Being a successful healer is knowing the fight mechanics thoroughly and knowing when to expect heavy incoming damage and dealing with it at the right time. There's a couple examples I can give you straight from Bapho/PvE, but all of this will come down to experience:
Minotaurs: They will both randomly hit the raid for 2-3k. DO NOT PANIC. Most priests I see panic and switch to raid healing beacuse they think someone will die. The only person that usually dies during this period is the tank, because he isn't getting anymore heals. Let the sorcs deal with the raid, and focus on tanks for these fights. Also, tornadoes are bad. If it were me, I would try to save idiots sitting in tornadoes because I like to push myself as a healer, but if you're just starting out I don't think there is anything you can do to save a guy standing in a tornado without sacrificing your tank.
Humbaba: Most groups are going to do the hallway pull, so this fight is extremely easy to heal. The only thing you need to look out for is people standing in bad stuff and if you pull aggro off the adds. If you are healing a tank/player, and you see 7 deviruchis gunning towards you, cancel that heal and prepare for high incoming damage on yourself. You are the most important part of the party, so save yourself first.
Baphomet: This is going to be the most troublesome fight for a healer starting out. With experience however, it's not as bad. I'll try to break down the bosses damaging abilities for you:
Scythe Attack: So at certain points throughout the fight (health-based on the boss, can't remember exact values) Baphomet will pick a random target and use a scythe attack. That person and anyone ~20 meters around that person will take ~4k damage and have a dot ticking on them. For this reason, I would never stand near the group, because it will cause you to panic and heal yourself, letting others die. Don't be with the main group, stand off to the side to prevent yourself from getting this (or if you get this, nobody else will. In this case it's extremely easy to deal with). If your raid doesn't have enough health to survive this, it is going to make it EXTREMELY difficult to do this boss, because healing will be out of your control. (REMEMBER: your raid should have potions. Once they are hit by the scythe, they should pop a potion immediately so they don't get gibbed from a dot tick+scythe combo)
Frontal AoE: So this happens usually near the same time as the scythe attack, but this is a frontal-based ability. This means tanks should never be facing baphomet towards the raid. This hits for ~5k. Once again, this is out of your control as a healer. If the tank doesn't comply, your raid will die. You shouldn't be blamed for it.
Meteor (Blue AoE): This is going to be another problem for beginner healers and takes a little bit of a quick reaction time to manage. After Baphomet spawns a horong add, he will do 2 consecutive blue AoEs on a targetted player. If you and your partner priest are coordinated, you can rotate Increase Agilities to better maneuver around to deal with this, as well as placing an Assumptio on said person so they don't die. Unmitigated this meteor hits for ~6k so it WILL kill anyone in RHD gear if it is unmitigated. (Protip: The player is just as responsible for dealing with this as you are. If a sin is targetted, it is expected that he will pop Shadow Armor to survive it. If a Wizard is targetted, he should Ice Wall. If you see one of those classes targetted, their life is in their own hands, not yours.)
Baphomet JR Adds: No big deal, tank should pick them up. If you see them gunning towards yourself similar to Humbaba, cancel that heal and get ready for incoming damage on yourself.
Horong itself: It should only be dealt with by ranged, or it will make your life a living hell. It pulses an AoE fire attack in melee range, so theoretically the only person who should be taking this hit is the off-tank. If this is handled properly, it will not be a big deal.
Black Tornadoes: This should be avoided by EVERYONE, especially healers. If a healer is caught in this, they take ~2k damage per tornado (there's around 3 on top of each other) as well as silencing you for ~5 seconds. This must be avoided as a healer, or it is gonna set you back on heals tremendously. Once again, it's the other players responsibility to avoid it, not yours.
I think that covers most of Baphomet, I can go into PvE in a different post
That covers encounter tips, but I thought I should throw in a few other little tips that will make your life easier:
- Ask your partner priest what his/her Magic Power is. The person with the higher Magic Parter should be in charge of Renovatio duty. You have no idea how much it frustrates me when I join a pug and see a 1k reno replaced by a 300.
- Split healing assignments up. Have one priest take care of an off-tank, and someone take care of the main-tank. This will relieve alot of pressure on you to choose between targets. If you have one job and stick to it, it usually turns out okay.
- Resurrections should be saved for other ressers as a priority, unless theirs is down. Priority for me would be Ressers > Tanks > Ranged DPS > Melee DPS, depending on the fight. Keep an eye out for good DPSers, check the threat meter and make note of those good DPSers from time to time. They should have priority because they kick ass.
- You are not responsible for any retarded deaths, no matter confidant the dead idiot is. If he sat in a tornado, it's not your fault. If the raid got hit from a frontal smash for 5k and dies, it's not your fault. This is stuff you're gonna have to learn to deal with as a priest, because you are gonna be the scapegoat for every death in the game. It's not your fault however, they just lack brain cells. <3
Edited by Fold, 22 August 2013 - 11:09 AM.