Favourite Healer?

[Nemo 27]

Hi guys!

I've been away from the game for a couple of months and am hoping to get back into the fray before the new patch hits in a few days. I usually play my resto druid, but lately I've been experimenting with a resto shaman (I've also got a paladin and a priest at lvl 90). I have always enjoyed healing more than any other role, but I'm not quite sure which class I want to dedicate my time to.

Therefore I would like to ask my fellow healers a few questions about your preferences. Simply to satisfy my curiosity and because I would like a little inspiration :)

 

Which spec do you feel does the best alround job in an endgame setting? And do you think this will change with the new patch?

More importantly: Which of the six healing specs do you enjoy playing the most? And why, if you please :)

[Storm 426]

In order of strength of their healing I would say currently:

Disc Priest > Resto Druid = Monk > Paladin > Holy Priest = Shaman

 

The top 3 I don't think many people would argue with. Paladins technically have the highest throughput under certain conditions, but they just aren't as versatile as my top 3 choices. The only reason to play a Holy priest currently is so that you don't have 2+ disc healers in your raid. And although some shamans may be in denial, resto shamans are just barely better than worthless currently.

 

Next patch it will change some, Disc is getting nerfed again so resto druids and monks may become the top healers, or it could just sort of be a 3 way tie. If I remember right Holy Priests and Shamans are also getting some much needed buffs.

 

As far as which one is the most fun to play I'm sure that varies a lot from person to person. Priests are my favorite and between the two specs Holy has always been my absolute favorite, but I've been playing Disc on my alt just because you pretty much have to right now. I'm glad Holy is getting some buffs though in 5.4, resto druids are also fun, I haven't healed end game on a monk. I absolutely hate Paladin healing (I've attempted it in 3 different expansions and always hated it). Shamans have been fun in the past, but currently it feels like their healing rotation is underpowered, but is made up for with some strong cooldowns, which is a play style I don't really like.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Storm

[Drafty53 17]

In order of strength of their healing I would say currently:

Disc Priest > Resto Druid = Monk > Paladin > Holy Priest = Shaman

 

The top 3 I don't think many people would argue with. Paladins technically have the highest throughput under certain conditions, but they just aren't as versatile as my top 3 choices. The only reason to play a Holy priest currently is so that you don't have 2+ disc healers in your raid. And although some shamans may be in denial, resto shamans are just barely better than worthless currently.

Cannot argue with the order at all. That is pretty much the throughput order perfectly (I will nitpick and say someone who can play a monk very well can maybe outperform a druid right now).

However I will say that playing a Holy priest and or Resto Shaman is more than fine. The only argument against a Resto Shaman/Holy Priest is if you were pushing world/server first Heroic kills when 5.3 dropped. If you play in a casual guild or even one that get's to heroics in a tier, you can be just fine as those healers. I play a resto shaman and we 2 heal every fight (All normal mode ToT bosses, we go to three for Heroic content) with me usually being in first and/or very close with our resto druid.

It gets said a million times, but play what you like. If you happen to love the playstyle of a resto shaman or holy priest, you will become good at it since you enjoy it. If you are good at it, you will be able to raid on it. I have yet to be turned down for a raid in a current tier this expansion for being a resto shaman (Including guild spots). Yes in terms of actual throughput shamans may be lower than other's but to be completely honest unless you are in Method or Blood Legion or Paragon, it's a non-issue imo.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Drafty53

[Peelyon 416]

Not sure if I can add much more than that really.  Depending how you have levelled your characters I am assuming you have some experience healing with them all.  Although there will be some differences at top level I have always found players that "enjoy" their character more end up playing better anyway, regardless of what class is supposed to be out healing others.

 

Do you have any gut preferences yourself?

[Storm 426]

However I will say that playing a Holy priest and or Resto Shaman is more than fine. The only argument against a Resto Shaman/Holy Priest is if you were pushing world/server first Heroic kills when 5.3 dropped. If you play in a casual guild or even one that get's to heroics in a tier, you can be just fine as those healers. I play a resto shaman and we 2 heal every fight (All normal mode ToT bosses, we go to three for Heroic content) with me usually being in first and/or very close with our resto druid.

 

For the most part this is true. Any class is sufficient to get by, and you should definitely play what you like rather than worrying about small differences in HPS. But also progression is progression whether it's world first, or you're just now working on getting a Lei Shen kill before 5.4 drops. a raid running with a Disc/Druid/Monk combo will have an easier time than a Holy Priest/Shaman if you're working on your first kill for any boss.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Storm

[Drafty53 17]

For the most part this is true. Any class is sufficient to get by, and you should definitely play what you like rather than worrying about small differences in HPS. But also progression is progression whether it's world first, or you're just now working on getting a Lei Shen kill before 5.4 drops. a raid running with a Disc/Druid/Monk combo will have an easier time than a Holy Priest/Shaman if you're working on your first kill for any boss.

Again it's hard to disagree. I will make one more pro shaman post and stop (haha I love my shaman and am biased if you can't tell). The reason I actually think a shaman is a great 3rd healer for a group doing progression (Whether its heroics or the 6th boss in on regular) is that they have great great raid wide cd's. Yes, in a lot of the movement/spread fights in throne, shaman healing is hard to be great at...you will have to work 2-3x as hard as other healers in those situations to equal the same output, but we have great "oh shit" buttons that have saved raids many times (SLT, HTT, Asecndance...as well as an additional raid wide in 5.4). I also believe that because elemental and enhance are pretty solid dps classes, shamans make the almost ideal "swing" or 3rd healer paired with a disc/(druid or monk) combo because those two specs damage output is pretty nicer and they still bring nice raid wide healing cds even as dps.

That is all =)

[Storm 426]

I'll definitely agree with you there. Shaman's are a solid choice for dps with offspec heals, and they do have the most CD's. And really most of their problem right now isn't so much that they lack healing, it's just that everyone else is taking priority over them. Disc bubbles don't just put out a lot of HPS, but they basically steal HPS from the other healers. and then after that druids and monks seem to get off faster heals than shamans. So it isn't that they incapable of high HPS, it's just that everyone else beats them to the healing.

[Ceraius 34]

I don't get the "hate" for Holy Priests. We ran with mostly a disc/holy/shammy combo when progressing T15 and our Holy was constantly topping the meters off the other two. Most of the time the Shaman outhealed our Disc also. Granted, he plays quite Atonement heavy usually, but even in fights where he didn't he couldn't top the Holy.

 

Shamans, I agree, are somewhat in a weak spot due to lack of mobility and the spreadings, but CH gets a jump distance buff in 5.4 (afaik) so that should help them somewhat.

 

I know it's holy's niche, but progressing on Qon (dont remember if it was HC or normal) we were struggling a bit on the fist smash phase when we didnt have our holy with us, but having him the last phase was a punchline short of a joke.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Ceraius

[Storm 426]

I'm sure there are some amazing holy priests that can beat average disc priests. But in general disc is much stronger. I say this from the experience of running with a Disc priest that has top 100 ranks on all 13 heroic bosses. and our Disc/Druid comp 2 healed all 13/13. some of them were nearly world firsts for 2 healing when we first did them.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Storm

[Nemo 27]

Thanks for all the great input guys! It's always nice to see healers discussing pro and cons :)

To be honest I'm not sure which spec I prefer the most. I loved healing on my druid, but the lack of burst healing (outside of CDs) and single target hardcast made me feel a bit impotent in certain senarios. Mostly I think I just needed a break from it.

 

I liked both disc and holy priest, but never quite got enough gear for it to feel smooth. I think the balance between thoroughput and mana management was extremly rough - at least at low ilvls.

As for holy paladin, I just never made it work. It might just have been the fact that holy paladins are so very different than druid healing, but I never liked holy paladins for a raid setting (great fun in pvp though).

 

Resto shaman really appeals to me. Great fun, great mechanics, but wow I felt unimpressive (and the amount of actionbars nessecary to fit in all the utillity spells is unbelievable) :P Maybe the patch will make my resto shaman feel a little more useful.
Just to point it out: I think shamans are great, and the concept behind their mastery is probably the best of the healing classes, but in practice I felt outperformed by all my fellow guild healers. Though that might have been due to a lack of practise.

I never tried mistweaving. I think it looks really interesting, but I'm not sure I can stomach leveling another toon right now...

That was a lot about me :)

Now, what I would really like to hear is: Which is your favourite healer? And what makes it the most satisfying to play?
@Storm: Why do you prefer holy to disc? What's more fun about it?
@Drafty: You're a shaman kind of guy, I can tell. Why is that? What makes it more fun to play than the other healers?

@Peelyon: What do you like, mate?
@Ceraius: Same question ;)

And how about all you other guys? How do you like to heal, and what are you looking forward to with the new patch?

[Drafty53 17]

My personal rank of healers form an enjoyment standpoint (some have a lot more time played than others) is:

1. Shaman

2. Druid

3. Holy Priest

4. Monk

5. Disc

6. Pally

Now obviously that is not a rank of what I think is the best so everyone don't get all crazy. What I really love about Shaman's is how strong of a reactive healer they are. As you pointed out, shaman mastery places an even heavier weight on the reactive numbers. My overall ranking reflects my style. The two shield-centric classes are my least favorite to play. What takes the cake with shaman's for me is that on top of resto being a very fluid healing spec imo, we have awesome CDs and Elemental is one of my favorite specs in the game regardless of roll. Shaman (Resto and Ele might be my two favorite overall specs in the game) are only missing a tank CD of some sort. It would be awesome if in Resto spec, you could cast Stone Bulwark Totem on another player (Tank) and when cast on another player the shield would absorb twice as much. Something like that. The tank CD is the only thing I really gripe about.

-Drafty, your pro-shaman contributor =)

Edited September 4, 2013 by Drafty53

[Ceraius 34]

@Storm: Why do you prefer holy to disc? What's more fun about it?

 

I think you meant to say preferring Disc to Holy. :D

 

Well, well. Personally I havent healed all that much, but I've played with a Priest healer for my entire wow career. I'm not saying Disc isn't strong. Hell, their ideology I probably like the most out of all healers. (Preventing damage instead of repairing already done damage)

This friend of mine used to run Holy/Disc until he was encouraged to take Shadow for composition versatility. He was actively using both picking the one fitting better to the fight at hand, but chose Holy over Disc for playstyle preference. Also he has tailored prety much his own style of healing as holy which deviates a lot from the guide here for example. I guess that's why I respect him so much. Doing the thinking on his own instead of blindly following guides. (Not saying guides are bad. I check in for many classes myself and im lovin' the guides <3)

/end offtopic rant

 

 

As said, i haven't healed a whole lot. I had a Druid back in wrath and early cata and that was fun back then, but after I've transferred and started leveling one again she got stuck on lvl40 or so. I guess I lost interest in the class.

 

After the druid I leveled a paladin in Wrath. It was way different from the druid but i enjoyed it too. Didn't level it in Cata though. After the transfer I leveled a paladin healer again and played him up to a little less than 500ilvl. ....aaaaand lost interest :D  Great healer with great utility though.

 

Then along came a spider. ..err, a monk. That one I've liked and gotten to 500+ ilvl pretty fast. (for it being an alt) There's something I really enjoy in monk healing with the only drawback being the choice in Chi generation. There's ReM with a cooldown, Soothing Mist with a chance, and Surging Mist or Jabbing which kills my mana pretty fast.

 

I play a tanker as my main, and I'd never pick anyone else to heal than my priest friend over someone else if I have the choice.

It all comes down to skill and experience of the individual over what class/spec he/she plays. You can work wonders with any healer if you know how to do it.

[Krazyito 521]

Sorry, I kinda haven't read this whole thread... so forgive my fairly short post.

 

Shamans have been pretty meh right now.  For a 10 man its not a sgreat, for 25 you can benefit from at least one.  Next tier theres going to be a lot of stacked up fights so shamans are gonna be a lot better (with their buffs) and the stacked fights.

 

Resto druids can kinda suck when you have a lot of disc priests and paladins in your group (mainly 25 man).

 

Really, just play what you find the most enjoyable.

[Stoove 347]

I tend not to get involved in healer balance debates much, because I think it's very skewed towards "what the top guilds do". I don't think that is in any way a relevant discussion unless you are a top guild. The vast majority of guilds are kept back by individual player skill and alertness, not by class balance.

 

The reality for most guilds is this; having skilled and co-operative healers is all you need, regardless of spec. Most guilds pushing Lei Shen right now (or even months ago!) will never reach the point where dropping a Shaman because it's a Shaman is what has to happen. The only reason your average guild will want to drop a Shaman is because the player is bad at Shaman healing.

 

However, there is a reality that's impossible to ignore; it is very hard to play a Shaman well in 10-man progression. You can get insane results if you're clever and have a good team, but don't expect to waltz in there and destroy the meters like Druids or Monks might. Shaman also get better as the going gets tougher; many guilds pushing Lei Shen any time recently really won't be able to use Shaman to their full potential. I saw this myself - I was doing 30k HPS on Lei Shen when we killed him, but on he Heroic fights since I've been kicking ass and taking names.

 

It's absolutely true that Shaman can't always put out the same HPS as other classes. It's NOT true to say that makes Shaman in any way less worth playing or bringing along for the vast majority of guilds. Unless you're really pushing progression (i.e. you're a Method or a Pie Chart or a Blood Legion) then you're more likely to drop a class because of gear drops than because of class balance.

 

What I'm saying is; yes, Shaman have lower throughput. No, don't discount them just because of that - it's a naive thing to do. IMO any raid leader [except on world-leading progression] that decides not to bring a player solely because of their class needs their head looked at.

 

Shaman are a genuinely fun class to play, and that should really be the reason that most people choose to play their class.

[Ceraius 34]

That post made me fall in love. In a totally not-gay way.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Ceraius

[Storm 426]

@Nemo and Ceraius: I do like the playstyle of Holy better than Disc, it's just that from what I have seen in other healers and done myself Disc is much stronger at the moment.

 

I think what it really boils down to is that holy has the most spells of any healing class, so nomatter what the situation is you have a heal that'll get the job done. I like this a lot more than say a Holy Paladin where you have like 3 direct heals that are great for tanks, but terrible for raid healing. Or a druid which is great for raid healing but terrible for tank healing. Holy priests can top off the raid with one heal, then top off the tank with the next heal, then toss a shield and a hot at the tank to help out the other heals for the next few seconds.

 

Disc is honestly too easy. When damage is low you can just dps the boss and attonement automatically heals whoever needs it. When you know there is burst damage coming spirit shell pads the meters like nothing else. heck as a DK tank I hate being spirit shelled on some fights because I use AMS to generate runic power, and if Spirit shell absorbs all the magic damage first I just wasted my cooldown for nothing. and when Disc priests outgear fights by a lot Divine Aegis becomes ridiculous. I've seen a disc priest pull 70k dps with 100k hps and it was like 40% divine aegis.

 

So just to clarify, I 'like' holy better, but Disc is just much stronger at the moment. The throughput of most of the healing classes are fairly close, but you can't overlook that fact that Disc priests basically don't lose any throughput by healing with other healers. Shields take top priority, so a good disc priest is going to make your other healers do a lot of over healing. which in turn makes the disc priest look even stronger than the other healers.

 

I think that's probably part of the reason I don't like shaman healing at the moment. Reactive healing has really taken a back seat to classes that can heal proactively. Once you're geared enough to overcome mana problems then it really becomes less a matter of how much healing you can do, and more a competition of who can actually get the heal to the target first. So my order of top healers could really be considered the results of a race to get the heal to the target first and not rack up more overhealing.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Storm

[Tarazet 144]

I've tried all the healers at 90. By a significant margin, the most enjoyable one for me to play, and the most flexible, is the Monk. It took me some time to warm to it, but they really did a great job with Mistweaver. It's frenetic, fast-paced, and the animations are a riot. Depending on the fight, my top source of healing can be Spinning Crane Kick, Eminence, Chi Wave, Uplift, Revival, or even Chi Torpedo. They perform decently at lower gear levels but really shine in the hardest content.

[Peelyon 416]

*snip*

 

Shamans boo ;)

[EgoReaper 9]

Didn't read the whole thread because I'm feeling lazy atm. Even though I have not hit level cap on either of these classes yet (because healing is a bitch to do while leveling in pandaria >.<) I'd have to say druid/monk would be my favorite healing specs.

Druids because I love the see the healing spam on my screen. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a sea of green heals.

Monks because I really dig their channel heal system. While you're channeling you have access to so many abilities without breaking your channel it's ridiculous. Downside to monk is that you can't move and channel at the same time, but you'll find that for most casters, running and healing is difficult (which is the one things shamans are good at).

[EgoReaper 9]

Ok, so I've read a little bit more of this discussion. And on the note about shamans, shamans are great for clutch moments. They're the retribution paladin of healers. They have many CDs that make them great to have on your team. That being said, I think it would be a mistake not to take a shaman who wanted to come to your raid.

My guild ran normal MSV a few months ago and they needed a healer, so I hopped on my 475 shaman and healed. The first 2 fights went smoothly though my numbers were low bc the other healer had something like a 500 ilvl and it was a disc. She had never done MSV before and didn't understand the gara'jal fight. Needless to say she died going into the totem. We used a brez and she died again right before that soft enrage when he reaches 30% (or whatever it is). So I ended up popping spirit link to stop everyone else from dying. Popped ascendance, healing tide ancestral swiftness. If I remember correctly, I managed to keep up every member of our raid group up alone at 475 ilvl.

Now, I don't like my shaman because of how haste isn't as strong as it used to be. But that shouldnt stop you if you want to try them in a raid setting.

[Stoove 347]

Now, I don't like my shaman because of how haste isn't as strong as it used to be. But that shouldnt stop you if you want to try them in a raid setting.

 

Pretty much when you hit ilvl 510 it becomes the strongest stat for two reasons; 1) if you're competing with other healers it's easier to get heals in, 2) because the Legendary Meta has a breakpoint at ~30% Haste. It goes from being really pants to being 100% awesome xD

[EgoReaper 9]

Lol, well I'm still at 475. Anyway, I mean I miss how effective the stat used to be. In DS I could get tidal waves and then get a ghw off fast. Now it doesn't feel that way, mostly cause I'm undergeared.

[GothFvck 0]

I've been playing a Restoration Shaman primarily since Cataclysm and almost exclusively until recently in Mists of Pandaria. Although I did take most of this expansion off. I also have a  Discipline priest who's begun  to dabble in  Holy because I can't figure out what happened to Shadow and don't care to  as I've got a real warlock. Haha.

 

So, I have to say that all around now  I prefer shaman  splashing but I imagine that once  I start doing more than LFR and have better gear on my priest I'll enjoy shielding people more  but still perhaps not as much as my shaman!

[Icepick 3]

Didn't get the whole post read but I saw alot of different likes n dislikes. I think it,ll come down to what your comfortable with and what you enjoy the most this is what you,ll spend your time with and get good on.  Blizz isn't about to make one class heavily outbalance another or no one would play the other. I've healed using a Holy Priest, a Resto shaman a Holy Pali and I've got a Monk healer i'm only at 36 with. The Holy Priest I can do in my sleep its effortless to do to the point i'm sometimes  looting stuff as we go. The Holy Pali while having huge heals was (I found) slow casting and you had to kind of predict damage coming, Dropped the spec. The healer I really enjoy the most so far is the Shammy. He's a blast to play in either Enhance or Resto and the Que times are much shorter in Resto. Currently fairly new to 90 he's only up to iLvl 506 but I'm outhealing guys/gals with 10 points on me doingt LFR's and enjoying the hell out of it as I go.

 

When I try to organize larger group fun runs I try to get One priest, One Shammy and One Druid with us. While i don't believe any one spec. is drastically better than another they are different and shine at different times. They can compliment each other quite well.  I've tried and deleted 2 druids now and will eventually try another. They are fantastic healers I just can't seem to get my head around them yet and get frustrated, lol

 

In the end I think all healers can shine and the biggest difference is the player and if they enjoy and really KNOW their toon.

 

M.

Edited March 13, 2014 by Icepick

[Gwenymph 414]

1: Disc Priest

2: Holy Priest

 

3: Rest

 

 

That's for you Krazy.