in WoW. One of them occurred when I ran The Shattered Halls. I don’t remember the full setup. All I know is that there was a Warrior for a Tank, and a Priest, who we recruited into the party from the guild I used to be in. Things went well until we got to the second boss, Warbringer O’Mrogg…that when I was reminded of all the things I went through as a healer, even though I’m a Warlock.

The Priest did his thing and kept everyone alive. Nothing bad there…he was doing great. The Tank wasn’t doing all that well… Whenever the boss preformed his special attacks, he would come towards me to put an end to my DoT casting. After a few hits, I was welcomed with the choice to go back to the graveyard…or just wait until someone revived me. The Priest tried to heal me before it was too late. After getting revived, we ate and drank and faced the boss a few more times. This is were I got annoyed: Whenever the boss did that attack of his, he comes at me, getting rewarded with the choice of the Graveyard or wait for a revive. Once again, we were all revived…then the Warrior started to complain about the Priest’s job. He claimed that he wasn’t healing everyone “enough”. How much is “enough”? This is the complement that irked me. I know it wasn’t aimed towards me… it’s just that I happened to play one of “them” a few years ago; the Healer role, and getting the same complaint from a certain player. Do you think this is the Priest’s fault? I don’t think so…

A Healer cannot heal when he/she is low on Mana.

A Healer cannot heal when he/she has no Mana.

A Healer cannot heal when the player is dead.

A Healer cannot heal while reviving a fallen player.

This is what the Priest went through as each of us were getting slaughtered. Not to mention lagging. As a witness, he did heal everyone accordingly. Apparently, the boss was too fast for the Tank to keep up. It started to get ugly between the Priest and the Warrior. This was the final attempt on the boss. We preformed our duties the same way the last couple of times–only to have the boss in my face, getting killed once again…

Then the Warrior…

Then the Priest…

Then the other party members…

…This is not the Priest’s fault.

…It’s the Tank’s fault! The Tank admitted earlier that he hasn’t tanked in a longtime since he had just returned from a 6 month break. The Priest plays almost everyday. In fact, he plays just as much as I do–Casual-ish. Although, he has been playing longer than me. Beside his Priest, he has a Mage, who had just made it to Level 70 that week. It’s also odd… that whenever the boss did his spinning move, the boss would come to me. This happened three times in a row. In the final attempt, I suggested that I move to the back of the room after applying my DoTs on the boss. That would only reset the boss, quoted the Warrior. Hmm…I decided to hold back on my DPS–to only two spells…and only two spells. Sadly, the results were the same. Also, if I remember correctly, the people in the party died in the same order: Yours truly, followed by the other two group members, the Healer, finally–the Tank. After wiping, the Warrior gave the Priest a lecture on how to heal–only for The Priest to tell him off. The Warrior responded with a “Suck it”, then left the party. Disappointed, the other group members left, only leaving me and the Priest behind. I stayed with the Priest for a few minutes to congratulate him on his efforts in the instance and talked to him about my past as a Healer. Thanks to these childish accusations, he spent more time playing the Mage class.

“The Healer always get blamed…I hate that logic!”

Quoted for Truth…Period.

When the player is preforming badly, all he/she can do is blame the healer. This is the way I was treated in Ragnarok Online and Final Fantasy XI. Now I refuse to let that happen to me again in WoW, especially playing the Paladin class, where I intend to perfect in the Retribution spec. Playing Paladin, I have been careful to steer clear of the problems I encountered in other games. There are some jobs that were not meant to be full-time healers–with the exception of healing equipment or a particular class spec. Although I do need to be a backup healer whenever another Healer has fallen–which is one of my favorite things to do. Unlike in FFXI, I was forced to be a full healer, without warning, when my job was SMN/RDM (WHM was under-leveled at the time) from a horrible Tarutaru player with Monk as his main class–with no subjob. To be honest, I like to heal people–but I don’t like it when someone questions my abilities or tells me how I should heal them. Fortunately, playing as a Healer in other MMORPGs, I was praised more than bashed helping people out in need. I’m very proud of that. After all I’ve been through, now I know what to do when something doesn’t look good. Just leave the group.