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So here you are, playing a healer in an MMORPG. Maybe you like healing.

More often than not, you didn't choose to play a healer because you like healing, though: you chose it so that you could get groups easily, or you drew the short end of the stick at the "Who's gonna play what" guild meeting. Maybe you just want to try something new.

No matter how you cut it though, you're a healer - and as simple of a question it sounds, you really have to ask, how do I heal? Sure, there's my heal spells, and I get that I have to target someone and cast them, but what's going to make me a healer?

First: understand your spells.

There are many types of heals available to healers, and every healer class has a different style of healing based on the type of healing spells they can use.

The most basic heal is a direct single target heal. This heals a specific amount of damage done to the target; for instance, 500 health. These heals are also often single target; for groups, there are AoE (Area of Effect) heals, which heal more than one player based on either a targeted area, an area around another person (radius), or point blank (a radius around the caster.) There are also self-only heals, but these won't make you a healer in a group.

Besides direct heals, there are also several types of healing spells: spread healing, in which healing is strategically used based on health and other pre-programmed factors; vampiric healing, in which healing is caused by the proporptionate amount of damage the healer does; and heals over time (HoTs) which do a set amount of healing but in small increments over a set amount of time.

Healers often get a few utility spells that aid in their healing. The two major kinds of these are shields, which prevent incoming damage for either a set amount of damage or a set amount of time, and reactive spells, which usually heal or shield a target when they've been hit.

Because spells vary from game to game, it's important that you learn the details of each of your spells in depth. This is necessary to take the next step in becoming a good healer:

Learn to match spells to situations.

For instance, fighting mobs between bosses ("trash") may not require a lot of healing. Smaller heals and heals over time may make these fights easier. But during boss fights, larger heals, protective shields, and various combination heals may be best. Some fights may require group healing because of AoE damage.

There are innumberable encounters out there, and it's up to you, as a healer, to know how to best heal a situation so that no one dies (especially not the tank.) I personally believe that a healer should know a fight as well as a tank does; both have an equally important job to keep the rest of the group alive.

Next, be conservative with your heals.

This doesn't mean wait to heal until someone's at 20% health; it does mean, however, that for most fights, being above 95% or even 90% isn't necessary all the time - even for the tank. While there are many paranoid people out there who think that if they're not at full health, or almost there, the healer is doing a terrible job and they might die at any minute, they're just that - paranoid.

The truth of the matter is, healers are usually limited by mana, energy, or some other restricting factor that doesn't allow them to cast unlimited heals. If you're constantly healing everyone to full when they don't need it, you're wasting a valuable resource that may be needed later in the battle. Being conservative not only means that you'll be able to last throughout the entire battle, but it will also reduce downtime between fights, meaning the group as a whole can move faster.

Finally, always be prepared.

Preparing for a battle - having whatever consumables, gears, buffs, etc. you need - is everyone's responsibility, but is very important for a healer. If you're a healer that relies on mana, and don't bring mana potions, you may find your group dead because you were out of one thing that could have saved the group. Walking into a challenging instance empty-handed and blind is going to place unnecessary danger to the group.

You will have to accept that being a healer costs money, and takes time to not only perfect the art of, but also takes time to prepare for group encounters. You're also a rare  breed, one that's hard to find, so if you need to leave a group, let them know ahead of time and help look for a replacement. Good grouping etiquette goes a long way to turn you into a fantastic healer.