World of Warcraft®

My friend and I were having a discussion about this the other day in game. He's of the opinion that the homogenisation of healing classes has ruined the role, making healers practically indistinguishable from each other, and not allowing for any individual flare or nuance.

I disagree with him; I think the flair definitely exists. Unique mechanics for each healing class keep things unpredictable and fresh, even though the classes are certainly more similar than they were even a year or two ago.

What's your opinion? Has the shift towards this similarity ruined, or enhanced the healing role?

I think the very existence of my sticky shows that there is still a lot of choice (And this, versatility) between the healers :)

Raiding as a monk on the beta; how on earth do you compare it to other healers? In simple bullet form here's a few handpicked tidbits;

*The main monk heal is Soothing Mists which is a 8 sec channel heal which ticks per second
*Soothing Mists can be...
...Cast on the most injured party member by your Statue at the same time you cast it for 2x Soothing Mists
...Used to make Enveloping Mists and Surging Mists an instant cast
*The main monk HoT spreads itself around the raid (up to 2 extra ppl) and can be increased by 6 sec by using Uplift for 2 chi
*Uses 2 resources as a mandatory. Both resources synergize with each other and help generate the opposite (Using Chi to gain mana, and using mana to gain chi)
*Has numerous abilities which can both heal+dps (Zen phere, Chi Burst, Chi Wave, Spinning Crane Kick, Jab, etc)
*In terms of the "Flash heal/Greater Heal/Heal", monk only contains a flash heal which is most commonly used as an instant cast upon channeling Soothing Mists

and blablabla you get the point, it's completely different. The other's still have their unique stuff which brings them apart from the others, take a shaman for example, you have various utility totems bringing a variety of raid buffs whilst all of their heals get stronger the more people get damaged, making them the most unpredictable healers out of the bunch. Don't forget their main mana regen comes from doing damage x]

There is some homogenisation, but it doesn't only affect healers, but the whole game instead. The reason I'm rerolling Priest is that I'm a real heal-o-holic and whatever happens I'll still have two different healing styles and specialisations to choose from, while other healing classes will be stuck with whatever the Devs throw at them.

There is no such thing as homogenisation. Payers just compare different mechanics. Ofc there are 3 main healing tools for all healing speces - a small effeicient heal; a flash heal; and a slow, but strong heal. The reason all healing speces have these 3 tools (Idk if mistweaver has it too) is that every single healer has to be able to heal small injuriest (small heal), big injurier (big heals) and save mates from dying (fast heal). Even these 3 tools are different for eery class:

- paladins and shamans uses greater heals over flash heals, because GHW scales better with mastery, and DL is far away more efficient than FoL

- druid flash heal, Regrowth, has low direct healing, but combined with hot effect.

- and priests prefer GH over FH because FH is more mana expensive.

And there are more look like same tools between the speces, but is the usage of that spell the same (Renew and Rejuvenation; PW: Sh for both speces; Healing Rain and HW: Sanctuary - DS is not a base to comparetion in the thread)? I don't think there is any kind of homogenisation.

05/07/2012 12:48Posted by Ashalia

I think the very existence of my sticky shows that there is still a lot of choice (And this, versatility) between the healers :)

Your friend must see Ashalia's thread, and then talk.

I think homogenisation generally means Blizzard's philosophy that every healer could perform every role (tank healing, raid healing) equally good and not that every healer has the same spells or the same healing style.

Paladins gained the most out of homogenisation imo, so I'm not surpriesed to see a paladin speaking in favor of it.
Paladins were the strongest tank healers and during Cata also got very strong raid healers (HR is the strongest group heal in game if the raid is stacked). On top of that they have many useful Cds like Aura Mastery or the hand spells that are mostly unique and Beacon that trivializes every 2-tank fight.
Not knowing the monk yet, as I haven't tested the class in beta, I would say paladins have the strongest overall package right now.

Don't forget their main mana regen comes from doing damage

No offence, but listing TC as a strength of the shaman class is kind of ridicoulus. In beta it gives back like 0,7% base mana for a ~2 sec casttime. Over 12 lightning bolts are needed to even gain the mana for one single greater heal.. I, as a shaman main player, would take Divine Plea or free Holy Power heals over TC anytime. Priests will get a much improved version of it (faster cast time, gives back more mana) in MoP anyway, what is kind of a joke. Giving shamans unique regen tool to another class is kind of homogenisation, too, but what really annoys me is that the priest version got improved, while the original shaman version stays clunky with the long cast time and the little regen.

06/07/2012 17:52Posted by Hollypuff

No offence, but listing TC as a strength of the shaman class is kind of ridicoulus. In beta it gives back like 0,7% base mana for a ~2 sec casttime.

I apologize, forgot how bad it's become on the beta. However, in current Cataclysm it's amazing, there's no denying that.

06/07/2012 17:59Posted by Kenjai

No offence, but listing TC as a strength of the shaman class is kind of ridicoulus. In beta it gives back like 0,7% base mana for a ~2 sec casttime.

I apologize, forgot how bad it's become on the beta. However, in current Cataclysm it's amazing, there's no denying that.

You're right about it being amazing right now, of course.

I was just having the beta version in mind and tbh it quite upsets me, how they nerfed this talent while they gave priests a better version of it at the same time.
If it got the PW: solace treatment, (1,5 sec casttime, manacost from lb removed) it would be a viable regen tool again, but atm it's just pitiful in beta..

Homogenisation isn't always a bad thing.