I thoroughly disapprove of auto-healing personally, but in this particular case there are three major reasons why Twilight Grasp doesn not work well on autopilot:
1. You don't always need it.
2. If you're cycling through targets you can accidnetally aggro - it's a heal that needs an enemy to target after all.
3. The animation is looong and will rubbish your attack chain.
EDIT: As far as I'm aware, short of remembering to turn the autofire function on and off before and after each fight, there's no bind for autofire.
I highly recommend you take the time to learn when and how best to use your healing power. It'll improve your abilities as a player and your teammates will appreciate you all the more for it.
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EDIT: As far as I'm aware, short of remembering to turn the autofire function on and off before and after each fight, there's no bind for autofire.
[/ QUOTE ]Powexec_Auto, IIRC. And no, auto-healing is generally sign of an inexperienced player, especially when associated with empaths or thermals.
I only put it on auto when fighting AVs/GMs/Heroes and that's more for the -regen than anything else.
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EDIT: As far as I'm aware, short of remembering to turn the autofire function on and off before and after each fight, there's no bind for autofire.
[/ QUOTE ] Powexec_Auto , IIRC. And no, auto-healing is generally sign of an inexperienced player, especially when associated with empaths or thermals.
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Why throw out a bit of code that most people will not know what to do with? Its a bit of a pattern MaX, u keep coming in with what looks like useful advice but its incomplete and is just a waste of time for people to keep asking for an explanation.
To use the below code u will need to copy it (highlight it and press ctrl-c and in game press enter and then ctrl-v).
/macro heal "Powexec_Auto Howling Twilight$$e Roar"
I havent tested it and the red part isnt necessary.
Also, I wouldnt say anyone who uses heal on auto-fire is a Noob either.
To answer the question though, if its possible to set to auto fire ingame without complications, then it would only heal when near an enemy and that wouldnt be too annoying for other team members. However if u dont need and no one is taking damage, u should not use it; since it will be less laggy for the team.
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MaX, u keep coming in with what looks like useful advice but its incomplete and is just a waste of time for people to keep asking for an explanation.
[/ QUOTE ] It wasn't advice, it was merely pointing out the fact that there is a bind command for autofire. [ QUOTE ]
Also, I wouldnt say anyone who uses heal on auto-fire is a Noob either.
[/ QUOTE ] I didn't say that, just that it often is a sign of that, at least according to my (and many people I know) experiences.
The only time I ever put Twilight Grasp on auto was on the LRSF against the Vindictor and Freedom Phalanx Heroes, mainly for the -regen debuff but it's also handy for spam healing in that situation.
Any other time (i.e. not against AVs/Heroes/GMs that need debuffing) I think it would be very inefficient to have it on auto, not to mention you run the risk of looking like a lazy newbie.
And you can't be blamed for your heal missing - it's just something that teammates will have to understand when you're a Dark Miasma or Kinetic based character - you always have that 5% base chance to miss, no matter what you do.
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Its a bit of a pattern MaX, u keep coming in with what looks like useful advice but its incomplete and is just a waste of time for people to keep asking for an explanation.
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While I appreciate the effort to explain how to use the command MaX mentioned, this kind of comment doesn't achieve anything useful or constructive, and was not necessary to your post. Please try to avoid similar digs in the future.
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Another novice question, just started with my fire/dark corruptor, have not played a healing toon before, blasters more my style, and was wondering do other people put twilight grasp onto auto when playing in a team? Normally when soloing just use it when I need it, but playing in team should I have this on auto? Just wonder how people use this power, also if do have it on auto, is there a problem of aggroing unwanted enemies, if continuously spamming twilight grasp? Not sure if can be done, click the power on auto when needed then off again, may have to look for a bind for this? Any help with this most welcome. However must say am enjoying the corruptor a very powerful toon, never would have attempted to solo elite bosses with a blaster, would not have last 2 secs!
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With the Kinetics & Dark heals the reason I wouldn't Auto em is
(1) They require a target. The number of times I've accidently attacked a mob because I forgot Mr Auto was on (or I did it indirectly by clicking on a Teamie who was targeting a Mob).
(2) Both have a Rooted animation for a second or two, unlike Rad or Empaths AOE heal. So you stop and do the Handies thing for a few seconds. This could easily interfer with what you are actually trying to at the time.
(3) For kinetics. Target acquisation : If the target dies while casting the heal fails. Autoing will often lead to you casting on a collapsing target and thus wasting the heal
(3) For Dark. Positioning. It centres around you. If you have it on Auto you could very well find yourself casting it a fraction too early and missing your dying teamie with the AOE,
To my mind in any case autoing heals is never needed and gets really annoying. I've never done it on my Fire/Rad (unrooted PBAOE Heal, really the only safe type of heal to be doing it with if you must) and I've never had any complaints (other than "Oi, where are those Fire Imps off to. OMG, NOOOOOOO")
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/macro heal "Powexec_Auto Howling Twilight$$e Roar"
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Darks heal is Twilight Grasp, not Howling Twilight.
/macro heal "Powexec_Auto Twilight Grasp"
I think creates the Macro. Or just Ctrl & Left Clicking the power will auto it too.
Personally I only ever Auto Haste or Air Superiority on my squishies (if the target is close enough to hit with AS chances are I should auto AS just to upend them).
Or you could bind the auto heal to a key rather than use a macro (I have no idea how to use macros, I stick with binds so this is for everyone else who is the same.)
/bind p "powexec_auto Twilight Grasp"
I think, would that work?
But yeah, just watch your team menu and when someone needs healing, use your heal, if it's on auto, you might not be able to use it when it's actually needed because you just healed a bunch of people who already had full health and your heal hasn't recharged yet.
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On my kin defender I often auto spammed my heal with my target set to the tank so that anyone in melee range got healing. I remember discussing it with various mates and it was generally well received. I'm not saying spam healing is always useful or is good tactics, but hastened + siphon speeded heal spam from my kin when there was no dedicated "healer" around (and even if there was in some cases 
) was definitely helpful.
Also ofc I was running Fulcrum, Siphon Power, Siphon Speed, Speed Boost, Heal Other's for spot healing, the odd Increase Density, Transference and a few other bits, so it wasn't a laziness thing...honest
Oddly the only time anyone pulled me up on it was on a GM - them:"The spam healing isn't required!" me:"Oh, you don't want the -regen component then?". Bit like the time someone told me to put my WS in Dwarf mode rather than Nova on a GM...because the DPS was higher 
There's a big difference between spam healing and auto healing.
Would you mind enlightening me then please? It's something I was very conscious of when I first started that defender, feeling I was "being a n00b" by running my heal on Auto centered on the tank most of the time.
I totally appreciate that an empath/dark/rad/fire sat at the back running healing aura with nobody nearby is a pointless waste of endurance, but what really separates them - apart from the personal opinion of "this is actually having an effect".
When you put your heal on auto, it's harder for you to control it than if you're just manually spamming it.
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Would you mind enlightening me then please? It's something I was very conscious of when I first started that defender, feeling I was "being a n00b" by running my heal on Auto centered on the tank most of the time.
I totally appreciate that an empath/dark/rad/fire sat at the back running healing aura with nobody nearby is a pointless waste of endurance, but what really separates them - apart from the personal opinion of "this is actually having an effect".
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I think that auto healing, and spam healing, isn't really needed. I tend to bind my main heal, whether it's a group or solo heal to the E key. That way it's easy to hit.
/bind e "powexec_name healing power "
The thing with auto healing, unless you have a fast recharge on it, the chances are you'll have just used it when a team mate really needs it.
Also, doesn't it take some of the fun out of it? You'd missed the thrill of watching the team's health bars, and selecting the right moment to heal so that you are most effective.
Obviously, there are times when auto-heal is a good idea, usually with a big critter if your heal has a debuff element.
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The thing with auto healing, unless you have a fast recharge on it, the chances are you'll have just used it when a team mate really needs it.
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Yeah. There are cases where you may want to use autoheal but in normal game you shouldn't. When I play my lvl 21 empath im just staring at the team window with mouse and buttonbinds ready. If I see someone drop enough hp equivalent or more of my heal, I target that person from team window and hit heal other. If someone rapidly drops near death I do same with absorb pain. In normal game I wasnt even using healing aura much. Also I keep my eye on team windows buff icons and rebuff when necessary. Taking a few pot shots at the enemies when healing is not needed.
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When you put your heal on auto, it's harder for you to control it than if you're just manually spamming it.
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Exactly.
Sorry, I'll stop with the one-line posts.
As MaX says, while spam healing (although it is sometimes looked down on) you still have a measure of control over when it is used and (in the case of Kinetics especially) where.
With spam healing you also choose when to start healing and when to stop, quicker and easier than when auto-healing.
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The thing with auto healing, unless you have a fast recharge on it, the chances are you'll have just used it when a team mate really needs it.
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All valid points you guys made, in the case of Kin it worked for me very well though, bypassing the "fast recharge" problem with Hasten + Siphon Speed keeping it running fast and as an extra "service" to the team, since I'm supposed to be a buffer and concentrating on Fulcrum/SB/etc rather than a "healer". I'm sure it depends on the team, I know my Ice tanker can go a long way without a "healer" but there are some teams that just badly need it.
I very much doubt I'd use the same tactic on any other build though, as the heal would be harder to control as you say, you'd be probably not in the thick of it where needed, as well as it not running fast enough without hasten + siphon speed.
Another novice question, just started with my fire/dark corruptor, have not played a healing toon before, blasters more my style, and was wondering do other people put twilight grasp onto auto when playing in a team? Normally when soloing just use it when I need it, but playing in team should I have this on auto? Just wonder how people use this power, also if do have it on auto, is there a problem of aggroing unwanted enemies, if continuously spamming twilight grasp? Not sure if can be done, click the power on auto when needed then off again, may have to look for a bind for this? Any help with this most welcome. However must say am enjoying the corruptor a very powerful toon, never would have attempted to solo elite bosses with a blaster, would not have last 2 secs!