Heal Pets?

A question for both monks and rangers: Should monks bother healing ranger pets in battle?

Obviously if things are going great, why not? Also just as obvious, if things are going to hell, screw the animals, heal the owners and humans, top priority. I'm talking about the regular in-between situations where things are going fairly ok, but you're still healing often, and things may go wrong yet.

On the one hand, I've been a ranger and I know that when a pet dies, it really hurts; you're disabled for a spell, and that may mean your death, in turn. Also, pets are good tanks, and a dead pet means now a human toon will take that damage, so keeping the pet up keeps the team up, you could argue.

On the other hand, pets can be liabilities. We all have seen a pet, like a henchman, take the early blows and die the fastest, and it's often because they are underleveled or underpowered (fewer pet skills brought to battle) or just not terribly smart in A.I. A monk could also just say, "Look, this is YOUR animal, YOU can bring pet heals to battle if you want to and spend your own energy, but I'm sticking to the players who need me."

I ask this because I do find myself healing pets in battle (hey, I like animals), but I also feel a little stupid every time I do so. Experienced monks and rangers, please advise: what do you do, and what should I do?

After a battle you can have everyone gather around the person that has Heal All spell. This will heal the pets as well....just don't use it while there is a monster near...it will heal him too.

I try to heal pets also as when they die, you effectively loss your rangers skill set for 10 secs. Not essential, but very useful. Pets are last in line for heals, but where poss, as they are also another wall between the enemy and the healer.

I always take complete responsibility for my own pet, and never expect a monk to heal it. However, if a monk does heal my pet, I always thank him/her explicitly, because, as mentioned, a dying pet can be disastrous for a ranger.

I try to keep the pets alive. Especially if the group is mostly ranged and the pets are taking all the aggro.

My monk will always try and keep a pet healed as much as any "human" for the reasons given above. It's not a question - it's my job to heal, and I can heal the pet most of the time for more hp than the ranger can, plus I'm paying better attention to the health bars. The ranger has enough to worry about without wasting energy healing the pet - I say let the healer do it!

(My monk happens to be ranger secondary - I ended up removing my pet for the remote possibility that he would die and I'd not be able to heal anyone due to the resetting skill bar! Those are scary moments...)

Edit: Until they allow pets to rez people, tho - they are the last priority overall!

Pets need protection spells , not healing spells.
Rangr knows best when his bet has to go or not, monk doesnt.

When it comes to Minons healing is better than protecting !

I always heal pets, although they are usually the first to be let go when the going gets rough. Personally I prefer rangers with pets over warriors since the latter are often more trouble than they are worth.

A necro told me last night that healing his horror babies would make them die faster - sounded strange to me - was he mistaken?

BTW, I don't cast protections on the pets - as a healing monk I don't have many points in protection. I see the pet dying, and I'm ok on energy and everyone else is doing fine, I'm going to do somethng about it. I don't expect any thanks for it at all, just as I don't expect it when I heal other players.

And I didn't mean to imply the ranger doesn't know best for his/her pet - just that as long as I'm healing anyway...

Healing horrors doesn't make them die faster. It staves off their life degen and actually prolongs their existence.

As far as healing pets goes, its not a bad idea early on, in Ascalon and early parts of the Shiverpeaks. In later parts of the game, I don't bother healing someone's pet unless that person is a beastmaster. Most people who have pets also have terrible beastmastery, and so their pets are terribly weak because of it. It then becomes more trouble than its worth.

Heal Area heals all nearby critters be they good or bad. Use Heal Party during battle to heal all humans, I either use Breeze or Seed on pets. If they die, I try to keep a close eye on their ranger owners and make sure they're OK. I have another character that's a ranger and I know how debilitating it can be to have your pet die and be rendered useless spellwise for 10 seconds. :P

I only heal them if I'm certain I have energy to spare, otherwise I leave it up to their owner. If they seriously want to do well in beast mastery they ought to bring pet buffs/heals. The pet skills should be more efficient on pets than any generic skills on pets. And by efficient I mean lesser energy cost for the same or greater effect.

Also, I think that Heal Party should apply to companions. Makes sense, doesn't it, since they're part of the party.