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[GUIDE] What healer to choose?
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Edited by Ashalia on 19/03/12 12:42 (UTC)
Why hello there :)
Over the last few months I've seen an increasing number of people asking what the best healer is for them. While the answer to that is rather universal: "Play what you like best" it can still be rather tricky choosing what class is best for you. For this reason I decided to waste my boss his time and make this document, aiding players into choosing the proper healer class for them. Index * To find something quickly, copy the letter+number as well as the semi column and use 'find next'. (A1:) A: IntroductionA: Introduction Welcome to the 'What is the right healer for me?' reference document. If you have any comments regarding this document please let me know in the comments, or contact me in game. Frequent characters: Ashalia (Priest), Ashlia (Paladin), Dawnshard (Druid), Ashadria (Shaman), Ashlynne (Hunter) A1: Disclaimer Everything in this document is written with 'new' healers in mind. However as this document is meant to be 'just an aid in choosing' I will not go into to much detail on every healer. This document was last updated with the patch 4.3.0 (Hour of Twilight) and might not be entirely accurate on some spells/talents for the current patch. While I try to remain neutral in my descriptions of the individual classes, I cannot always hide that my main happens to be a Priest. I will attempt to 'mark' personal opinions as best as I can, however I cannot always avoid being a bit biased. My apologies should any bias be written without notice. A2: Job Description What exactly is a healers job? Am I suited to be a healer? What healer is the choice for me? Upon first sight a lot of people will instantly think they know the answer to the first question 'What exactly is a healers job?', the answer most people will give is obvious: 'To heal'. And they would be mostly correct, however healing is more then just keeping some bars green full and bright. A lot of times a healer will not just be worried about your health slowly going down, but they also have to anticipate incoming damage and shield you from it. They have to remove nasty debuffs, poisons, diseases and curses off you before they do irreversible damage. And make sure they can keep this up throughout the fight. While this may sound simple, the reality is that a lot of people make this seemingly simple task exceedingly difficult to do. Especially when you are in a p.u.g environment where no one knows each other and the skill level can vary tremendously from not just group to group but from player to player. As a healer your primary job is to FINNISH the fight with at least ONE PERSON alive at the end. For every dps/tank that you manage to keep alive afterwards you gain bonus points. And while you should aim for getting all those bonus points, it cannot always be done. As a healer one must prioritize who heals who and more importantly when and how. An age old healing technique that is used everywhere that tackles this problem is called 'Triage', healing the most critical first. And diverting resources away from those that cannot be healed to those that can be. * Triage healing, healing the ones in need of healing first in order to save as many as you can. This means that if your choice is between healing a 80% player who is safe, vs a 60% player that is about to be hit by a 1000ton meteor.. you heal the 80% player who is safe and laugh/cry at the 60% while he gets his face smashed by a meteor. Your job will mostly be keeping people alive, while making sure you kill your targets before they finnish you all off. A3: Mentality As you know, 'Triage' is the most important aspect of a healer, unfortunately it is this very system that will mostly affect how others will react to you. For that reason, another thing that is of vital importance to being a healer is your current State of Mind. While it does work to 'force' yourself into healing a few times, if it happens to often you will (very) quickly lose interest in healing. This is amplified when dealing with 'bad' or just totally new and clueless players. Also from time to time you will encounter the impatient dps, the angry tank, the !*#@%*** death knight, the FOTM druid or arthasdk the paladin with a personality disorder who will do their best to call you on every mistake regardless of how minor it is. Or even worse, they will start calling you names and threaten to kick you and lord knows what. No matter how well you play, no matter how well you tried your best SOME people will always find a way to make you feel like you are bad and that you could do a lot better. Whatever they call you, only one thing matters: 'Did the mob(s) die? Yes: Good job, No: Maybe your fault (Maybe)' And these things do occur, even in the best of guilds. Another thing that is required of a healer is your reaction time and a deep understanding of your healing arsenal. While as a dps (for the most part) you can just follow your rotation and occasionally switch targets, you as a healer will be 'switching' targets almost every other second. A dps might have to align his cool-downs with his procs to get the best output, we have to align our cool-downs with the boss damage or the dps/tank stupidity. This makes healing a far more dynamic job then anything else in the game. If the above does not startle you one bit, and you actually like the prospect of saving people then the healer job is the right choice for you. However, as we all know the game has 4 different healers, and 5 different specs. So which one is the best for you? Let us find out! B: The different healers The World of Warcraft, in it's 4th season has 5 healers. Each healer brings a common 'bread and butter' set of healing, as well as individually unique tools to heal with. Each healer has his or her own strengths and weaknesses and excells in various elements within a larger group environment.
This alone does not explain what each healer is, or what they can do. And as such, we will take a deeper look at the individual healers. [Continued on next post] |
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Edited by Ashalia on 12/03/12 14:38 (UTC)
B1: Priest
Available Races: ALL (Xept orcs... poor orcs) Armor Type: Cloth Resource(s): Mana Magic School: Holy Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed maces, Staves, Wands Helpfull links: Official Priest (EU) forum: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/874794/Priests are devoted to the spiritual, and express their unwavering faith by serving the people. For millennia they have left behind the confines of their temples and the comfort of their shrines so they can support their allies in war-torn lands. In the midst of terrible conflict, no hero questions the value of the priestly orders. The priest, the only class in the game that has two specializations specifically designed to heal, but 3! distinct healing methods. This fact alone makes the priest the single most versatile healer in the game without equal. However, this does not mean we are a 'Jack of All Trades'. While we can easily fulfill any healing role we do infact still specialize into a certain role in one way or another. For instance, while a disc priest still has his/her group bound aoe healing they will generally let the holy priest/druid handle that. And while a holy priest does have single target healing at his/her disposal, when assigned to the raid they will generally prefer to use their AoE heals over single target unless it is needed. As a priest, you will have access to a wide variety of healing and support spells. Chosing your specialization will only increase the amount of spells you will have access to. B1-1: Specialization: Discipline Mastery: Shield Discipline - *Increases absorb amount of your shields As a discipline priest you will be shielding a lot, be it through Power Word: Shield or through Divine Aegis. You will be aiding your group by placing massive barriers down on the floor allowing for a lot of mitigation. And your heals are very strong, and actually get stronger when you focus on just a few players. However, where a discipline priest really shines is with there web of cooldowns.
Looking at these cool-downs it should be clear to anyone that the Discipline priest is not just a healer, but also a heavy support class. And due to the nature of shields, silence/interrupt immunities and heavy heavy damage mitigation cool-downs the discipline priest is also ideally suited as a PvP character. However the tale of a discipline priest does not end there. Discipline priest have one trick up their sleeves that is considered 'unique', they can heal by doing damage! A discipline priest can chose to select the talents Evangelism, Archangel and Atonement, this makes their holy damage abilities (Smite/Holy Fire) do 100% of their damage as healing. Ideal for low damage situations, or for building up stacks of Evangelism to use with Archangel. *Shadow priests also do this, but in a severly reduced way these two healing methods should never be compared. In conclusion, a discipline priest is a very powerful healer centered around unique healing abilities and primarily focused on preventing damage. B1-2: Specialization: Holy Mastery: Echo of Light *Heals your targets for a percentage of your heal over time. A holy priest is a strong healer, every heal they do leaves behind a HoT that will heal even after switching targets. They are also ideally suited for fights with lots of aoe damage, especially considering their massive burst potential when chaining Prayer of Healing and Circle of Healing together. Capable of switching between aoe healing and single target healing without any trouble also makes them versatile healers. As a holy priest your spells revolve around the ability called 'Chakra', this spell allows you to seemlesly switch between AoE centered healing and Single Target healing. While healing single targets, your chakra will empower you with critical strikes as well as transforming your Holy Word spell into Holy Word: Serenity which is a single target heal that increases the critical strike chance on that target by 25% for several seconds. While healing in AoE, your chakra will empower all your AoE heals by a massive 15% as well as transforming your Holy Word spell into Holy Word: Sanctuary which is a AoE zone that heals up anyone who stands in it for a minor amount. (The more people that are in there, the better it gets!) In addition, a holy priest has access to one of the most controversial ability currently in the game: Lightwell This ability places a glowing beacon on the floor that will remain there for 3 minutes, during this time players can click the lightwell to receive healing without any further interaction from the priest. When used properly, this ability can boost the healing done by the priest to unimaginable heights. Sadly the amount of charges is limited, and only 1 can be placed every 3 minutes. One more defining ability 'Guardian Spirit', more commonly called 'Wings' or 'GS' will place a pair of wings ontop of a target and grant every healer 60% extra healing on said target, in addition should the target DIE they are instantly restored to 80% health. The only drawback of this ability is that it cannot prevent the deaths of players that are hit for more then twice their health pool. The only other class that has something similar then this is a Protection Paladin. The most Iconic holy priest ability however is sadly one that requires us to die. When specialized into it (And fewer holy priests do every day) you will become the Spirit of Redemption, capable of healing beyond the grave. There are some benefits into having this spell even to this day. For one, should you run OOM and there is no way to regain enough mana, you can always 'suicide' and heal without restriction for 15 seconds as the angel of death. And as if that was not enough, the priest has access to the most powerfull raid healing ability in the game at this point in time, even more powerfull then Tranquility. When taking the talent "Heavenly Voice" the spell 'divine Hyhm' becomes twice as powerfull and loses 5 minutes of it's cooldown. Turning a once lousy 'raid' cooldown into a massive healing powerhouse. One downside of the holy priest however is that it has very little means of gaining mana back, a holy priest requires a LOT of spirit to be able to continue healing. This is less of a problem in the current dragon soul raids, mainly due to  Heart of Unliving.In conclusion, a holy priest is a immensely powerful aoe healer, but is limited by mana regen. While the holy priest is a fun spec to play, it really does come down to choice. * My heart is still holy, my sword is discipline :'( Conclusion When choosing a priest you have access to two healing specialities, and 3 very distinct healing methods. As a bonus, one can chose to become a Shadow Priest in order to melt the faces of those you wish to kill. Chose this class if you desire a lot of diversity in your healing. [Continued on next post] |
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Edited by Ashalia on 19/03/12 12:41 (UTC)
B2: Resto Druid
Available Races: Night Elf, Worgen, Tauren, Troll Armor Type: Leather Resource(s): Mana Magic School: Nature Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed Maces, Relics, Staves Mastery: Harmony * For 10 seconds after using a direct heal, all heal over time heals are boosted Helpfull links: Offical Druid (EU) forum: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/874790/Druids harness the vast powers of nature to preserve balance and protect life. With experience, druids can unleash nature’s raw energy against their enemies, raining celestial fury on them from a great distance, binding them with enchanted vines, or ensnaring them in unrelenting cyclones. Druids are the force of nature, they work in harmony with all around us to destroy our enemy's and to aid our injured. As a druid you will utilize spells that mend people over time, or to bestow Tranquility into the minds of your fellow players in order to heal them. While a druids main healing comes from healing people over time, they are still capable of decent instant healing when the time is right. Using Swiftmend a druid can use the power of a HoT already on your target to instantly heal that person. Or using Nature's Swiftness to instantly revitalize a person with a big heal such as Healing Touch A druid has limited access to real cool-downs, and has to do with the spells that have been provided mostly by leveling. The heal over time spells a druid uses however (Lifebloom, Rejuvination, Wild Growth) are all quite powerful and make up for a lot. Unfortunately it is because these spells are so powerful that people look at a druid with shifting eyes, as they feel it is unfair that a druid is capable of monstrous amounts of healing while they are lagging 2k behind. However, that is the trade off one makes for using a resto druid. Regardless, the druid does have access to three very powerful cool-downs that can (and usually are) raid savers.
Next to the healing, a druid does have some rather interesting tools that can sometimes be quite useful. Wrapping an enemy within a cyclone, rendering all damage AND healing on that target impossible (And keeping that target 'stunned' for several seconds. Capable of 'rooting' a target with vines. Able to shape shift into various other forms that provide unique benefits such as stealth or very fast movement. In addition, as a druid you are not stuck to healing. You can just as easily go tank or start to dps in either 'glorified chicken*' mode. Or you can prowl as a feral cat and tear your targets guts out without them even seeing you coming. The vast amount of different shapes and abilities make the druid a good character to start, but can be challenging to learn and hard to master. As for PvP, even though the glory days of WoTLK where you could have the whole battleground trying to kill you are over. The druid can still be a very potent healer and hard to kill. The very nature of hots mean that stuns do 'less' to you then on other healers provided you keep them going. As a druid you are hard to lock out as well as most of your casts are instant and cannot be kicked/pummeled. However, that does not exlude them from being un-interrupt able , in order to maintain their mastery they HAVE to cast everyone once in a while. Lastly as you still have access to the basic druid forms you could also go stealth in cat form and lie in wait until the time is right. In conclusion, a druid is a versatile class with high healing potential but few actual healing/raid cool-downs. However always keep in mind that with a druid you also have access to a diverse set of roles that you could fulfill (Range DPS, Melee DPS, Tank, Healer). Choosing a druid is never a bad thing and they are the kings/queens of raw healing. [Continued on next post] |
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Edited by Ashalia on 12/03/12 14:25 (UTC)
B3: Resto Shaman
Available Races: Draenei, Dwarf, Goblin, Orc, Tauren, Troll Armor Type: Chain Mail Resource(s): Mana Magic School: Nature Available Weapons: Daggers, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, Relics, Staves, Shields Mastery: Deep healing. *Increases the effectiveness on all heals based on the the current health of the target. Helpfull links: Offical Shaman (EU) forum: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/874796/Shaman are spiritual guides and practitioners, not of the divine, but of the very elements. Unlike some other mystics, shaman commune with forces that are not strictly benevolent. The elements are chaotic, and left to their own devices, they rage against one another in unending primal fury. It is the call of the shaman to bring balance to this chaos. Acting as moderators among earth, fire, water, and air, shaman summon totems that focus the elements to support the shaman’s allies or punish those who threaten them. Shamans were once the pride of the horde, with quotes like "You only need to cast frost shock to win!". However times change, and a new race fell from the sky to bestow the alliance shamanistic powers. Over time, even the dwarfs started to embrace shamanism and now shamans are all across the world. Shamans use the various elements of the world to damage a foe or heal a friend. (Fire water earth air) Using soothing rains and tidal waves filled with natural restorative magics a shaman can be a true force to be reckoned with. And in time of dire need, a shaman can even call forth the forces of nature to punish those who would do harm with bolts of pure lava and lightning. And should it really be needed, they can even do all of this while moving! As it stands, shamans are an odd bunch. Having to carry around a lot of totems and placing them down whenever you are moving beyond their original range. People that play a shaman for the first time will often get annoyed by the totems and find them very frustrating. However as time goes by, your levels go up and you will be able to place 4 totems all in one push of the button, making far more easy to handle. Now all those totems they carry have different abilities, and as such should be treated that way: As individual abilities. There are totems that boost ones attack power, heal people, redirect incoming magical damage, and even summon forth large elemental for aid. A shaman is ideally suited for healing highly injured targets due to their mastery. For the more damage a player has received, the higher the healing the shaman will do that person will be. Shamans are also ideally suited for stacked AoE healing using their chain heals and soothing rains. Sadly like the druid, a shaman has very little in terms of raid cool-downs. In fact, prior to the patch a shaman only offered his totems (Buffs) and heroism. These days they are also blessed with Spirit link Totem which redistributes health among all players attempting to level them out. (If you have 100% health, and the person next to you has 50%, the first tick of the totem will bring you both to 75%) One tool a shaman possesses that no other healer (Bar: Holy paladin that can stand with the melee) can do, is interrupting. As a shaman you have the best interrupt in the game on a very short cool-down, and best of all it can no longer miss! This will make you an invaluable asset in most environments where the amount of interrupters is low. As a shaman your healing will be done mostly with Chain heals and Soothing rains, healing people who are in close proximity of each other. And while people are stacked a shaman can really shine, however as soon as they start to move apart the value of said heals greatly diminishes. Another asset is that shamans have next to no 'wind up time' on their heals, making them ideally suited to play the snipe healer game. Getting heals to those that need it as soon as they need it, without having to worry about having hots on them already, or having grace stacked. In addition, shamans worry little about death, while they should always attempt to avoid it a shaman can resurrect himself after death even in combat! Making your "ow crap" moments a bit less disastrous. In conclusion, a shaman is a very powerful class that plays well with the sniping game of healing. First time shamans will usually find the totem mechanic to be a disaster, but time usually mends most of those wounds. Long time shamans will find it hard to look back. [Continued on next post] |
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Edited by Ashalia on 19/03/12 12:42 (UTC)
B4: The Holy Paladin (4.3.0 Significant changes, read patch notes!)
Available Races: Draenei, Dwarf, Human, Blood Elf, Tauren Armor Type: Plate Resource(s): Mana, Holy Power Magic School: Holy Available Weapons: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Shields, Relics Mastery: Blessed Healing *Creates a shield whenever you heal someone. (Shield size is a percentage of healing done) Helpful links: Offical Paladin (EU) forum: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/874793/This is the call of the paladin: to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world. These holy warriors are equipped with plate armor so they can confront the toughest of foes, and the blessing of the Light allows them to heal wounds and, in some cases, even restore life to the dead. A long time ago, these protectors of virtue were only for the alliance. However times change, and so did the call of the paladin. A paladin, a protector of all that is right and holy. Ideally suited to heal the wounds of those considered righteous in his/her eyes. As a paladin you have access the the most powerful healing tool in the game: 'Beacon of Light'. The beacon will copy 50% of most of your healing to it's target, essentially increasing their effectiveness by 50%. Holy light is even transfered for 100% of it's healing done. The paladin also has access to a secondary resource called 'Holy Power', this resource is build in various ways and allows the paladin to utilize heals that do not affect his/her mana pool. The downside of having this secondary resource however is that it made paladin heals are 'to' efficient. As a result, the mana costs on their spells are very high compared to other healers and may seem 'unreal' high to new paladins. A paladin has to learn how to master the use of this secondary resource in order to remain competitive on long fights. As a you paladin can bestow a player with all kinds of 'blessings' and 'hands', each of them easily capable of turning the tide of war. From a simple 5% stat + resistance buff from 'Blessing of Kings' or a Attack power + Mana Regen increase from 'Blessing of Might' to making the target invulnerable to melee strikes. While a paladin only has two hands, he/she uses those hands in various ways. A move of his/her hand is enough for a paladin to remove all snares and roots from a character. (Hand of Freedom) With but a wave he/she makes the target invulnerable to all melee attacks, both from what is attacking him and what he is trying to do (Hand of Protection) A steady hand willing to put it self in fire, transferring 30% of that targets damage to you instead. (Hand of Sacrifice) And a helping hand freeing the target from the gaze of an enemy. (Hand of Salvation) In addition, a paladin is capable of several other tricks, for instance he/she can instantly heal a person to full (or close to full) using Lay on hands. The paladin can also use summon forth a mighty servant to more then double his/her next 5 heals on a target. And by summoning the wings of wrath (Avenging Wrath) the paladin will do 20% more healing, which can be especially powerful when using Divine Favor as well. (Although one might want to use these two independently). * Although, I am pretty sure any priest will be more then happy to take this over their Hyhm of Hope. In conclusion, The paladin is a very powerful healing class. Capable of healing immense amounts of damage, but are limited in AoE. A paladin is also quite strong in PvP but has one massive drawback, all abilities are holy and he has to protect his holy tree at all cost. Choosing a paladin allows you to perform both tank and dps roles alike, giving you access to all sides of the game in one class. [Continued on next post] |
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Edited by Ashalia on 01/05/12 12:22 (UTC)
B4: The Mistweaver Monk
Last updated: 30/4/2012 Warning: Everything is subject to change, this is the beta afterall! Available Races: Most races, (No Worgen, No Goblins) Armor Type: Leather Resource(s): Mana, Chi Magic School: Nature Available Weapons: Polearms, Staves, Axes, Fists, Maces, Swords Mastery: Mastery: Gift of the Serpent (Chance to summon a free Healing Sphere) Helpfull links: Offical Monk (EU) forum: NYIMonks are masters of bare-handed combat, choosing to draw their weapons only for devastating finishing moves. Monk healers bring harmony and balance to every group, healing even the most grievous of injuries with ancient remedies and focused spiritual arts. And few can hope to out-last the unquenchable prowess of the Monk Brewmaster, whose empowering beverages and unpredictable combat style allow them to absorb incredible amounts of punishment. With the arrival of Mists of Pandaria a new class has risen, called the monk. As with all the classes, monks have at least 3 different specializations. When Death-knights came around, they were introduced as a "Hero" class with 3 different tanking and dps specs. Later on, this got refined to 1 tank, 1 melee direct damage and 1 melee DoT class. With the introduction of the monk we are offered three different specializations, 1 tank, 1 melee dps, 1 healer. Now while I could go into all of the specializations, we are not here for that. Instead, I present you the mistweaver monk: Red Panda + Surging Mists: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfoLLo_FzA The mistweaver utilizes the mists of world to ease the suffering of the people in various ways. At the moment the mistweaver is unmatched in AoE healing, no class can even come close to the AoE healing the mistweaver can do. Even in the single target healing the mistweaver is a force to be reckoned with, capable of instantly healing people for large ammounts without even being at risk of getting interrupted. Just like a paladin's Holy Power, the Mistweaver has a double resource system called "Chi". This resource is generated and is spent in a simular fashion to Holy Power, with the only main difference beeing that it decays really (really) slowly. Unlike a paladin however, this resource system is also directly intertwined with the Mistweavers mana regeneration. For every 4 "chi" the monk uses it gains one charge of "Mana Tea". (Only spec specific "chi" consumtions work, talents do not generate any!) "Mana Tea" in turn can be used to restore 4% mana per second per charge. As for the healing itself, the monk manages to defy standard healing techniques and uses it's own style. It even goes so far as to say it does not have the three core spells (Lesser,Fast,Greater), in fact out of the three it only has the Fast one. For the other two blizzard chose a rather extreme approuch. The "greater" heal of the mistweaver has been moved into a lengty 6 second channel which consumes mana based on how long you are channeling (Making it incredibly good on the mana consumption). The "lesser" heal does not even exist in a way, instead the mistweaver can chose to place down cheap 'orbs' on the floor that people can walk over to heal them. Naturally, having to actually place this small orb makes the spell a pain in any raid environment as you have to find the person you wish to heal first! In addition, the mistweaver has access to a few more 'heals'. "Healing Mists" is the monks equivelant to Rejuvination, and heals for roughly the same ammount. However, it would not be a monk if this spell did not have something extra to spice it up. When applied to a raid member it creates 2 buffs, one is the heal, the other is a 3 stacks trigger charge. This charge will trigger when anyone within 20 yards of that target takes damage, when it does it creates a clone of the heal onto that person. Easily allowing one HoT to heal up 3 people. And if that was not enough, the mistweaver has the ability called "uplift" which will instantly refresh ALL "Healing Mists" chargegs on the entire raid. (As well as burst healing them for ~2.5 * tick). This allows the mistweaver to completely cover an entire raid with this hot (Even before the pull if you have enough time) and then keep it up indefinitly for just 2 chi cost. Personally! I consider this to be a HUGE bug/oversight, no healer should ever be able to Reju an ENTIRE RAID AND KEEP IT UP INDEFINTLY without using any mana in the process! Speaking of AoE heals, the mistweaver is not limited by just spreading "Healing Mists". On the baseline it has "PoM" wanabee, it will heal/damage whatever you target and then proceed to attack/heal 4 random targets (At a snails pace). It can also do a talent "Chi-Sphere-Bomb" which will heal the entire raid for (roughly) the same amount as it's "Flash" heal. However, while this is a massive burst heal, it requires 2 GCD's to pull off "out of the blue". Or it requires an already active "Chi-Sphere" that is ready to be detonated. Cooldown wise the mistweaver is also relentlessly strong, in fact.. it has 4! reliable cooldowns. Starting off with the mother of all 'Magic Protection' cooldowns. When used the mistweaver will redirect ALL incomming magical attacks (within 30 yards) to itself while reducing the damage it takes by 99% for 8 seconds. If the magic is pure damage in nature the state will end normally after 8 seconds, however if damage is debuff based (DoT's) the state will end after 8 seconds and the DoTs will start ticking on the player at FULL force. Perfect for dealing with nasty magical "ultimate" attacks, not so imba for "ultimate DoT of hell" attacks. ... Or so you would think. You see, any monk (Including mistweaver) can choose the talent "Karma". What karma does is it reduces all magical damage taken by 90%, and Returns the debuffs back to whoever casted it! Have fun ruining sinestra's day by returning wrack to her :) * One tiny note though, the 'mother of all magic protection cooldowns' does have a severe weakness: A single melee hit will cancel the effect, regardless of strength! The second cooldown the mistweaver has is a raid wide heal + dispel, when activated it will burst heal the entire raid for about 1.5 times that of a normal flash heal as well as removing ALL Magic, Poison and Diseases off every raid member. (In raw healing this can easily match tranquility :( ) * I consider this to be horrendously overpowered to the point of disbelief, this is litterely tranq without channel time... Ow what about a shield that will double any hots currently on the target? Ow yes, the mistweaver has it. * This spell is actually rather balenced (Although the absorb amount should be higher), the effect cancels when the bubble bursts and with 2 minutes c/d it is a real niche spell. As if this was not enough, they even had to steal a holy priest's signature 'lightwell'. You can place down a totem that players can click on to be healed for the same amount as your Flash heal instantly. * I consider this to be a VERY cruel joke as well as an insult. Holy priests have been asking for the 'hot' of lightwell to be instant instead for YEARS. And not just that, but this thing also serves as a 'atonement beacon' granting 50% of the damage done by the monk as healing to anyone nearby making it actually usefull! Ill bite my tongue on this one, but what I want to say involves a lot of $'s @'s and *'s...They even have a 5th... It's not quite a raid cooldown, but is rather usefull. When activated your health will DOUBLE (You also gain 100% of your health) in addition you take 20% less damage, however this spell can only be used on yourself. (In essence, this means it's a 240% Effective Heal... ludicrous if you ask me). In short, mistweavers are ludicrous. But as you know, this is beta and everything is subject to change so let us see what it brings! [Spell Breakdown (Reference Purposes)] |
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Edited by Ashalia on 12/03/12 14:27 (UTC)
C: I've decided on a healing class, now what?
Congratulations, I hope you will not regret your choice. Now the first thing I advice you to do is to read up more about your class, every class section has links to several pages that can aid you further with your studies on that class. Feel free to ask questions on the forums, but remember: Search before asking! C1: UI / Addons As a healer your main focus will of course be healing, however the default blizzard UI does a very lousy job at that. And even if you were to use just the default UI, you would almost be forced to use macro's as well as clicking then healing is generally just to slow. And as such, over the years people have made various addons and ui mods that can greatly assist in playing at your best. The addons below are in use by a lot of healers, and most of them are very helpful if not required in one way or another.
For more information on addons, as well as general UI help please refer to: <a href="http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/874706/">http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/874706/</a> C2: Community Tips Alisteir@Frostwhisperer Recommends: Raeli's Spell Announcer (RSA) - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/rsa.aspx A simple addon that keeps track of used cooldowns. While the same effects can be achieved with WeakAuras it is far more convenient to use this. Kaikuri@Shadowsong: Something I'd like to add is the mouseover macro template for those that prefer using their keyboard for the heals (like me). Right now you only have Clique kind of options, which not everybody likes, especially if the healer you play is only an alt and don't want extra addons for only that char. The templates are like this for your convenience: If you have chosen to automatically cast on you with no target: #showtooltipIf you don't have autocast on you without target: #showtooltip
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Edited by Ashalia on 30/11/11 10:23 (UTC)
D: Recent Changes
The change log below highlight the significant changes for all healers when comparing the previous patches. These highlights are here to aid people further into chosing what they wish. As some players wait for changes to occur prior to rolling a healer. D1: 4.3.0 (Release)
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Edited by Saphiramoon on 14/07/11 12:03 (UTC)
Didnt get to read it all but nice work! Idd sticky voted!
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Very nice work indeed :) Voted as well
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B1: Priest If I remember correctly Orcs can't be priests. Sticky requested! |
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Lovely, well written guide Ashalia. Sticky requested. :)
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Great information on the various healing classes.
One more defining ability 'Guardian Spirit', more comonly called 'Wings' Im used to people calling it 'GS' as 'Wings' is always used for the Paladin spell. Guess its different from server to server. I see you forgot to mention RSA (Raeli`s Spell Announcer) Not really a ground breaking addon, but still announces certain spells you cast in your desired chat channel(s) / Whisper. http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/rsa.aspx Either way, I whish there was something like this when i started playing. Reported for sticky. - Alisteir |
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Wonderful, sticky requested :3
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resuming holy paladin its the weakest of them all
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Edited by Sinnjatorix on 15/07/11 07:36 (UTC)
Great post there, some extra characters in the holy paladin links though :)
Think i have all of these healing classes but none higher then 80 :) Also noticed that the shaman official Introduction points to druids :) |
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Edited by Ashalia on 15/07/11 10:52 (UTC)
>_> <_< You saw nothing! I see you forgot to mention RSA (Raeli`s Spell Announcer) Nice addon, Ill add it to the community tips. *Thanks for the sticky requests people, here is to hoping it makes it :) |
