Raid Rx: Healing a level 80 dungeon vs. a level 85 dungeon
by Matt Low 
Nov 26th 2010 at 6:00PM
Everyone enjoying the post-patch so far? If I didn't know any better, I'd say some of you decided to try out a few new healing classes. I know the first thing Joe (our resident resto shaman columnist) did was switch to a dwarf shaman. Alas, I know he is still deeply saddened over the lack of keg totems. I'm assuming there is a shipload of players who decided to create a tauren paladin, eh? I decided to start a night elf mage. Stuck with taking out Nightsabers. Nice to see some things never change, right?
Anyway, in today's post, I want to shed a bit of insight about 5-man healing. The other week, I wrote about differences between 10-man and 25-man raid healing. I completely left out 5-man healing because I felt that was better left for a followup post. Unfortunately, I don't have any polished videos that demonstrate the 5-man healing environment. They're all on an older hard drive. I just purchased a beast of a computer which will allow me to record more cool stuff in the future (and I really want to try to produce additional healing videos).
Oh! Before I forget, remember to cap out on justice points. Have you checked out some of the level 85 blue items available from the vendors? I know in Stormwind City, you can find them near the hunter trainer in Old Town.
- Apple-Bent Bough
- Gloves of Purification
- Celadon Pendant (And this item's a BoE!)
How can I possibly do this without completely repeating what I've said before? So what changed? Going from a raid perspective to a 5-man perspective, obviously, there is less overall attention needed, since there aren't as many players that need looking after. Comparing Wrath heroics to Cataclysm heroics, though, I can tell you that you'll need to pay more attention. Does anyone remember what Wrath heroics were like at the beginning of the expansion? They were ridiculously challenging, and I think some of that was due to people not quite knowing what to do against certain encounters.
For healers, it'll be the same deal. Actually, I'd even say it'll be twice as hard. Not only do we need to adapt to the various boss mechanics being thrown our way on some of these, but we have to quickly master our new healing model.
My greatest fear right now is that healers may get targeted as being the primary cause of wiping in dungeons -- not entirely because we're bad, but because we have to grapple with all this new stuff. Unfortunately, we don't have a great understanding of triage healing because we've never really done it before (at least, the newer players post-vanilla). So what's going to happen when the party wipes inside? Naturally, the first thing that's going to happen is, "Was there enough healing done?" In most cases, that answer will be a no, since a wipe has to occur with deaths. There is the odd boss that'll wipe us if we don't dish out enough damage over a short period of time, and that would be a DPS problem.
I just hope that newer healers will have the strength and mental fortitude to withstand this stuff. I'm sure I'm blowing it way out of proportion. I do get paranoid about figuring out if my performance was the cause of a wipe. The worse-case scenario would be a struggling healer who endures abuse from other players and just decides to quit healing entirely or even quit the game altogether.
Inability to overheal our way to success
Another change is that we can't just brute force healing. It is a no-brainer, though. A lot of players don't understand that the reason why Wrath heroics are simple is that the "gear floor" has gradually increased per tier. By gear floor, I mean the best gear a player can get without really having to step foot into progression stuff like heroic raiding or competitive PvP. Vendor epics can be easily picked up just from repeatedly running a few of the entry-level raids, like Vault of Archavon and daily heroics. Every time we get a new patch with new raid content, the floor gradually rises. As healers, we're packing firepower from items that are higher grade then what is really needed. If tanks were sporting crafted or dungeon blues and healers were using similar qualities of gear, then things would be different.
In fact, you can definitely expect that for the opening period of the expansion. Healing in blues and greens might not seem bad for most players, but with all the regeneration mechanics, it is going to be quite the wake-up call. I've mentioned multiple times how important mana and spell selection is going to be in the past. Just remember, the only person the party can rely on to heal is you.
At level 80, we had the benefit of excellent gear and nerfed instances. At 85, the barriers are up, and you're going to have to work at them. Use every possible advantage you can get to do the job. It got to the point where I felt incredibly undergeared for an instance. But I worked with a balance druid, who helped sprinkle just enough healing to get the job done. So if you're in a group with other hybrids, don't be afraid to ask for a slight boost, because it just might be enough to put you over the top.
Healing at 85 is going to be a pain. Just be prepared to put up with people, and if it gets to the point where you can't heal an instance, then you can't do it. I tried five times to do Halls of Origination; I don't know if it was the group or me. I think we cycled through like eight people before I gave up. In some cases, the tanks were extremely squishy, and in other cases, I had difficulty doing what was needed (like screwed up spell usage or ran out of mana).
Enjoy the long weekend, everyone!
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)
Mike C Nov 26th 2010 6:07PM
Well, since they're trying to bring back the old school system of gearing up in blue "sets" before going into epics... I think people will use the regular difficulty to get basic gear and to learn encounters. Doing regulars seems like it will be part of the natural progression. Regulars cannot possibly be that hard.
Personally, I like that. It will encourage people to guild up to do stuff! BC was fun because you COULD get really good gear with heroics, but at the cost of difficulty. Remember Heroic Shattered Halls/Durnhold with a bad CC? I do, oh god I do. But that was FUN!
Aurilia Nov 26th 2010 6:24PM
I was on Vent when a group of guildies in Beta hit Stonecore at 83. From what I heard: it's that hard.
QQinsider Nov 26th 2010 7:02PM
No it's not. The only hard part of regular dungeons is, as the OP said, learning encounters. If you have problems beyond that then you suck, badly.
Kuckuck Nov 26th 2010 8:43PM
I tanked stonecore at 82 with a lfd pug. We wiped on the milhouse trash packs a couple times because I was the only one interrupting. Everything else in the instance is a joke. The healer died halfway through the drake boss and the final boss (standing in fire) but we avoided wiping through judicious use of cooldowns and offspec healing.
Matt Nov 27th 2010 3:49AM
Standing in the fire? For crying out loud have people not learned not to do that yet? I mean it's only been happening since way back in vanilla!
Chokaa Nov 28th 2010 9:17PM
@matt
There will always be fire/void zones/red stuff/ etc. From Blizz's perspective, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' players are always gonna die to stuff on the floor.
Darthregis Nov 26th 2010 6:20PM
I look forward to getting used to running heroics with my guild again. Especially so if they're a good challenge.
Then again, I do remember Loken in quest greens and blues. And the Brann event in HoS. The UP gauntlet, as well.
Chin up, Matticus! It'll be a refreshing change!
Matticus Nov 26th 2010 6:24PM
Buddy, I got my ass handed to me.
By a girl.
Her name was Vanessa Vancleef.
You know how humiliating it is for me to get destroyed like that? I almost have to forfeit my Priest-card.
Kroof Nov 26th 2010 6:23PM
With the changes to the Vanilla dungeons characters are getting a taste of triage healing.
There are plenty of low level dungeons where healers have 2-3 spells to work with. A few of the bosses do AoE damage and it just isn't possible for most healers to keep up.
These are great opportunities for DPS to learn that they might not get a heal. They need to watch out for themselves. On my Tauren pally I frequently spend my holy power on Word of Glory instead of my dps Templar's Verdict. I tend to live while the troll druid next to me is laying on the floor. (Which is really terrible Mr.Kitty#8765231. you have plenty of time when your energy is spent to pop over and rejuv yourself and go back to kitty form).
Those utility talents are starting to look pretty good about this time.
Pyromelter Nov 26th 2010 7:32PM
"These are great opportunities for DPS to learn that they might not get a heal."
The problem is that in wrath dungeons, it seems like everyone is taking damage, or no one is (except maybe the tank). Meaning, most of the damage that dps is taking is unavoidable (except for obvious things like the frost breath in Utgarde Pinnacle). Also, in lower level dungeons, anyone wearing plate can serve as an off-tank. Once you outgear a place, pretty much anyone can be an off-tank, but this is just what I'm noticing from lower level dungeons.
From what I've read, off-tanking as a dps isn't going to happen in cataclysm heroics, not for a while at least.
Also, in Wrath, the pre-eminent strategy for most trash and bosses was "Kill it before it can do too much damage to you." I wasn't around for the beginning of wrath when Loken was tough, but from what I've read, the zerg method was the one that was found to be the best. Kill him before a second (or third) lightning nova = win. Combined with a lot of the dps races out there (saurfang, festergut, rotface, putricide, bloodqueen, LK), you have a lot of people trained on tunneling dps abilities.
This strategy worked not just in PvE, but also in PvP. (Chase Christian wrote an article about how he switch from doing more CC on his warlock to straight dps, and his 5-man team starting winning more.) I also found this to be true. Since around 3.3.3, I've been hitting BG's as fire mage, and doing nothing but blasting the heck out of everything. Sure, I interrupt spells and will use escape and defensive cooldowns when needed, but other than that, just pure damage. I don't think I've used my polymorph in pvp in the past 6 months.
So the bottom line is that I agree with you about dps learning to maybe give up a little dps to take a lot less damage. However, if you're using WoG as ret on yourself, you're probably doing it wrong. A flash of light will heal you for just as much (probably more), and TV hits so hard, you're better off saving your HP for a dps hit, and just heal yourself with FoL. You can probably spare the mana as ret.
lol at troll druids though. They're the new huntards/dk's.
Saeadame Nov 26th 2010 8:40PM
Just going to reply to this saying I love troll druids... and I'm a healer troll druid so I wouldn't be dying due to me doing dps instead of healing myself.
Kroof Dec 2nd 2010 2:43PM
At the time of writing this comment it was impossible for me to be "doing it wrong" by using word of glory.
I was still too low of a level to have flash of light as an option.
However, the attitude that Word of Glory should NEVER be used is exactly what needs to be thrown out the window for dps. Yes, it sucks not getting off TV, thing hits like a mad truck.
Yes, in most situations a good use of flash of light would be better, especially with higher level gear where haste is involved.
However, sometimes you need heals now, right now, or else you are going to die.
It is times like these where you will find the dead paladin on the ground who was unwilling to sacrifice their precious dps for a heal.
toddless Nov 27th 2010 8:32AM
@Pyromelter
The issue is not exactly mana when healing ones self as a ret pally - but instead that WoG is an instant cast v. a 1.5?? second for FoL that is incredibly expensive. I can afford a 12-18k damage spell, but I can't exactly afford to die because within the time that it took me to react, and to cast, I died because the healer was triage healing and decided to let me go to 20% or something.
Columhcille Nov 30th 2010 3:30PM
Cata will be a great opportunity for all classes /roles to utilize all of their survivability talents and abilities. I's not only a healer's job to keep the group alive. Other players have to play smart, too. Especially as we're going into the new stuff and getting accustomed to it. As a healer it'll take a couple times to get the feel of the dungeon down as far as what to expect damage-wise from diff. mechanics there.
I'm fortunate to be GMing a guild this time around and a ten man full of a bunch of raiders from other guilds I been running with for years. We have scheduled weekly rotations of all ten of us for five mans on raid nights as we lvl together.. off nights will be for professions and other leveling on mains. Ea week we rotate who heals what group and which of the three heals gets to practice their OS; as well as swapping DPS around to get everyone used to having or not having certain class mechanics to work with in certain situations. It's a month-long cycle, then we recycle it and start over till we get to where we can do ten mans. We're all very excited to be running together again in our own group -forging our own destiny!!
And here's to all those with doubts or cliques that wouldn't include us in the past for all their arrogance.. "The best REVENGE is massive success!" -F. Sinatra.
Matthew Nov 26th 2010 7:12PM
I'm gonna make a macro:
Hi Everyone! I'm here to heal the group. I am not here to save you from yourself. Be mindful of what you pull. If you're foolish you will die, and nothing can stop that. Keep your hands and feet inside at all times and have fun!
Of course I'm not gonna pug that often, since my guild is counting on me to heal. But still . .. nothing like a nice little macro to tell people I mean business.
Rakah Nov 27th 2010 12:15AM
Can i steal your macro? :)
MightyMuffin Nov 26th 2010 7:12PM
All this talk of everything being so horribly hard is making me very concerned. My old guild had a breakdown where lots of players over the summer stopped playing due to IRL issues. So that has left us with about 5 players. On top of that, I've decided to main both my beloved hunter and my new shaman.
I am scared, even before I've tried the instances. I have played a tank, and learned how hard it is to deal with people blaming you, or you simply blaming yourself. It drove me to the point of returning to my hunter and leveling him to 80 so I could get away from that. At least by that point i found an active guild and went all the way to ICC as a DPS. Now I'm back taking a healing role, and I'm afraid I'll let my guild down and myself down again.
Is there no shred of hope? Can there not be anything uplifting about these new dungeons? Or are elitists jerks going to laugh at us who are trying their best to be healers? Or are even elitists jerks going to whine and complain about how hard things have changed? Idk...I just want some good thing going for my shaman and my guild so we don't end up breaking apart due to something I fail at achieving.
Matticus Nov 26th 2010 7:20PM
Apologies if I made it sound like the sky was falling.
I merely meant to say that healers who spent their time brute forcing their way through instances by keeping one eye on the screen and one eye on hockey games (a la, me) won't be able to do that as much. You DO need to pay attention to stuff, and I don't mean in boss fights. Every trash pack needs to get crowd controlled. I wiped 5 times to the first set in Stonecore simply because the Mage, Hunter and Shaman refused to use their utilities and kept encouraging the tank to use his AoE abilities to hold threat on everything and relying on me to power burn my heals on him.
This doesn't work.
- Tank went down way too fast.
- Healer mana consumption was up way too fast.
- Threat was all over the place due to AoE attacks.
Bottom line: Healer gets blamed for being bad.
Again, this was simply one instance of it. It's not representative but it's an example of what COULD happen. At least for the opening month or two of the expansion, instances will be challenging. If its too hard, I expect a set of nerfs will arrive later on to tune it after the developers get a better idea of what to expect. The game is supposed to be a challenge. As long as players are doing what they need to be doing, no matter the class, then it will be easy to solve and gradually clear through the trash packs.
Matthew Nov 26th 2010 7:38PM
Hey Matticus - great article! Question: (Do you know) what is blizzard doing to tell the masses that don't read sites like yours or this one that things are different, and that they shouldn't aoe everything?
Or is it *gasp* up to us to edumacate people.
Matticus Nov 26th 2010 7:43PM
Probably going to sit back and watch the rest of the masses learn via trial and error ^^.
It's how I learned! =D Generally speaking though, I did Stonecore, Blackrock Caverns, Deadmines, and the something of Origination. Not once did any successful group AoE down any serious trash packs (like 4+ groups). I remember some of them had trash packs that had like 10 whelps and obviously those ones were AoE'd down and such. But from my experience as a Holy and a Disc priest, I was not able to completely brute force heal my way through encounters. The gear I had ranged from heroic dungeon blues to tier 11 epics.
Now, I can't say the experience is similar for a resto shaman or a paladin or a druid. If any of them are out there, I'd encourage them to speak up and either confirm/deny/murloc their experience through some of the heroic stuff.