Healers on Strike Week? Reason: Afflicted

Classes Priest
41

Actually, I was not doing that and was not going to do that.

As for other options: PW:L is not really a viable solution either because of my set up to heal. I am pretty much out of keybind spots and if I did drop something else for it the keybind would not be a quickly accessible one (like say a “P” way across my keyboard from my left hand (or something with a modifier like shift+E or something–which I can botch on occasion). My keys are mostly taken with keybinds because of how I heal by targetting group members and then healing them with keys in a way that resembles pvp.

As for other ways to do it, it is pretty easy for other members to use things like poison totem or whatever dispel they have vs insisting the affix is a “healer affix” and hence it is 100% “the healer’s job.” I only have problems with this thinking in low skilled groups (when healing on one of my alts) where people miss kicks and do not even know what a dispel is, let alone how to use one.

My apologies to anyone thinking I was wrong about the mana cost of flash heal on afflicted, and spamming flash heal on afflicted is not mana intensive. I have not done that, nor do I intend to EVER–so really, I have no idea what it would mean in terms of mana (edit: just did in a key and it took two flash heals (not sure if anyone helped though))–but my thinking originally was that I was not going to waste mana on that when others in the group can simply help me do the affix vs whining. Any groups I join have others that can help–even if they refuse, lack the brain power to do it, or simply dont care enough to help the group. Sorry if I was misunderstood.

Edit: Also, I would add that in the courtyard at WM the mana cost there is often quite high with a lot of damage typically incoming. I have actually gone near oom there pretty often on most of my healers (pretty sure a lot of kicks are typically missed there in low/mid skill pugs). And still, group members have died despite pumping high healing (and hence chewing through lots of mana). And tbh when I first encountered afflicted this week it was on a 17 WM on an alt that is about 467 ilevel. It was a bit intense when others were saying I had to get most or all of the afflicted when the healing was kind of intense in that pug group. And, the hunter in the group said I did not know how to do the affix (but I had dispelled a bunch and he/she was called out for missed kicks, etc.).

42

So i did my keys this week, only finished 3. I did not enjoy myself. I pulled a 21 dht, pugged in a ret pally, aug evoker, balance druid and warrior tank. Pally did not one dispel of any kind the entire run. I had so many go off tonight it wasnt funny.

Too often i had to use my dispel on the group and then didn’t have it for afflicted, healed one up and other went off. This is not fun play. This is making it detrimental to actually use your toolkit in the way it was supposed to be used for… the group.

2 Likes
43

Actually, I’ve been pretty lucky with my runs today. I did six or seven on three priests and didn’t have much trouble and got the most every run, but had a lot of help from others every time.

This macro linked to a mouse button on the side (my mouse has two extra buttons there) has made getting them really really easy.

#showtooltip Purify
/use [@mouseover, exists] Purify

Also, two flash heals in a bind helped a lot as well, and got any remaining.

44

Depends on the dungeon and where you are at in the dungeon. There are places in several dungeons where a healer dealing with 2 Afflicted will cause a death of course this assumes the key is high enough for incoming damage to matter.

45

I don’t understand. You are playing disc correct? You can power word life and dispell another and still have MD if you really need to dispell your team… This isn’t a particularly hard affix for a priest.

46

I dont think MD works. MD only works to dispel magic, and Afflicted is otherwise. This is why you have to talent into your disease dispel.

Also, no real need for PW:Life in my experience. Two flash heals is gucci in keys as high as 22 from what I’ve seen. Maybe in higher keys it’s different, but I doubt it.

That said, in some places, like the start of BRH, or the courtyard area of WM, all depending on how bad your group is at kicks, your CD on your dispel may be unavailable, and the healing can be incredibly intense. Of course in groups that get kicks Afflicted is not hard at all. Well, and if others are doing their part vs deeming it a “healer affix” then no problem.

In the original post runs the biggest problem was dealing with low skill groups that get no kicks and expect the healer to get the affix pretty much 100% because they call it a “healer affix.” Groups that get few or no kicks and expect the healer to get Afflicted 100% or near that are trolling you.

47

I think there’s only one way to approach this (or at least only one that feels productive to me, ymmv).

You can try to get a sense of the group before hand by asking or pretending to remind folks to talent their dispel. If they don’t you can bail. Once the key starts you can only control your toon. If the group leaves it all on you do your best with the tool kit you have and suggestions (dispel and renew/pwl/flash heal/penance) people have made. People might die, or maybe you’ll wipe depending on the pull and key level, or maybe you’ll just be stressed but get through it.

If the former make you think you won’t time the key or the latter is more than you want to deal with you can always leave. Worst case scenario is some somewhat naive pugs think you’re a bad healer who doesn’t understand the affix, but you probably don’t want to play with them again anyway. Anecdotally my experience has been that except for a 20 dht I just ran for my vault people above 20 are always helping with them, so it does get better as you play with better players.

48

This is what I got my first run this week. But they were not helping much, the shaman not using his poison totem, and the group not getting kicks or only very few. That said, I was a bit slow to get them, and thought more than two flash heals would be needed.

In previous seasons I did not have a working macro and found it a lot harder to do the affix. Seeing Jak in his stream do it prompted me to rethink things.

The trick is having a good set up via a macro. Second, a good weakaura helps a lot.

This one is probably the best:

M+ Afflicted Affix TTS Announcer and Timer

v1.0.6 DF-WEAKAURA

airplay SEND TO DESKTOP APPhelp

assignment COPY IMPORT STRINGhelp

Imported by [EllesmereGaming]

Dec 30th 2023 [Dragonflight 10.2.0]

48 stars

13164 views

1481 installs

49

I suggest inspecting the talents of the other classes with a dispel prior to starting a dungeon. I did this prior to the start of a Throne of the Tides. The Retribution Paladin (From Ragnaros) was not specced into cleanse. I typed this detail in chat and presented to the group that it was not clear if he was planning on helping with the affix. His buddy said my tactics were “invasive” as if you are not supposed to inspect other’s talents and the Paladin replied that he “was in a raid spec”. I replied that being invasive was not my intention and that I wanted to ensure a successful run.

The leader who was a Rogue asked the Paladin was he planning on helping with the affix and when he did not get the response he was looking for he kicked both the Paladin and his buddy. Then he re-listed the group in search of a team player.

As a healer you absolutely need help dealing with this affix in a dungeon like Throne of the Tides. Whether you are focusing the heal absorb applied by the Sentinels, trying to keep your tank alive during the bleed from the Snap Dragons, or you are busy dispelling Flame Shocks on the 3rd boss, you need a team that has your back. There are many other mechanics and minor dispels to stay busy with too.

Please familiarize yourself with all the classes that can help with the affix. Inspect their talents and call them out before starting the dungeon. If the group leader is the culprit just leave. You will save yourself a lot of time. There are plenty groups to choose from that will support you as this is a group mechanic not a single person mechanic.

We ended up timing the key and it was a smooth and pleasant run with much time to spare.

TLDR Do not just ask is anyone going to help with the affix. Click “not ready” until you have had a chance to prepare and confirm you are going to be supported dealing with affixes or any other concerns before you start. Getting to know the utility the other classes bring will improve your success in M+.

2 Likes
50

Invasive? No more invasive then looking at peoples io and ilvl. Sounds like they were making excuses

There is a lot of people here who say as a priest you deal with it all. Can is not the same as should. There has already been videos over the last few months about healers leaving because its not fun. Generally, im enjoying myself but afflicted has become explosive 2.0 and i object to the view that it should be a healer affix, just cause healers can solo it.

2 Likes
51

I ran a 17 and had a pally to help out. The pally hardly ever dispelled or healed them.

52

I dunno if you can solo it without risking wipes. There are definitely a fair number of spots where you have to heal and do dispels or your group members die–if you have to heal two afflicted at those times and the spawns are out of view or behind you or behind a wall of mobs, good luck. That is, unless your group is spot on with kicks, and from what I’ve seen, that’s pretty rare even in 22s.

My opinion is you need at least one other in the group doing the dispels when there are two, and preferably TWO more in the group that can do them. In those tough spots if you stop dispelling on the group and healing both, you are going to have one or two deaths minimum–or that is what I have seen.

There are also spots where you have to do mechanics in addition to the above. If you are trying to juggle all at once, then a wipe or at least a couple deaths has a pretty high probability.

Anyone expecting you to handle the affix solo is trollling or a total f.

From what I’ve seen, if you miss a few and the group is slowed the others in the group who can help out start doing more. If you are eager early on, then it kind of sets the pace for the rest of the key.

If others in the group can do them, I typically get the one if one spawns, but only one if two spawn. If others don’t catch on at that point, tough. I refuse to convey to the group I am in the habit of getting both.

Affixes are group efforts. When dps fail at affixes like bolstering and bursting, just remember how fun it makes it for the healer. Most dps dont give one iota about how much fun the healer is having, and if they make you sweat they are probably laughing about it.

And if your group is not going to help out much, you can accidentally hit alt+f4 by mistake and then see your computer crashes, lol. Alls well that ends well.

On a serious aside, my experience is that when others dont help out, the chances of timing drop by a fair bit. Just remember that as you sweat and get stressed–if you even do. I dont because I leave at that point.

You can simply run Omni CD for this, and make sure to add class dispels to what you can see. It makes it easy to see stuff like a shaman’s poison totem and their dispel as well. You can also see who has dispels up in your run vs wondering if others are simply lazy. You can also track dispels overall with Details. I do that. It helps when you do that and you see that one in the group starts lacing into someone else for their laziness.

In one of my runs a hunter really had at a mage at the end of the run. I personally rarely say anything but ended up adding the hunter to my f list because he was spot on about the mage and I loved it.

53

Last day of Afflicted!

Happy New Year! And we start the week with Volcanic and Sanguine.
I would take those two rather than afflicted lol

1 Like
54

Sanguine makes things last longer. Even with good tanks. Afflicted is a single GCD to handle and move on with your day

Gimme afflicted any day

55

The new sanguine change alone with it being on a tyrannical week makes it a lot easier to deal with.

56

I play disc priest and Pally tank.

Sanguine is much easier to deal with than it used to be.
Afflicted is easy for you coz DKs dont have to deal with it lol

1 Like
57

Didnt they just reduce the duration? The duration was never really the issue imo

I do play other classes. And i heal Afflicted with Death Coils when i play UH. I just play Frost depending on the dungeon (majority of pulls being 6 or less mobs)

58

DC doesn’t handle afflicted in higher key. In higher M+, it’s really rare that afflicted gets healed at all. It takes like 3-4 globals unless you’re a priest who can PW:L - but even then it’s gonna be 2-3.

From what I’ve seen, most people complaining about afflicted play around the 20 level. That’s the level where the affix requires a couple globals to heal, and also the level where people aren’t quite good enough yet for everyone to contribute properly - or they assume they don’t have to.

You have groups where it’s super easy, you just dispel sometimes and you’re all good.

You have other groups where a mechanic overlaps (or a dangerous dispel overlaps like the DHT bat diseases in high fort) and you can’t spare the global but nobody does anything about it anyway. The main problem is how many dispels in dungeons are mandatory in high key. Generally that’s not a bad thing - but in afflicted weeks it’s just as bad as when stack mechanics/pull mechanics go out at the same time as quaking and kills everyone (which they specifically remove every time it happens).

Afflicted is 100% solved by a shaman taking poison cleansing totem, but you invite em and they won’t take it, etc.

It seems clear they want another ‘healer affix’ but they haven’t figured out a way to design it that is fun in any way.

59

Who’s they? The devs? I dunno, caps. Maybe. But I will say this. It would be easy to make Afflicted “fun.” Just add that it buffs you with crit or haste or your main stat if you dispel it. That would make it “fun.” But then people would be racing to dispel it, and it would no longer qualify in anyone’s eyes as a healer affix, lol.

3 Likes
60

It would also make it the only week for pushing, and high keys would attempt to pull around it to continually climb, quickly making it honestly more of a toxic affix - and possibly LESS fun to play around at high level.

Adding Kiss/Curse needs to either be a seasonal thing in every key, or every week needs to have a kiss/curse.