DPS: How to Earn Your Healer’s Love

Early last month, Amava left a comment on my request for what you readers might like to see me write about this year. His comment:

Something I’d be interested to hear more about from the perspective of a person who plays on both sides of the fence: what are the little things that healers notice in their DPS teammates.

Are there small details, beyond the basic “get out of the fire” or “that hunter’s pet just peeled a mob off of me”, that help make a DPS player shine in the eyes of the healing corps?

Since I knew I’d be leaving South Dakota on Valentine’s Day to spend a week in the Los Angeles area, I thought this would make a great topic to coincide with the in-game seasonal event, "Love Is In the Air," which begins today. Sure, you can be a Fool for Love, but don’t lose the love of your healers!¹

So here are some ideas I came up with on my own. Then I asked the Twitterati for their input, which follows my comments.

• Come prepared to raid. In this particular sense, I mean have a stack of Bandages and at least one, if not two, stacks of heal pots. I realize that in most fights, for mana users, you’re more likely to want to pop a Runic Mana Potion, but consider whether you should really be going out of mana (OOM).
• Don’t imperil your healers through your direct action, or inaction. For example (everyone knows this one, right?), if you’re a hunter and somehow pull aggro, do not Feign Death next to a healer. How ironic is it when a hunter stays close to a healer to drop a Freezing Trap in case a mob decides the priest is George, then feigns death when there is no trap, and the hunter is George? Similarly, if you have an effect on you that might cause you to blow up and cause damage to those around you, GET AWAY! Don’t assume you’ll be decursed, dispelled, or otherwise have the affect removed.
• Druids: Innervate is nice, but ask first—I just may have taken a pot and/or sent in my Shadow Fiend, among other things. When Battle Rezzed, I actually have at least 4700 mana, so innervation isn’t necessarily a priority. I’d much prefer to see you use that for yourself, Boomkins.
• Speaking of Rebirth: Know where your healers are in case you need to battle rez one. If you’re tasked to bring one of us back and you don’t see me right away, it’s okay to say in Vent, “Osprey ping the map!” (If it isn’t, you need to have a talk with your RL. Of course, I should be pinging anyway as soon as I hear the direction for someone to rez me.)
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, don’t pull aggro. And if you do, run to the tank, not around the area like a little girl, especially if I’m spamming you with heals while you’re no longer DPSing

As promised, here’s what some of my friends on Twitter had to say. (Incidentally, my notes above were made before I asked for additional input; it’s gratifying to know we all are on the same page here!)

Desdarii (Mage Blog: The Adventures of Desdarii)

DPS willing to throw themselves at danger to save the healer even blowing cooldowns. Save the healer. Save the group.

elunesguidance (Blog: Elune’s Guidance)

Save me from being beat upon. Ex: dropping a trap close to my feet, or to Frost Novaing the baddie that thinks I’m tasty.

katagirl

manage threat, manage threat. I could say that a few more times. other than that… manage threat

kuroyume (Blog: Meatshield)

Tank PoV: if a dps puts the group’s success above himself, he’s ok in my book, Taking a hit for the healer, for example

LadyJess (Blog: Casualtree of War(craft))

Without a doubt I totally LOVE it when my DPSers have good first aid skills, AND use bandages when they need to.

meghandra (Blog: What Heals?)

when my dps makes sure the loose mobs don’t kill me by pulling them and trusting I will heal them through it.

nothe

Cover your back. If someone’s gonna die to a loose add, it’ll be me or my cat, not you. Same w/ when I’m Retting it up. HoP!

Rhoelyn (Blog: Beneath Two Skies)

The DPSers that appreciate the healing and at least make some effort to make sure aggro stays where it should are my peeps.

santyn (Blog: Lethal Shots)

I’m not a healer, but I have used my pet to save many a healer.