Everybody loves healing
by Paul Sherrard 
Dec 15th 2006 at 10:32AM
It's true! Comments to an earlier post suggest that a large number of you really get a kick out of keeping your fellow gamers alive. Blizzard's well-equipped you for this, with priests, druids, paladins, and shamans standing ready as class options. Personally, I've been the main healer for a group with all four of those classes, and can understand the satisfaction one gets from keeping a group going and not letting anyone die when a pull goes wrong.So if everyone loves healing so much, and with almost half the classes able to heal a 5-man or 10-man group as main healer, why is it that we still see the LFG channel inundated with "LF1M Healer for [instance here]. Will pay 5g! Will walk your dog! Will buy you flowers!" ?
Is it just that healers are so loved that there's always something for them to do, and not enough to go around? Or is it perhaps that in any PUG, even if no-one else is doing their job it's the healer that gets blamed for a wipe? While I'd love to believe it's the former, experience has led me to believe that it's the latter.
Time after time I've joined a group, expecting to have some fun ripping through Scholomance or Strat Live and earning some faction or cash only to be let down or even frustrated at the expectations of a group. It's as though the group sees my paltry 6k mana and says "ooh, how fast can we make him burn through it?" before pulling an entire room or two. Then, once the over-aggroing DPS starts getting themselves killed, the whining begins. "Why didn't you keep me up?" "Heal more, noob!" "OMG, you suck!" At first, I really thought I was a sucky healer. I tried to keep everyone up, but they'd keep going down (especially AOE'ing mages). I read forum postings, guides, asked guildies for healing advice, installed mods. At the end of the day, I just had to realize that some PUGs are better than others. I turned to guild groups instead of PUGs for any kind of instance, and even now when I see the pleas for healers on the LFG channel, I tend to shy away.
What say you, healers? Are you just so busy with guild groups when you login that you have no time for PUGs, or are you gunshy from bad experiences? Would you really rather level alone than hit ZF or ST with some potential new friends?
Do you think the recent changes to the LFG system are making it easier to be a healer in a group, or to find a healer, or is it going to be more of the same? What could Blizzard change to make the role even more appealing? What could the community on your server do to entice more people to play healers and join groups? Sound off below!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Tips, Tricks
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ken Dec 15th 2006 10:43AM
I don't use LFG anymore because I have guildies and friends to run stuff with (not to mention I dont really do 5 or 10 man instances anymore).
Anyway, from my LFG experience for the 5 mans, I think it's harder to find a competent tank than a healer.
healbot. Dec 15th 2006 10:46AM
Im MH and I never go on pugs with my main.
Not because im worried of getting abuse or bad experience, I just need so much focus in raids that I want to chill while not raiding. Taking an alt on a 5/10 man is like playing in easy mode, You can take your eyes away from the screen for more then 5 seconds without worrying somone has pulled and are dead cursing you..
most priests I know are the same. Outside guild 20/40 man raids they want to relax and play alts.
Hawards Dec 15th 2006 10:54AM
I do not think that the tank can make that that
Matt Park Dec 15th 2006 1:23PM
A problem I've found is when they say "healer" they mean "priest." I've been turned down because I'm an enhancement specced shaman, even though I've successfully healed groups with 3 warriors and a warlock.
Kahja Dec 15th 2006 11:23AM
Healing bores me more than spamming frostbolt.
Prauche Dec 15th 2006 11:55AM
/agree with Ken @1, it's much harder to find a real tank for a 5-man than it is to find a competent healer. I got so sick while leveling my main of seeing "tank"s dual-wielding claiming they'd hold aggro as well as any warrior using a sword-and-board that on my 46 mage alt I haven't run a single PUG instance. I got a guildie to twink my illusionary rod. I just cringe any time I have to do ANYTHING without at least one or two folks I know I can count on. Doesn't help that I spent most of my time on my main playing with the same two folks.
(And one of them -- Bodah -- doesn't understand why my glass-cannon a$$ doesn't get into pugs. Remember, I'm wearing cloth, you're wearing mail on your alt and can heal yourself if things go south!!!! LOL)
Beth Dec 15th 2006 12:00PM
6K - gosh. What should newbie 60 resto druids aim for?
Jusk Dec 15th 2006 11:47AM
I think #4 hit the nail on the head.
Priests and druids realize they will be required to heal. But Paladins and Shaman put up so much of a fight( in general, not even half of the paladins ive played with were willing to heal more than the absolute minimum).
There are plenty of healers to go around, just not enough priests and druids. If paladins and shamans were more willing to heal, there would be less of a problem. Also if people were more willing to let a paladin or shaman be the main healer, there woudl be less of a problem. Even in BC my paladin has no problems main healing a group with 0 points in holy.
jpc Dec 15th 2006 1:39PM
Most healers can join an end-game raiding guild at 60 and once that happens, they don't need UBRS or scholo any more. More so than other classes. This combined with the fact that healing is more difficult and therefore people tend to give up at it earlier. Also, they are necessary for any group and in high demand and, therefore, may have something else planned.
Summary of why it's hard to find a healer:
1 they raid
2 there's less of them
3 it's more difficult
4 they have options
Pick a druid at the start up screen, get to 60, and get into a raiding guild and see how long it takes you to get purples, then ask yourself why you would want to go to UBRS ever again.
Curtis Dec 17th 2006 3:48PM
As a warrior if I get invited to a PUG I let them know up front I and DW/Fury spec, but I have a sweet 1hander and a nice board and with buffs I can tank a 5 man IF the DPSers LET ME. After some of the changes in v2 a pally can tank pretty damn good. The 2 PUGS I've been on have preferred to have my pally partener(wife) be tank while I DPS. Also a good healer will definately get a string of "AMAZING HEALING" from me and a tip or some green or blue that I won that I didn't need.....just like RL networking can be helpful. If he liked me as a tank he might call on me again :)
twh Dec 15th 2006 12:52PM
You wanna know why Paladins and Shaman resist being healers?
Because people have this foolish idea that it's all we can do. I'm specced to do damage at the moment, though I can heal, I would rather volunteer to heal rather than be told to heal, just because I have heal spells in my abilities. When I spec next, I'll spec tanking and I expect to be on the front taking damage in place of a warrior in case one isn't available.
If I spec Holy, I would be in a mood to heal, but since I don't enjoy the thought of being someone's personal healbot, I'm not.
Respect your healers and they'll keep you alive. Don't, and they just might wait that precious half second that would have saved your life with a powerful heal.
Halvar Dec 15th 2006 1:09PM
I am a priest and I love healing a group. I love the multi-tasking it involves and the pleasure of saving someones life and maintaining a group's health level. Yes sometimes it is a downer when someone yells at you not getting a heal sooner but I also yell back at them if they take a long time getting something off of me. So in a ways it is a two way street. All in all, I love the class and enjoy being that part of the game.
moink Dec 15th 2006 3:51PM
I pug on my priest and have both gotten compliments as a healer and called "the worst healer on the face of the earth." The difference? The existence and quality of the tank. One group kept reassuring me that because we were all such high level we didn't need a tank for deadmines, and then we kept wiping on Mr. Smite. And I was blamed. The most recent group had a warrior who could only address one mob at a time, and while he actually stayed alive most of the time, both priests and the hunter (the only one trying to protect us) died in all the harder fights. When I get aggro and my fade is on cooldown (meaning I've been getting aggro too often) or the fade doesn't work (because no one else is even on this particular mob's hate list), shielding myself and trying to stay alive takes all my mana and attention, and the rest of the group dies. Keep aggro off me and I'm great. The feral druid and paladin who showed me they pay attention and take aggro off me are on my friends list now, and I will do instances with them anytime they need a healer.
Also, people seem to have the strange idea that just because they, personally, are not being healed at the moment, I'm not healing. Didja notice the 3 other people in the group? Rogues especially seem to be quick to blame the healer when they don't get topped up instantaneously, even when the tank is slowly losing health and some poor clothie is being beaten to a pulp.
Anyway, in summary, my two biggest problems are the lack of competent tanks and undeserved blame. I like healing, but only with the right people.
Trippy Dec 15th 2006 5:54PM
I have played a 35 NE Priest and am now playing a 41 Gnome Mage. I totally understand what my healers are going through and try my best to save them mana whenever I can even if it means running back to my body so they can rez someone else instead.
I've found that as a mage having friends that are pallies helps. I can spam AOE all day without worrying that if something goes wrong and they aggro to the pally he'll die too. Having a healer that can wear mail and rez you really helps alot.
Priests seem to be really rare on my server and good ones even harder to find, so I really appreciate them when we find one to do an instance with.
Christian Stricker Feb 19th 2013 10:57AM
I used to love playing my priest, I honestly did. It was my first real character, and to this day, I still play/raid/PvP with him - even though, I'm not content with being the "background" guy that just keeps people alive. As a Priest, I don't have a say in anything anymore, shadow priests are a joke to my guild and I'm expected to go through the countless hours of pressing 6 different guys and watching unitframes like a hawk. The only reason I'm still raiding, is because I feel like I'm missing out on one of the most great things to happen to a Priest, namely Benediction/Anathema. Too long I had been helping new guilds struggling to get past the first 4 bosses in Zul'Gurub, missing out on easy and phat MC loot. But now I'm through with it. As much as people can call me greedy and selfish, I have my needs as well as many others. I'm happy with my current guild, I get to even participate in BWL raids, despite my mere FR of 43, but they'll all reluclent to non-raid progress; that means very little Molten Core, and I probably won't ever get that lovely combo Priest staff.
Damn the new PvP patch. Damn it to hell.
Christian Stricker Dec 16th 2006 10:41AM
And oh, yeah - rogues are fucking pushovers. Just because they're playing the least sought for class, they shouldn't expect quality treatment. Rogues are my least priority for healing, because most of them are ungrateful and idiots. Like the term rogue might even suggest. "DO U NO UR SOPOZZED TO HEEL ROUGES LOL NUB"
Go backstab yourself, fucking idiots.
(random rant, sorry)
Jediuglycow Dec 19th 2006 11:18AM
As a feral druid I have been put into the healing position several times. Lately I find people have been a bit more understanding that druids aren't just for healing which is nice. To be honest my past group in SM Arm where I was a 37 druid mixed with 2 pallys and a warlock 40-41 and a hunter at 37 it was well played out. I mean at the begining I was feral but then without paying attention we went to shit, so one of the guys asked if I could heal, he did it politely and THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE, so I did. The group worked out fine and the pallys knew I wasn't resto so once I said low on mana they would start healing themselves and I would focus on the hunter and warlock. To be honest just be polite to the healers because if they see you again they won't heal you, and yes sometimes we me day dream but we're really there most of the time so don't think we have to heal you first. I mean when I am doing feral in a 5 man and I see that I am being healed, it honestly makes me so happy that someone is looking out for me. All of you should feel the same!
Duggie Dec 21st 2006 7:58AM
I've play a Lvl 55 Priest on Venture company (europe) Healing is a learning process as I completed the lower instances i would always ask the group on feedback once we had down. Thats how i learnt to ignore pets, always make the tank use sword and board etc.
Proper healing can only take place if the tank and healer are on the same wave length, for instance a renew on the tank before he charges, i.e. Aggro free heal, but for this to work the healer has to know before the tank goes in.
DPS'ers are the problem. They have to wait for the tank to get all the aggro before they pile in. Rogues should be stunning a mob as soon as it loses tank aggro, giving the tank time to get it back.
I don't know how many times i've been shouted at for not healing, when i've already dead.
Also remember that shadow priests now have their place. With vamparic embrace providing some healing and now vampire touch giving mana to the other healer/ dps they can be useful
Gouka Jan 4th 2007 11:18AM
The problem isn't that they can't heal, it's the gear most of the time. Shaman/Paladin/Druid mostly use melee damage to lvl up, so they stick to str/stamina/agi gear. For healing, that sucks big time. Priests never use melee (well, let's say they can, but would greatly suck poking mobs with a dagger), they have int/spirit/+spelldamage gear for lvling, and the great thing about that is that that same priest damage gear isn't bad for healing either! So yeah, unless a person is carrying 2 completely different sets of items, I'll always take a priest for healing. And I'm sure there aren't 1/5th priests in the WoW. So that's the problem, imho.
And I have a lvl 60 paladin, and it's indeed not that I'm now retribution spec that I can't heal, it's my full sets of gear that make a difference. My damage gear is crit based, and no part matches with my healing gear, which has about +600 healing. So where I heal for 400 FoL with damage gear, I heal 750 with healing gear. But it takes a lot of time getting 2 full sets of gear, and most lvling characters don't have the bagspace or time for 2 full different sets.
Chad Jan 13th 2007 11:01PM
Not that I think that there is a real lack of healers (At least on my server), but one thing I didn't notice anyone mention is that a real healers have to make a choice - either sacrifice your healing abilities (your primary role), or be utterly gimped in PvP and solo pve. Unless you are fantastically rich and can respec at will, you can't have both. A tier one holy priest or resto druid probably has a dps of ~250/second. That implies twelve seconds to bring down a mage who just stands there, and longer for anyone who has more armor, hps, or actually fights back. PvP fights rarely last that long. Same with pve. It takes my resto druid twice as long to kill as most toons. That means half the cash, rep, xp, loot, etc per hour.