Raid Rx: Addons for the healing lead
by Matt Low 
Feb 21st 2009 at 4:00PM
Raid Rx has returned from retirement! Every Thursday (usually, unless there's a PTR soon), Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. This week it's all about the tools of communication!
You've just been promoted. You've been granted supreme authority over the rest of the healers in the guild. Your guild leader has placed you in charge and made it clear that you are responsible for quarterbacking the healers in the raids. Your healers start looking to you relieved that someone who has a general understanding of the different strengths of the healer classes will be instructing them on what to do.
So now what?
Assigning healers can be a huge headache. I know I've done it and I keep some pain relievers on hand. We haven't gotten to the multiphasic-switch-healing fights yet. We're still waiting on Ulduar for that. This is a great time to get acquainted with different addons and methods for healing assignments.
The Macro Method
As you might be able to tell, this method does not involve the use of addons. It just uses macros. For the current end game raiding scene, macros can still do the job. Ideally, your healing communication happens in a different channel.
In my case, just because I like to prove that I'm actually doing something, I'll echo it in raid warning (check with your raid leader before actually doing that as some may not appreciate it).
Here you can see the fictitious WoW Insider healing group at work. The macro is clearly labeled "ILLIDAN". The first line of the macro is prefixed with the actual "when" of the healing. As I mentioned earlier, it's not entirely important in the early game. But as you progress throughout the next level of instances, precision in communication becomes important.
The format I use in this macro is target: then healer. The assigned healing targets are listed first before I list who their healers are. If there's a healer not mentioned, they automatically know they're on raid duty.
Bonus points for using the macro method? These are exportable. This means that you can copy and paste these in to your guild's raiding forums. Doing this allows assignments to be handled by anyone as the template assignments are already in place. Useful if you're going to be out of action for a while!
The downside is that if your healers change, you'll have to edit their names and such manually. There is also a limit to the amount of characters you can enter into a macro (255) and the amount of macros you can make.
Note about double shifting: Depending on your raid makeup, you may like to double shift your healers. Note that in addition to healing our respective groups, Elizabeth and I are also healing the MT.
Surgeon General
Credit for this one is courtesy of Kestrel's Aerie. In fact, Kestrel even wrote up a post dedicated to outlining the features and reviewing of Surgeon General.
I have to say that this is by far one of the best healing assignment mods I've ever seen. Trust me on this as I've worked with a fair share of mods for assigning healing.
Brimmstone's Surgeon General blows everything out of the water. Why?
It features:
- Saved healing configurations
- Multi phase fight support
- Automatic healer detection
- Echoes assignments to raid or a designated chat channel
- Multiple bosses and raid dungeons can be configured
What it doesn't do is automatically assign healers for you. That's still your job. You have to fill in the blanks by typing in the name of your targets.
In the shot above, example healing assignments are given out. Instances and bosses are already pre-loaded into the addon. The autofill button on the bottom left can be used to load up detected healers in your raid group. At the bottom, there are two places to report the assignments: In your raid or in a customized channel (or both).
Don't forget to save your healing configurations for later!
Here's another shot of the same interface. Raid instances from Karazhan all the way to Eye of Eternity are included.
If the encounter has multiple phases, go ahead and enter the name and the appropriate tanks. Be sure to enable by checking boxes on the bottom or else it won't allow you to enter the names.
Here's what the final raid channel export looks like. Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie refer to phase names. The ~'s represent phase switches. For example, Matticus is healing Optimus in Alpha and Eowyn in Bravo. He's not required to heal anyone specifically in Charlie.
Others
This is one of the earlier mods I've used before. It hasn't been updated since the end of October 2008. It does the same thing similar to Surgeon General.
When the list of healers is automatically populated, all you need to do is drag and drop their names next to the appropriate tank.
The downside? You can't multi shift healers. Once a healer is assigned to a tank, they're not able to be assigned to anyone else (via the addon anyway).
Upcoming changes include multi phase support.
My knowledge of Heal Assign is a little limited. I haven't played around with this one as much as I'd have liked to. Note that this is a command line mod. There's no graphical UI for it quite yet. Healers with the mod running will have a window that shows unit bars listing their assignments.
All of your healers will have to have Heal Assign installed and toggled on for this to work. Your healers are able to assign or unassign themselves from their tanks and targets. Raiders must have an Assistant (or be Raid Leader) in order to assign other healers.
Want some more advice for working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered with all there is to know! Looking for less healer-centric raiding advice? Take a look at our raiding column Ready Check.Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Add-Ons, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Maraetha Feb 21st 2009 4:13PM
I tried assignments and still. As a healing leader I prefer the macro's. I've been using them since I'm a healing leader. Ok, some fights are 3 macro's long (Kael'Thas/Vashj) but they're easy, they're personal, and I just edit them when the invites are complete (gives me 5min before the pull). :)
Thou, addons seem nice as well. Don't get me wrong :)
Scaramanja Feb 21st 2009 4:36PM
Honestly most content right now is so simple healing is very simple so I do not feel the need for assignment add-ons. Even Sarth + is not about intricate healing assignments it's about everyone avoiding all the BS and focusing. Hopefully Ulduan will bring some much needed challenge to the game.
Microtonal Feb 21st 2009 5:00PM
In the current lvl 80 raid content, there are only a few fights that even require specific healing assignments in the first place. Worrying about it enough to clutter chat with macros or addon-spam is just going to waste time and piss people off.
Etinfall Feb 21st 2009 7:33PM
The comments about all the content being to easy for healing assignments sure depresses me. Has this game become just to boring and run of the mill for most people? No more CC, no more marking targets, no healing assignments.... that just sucks!
My little group hasn't gotten to the 10 mans or 25 mans yet, and it seems I don't really have much to look forward to.
Eisengel Feb 22nd 2009 12:00AM
Can everyone please calm down about the perceived difficulty of Wrath for about 10 mintues? I actually really appreciate a lot of the design and gameplay effort that has gone in to the current stable of Wrath instances/raids.
1. Hard stuff is there, but it is optional.
Yes, you can still find a challenge if you want it, but you have to choose it. Instead of putting a 50 foot high steel-reinforced concrete razor-wired wall in the progression path, Blizzard put a 10 foot high wooden tower. This means more people can actually see what they are paying Blizzard to spend all that time making. Plus, there are the dungeon and raid achievements if you want a challenge. Some aren't all that hard, but some... really... are. I've seen epicced 80s that used to raid MC in vanilla wipe like noobs in heroic Azul'nerub... on the 1st boss. It definitely takes a lot of skill, finesse and attention to pull off some of the achievements.
2. All raids will be better tuned.
Think about it, gearing out in Naxx-10 gear should be pretty much possible for almost everyone... so Blizzard can assume you'll be wearing that gear. What does that mean? They can tune subsequent raids much, much better. If they can pretty much know what gear you'll have going in, they can have a pretty good idea what you're capable of.
3. Everything is useful.
Does anyone remember trying to get Lower City rep in BC before it was granted in a few Achidoun dungeons? How about running specific instances over and over for specific gear, just so you could be raid-ready, so you could go raid and replace it? How about trying to get a group for instance X, but it doesn't drop any good tank gear, so you can never find a tank? Nearly every Wrath instance has useful loot from at least 2 bosses for basically every spec of every class... and they are easy enough that pretty much everyone can run them. Some heroics are definitely harder, but at least they're all worth it. Even if you don't need the gear, there are badges to get, as well as the tabard rep system.
This isn't all of Wrath, it is the initial deployment. All the instances can give you gear you can use, rep you can use, badges you can use, and they're all easy enough that almost everyone can get through them... so that everyone will be ready when the new, harder raids and instances are patched in.
If Blizzard designs the new content around elite raiders, only they will be able to complete it, and 99% of us will be stranded on the curb. If Blizzard designs the new content around 3-hour-a-week intermittent logins 90% of us will finish everything in less than a month. However... if Blizzard makes the initial game easy for everyone to gear up to a certain level... then everyone can take a crack at the next level, and if they want a challenge, they can choose to go for achievements.
Personally, I love this design philosophy. Things always change, so there is no perfect answer, but this seems like one of the best iterations Blizzard has hit to date on balancing gear, reputation, and the different levels of ability and progression across their user base. Not to mention the environment is hands down better than a lot of BC (not all... but a lot), and I think the questing in general has been the most fun I've ever done in WoW.
So... please... two deep breaths. Let them work. So far they've done a great job. They're just setting the stage for the content patches to come ... this is definitely not all of Wrath.
Dahrken Feb 21st 2009 5:03PM
I still prefer Getting Things Healed over Surgeon General.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info10457-GettingThingsHealed.html
Why? because I can make a general layout of the kind of healer I want and it can populate my healers to assignments based on my preferences. Sure I have to tweak it a little, but I generally have whole wings + trash autopopulated with my saved templates.
As to the limited drag drop scenario I simply rename an assignment to a custom variable an put the healer in it, simple.
There was a thread over at Plus Heal for it, but it's sorta dead these days.
fellina Feb 21st 2009 5:11PM
I tend to agree with Scaramanja... the current fights are not really complex enough to warrant intricate assignments. However, it can prove invaluable when learning fights and when you have new/rotating healers.
One option from Heal Organizer that I really wish they would add to Surgeon General is the whisper option. Meaning, whispering assignments to the healers and also the ability of the healers to whisper me a keyword to get their assignment at any time.
Thanks for the great synopsis of addons out there. :)
Malkia Feb 21st 2009 6:24PM
As I've never healed in anything larger than 10 man this all looks amazing..
Juniper Feb 21st 2009 9:10PM
"Healing assignments" boil down to two things in my guild.
(Weekly clear of all current 10 man content)
Tank healer.
Group healer.
Thats it.
there are only a handful of fights (patch etc) where these assignments have to cross.
nagglecow Feb 22nd 2009 3:29AM
/cheer @ Eisengel
You tell them dude. I totally agree with you....and if ppl are too short-sighted to see your point, then they can feel free to play other games....or *gasp* go outside.
jurandr Feb 22nd 2009 9:53PM
When it comes to assigning healers, I generally pull all of them into a private chat channel and say DISCUSS. By the time we reach the first boss, the healers know what they're doing. The tanks and the DPS don't care about healing assignments, as long as they don't die.
rundeian Feb 23rd 2009 12:10PM
Of course healing assignment is pretty easy for most guilds. But matt here loves to write about himself being the god of healing. So he will write up overly complex bull. Yes you can assign just group and tank healers and be done with it. Good healers adapt bad healers need to be told every single move. The worst healers are the ones who lead those bad healers with micro management. Its why matt has been kicked out of every decent guild on the server.
Manosdefuego Feb 25th 2009 10:44AM
@ rundeian...
wow man, who pissed in your corn flakes this morning?... LOL.
Seriously, leave the personal attack comments out of it. If this article proves to be insightful/ helpful to someone who is considering how they themselves would like to arrange healing assigments now or in the future, then it has served it's purpose.
Why all the hate?
An experienced healing leader will direct their healers for what is most effective with their current raid. This article is just highlighting a few options for them. Those bad healers you were referencing might just be inexperienced and this article maybe, just maybe, might provide useful to their respective leaders to help them improve.
Keep the personal BS out of it.