Healers in MoP

[Swampertguy 5]

So I am a relatively new player (I joined at the beginning of this summer) and I have only rolled a Holy Pally so far. I really love it, but I do wanna try out some other classes. I really enjoy healing and so I wanna continue with that. I was just wondering what classes people are gonna be playing in MoP (healers only please, sorry tanks and DPS) and whether they will be rolling new toons to try out a new class. I'm looking for something fun (which I'm sure all classes can be considered fun, so that's more of an opinion thing), but also something challenging (can be opinion, but can also be a little more fact based, more spells/important CD's typically means more complicated). If you have any suggestions for what class I should roll leave them below with a little bit on why you think its the best choice (totally opinionated again, I know!).

Thanks!

P.S. I have read all the class guides for MoP on this site, I'm just wondering what other people think.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Swampertguy

[Peelyon 416]

My main has been a priest for maybe 4 years. I love it and it's a versatile healer with disc and holy options but like all classes they have pluses and minuses. If you had said you had a shaman or a priest I would have recommended a paladin or a Druid. I understand you love healing but having the ability to change spec to tank or dps on the same toon would have been a better option for me in the end I think.

I don't want you to automatically stick with your paladin but you don't compete with any other classes for gear, are a very good healing class (face roll some may say) and always have that option of trying something new without having to use an alt.

That being said If you really wan a change then I would say priests are a gret choice but I am totally biased ;)!

Hope you keep enjoying the game! Everyone needs a pro healer!

[Vlad 411]

I started my healing experience on my Paladin, and I found switching from playing a Holy Paladin to playing a Discipline Priest to be both very refreshing and very challenging.

So, I'd say you should try out a priest! As an added bonus, you can then try out Holy, too, so you've got two healing specs in one character.

[Hapie 9]

When MoP comes out, Try a Monk :), Until then, I have to agree with Vlad, Disc priests are very refreshing to play.

[Stoove 347]

Hi there!

If you're wanting to talk about challenge and execution, I would recommend Resto Shaman. In the recent history, Shaman have been one of the hardest healers to really get the best out of (and they are extremely satisfying to do so). For a taster, here is a sample decision tree for the use of Unleash Elements in a fight;

Shaman are also a very colourful class - we are distinctive and interesting (not like those boring goodie-goodie Paladins ;P ).

[UnforgivenAngel 1]

My main healer is a resto shaman. I am in love with healing on her, it is very rewarding and satisfying for me personally. My mana regeneration is beauitful. I hardly ever run out of mana unless I have a very bad group, and even then it's not too often I run out. The totems you are able to use currently also play a big role.

I have also an 83 disc/shadow priest. Healing on her is a bit frustrating, as I can't seem to keep enough spirit for proper mana rengen.

I've been toying with the idea of holy on my paladin, but I haven't made that decision fully yet.

I will be trying out a monk for heals as soon as MoP goes live.

I hope this helps you out some.

[Swampertguy 5]

Thanks a ton everyone for your feedback and suggestions. I decided on a priest, since I already had the heirlooms from a mage and I think the PW: Shield mana reduction in MoP is gonna make them much better with damage prevention and I like that idea a lot. Also there are like 5 resto shamans in my guild (this wasn't the deciding factor for me but it did influence my decision) so we don't really need any more. I will for sure be trying out a monk when MoP comes out. Thanks again for you help, sorry resto shamans

[Stoove 347]

Aye you'll regret it I'm sure ;P Best of luck! :)

[Swampertguy 5]

Aye you'll regret it I'm sure ;P Best of luck!

If I do regret it I can always roll a shaman later.

[Redcross 60]

One unusual thing I have noticed on beta is that mana is no longer controlled by the amount of Intellect you have. So, all you disc Priests with huge mana pools are going to be in for a bit of a shock when your massive mana is suddenly brought in line with everyone elses based on your level.

Currently, mana levels for healers and ranged mana dps users are fixed at this :-

Level 85 - 100k

Level 86 - 120k

Level 87 - 160k

Level 88 - 200k

Level 89 - 250k

Level 90 - 300k

Items such as meta gems that give +x% maximum mana will affect these figures. I believe other items also can affect the figures too as I have on occasion seen people with slightly higher or lower than expected figures.

[Stoove 347]

That is intentional, Redcross. The aim is to make balancing more easy for the devs and to simplify the stat interactions somewhat. Intellect no longer affects your manapool or regen rate at all. It's a lovely interesting change :)

[Redcross 60]

So far I have only tried healing on Priest on the beta and have had no trouble whatsoever keeping people alive / issues with mana. On a couple of occasions on the Sha of Doubt fight in Temple of the Jade Serpent, things have got a little close due to low / zero dps on the adds phase, but like any good healer, I just blame them ;)

[Fatbearirl 0]

No one suggested Resto Druid? NO LOVE!!! The trees are sad.

Well, we're pretty awesome. As the only healing class that relies primarily on HoTs (rather than absorbs or direct heals), playing one is gonna feel very different and very fresh. The majority of our heals are instant casts, so we're the most mobile healer (especially with Travel Form, Stampeding Roar, and Cat Form + Sprint).

My first healing class was a HPally (back in BC), and, while that was enjoyable, I honestly think I like being a tree more.

We also have some really powerful (OP) CDs, such as Innervate (you can't OOM ever), and Tree of Life (no one dies when this is active).

We're also getting a HUGE buff in MoP for PvP, if you enjoy that.

[MichaelTheys 10]

So if i'm correct that means that gnomes have 315k mana because of there racial?

[Redcross 60]

I can confirm that yes I have just seen a lvl 90 Gnome Warlock with 315k mana.

[Inwee 9]

I love druid healing! I started as feral kitty in TBC, and took resto as 2nd spec. In Cata I was asked to focus on my healer because of our raid group were short on healers. And now resto druid is my favourite! In Cata we had no mana issues, that is true - patch 5.04 seem a bit harder on that point, but with the scaling up to lvl 90, I feel confident that things will be good :) If you get bored with the priest - resto druids are great fun!

[Bedle 11]

Hi there,

Im a bit late with my reply, but its better ever than never.

Im playing holy pala for 3 years now, started from level 10, without any BoAs (my first charr on account. After gearing him and raiding on him, i rolled Enhance shaman who ended up (surprise! Resto), also riding geared. After him, i started Druid, YEY! another healer :D :D

I dont like playing clothers, so i skipped Priest.

Now, these are my 2c.

Holy paladin - best tank healer. period. There is noone close to it, insta free heals, huge hits if farget is below 35%.. everything there just screams "Tank, your ass is mine!"

Resto Shaman - Oh man... most fun to play and hard to master, hands down. in 4.3 with few talent changes they can easily go from formidable singe target healer to AoE healer. Lots and lots of utility and nice combo of casted heals and HoTs.

Resto druid - Most unusual to play, and pretty much decent to master. Not so good single target healers as shamans (cause they dont have that choice of talents) but outstanding AoE heals. Lots of stuff to monitor.

This all changed with patch 5.0.4 - Palading became pretty good AoE healers too, and even better tank healers with Sacred Shield or 3 hoiy power Eternal Flame HoT. Lvl 90 talents are also good, giving us a option of even better tank healer with another HoT, or one more AoE HoT healing. I didnt have a chance to try rest of my classes, but what i can tell you is that Druid resto (tree) form is back as perma shapeshift, not as it was in Cata.

I will prolly roll a monk for sure, and for sure it will be my main. I have played it on beta to learn class and mechanic and i can telly you that they are perfect. I can openly claim that from all changes to old and 3 new specs in new class, Monk, Mistweaver (healing spec) got all the love, there is a ton of synergy between spells, you can easily switch from Single target to AoE healing and utility with Mana Tea (restores 4% of mana with every stack of mana tea, channeled 1s per stack. Braking channeling does not consume rest of Tea stacks).

Tbh, by looking at healer monk spells, you will see a mixture of all good spells that other healing specs have, combine that with King-fu panda.. and well.. what is there not to love? :D :D

[Surcostale 5]

I have played with my DK after Wotlk came out. I have been in raids as tank and dps (mostly dps). So I decided to change my main when MoP comes out. I will start to raid with my H-Pally. It wasn't really hard to choose because instantly when I dinged 85 with the paladin I started to love healing. Like Bedle said H-Pallys came better AoE healers after 5.0.4 and I will be totally waiting for raid evenings at MoP... Anyways I think cata raiding was big failure from blizzard.. Well, hope they get back to making good raids and some fun healer mechanics at MoP!

[lifebinder 1]

priest has been my main for 6 years. I lvled my priest to lvl 20 and I was getting tons of whispers in orgrimmar, ppl were begging for me to heal them in dungeons....

priest is the king of healers.. Cause the class is designed to heal. Till cataclysm, shadow priests had never been a desired dps class in any raid since they were sucking donkey balls. But every tank was comfortable when they had a priest healer in their raid.

We are the only class which has 2 specs dedicated to heal only. Disc is a perfect spec which has the ability to heal by damaging spells. Holy is a great versatile spec which can turn from aoe healing to single target just by one click....

TBH I m a great healer and priest is a great class to heal. I played holy paladin, resto druid, resto shammy... They are good but none of them gives me the joy of priest...

Edited September 4, 2012 by lifebinder

[Bedle 11]

priest has been my main for 6 years. I lvled my priest to lvl 20 and I was getting tons of whispers in orgrimmar, ppl were begging for me to heal them in dungeons....

priest is the king of healers.. Cause the class is designed to heal. Till cataclysm, shadow priests had never been a desired dps class in any raid since they were sucking donkey balls. But every tank was comfortable when they had a priest healer in their raid.

We are the only class which has 2 specs dedicated to heal only. Disc is a perfect spec which has the ability to heal by damaging spells. Holy is a great versatile spec which can turn from aoe healing to single target just by one click....

TBH I m a great healer and priest is a great class to heal. I played holy paladin, resto druid, resto shammy... They are good but none of them gives me the joy of priest...

Well, as ONLY class that have 2 dedicated specs for healing, Priests ARE kings of healers.

But again... i like versatility of Paladins, Druids and shamans.. Reason.. Completely 3 different play mechanics. If im bored of Healing or i just need break, i can go Tank, if i get tired from it too i can go DPS.. While.. As priest you can go Healing/DPS.

As i said.. i dont really like clothers.. dunno why, i dont like caster DPSs at all. I dont say that they are bad, but i like to go toe-to-toe, head-to-head, draw my weapons and start hearing melee hits and glance hits weapon against weapon.

Aye.. Priests are hitting top of healing charts, with Resto shamans/Druids, leaving palas pretty low on that scale cause of insane AoE Heals. But now, palas also got AoE heals.

Tbh.. i was competing with our healers in upper part of chart with minimal overhealing. Some of them are highly geared than me, i like changes in mechanics, palas are finally good and fun to play, but again, if you want to play dedicated healer.. go priest they are, hands down, really strong healers.. But i like having 3 in 1 pack, infamous Hybrid classes, so my obvious choice were those classes.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Bedle

[Oldwhpsian 0]

I love how people say paladin are the best tank healers, from little knowledge and just a general perception. Paladin have nothing for tanks, besides lay on hands which might not even be needed on the tank. But and disc priest o the tank however, and you have the best tank healer the game has ever seen. PW:S is the first point for disc. Paladin lack a decent on demand instant heal, while disc has penance. Point 2 for disc. Pain suppression. Point 3 for disc. Inspiration (4.3) point 4 for disc. Pally still think he's tank healer coz of lay on hands? Well a priests answer to that is void shift.

Thanks for coming.

[Vlad 411]

I love how people say paladin are the best tank healers, from little knowledge and just a general perception. Paladin have nothing for tanks, besides lay on hands which might not even be needed on the tank. But and disc priest o the tank however, and you have the best tank healer the game has ever seen. PW:S is the first point for disc. Paladin lack a decent on demand instant heal, while disc has penance. Point 2 for disc. Pain suppression. Point 3 for disc. Inspiration (4.3) point 4 for disc. Pally still think he's tank healer coz of lay on hands? Well a priests answer to that is void shift.

Thanks for coming.

It's not quite so simple, I'm afraid.

The general perception of Paladins as the best tank healers has a historic element, I confess. In Wrath of the Lich King, say what you will, but Holy Paladins were the kings of single target healing (if geared and specced correctly, Holy Light spam was unbeatable).

More recently than that, in Cataclysm, the reasons for why Holy Paladins were seen as the best tank healers are that 1) Holy Paladins lacked reliable AoE healing tools (until Holy Radiance's cooldown was removed) and 2) Discipline Priests were actually much better suited at healing the raid through Prayer of Healing spam.

Now, I agree that lately, this has changed quite a bit, and with Strength of Soul and Train of Thought being baseline for Discipline Priests now, they are quite good tank healers indeed.

But to say that Holy Paladins only have Lay on Hands as their tank healing strength is misleading. Hand of Sacrifice (+ Divine Shield on the paladin himself) is worth mentioning. Their Mastery, which is applied off every single heal, is also worth mentioning. Holy Shock is at least comparable to Penance (if you're looking for instant casts, then the first tick of Penance is weaker than Holy Shock's healing).

Also remember that you are not bound to use Pain Suppression on the target you are regularly healing. It's perfectly sensible for a raid-healing Discipline Priest to throw a Pain Suppression on a tank that a Holy Paladin is healing. This type of combining of skills is very beneficial to your raid.

You forget also the strong cooldowns that Paladins can make use of to enhance their single-target healing. Guardian of Ancient Kings is one such amazing cooldown. Divine Favour and Avenging Wrath are also equally strong, and each of them is actually better than a Discipline Priest's Power Infusion (which isn't even baseline anymore).

Anyway, the discussion is less relevant for 4.3 where Holy Paladin Holy Radiance spam became the norm, but this is probably not going to be the case in Mists of Pandaria.

I urge you to keep an open mind

[dngnb8 3]

Healers are the new DPS in MoP

[Bedle 11]

I love how people say paladin are the best tank healers, from little knowledge and just a general perception. Paladin have nothing for tanks, besides lay on hands which might not even be needed on the tank. But and disc priest o the tank however, and you have the best tank healer the game has ever seen. PW:S is the first point for disc. Paladin lack a decent on demand instant heal, while disc has penance. Point 2 for disc. Pain suppression. Point 3 for disc. Inspiration (4.3) point 4 for disc. Pally still think he's tank healer coz of lay on hands? Well a priests answer to that is void shift.

Thanks for coming.

Im talking about paladins since its my main, im not so deeply familiar with mechanics on my alts, havent logged on them since patch.

As Vlad said, you counted on just healing spells, not the whole spec/talent tree. I have to agree with every single word Vlad said about paladins, even with the one that paladins do have more historical value as best tank healers. Vlad forgot to mention Word of Glory/Light of Dawn as insta heals too. Whole spec just screams "single target" and "lay on hands" is "oh-shit-tank-will-die" button. We had one raid wide cooldown which was, compared to everybody else silly. Till 5.0.4 patch our whole mechanics resolved around single target healing and pretty sweet and short cooldowns we were dedicated tank healers by default. Hell, i have no issue being dedicated healer on crazy dps rogue that just want to stab things, but they always placed us as mainly tank healers. That doesnt mean that i wont help other healers if tank is safe, but someone in raid is taking high damage.

Since classes are now more homogenized and generally made to have similar output there is no more "best ever." As you prolly already know, blizz stated that role of talents are now drastically changed, they are no more cookie cutter builds, but situational choices. Paladins, for instance, now have 4 AoE Heals, 4 insta heals (1 single target/AoE heal (depends are you casting Holy Shock after Holy Radiance or not), 1 single target HoT, 1 AoE and 1 single target/AoE hot (depends on choosing lvl 90 talent)) and 3 cast heals which cast time is often reduced by proc of infusion of light. From a point of someone that is playing holy paladin since vanilla, this changes are something new and finally put us in the race for raid healers, not dedicated healers.

I have more options than to spam holy radiance/light of down, which was, believe me, really dull and forced me off my paladin to play shaman during DS N/HC progression.

A good healer is not someone that have BiS items, all properly enchanted and gemmed. Good healer is someone who knows other healers spells, his own spells, strenghts and weaknesses, boss mechanics, tank and healers cooldowns and someone that is constantly coordinating with other healers in raid to do most effective healing.

Im interested in mist monk and its mechanics. I will first lvl my holy to 90, but mist looks so appealing that, if i like it, its only class/spec cause of which im willing to put my 6 years of pala healing to rest.

I never attacked priests, nor any other healing class, im fully aware of every healers pros and cons, i just pointed out something that was well known since vanilla, that holy paladins were dedicated single target healers, hence dedicated to tank healing, hence best tank heals of that time. Much is changed since 5.0.4 and i find Raid healing as hPala much more easy than before 5.0.4.

Healers are the new DPS in MoP

We will see, bare in mind that this is transition patch and that classes are balanced around lvl 90, not lvl 85. That being said, im sure that i saw today blue post on MMO Champ where Ghost confirms that there is a lot of inbalance ATM and stated that game is balanced around lvl 90 build/gear. Shockadins (yup, again Pala ) are now really strong in PvP and really hard to kill, but with LvL90 talents and better gear i think that healers will be back in their place.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Bedle

[Saku 0]

Well my main is a paladin healer but I have experience with all the healing classes. For me personally the levelling order for my healers will be from first to last will be: Paladin, Monk, Druid, Priest Shaman. I see you've decided to try out a priest and I will say definitely do have alittle poke at them all at some point, they can feel quite different, as others have previously said keep your mind open :)