Forum Post of the Day: Who's your main healer?
by Elizabeth Harper 
Mar 1st 2007 at 7:15PM
Poster Runeolth asks forumgoers whom they'd pick as their main healer: a druid, paladin, priest, or shaman? There seems to be little agreement on the subject, with players answering every option, a few saying that all are viable, and a few answering with options that weren't offered. So what does each healing class bring to the table?Druid
Pros: Excellent variety of HoTs (especially talented), MotW a very nice all-purpose buff, leather armor (and ability to shapeshift into bear if needed) makes them fairly durable
Cons: Can only rez once a half hour, no damage shields, group heal on a cooldown
Priest
Pros: Most versatile array of healing abilities (a HoT, direct heals, a damage shield, and group heals), PW:F an excellent stamina buff (great for group survivability)
Cons: Squishy, and with no good way to dump aggro if needed
Paladin
Pros: Very mana efficient, excellent variety of buffs (blessings and judgements), very durable (plate!), low threat heals
Cons: No HoTs, no group heals, short duration buffs
Shaman
Pros: Versatile buffs with totems, quite durable (mail), can self-rez to save a corpse run after a wipe, good variety of healing abilities (direct heals, group heals, and some healing over time via totem)
Cons: Need to be in range to get totem buffs, can't always give players the buffs they would want because of element restrictions, only damage shield is a 41-point talent
What's your opinion -- is there anything important left out of this little chart? And do you have a healing class of choice?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bob70011 Mar 1st 2007 7:42PM
The priest class was created to heal. They may have been through rough times, but they are still (In my opinion) the best healers in the game.
Jake Mar 1st 2007 7:29PM
My favorite healing class, isn't a class. A resto shammy and a shadow priest are what I prefer, good heals, good dps, VE, and a backup healer for health sensitive fights.
Cala Mar 1st 2007 7:43PM
Cons: Squishy, and with no good way to dump aggro if needed
WTF? Fade. It's there for a reason. Can't tell how many times I pulled aggro off a tank from healing and a fade dumped it right back where it was supposed to be. It won't get off me? If it isn't a boss, it's fearable. Not normally a good idea in instances, but sometimes it's the difference between a dead priest/wipe and a close call. And if it is a boss, that's what good warriors look out for and intervene, or a Pally pops a 3 taunt/BoP.
Krianna Mar 1st 2007 8:26PM
@ 3 -- What? Fade actually WORKS for you? I must have extra-squishy tanks or something, because I'm always pulling agro off of them while they're hitting for all their worth.
I've pulled agro off a higher level DPS warrior with Vampiric and shadow word: pain. That's it.
Jason Mar 1st 2007 8:49PM
Earth Shield is a HoT, not a damage sheild. It absorbs nothing.
Overall, Resto Shaman are my personal choice for a main healer behind a priest, since they give up PW:S and PW:F, verse a druid, who gives up on demand res, and a paladin, who while good, just don't strike me as the main healer class, even if they can fill the role.
tripp Mar 1st 2007 10:05PM
Fade is temporary. It doesn'y dumb aggro the way other abilities do. It's basically the opposite of a Warrior taunt. Once the spell ends the aggro comes back to you. It creates a small window for your tank to get aggro back.
Cala Mar 1st 2007 10:34PM
@4 - Apparently I lucked into some good tanks or something, because Fade does work. I can't dump the aggro completely, but it's enough time for the tank to get aggro back.
@6 - Exactly. As I said before, I must have lucked into good tanks. :)
RaydenUni Mar 1st 2007 11:21PM
Yeah, I was questing with a similarly leveled warrior and I would cast only SWP and VE and the mob would always go after me.
Fade sometimes works, but its not that great as it is. I can't tell you how many times Fade has not worked for me. I hit Fade, all of a sudden have to cast greater heal once or twice, flash heal a couple time, maybe heal party, and when Fade ends Insta-Death!
daniel Mar 2nd 2007 3:00AM
Fade seems to be pretty much a 50/50 chance to dump aggro, but a good group should be able to spot their loss of aggro and regain it. A PW:S and a renew usually keeps me alive enough for the tank to regain aggro, if not, we're probably wiping :)
Duggie Mar 2nd 2007 4:43AM
Fade does work, if your drawing aggro from the tank and then doesn't work its the tanks fault. Fade works by temporarily moving you down the aggro list. If no-one has aggroed the mob at all then fade won't work as there is no one for the priest to drop below on the aggro list. To prevent this the tank needs to switching targets, putting sunders on everyone etc, so he/she can build aggro with every mob.
Also as soon as you pop fade you need to hold of on the high threat spells, a quick round of renew on everyone to keep them topped up and sit back and let the tank build aggro again, so that when fade fades(?) you don't jump back up above them.
The thng i like to do is run towards the tank if i gain aggro, this brings the mob into range off more of a tanks aggro gaining abilities. As soon as the tank regain aggro, i get the flock out of there.
Lucas Mar 2nd 2007 7:37AM
Fade is a dump in aggro, it last 10 secs, when the dump is over, you get it all back... - beyond that we have a 20% threat reduction on healing spells (if we have the talent) ... that's it..
Problem 1. we are cloth, we die fast, in heroic mode instances or the like, if you pull aggro you're dead, you dont get a second chance like the paladin/Sharman/Druid - what you get is 15 sec to enjoy your Improved Death Talent... wicked cool..
But what this was not a priest complaint thread, I really like the druid as a healer, they're HOT and throws HoT's, and God knows what.!
I like the fact taht a druid can change form, and keep it' self alive just for a little while more.
//Tallens'out
Peasoup Mar 2nd 2007 6:24AM
Well, I have no favourite healing class. They all have their advantages which might come in handy in some situations. With this in mind I would so my favourite healing class is a WELL PLAYED healing class.
They are only as good as the player behind the screen poking the keyboard. Forget about their equipment, and to some degree their specc. It's all about the player.
Camaris Mar 2nd 2007 6:24AM
I'm a holy paladin myself, and it seems to me like any class with HoTs and/or multi-target heals has a much easier time as main-healer in 5-mans. Palas have to smash their buttons almost constantly, especially when multiple people are getting hit. I'm always jealous of that priest doing their easy party heal while I smash my FoL button furiously.
OTOH, our 'oh crap' abilities (Bubble/BoP/DI), mana efficiency and plate armor makes paladins the least squishy healers, often resulting in the paladins being the last healers standing in unlucky Karazhan pulls (Skeletal Ushers like to gank clothies).
Glocky Mar 2nd 2007 8:42AM
As a geomancer shammy (36/0/25), I don't mind at all being the off healer in 5s &10s, and in the event of a primary healer death, I usually can prevent a wipe by switching my main hand dps weapon to a healing one and go healbot. This makes sense since most shammy mail is both +dmg and +heal.
So... favourite class to heal is "primary" lol... so I'm only OH. Nuking while watching group health. As OH with a shield and mail, I am also there to peel mobs off the primary.
I actually miss the old earthshock (with the extra threat). I usually position myself in shock range, which would put me about halfway between the melee and the healers. Melee without a charge type skill would have a hard time peeling the mob from the priest 30-40yds away.
Blaze Mar 2nd 2007 9:42AM
Skill is 45% of healing 25% is spec 10 % is gear and then i would say 20 % is class
In my Burning Crusade experiance every 7/10 Palidans are competent enough to manage a 5 man group with no unnecessary wipes
Druids are ussually HoTs but for most druids the timing for continuous power heals oh boss fights isnt there only 5/10 druids have the skill to heal a 5 man dungeon
Shaman are probably the best 5 man group healers when they are resto they are much mroe mana efficient with the new BC gear and resto shaman get a tank's best friend Earth Shield
Serenatias Mar 2nd 2007 10:25AM
Priests need a buff. Holy priests that is. Fade is gimp, PW:S is gimp, especially when mobs in heroics hit for 3-4 times the amount it absorbs, non-crit. I've seen fewer and fewer decent priests in 70's. Until the inevitable holy tree buff, or all other healer nerf, lets just refer to this time as "The age of the hybrid main healers"
clutch Mar 2nd 2007 1:24PM
If you get a resto shaman into good +healing gear, they probably have the most efficient heals of all healers, including priests. Not only that but the survivability and ability to save a raid is in another league than the other healing classes. On top of all that, I personally think the Draenei shaman with their HoT is on top of my list. (Anyone know if Gift of Naru increases with +healing?)
I'm speaking on behalf of 5 mans. Resto shamans can compliment other healers very well and vice versa.
Zuuler Mar 2nd 2007 3:04PM
I commented on this in another post, but best group ever, pally, shaman, priest, tank, dps. I had a group like this, priest healing, druid tanking, warlock (me) dps, and the pally and shaman moved to wherever they were needed.
Between the pally's blessing and the shamans totems, the priest never ran out of mana, so health was almost never an issue. If we needed an offtank, the pally was there. Off heal or added dps, shaman picked up the slack. There was always someone taking aggro off the priest so he could do his job.
Priest mana = warlock health = warlock mana = unlimited supply of DPS.
Ahren Mar 4th 2007 11:25AM
my main healer is a holy priest call me old fashion but the priest is unmatched 4 a quality healer (if played well!!)