Call for submissions: Top tips for healers
by Lisa Poisso 
May 28th 2010 at 9:00AM
We've all heard the basics a million times ... Tell us the secrets of the very best healers! Maybe you have a list of little-known tricks used by the most experienced healers, or you'd like to share some tips to calm the nervous first-time instance or raid healer. What about the savviest moves for healers in ICC hard modes? Whatever your angle is, it should stand out and provide a top 10 list worthy of bookmarking; we'll only be accepting the very best article.
Submissions should be between 500 and 1,000 words. Artwork is not mandatory, but should you choose to include a screenshot, please make sure that it is your own work or from creative commons; images should be 580 pixels wide and between 175 and 350 pixels high. Update: We will not accept articles submitted under player names or pen names; please use your real name and email.
Ready to submit? Read up about our guest post program, then sign up for Seed and submit your article here. (You can't see the article page unless you have a Seed account.) Unfortunately, we are currently only able to take submissions from individuals living in the United States; we hope to be able to accept international submissions in the future. We'll accept submissions for this assignment until 11:59 p.m. EST on Thurs., June 3. Good luck and good writing!
Filed under: WoW Insider Business, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cyanea May 28th 2010 9:06AM
Love this Seed thing. Yesterday's Breakfast Topic was mine. Easiest ten bucks I've ever made.
pancakes May 28th 2010 9:47AM
I'd love it too if I wasn't from Australia.
Jamie May 28th 2010 9:22AM
The secret to healing? Don't use Auto-attack!
icis Jun 17th 2010 12:52PM
lol maybe for those lame healers. But not if you are a bad ass plate wearing Holy bomb slinging holy pally.
Shot May 28th 2010 9:25AM
Not loving this seed thing, since it's US only.
Noz. May 28th 2010 9:36AM
Yeah, what happened to us the Latin American?
Cmon' on!
Delerius May 28th 2010 10:25AM
They've explained this 3 times already. Because you are submitting a piece of "work" and are receiving "payment" for it, this qualifies as temporary employment. Unless you have a work visa to work in the USA, this violates labor laws. In order to not mess with all of that, wow.com has limited the seed program to those who actually live here.
I may have to actually sign up for this one, as if resto druids really need any advice :)
Dave May 28th 2010 9:35AM
Roll a druid.
iltafas May 28th 2010 9:46AM
Roll a paladin, and forget about priests (having one as a main made me realize just how crappy a healer they are in WotLK).
Jim May 28th 2010 9:57AM
Roll a priest and actually learn how to heal.
Harrumph May 28th 2010 10:04AM
Priests are still competitive if played correctly.
1) Healing meters are not the be-all and end-all of healing.
2) It's still possible to compete with holydins, as given by these WoL Reports from last night.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/wyn2y9fvt53lttao/analyze/hd/source/?s=3078&e=3487
Council try 3 onwards (It had been a while).
John May 28th 2010 10:43AM
I have to agree with not going with priest.
Resto Druids get little new in Cata because they're already OP.
Resto shamans get very cool sounding new capabilities.
Pallies get a fill for their one small weakness (aoe heals).
Disc priest get a mass shield on longish CD. Holy priest get a serendipity-like heal boost.
Life Grip is a massively stupid idea. And lightwell will continue to be an unused piece of garbage.
iltafas May 28th 2010 10:40AM
@Harrumph: Well, I know on my Holy Paladin I always end up coming lower on the meters with him during the Council particularly when I'm assigned to healing solely the one agroing the Nuclei, etc. as well as the fact that a Holy Priest is at an advantage in this fight with 2 instant-cast heals while Holy Paladins only have 1 every 6s that does very little and only to a single target.
If you look at the Queen kill in your same log there, you can see that you still made out lower on the charts compared to all the other healers, which is what I mean by how priests are generally weaker in healing throughput, and in all seriousness, have the crappiest form of mana regeneration.
All other healing classes have a
iltafas May 28th 2010 10:44AM
Eh. Don't know why my comment got cut off up there.
I was saying that all healing classes but the priest have a less than 2 minute cooldown on some form of mana regeneration (and if they don't it's very effective at actually giving you all your mana back) -- Mana Tide Totem in conjunction with Water Shield, Divine Plea, Innervate. Priests only have one thing: Shadowfiend. Every. Five. Minutes. And it barely gives any mana back. Oh. Wait. Hymn of Hope you say? Channeling and a waste of time in most fights.
From personal experience with all of the other healing classes, I'm fairly certain that priests are the weakest of the bunch right now in terms of how much they can contribute to a raid as a healer. I just feel like I'm contributing more on my shaman, druid, and paladin as a raid healer. All priests do is give utility in the form of Discipline talents and maybe a few Holy talents.
Janaan May 28th 2010 3:43PM
Iltifas, best way to regen mana? 2 steps.
Hymn of Hope: Channel as long as you can, but as long as you get the 20% buff to your mana pool you're fine.
THEN use Shadowfiend. Since you get mana based off your max mana pool, the 20% buff you get from the Hymn lets you get close to, if not all your mana back.
Harrumph May 28th 2010 9:52AM
Don't use a mac.
Gren May 28th 2010 9:57AM
@Harrumph - why not a mac??
And @ Pancakes, Shot and Noz - yes - I cant understand why they can't let people from other countries besides the states to participate. Its not like when they give away things - then I can understand they might have some issues shipping stuff abroad etc. But articles from other countries? Gief explanation!
Hrothgar May 28th 2010 9:54AM
Turn on pets in grid or healbot. Yes, they can be a lower priority than anything else but letting the pet die is like asking the non-pet class player to remove thier weapons.
Don't believe me, get a copy of rawr and load up a hunter from your guild. without making any changes or doing any buffs, look at the bottom information bar. See that part that says Pet DPS? That's what will go missing if the pet dies.
I know, I know, Blizzard has given hunters an absolutely amazing tool for healing our own pet. However, on a raid configured Marksman or Survival hunter, mend pet does about 1100 health points every 2.5 seconds. Wow, I know, right? Why, that's more healing than you get from first aid.
BTW if you are a Disc Priest, you should be happy to have an additional target for PW:S so you can get off that hasty Penance.
Frost Mages and Unholy DK's really don't need the help. If their minion dies, they can summon one on a global cooldown. But Warlocks and hunters have to stop and cast for 10 seconds and in the case of hunters, their pet comes back limp, lame and lazy. It has to be spruced up a bit before it becomes useful. That means around 15 -20 seconds of limited to no DPS from the hunter. And this follows a period of reduced DPS from the initial death of the pet.
So, next time you are disdainful of healing one of your party members who happens to be a pet, go ahead, take your staff off and put it in your bag and finish the fight that way. You're group will really appreciate the handicap effort.
However, I'll bet there are some healers out there that are secretly saying to themselves that losing a hunter from the raid isn't that big a deal anyway. If you are one of those, you should probably go play Eve.
Hrothgar May 28th 2010 10:03AM
WTB an edit button...
Here's another way to look at it. Say someone in your party gets a disease/debuff that reduces their DPS by between 14 and 40% depending on what spec they are running and it was your job to dispell said debuff... Would you do it?
Snuzzle May 28th 2010 10:52AM
I'm sorry, but I have to say I disagree. As someone who has played a hunter as her main in vanilla, when pets were more of a liability than a boon, the modern hunter simply his too many tricks up his sleeve to keep his pet alive that I should not have to worry about it. If the pet dies, I can fairly safely say the hunter was doing something he oughtn't... or not doing something he ought.
For starters, all pets have an innate -90% AOE damage reduction. That means if something is hitting you for 3k a tick, it's hitting Fluffy for only 300. Splash heals from Wild Growth, Prayer of Mending, Circle of Healing, or Chain Heal will more than take care of it... and if by chance none of these heals hit him because they all hit a player then that means that the players needed the heal more (since they are all smart heals). And I would much rather a player live than a pet.
Secondly, Mend Pet is no longer the channelled, mana-heavy, low-healing joke of a spell it used to be. It takes on single GCD to apply a HoT to your pet that will in all likelihood outdo any AOE being thrown at your pet because of the aforementioned innate AOE reduction. If your pet dies to AOE, it is entirely the hunter's fault.
If your pet is taking direct damage from diseases, curses, or poisons, why not talent for Improved Mend Pet? One point is really all you need, and if you're that worried about your pet's welfare, you should not hesitate to take it. On the other hand, no hunter in a serious hardcore raiding guild should take it... but then again, hunters in serious hardcore raiding guilds don't really need it as bosses no longer specifically target pets with spells. The only stuff he'll be getting hit with is AOE debuffs which again... innate AOE damage reduction.
If your pet is a typical Ferocity pet, he has a chance to heal himself for 5% of his total health each time he hits with an attack. This, combined with your Mend Pet, will help him survive tremendously. Wild hunt increases his stamina and attack power, and is a very good DPS pet talent to take.
That's not to say I never heal pets. They're simply lowest on my priority list. On the off chance that there is no one else taking damage, and the pet needs a heal, and no splash heals have taken care of him, I will throw him a heal.
And on the off-off-OFF chance that the pet is tanking something useful because of an out-of-control pull or a bad tank then of course... he will get healed. But don't act like it's the healer's "job" to heal pets with your edit, saying it's the same as our job to remove debuffs on our party. It's not. It's the hunter's job. If the healer has the free mana, time, or GCD he may help out. But please do not expect it. Hunters have plenty of tools at their disposal to keep their pet healthy and alive.