Raid Rx: Life at 85
by Matt Low 
Sep 9th 2010 at 2:00PM
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community.
I reached the level cap on beta over the weekend. For an idea of stats, I have approximately 80,000 HP and 60,000 mana (after a Power Word: Fortitude buff). My gear is a complete mishmash of quest greens, instance blues and Icecrown epics. As I'm gradually closing the gear gap, I can say that its one thing to see what the developers were thinking about when they overhauled healing. It is something else entirely to experience it.
From what I've been hearing, it appears that priests and shaman classes have adapted fairly well to this new environment. Druids and paladins still need a bit of tuning. Anyone out there on the beta want to corroborate (or offer their experience?)
The final push
As I was grinding my way through Twilight Highlands, I made a rather grueling discovery. It was getting to the point where my discipline and holy specs were failing me. These hunter NPC mobs had this ability called Rapid Fire. I was getting shredded with 1.2k-1.4k hits every half a second. It was as if though Twilight Cultists dropped their rifles and started using machine guns instead. My shields and my spells could not cope. I just could not heal damage of that magnitude. That is largely due to the gear (or rather, lack thereof). After another hour of fruitlessly trying to kill stuff, I gave up.
And I did something I thought I would never do in a million years.
Yup, I bit the bullet and went into shadow. I was still getting shredded, but at least now it was a coin toss on who would kill the other first, between the mob and I. After a while, I noticed that I was beginning to enjoy the damage I was doing. I could feel the pleasure coursing through my veins as I vaporized every last cultist I ran into.
But no. I will not succumb to the dark side. I switched back to discipline soon after hitting 85.
Mana, mana and mana
Don't get me started on mana right now. I believe the biggest issue is the lack of gear as I quested throughout Uldum and Twilight Highlands. Nothing can be done about that. I'm not quite sure what I could have done to grab more items. There are a few quests that I can still do. I left them alone in the hopes that a future patch will have some item rewards in there. Maybe in the next patch, I can backtrack and get some quest rewards.
According to the dungeon finder, I need a 305 average item level to enter any 84-85 instances. Right now, I'm sitting at 285. I'm sporting stuff like the Cataclysm Baradin's Wardens Revered Caster DPS Staff and the Cataclysm Baradin's Wardens Exalted Healer Trinket. These are combined with greens like Drag-Resistant Robes and Icecrown epics like Incarnadine Band of Mending.
Actually, I just bought the Cataclysm Baradin's Wardens Exalted Caster Trinket, which increased my average item level to 290. I'm still about 15 short. Not every instance has been itemized yet. Last I checked, Stonecore had zero drops. Check out some of the stuff I picked up from the Tol Barad vendor.
In case you were wondering, the double stats on the staff was due to an enchant and the reforging ability.
I want to talk about mana for a bit. Cooldowns across the board have been nerfed (with the exception of our shaman friends). Here's a quick recap:
I can feel the pinch for sure. Remember when stop casting spells (or the act of casting a spell and then cancelling midway through it) used to be a skill in previous expansions? I'm not doing that as much. I find that Heal can cover just about anything. There is damage being handed out, yes. But players aren't dropping from full to almost dead. Damage does occur, but you feel as if though you have a chance in keeping everyone alive. I'm not standing there mindlessly casting and cancelling waiting for damage to come in because damage is coming in, and I've got an appropriate spell to answer with it.Druid
- Innervate now regenerates mana equal to 20% of the casting druid's maximum mana pool, down from 33%.
PaladinPriest
- Divine Plea now lets you gain 10% (instead of 25%) of your total mana over 15 seconds. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes (from 1 minute).
- Illumination has been removed.
- Hymn of Hope now restores 2% mana, down from 3% mana. Increases maximum mana by 15%, down from 25%.
- Holy Concentration now increases the amount of mana regeneration from Spirit.
- Shadowfiend now gives 3% mana when the Shadowfiend attacks, down from 5%.
- Veiled Shadows now reduces the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 30 sec/60 sec.
One thing I noticed when I'm healing inside instances is that I can notice right away when I use the wrong heal. In Stonecore, a mage was on the verge of death. He had something like less than 10% health. Stupidly, I casted a Heal instead of a Flash Heal. The poor mage didn't make it.
More binds?
Healers are notorious for having a number of spells at their disposal. That number is only going to go up. I think each class is getting at least three or more spells that are potentially viable in a PvE environment. As a priest, I had to find room for Power Word: Barrier, Life Grip (Leap of Faith) and Heal.
Start thinking ahead to how you want your keys to be bound. I've had to add additional shift modifiers. My DPS spells are mapped to key combinations that involve the Ctrl key, and I had to find room for Mind Spike in there somewhere. I'm not exactly running out of room yet, but it's getting there.
I know when the expansion goes live, I'll probably end up reforging a bit more spirit than the rest, in case my gear is still out of whack.
I hope to finally have my healing video finished for next week so I can demonstrate the healing side of things. Video editing is serious business.
Need advice on working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered. Send your questions about raid healing to matticus@wow.com. For less healer-centric raiding advice, visit Ready Check, and don't miss our strategy guides to Icecrown Citadel and Halion/the Ruby Sanctum.Filed under: Raid Rx (Raid Healing)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Danon Sep 9th 2010 2:10PM
"I think each class is getting at least three or more spells that are potentially viable in a PvE environment"
Except druids. Druids get nothing new, and some of our old stuff isn't what I would call "viable" ATM.
Mike Sep 9th 2010 2:19PM
Druids aren't getting any new healing spells because Druids already have spells they don't use, so they're being retuned to use their whole toolkit like the rest of us.
To be honest, as a Shaman, I was happy with the tools I have. I think having a third baseline heal is going to screw me up more than not, and though I think it's a cool idea, I don't see how Healing Rain does much differently than Chain Heal, as both spells require targets to be in the same area.
Armill3 Sep 9th 2010 2:22PM
What spells don't you use as a druid? 5+1 gets a lot of play, sure, but I frequently throw out RG, Nourish, and sometimes even LB on tanks to help take the edge off, and SM is usually on cooldown. The only spells that are old and cold are HT and Tranq. Maybe I'm doin' it wrong though.
Wally Sep 9th 2010 2:30PM
"Druids aren't getting any new healing spells because Druids already have spells they don't use, so they're being retuned to use their whole toolkit like the rest of us."
That was the stated intention correct, however blizz swung the pendulum too far to where our old core spells (rejuv wild growth swiftmend) are hugely impractical, and lifebloom/nourish is the only way to go. As a druid you have 2 spells that cost less than a 1000 mana everything else costs 4-6
Daedalus4096 Sep 9th 2010 2:35PM
"Druids aren't getting any new healing spells because Druids already have spells they don't use, so they're being retuned to use their whole toolkit like the rest of us."
What an utter load of bull. Druids have eight healing spells total, *including* cooldowns! Holy priests easily have more than twice that. I don't see any other healing specs clamoring to have their toolbox size reduced because of all those excess buttons they're not pushing. What's that you say? They're not doing it because it's perfectly possibly to find useful niches for spells beyond the bare-metal minimum that a healer needs to function? Pull your head out of the sand.
thepiratester Sep 9th 2010 3:12PM
What is the starting item level for epic 85 gear?
/rage :P
Xtofer Sep 9th 2010 3:54PM
@Daedalus4096
I'm in total agreement with you. I doubt people like Mike have ever played a resto druid, or if they have, they don't understand what this "retuning" is doing to the class. The abilities we do have would be fine if they tuned us correctly.
First off, LB and Nourish being spammed is counter productive because LB can only be on one target now and nourish gets more powerful with hots on the target. What it turns out feeling like is that 2 of the now inexpensive spells that we use feel gutted and the rest of the spells feel way too expensive. We shouldn't have to rely on clearcasting to cast hots.
I dunno. It's just really difficult to take in as a long-time resto druid, which is my favorite spec in the game. First they take our trees away, then no new abilities, then give us a half-baked mastery, then nerf our hots by way of our mana pool. What do we get that's actually good and contributes to well-being of the spec?
Skrotus Sep 9th 2010 4:50PM
I'm a bit torn, making us use more of our spells is a great goal in theory, and resto druids certainly don't need any more spells. But it seems to me they're taking away all the flavour of the spec. What is a resto druid's strengths now? I don't really understand what we're supposed to be good at anymore. And what they've done to tree form still just isn't making any sense to me.
Not usually one to jump ship so easily, and of course the game isn't done yet. But I'm sort of feeling like Balance might be my druid's new main spec, and my little gnome priest will be my healer for cata.
Danon Sep 9th 2010 5:08PM
I really wish some players would take the time to understand the point of content expansion. Pointing out that druids already had spells and that they are being readjusted to fit the new healing model only reminds me that certain players don't understand the mentality behind an expansion.
How well do you think Halo 2 would have sold if players were told "You already had enough guns in Halo 2, and enough levels and vehicles. Which is why we are slightly adjusting the rate of fire of the Needler, making the Warthog turn a little bit differently and touching up the levels to look different." And the answer would be: Still pretty well. People get hooked into games and want to like whats coming next. But due to the fact that this game has many different niches (Class+race+role combos) as to have players who need to be satisfied on at least some level.
The current state of Resto druids is one in which there is no incentive to play a Resto druid in terms of a brand new experience. Yes our spells will behave differently come Cata. Yes there are new levels and new stories that will satisfy a goodly portion of a player base. But if you are in a position of releasing an expansion to a game, any game, and for one second you see a sizable area of that game is not getting anything new to play with then you need to either rethink that area of the game or rethink whether or not you should be making games at all.
I know that many people like to spout off about the "death of WoW', but it will never be one action that causes the end of this game. It will happen piece by piece, with slides being made in certain areas that other games capitalize on. And I do think that Blizzard could release WoW without giving resto druids something fun and new that is unlike anything they have seen before. It wouldn't cause too much of a problem for a good portion of their player base. But it will mark the first time in WoW's history that a spec has gone live without a new spell. And that, my friends, is saying something.
AltairAntares Sep 9th 2010 7:43PM
It's not that there isn't any new toys for resto druids, to be honest, I couldn't care less, it's that they're wrecking what made the druids so fun to heal as. Right now you can't heal through hots, instead they're simply extras that you toss out when you either have to or someone with die or when the encounter is ending soon and you don't mind going oom in the next little while. Even the mastery is totally contrary to what druids "are". Druids are about healing through hots. Cataclysm is basically removing that, and is why my druid will change from resto to another spec in cataclysm unless things change considerably.
Aaron Sep 9th 2010 2:11PM
80,000HP?! Priest tank! I knew things were going up, but wow this is kind of exciting.
McRaider Sep 9th 2010 3:41PM
Just wait until you see the tanks...
Aaron Sep 9th 2010 3:47PM
*Shudders*
Natsumi Sep 9th 2010 4:18PM
Wait till T11 hits. I made a joke awhile back about DPS with 100k HP, I didn't realize how close I actually was. :p I wish I still had that screenshot of my Warrior in WG with 126k health, just so I can start to get used to seeing numbers like that :p
I Imagine that with our HP and DPS that most classes will be able to solo 60 content without breaking a sweat. Even Warriors. :p
Armill3 Sep 9th 2010 2:20PM
Didn't realize Illumination was getting the axe. This must mean that caster plate will be laden with even more crit. :)
kerese Sep 9th 2010 2:26PM
You mean your shields couldn't repel firepower of that magnitude?
ThunTal Sep 9th 2010 2:35PM
LOLOL
Sean Sep 9th 2010 2:33PM
I'm still very concerned by all these changes to mana regeneration. I don't mind the challenge (Resto Druid healing heroics in LK was auto-pilot easy most of the time), but how is this going to make anyone new want to be a healer? Most servers are already battling with really low numbers of tanks and healers, so making either job more difficult in Cataclysm won't help bring more people into the fold.
mcatanio Sep 9th 2010 2:52PM
Things are obviously changing drasticaly and it seems a lot of healers will have to learn their class all over but as for the healing class getting more difficult i disagee.
If anything it would appear they are getting eaisier mana was always an issue for healers at the beginning of ever expansion but it will smooth out.
Think about it he said archers where doing approx 3k dps to him and if at level 85 he has 80k health a tank may have double that so your going to have a good amout of time to consider your heal spell. And as for the mage dying from the wrong heal that happens all the time and is not a big deal.
Nina Katarina Sep 9th 2010 3:00PM
As we say in my guild, "mage died, take a drink!"
Although I suspect some alcoholics may be doing it deliberately, come to think of it.