I don't do Veteran Flashpoints. I only do Master.
I used to do
Veterans, when I was still levelling up. For
that period, I guess it makes sense. But once I had the gear and what I
considered sufficient knowledge, I left Veterans behind. Since then, I only
do Masters.
Veterans are degrading for a healer in two ways.
1st,
you may not have a tank. Most Tacticals I did, in fact, were me and three
Damagers. That's a Healer's nightmare! Three Leroy Jenkinses, who all expect
me to keep them alive. True, the fights are dumbed down compared to Master, but
still, the principle upsets me.
2nd, the boss fights have
kolto stations. Seriously? Let's consider the lunacy of that. You're a boss
in an FP. As preparation for intruders, you set up kolto stations around
your combat area that only the intruders will actually use -- neither
you nor your supporting mobs will gain any benefit from them. Mind-boggling.
And as The Healer, the kolto stations make you almost irrelevant.
Why are you even there? What purpose do you serve?
It's not an
entirely rhetorical question, because I know the answer. In the absence of
any other relevant criteria, the answer to "What is the
purpose of the Healer?" is, quite simply: to take the blame when things
go to hell.
There are "manuals" for every role in an FP group, a
set of instructions to which the particular role adheres. Never seen one?
That's no surprise. These "manuals" don't really exist in the physical
world. But they very much do exist in the form of a collective
"wisdom" that one gains via the hard knocks of "experience" (real
experience -- don't confuse it with "experience points" that determine when
you level). Or, from a negative perspective -- a collection of dubious
assumptions.
Confusing? Examples will help. Here are excerpts
about Healers from each of the "role manuals".
TANK MANUAL: the healer is my buddy. He
keeps me alive. Unless I'm a bad tank, in which case it's the
healer's fault if things don't work out.
DPS
MANUAL: if I die, it's the dumb-shit healer's fault. That's obvious.
I'll prove it by using ALL-CAPS when I cuss him out for it in group-chat.
HEALER MANUAL: may the Force grant me
the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the
things I can and the wisdom to hide the bodies of dumbass DPSers who pissed
me off by being Leroys and then blamed me for their death.
Anyway
... all future comments in this space refer to things that happened in
Master Flashpoints.