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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Don't you mean the *healer* shortage?
by Allison Robert 
Dec 9th 2008 at 8:00AM
I wrote a Breakfast Topic recently concerning the somewhat ambivalent effect that Death Knights were having on the usual tanking shortage, but wasn't too surprised to see a lot of people (perhaps most) write in to note that the healer shortage on their realms was even worse. Leveling as a healer -- even with all the changes to spellpower and shared gear -- is an unattractive proposition for most, and a lot of people who healed at 70 want the chance to do something different. Past a certain point you'd give anything to be doing something that doesn't involve staring at a series of dropping health bars, and that doesn't lend itself to a large and willing population of healers cheerfully offering their services for 5-man use in LFG.My main's a Druid and I PuG a lot, so I have the luxury of being able to observe which spec is the most wanted for 5-mans (at least on my realm). As soon as dual specs become available, I'm going to have a PvE tanking and PvE healing spec set up and ready to go -- and after that, I'm going to keep a little notebook and tally how many times I get asked by a group to heal, and how many times I'm asked to tank ("But what if someone wants you to DPS?" you ask. What is this "dee pee ess" you speak of, strange one?). With an increasing number of Death Knights reaching 80, I'm willing to bet that the demand for healers is going to be even greater than it is right now, and that increasing pressure is going to be exerted on hybrid tanks (i.e. Druids and Paladins) to maintain a healing spec and gear in order to ensure that groups get off the ground faster than they do right now. I could be wrong, but I'd also be lying if that wasn't the dominant trend back on Wrath's beta with respec costs at 1c and a ton of Death Knights at 80.
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Features, Leveling, Classes
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
Kthak Dec 9th 2008 12:03PM
I'm a protection paladin, and I love tanking. However, I decided since I was going to be getting a whole lot of gear from quests while leveling I would just take the healing gear and keep it unless I got a piece of gear that actually replaced my epics... I ended up with a full healing set and I've ever put it to use a few times (just healing as prot spec). I can't wait for dual-specs.. I'm going holy/prot so I will never have to worry about LFG.
nibbit Dec 10th 2008 1:48AM
Well speaking as a warrior tank with my alt priest … I can heal the place while I’m asleep but if you have any problems follow these simple rules;
1. Don’t pug… Ever!
2. See rule 1.
William Sagemire Dec 9th 2008 8:24AM
I'm considering transferring my paladin (lvl 64-ish) to my current realm when dual spec is available, despite having sworn to never play a paladin again, just so my guild has one more available healer.
Ormal Dec 9th 2008 6:40PM
Don't do it! You'll burn yourself out on pally healing when all you do is spam FoL over and over again. :)
Abarai Dec 9th 2008 9:04AM
As a pala tank pre Wotlk, I noticed pugs needed a healer first, tank second and then dps third, in that order.
That's not going to change in this new expansion, for the obvious reason that the class types are still the same as in BC.
Axolotl Dec 9th 2008 8:34AM
I've done too many dungeons without even getting a good look at the scenery on my Holy (now Ret) paladin to even consider doing it in Northrend. I'm making my Deathknight into my new main, and when dual specs arrive, most likely it will be a PVE/DPS spec, not TANK/PVE
Hellsbellboy Dec 9th 2008 8:49AM
I would say there is always a healing shortage while people are leveling up, has always been that way. I respec'd my Paladin healer as Ret and my Druid healer as Feral and my Shaman as enhancement. Unless I was planning to heal instances to level from 70-80 then it's just too slow and painful leveling as a healer. I see some people do it in my guild but they are constantly healing instances and decided to 'see' the content in game (ie quest) on their Death Knights.
In TBC, although it only reflects my experience, when I was playing my healers, I always had a hard time finding a tank. (at lvl 70) when I switched to a Tank, I always had trouble finding a healer.
Tailchaser Dec 9th 2008 8:39AM
I wish we had to many tanks, We have 20 lvl 80's. 1 Tank, 5 Healers. Any tanks on Staghelm looking for a guild?
Kaawn Dec 9th 2008 8:41AM
I decided to level my rogue to 80 first before my Holy Paly as I'm still considering if I should stay holy or not.
I can't imagine having any fun healing something like Utgarde Pinical or the Culling of Strat with her limited heals. Our shammy hybrid healer is pulling out his hair already. lols
paper Dec 9th 2008 10:14AM
Three of five shaman healers available to our guild have, after a few rounds of Heroics, outright given up on healing and switched to Elemental for good. I play a Disc priest and have been taking my time getting through the content(maybe two levels a week at most), but now there is increasing pressure for me get to 80 so I can start running the nightly Heroics. I just want to fish.
The only frustration I've had in getting to the upper 70s is that nobody wants to do regular instances. Whenever I join LFG to try to run something like Occulus or Utgarde Pinnacle I get to watch hours of people saying 'lf healer for Heroic (insert instance name) then gtg.' I've run a lot of the lower-level instances and there have only been a couple of times that a group disbanded early on because we couldn't find a tank.
Muse Dec 9th 2008 8:45AM
Part of the issue is there are so few 'weekend healers'. You're either a career healer or you're not one at all.
Hudders Dec 9th 2008 8:45AM
I think it has a lot to do with making retribution more of a valid option for Paladins in the expansion. Whereas the number of tanking Paladins turning Ret has been compensated for with the introduction of DKs, there's nothing filling the gap left by the dpsing healers.
Neil T. Dec 9th 2008 8:52AM
I would agree. A number of our previously holy paladins have used the expansion to justify a change to Ret or Prot, so we're down on healers. Others respecced as DPS to help with levelling and decided not to change back when they reached 80.
Things are getting gradually better - we have more tanks and healers reaching 80 now. Maybe those that normally tanked or healed just took longer to level up?
Jack Spicer Dec 9th 2008 10:39AM
I doubt this is the reason. Early in TBC when the perception was that Paladins were the best healers, there were a ton of Holydins. But towards the end of TBC the trend was definitely more 80% tanks/ret with more ret than any other build.
It must be nice for retribution paladins to finally have a well deserved spot in a 5-man, but people still played that talent spec like it was going out of style before Wrath.
Khanmora Dec 9th 2008 8:45AM
In the Murphy's Law of anecdotals category. It seems like every time I want to heal everyone is short on tanks, when I'm out questing or fishing, all I see is lf1m healer /sigh
Khanmora Dec 9th 2008 9:55AM
I hit 80 on the 20th of November, I was the first in my class and I did it specc'd resto. So I don't think that is the issue.
Naix Dec 9th 2008 11:42AM
Cause Shamans are OP. What else do you want?
Tamara Dec 9th 2008 8:48AM
My guild seems to be okay on healers so it sounds like we are part of the fortunate few.
I don't doubt the shortage of healers willing to do pugs. I play a healing priest and I would sooner poke my eyes out then heal a pug especially if I do not know the tank. It is not inconceivable for me to die nearly every pull if we have a bad tank, not really enjoyable.
Crypt Dec 9th 2008 8:49AM
I know as a resto druid, I don't heal outside of guild runs. Why? I don't have to. I get to run dungeons at will, anytime, anywhere.
As for a DK tank? We have 2 in training at the moment and it is working out. But, you have to consider it training and tank instance after instance to get used to it and have willing groups allow you to experiment to get the rotations down and a working spec. A DPS DK that decides it might be fun to tank an instance? You can do that on your own. I'm not healing that.
gewurztraminer Dec 9th 2008 8:51AM
I play a healing priest, but I don't do PUGs.