In my previous entry, I made this comment: "I'm all
for 'helpful suggestions on how I may improve.'"
Truly! It may not
seem that way, given my tone of frustration / disbelief / arrogance
/ condescension, but I do want to be better.
The problem is: I'm
good. Every FP I do without healer-fault death rams the point home. I'm good
and I damn well know it.
And therein lies the danger. No example of
this is more poignant for me than the Case of Devrim.
Healer's Log 20160806. Lost Island.
LI is my favorite FP --
hard bosses that require lots of thinking and even dangerous trash-pulls.
Devrim is the tank and he's good. He also spends enough time clearly
explaining the fights without overdoing it. And with such an expert healer?
We sail through it!
Healer's Log 20161016. Lost
Island
Devrim and I meet again in the same spot. But now,
we're having a hard time on "Project Sav-Rak"; that's the boss who jumps on
pipes, spits poison and knocks you off the platform into the lava. It is one
of the toughest tests of a healer's ability in a SWTOR FP. This time, we're
having trouble and this time, Devrim focuses on me. He explains that his
main is a sage healer and he says I'm overusing Salvation (AoE heal), which
is bad because it (1) costs too much force and (2) doesn't heal much.
Better, says Devrim, would be Wandering Mend, because it jumps to others and
heals them more efficiently.
I'm having a hard time with his logic.
I'm also thinking of how good I am, about all the times I healed
through this difficult FP. His "advice" is so deep into "how to do my job"
that it reaches the level of "nagging". I'm not "angry". I'm frustrated and
sad and I feel my will running out of me, like water running down the drain
when you pull the bath plug. A readycheck ... I stare at it, not answering,
still trying to recover my motivation.
"Liv?"
"...Yeah."
Battle ... wipe. Run back. More "helpful healer advice". Now I'm getting
angry. Readycheck ... I'm immobile, stuck in a cloud of negative emotion.
"Liv?"
"I'm sorry. I cannot continue." I leave. I tell myself
it's better than rage-quitting.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Before I queue for another FP, I'm at the spreadsheet.
(WARNING: mathematical discussion
incoming. If you don't have the stomach for it, skip the next six
paragraphs and resume reading at the paragraph where I contemplatively
frown).
A party is
four. An operation is eight or 16. "Eight" is also the number of people in a
Warzone. Salvation (SALV) heals up to eight people. Wandering Mend (WM)
heals up to four. Each of them benefit from Conveyance, which we assume is active,
because that's what a good healer does and I, of course, am good. Yeah.
In a Party of Four,
if I perfectly hit all with WM (i.e., their distances from each other are
just right), then total HPS (heal per second) is 7,760.5; HPF (heal per
force) is 633.5. In that same party, a SALV hitting all four has HPS 2,744.4
and HPF 576.6.
Clearly, WM is better for group healing. But wait --
SALV has a greater chance of affecting all four -- with WM, each player must
be within 20m of the player with the WM buff, else WM won't jump. Based on
experience, I believe I can hit merely one person 5% of the time, two people 30%,
three about 50% and all four maybe 15% of the time. Factoring that in
(without further spamming the math), I come out to an estimated average for
the use of WM in a 4-man: HPS remains relatively constant at 7,760.5 because
of the time delay bewteen WM's jumps, but the HPF goes down to 435.54.
For SALV, I estimate a 50-50 split of getting it to cover three or four
members, which averages out to HPS 2,401.4 and HPF 504.5.
Mathematical Conclusion:
in a 4-man party, WM heals for more, but SALV uses my force power more
efficiently -- but not by much.
Hmm. Just for shits & giggles, let's
consider SALV in an 8-man op (or a Warzone). Hitting all eight people with
it is HPS 5,488.8 and HPF of 1,153.1 Can't argue with that! Of course --
that's 8-man, not 4-man; and assumes perfect conditions.
<contemplative frown> Could Devrim -- under all his unpleasant nagging and
overdblown advice -- be right?
Numbers are good, but they're only
theory, an all-things-being-equal estimate of how something might happen.
They're a good starting point, but you cannot rely on them alone.
Practical experience is where it's at.
So for the next dozen or
so FPs, I focus primarily on WM and only use SALV when I need group heals
and WM is not ready.
At the end of my testing, the result is clear:
WM is superior to SALV. The main benefit for me: more efficient use of force
power -- I can heal longer and I need Noble Sacrifice less.
Well ...
how about that?
Three weeks after Devrim drained my motivation with his
unsolicited advice, I embrace it. I sigh at the lost time. He shares the
blame -- he could have been more constructive in his criticism instead of
being a pompous know-it-all. But hey -- getting someone to
improve their behavior without irritating them is a tough line to walk. It takes a lot of emotional
intelligence and most of us aren't perfect. So rejoice and be glad --
you learned something. Forgive. Move on.
I take Devrim off /ignore.