Raid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011
by Matt Low 
Dec 30th 2011 at 9:00PM
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.
This was a fun year for me as a healer. Granted, I had to learn how to heal again, but I do enjoy this expansion's model of healing (although a part of me does miss The Burning Crusade a little when all I had to do was pound Circle of Healing repeatedly). There were many memorable moments that I experienced during raids, and there are others that affected many more of us.
Announcing the monk Undoubtedly the best news for healers this year is this. BlizzCon 2011 unveiled a ton of news and announcements. The biggest one for healers was that there would be a new healing class for players. You guessed it, I guessed it, and I'm pretty sure half the world guessed and hoped for a monk class. These leather-wearing bears are set to help heal in the upcoming challenges that Mists of Pandaria will be throwing our way. While we don't have a complete look on the full range of abilities that monks can do, we do know that they rely heavily on mobility to get their spells out.
Healing Chimaeron If there was any encounter this expansion that gave healers heart attacks more than any other boss, it would've been Chimaeron. You and your raid would tackle him in Blackwing Descent. Many healers received their fair share of criticism and critique when they were unable to get the raid past. But then you hit the hard mode encounter, and that was a different story entirely. While Chimaeron wasn't the guild-killing boss of the expansion, I would surmise that it was one of the healing confidence-killers.
The great resto druid nerf I just had to include this one. I love druids very much! But druids were simply amazing throughout Firelands. When patch 4.3 arrived, Wild Growth was one of the spells hit with a nerf bat. A full 20% reduction in Wild Growth cut down on the potency of resto druids. Even then, I'm not seeing their being affected that much in the Dragon Soul raid. Looks like it may have been more of a slight adjustment then a real nerf. I will concede that the encounters in Dragon Soul have been much more forgiving to the other healing classes (especially with regards to movement and positioning).
Learning how to heal -- again Even though the expansion came out in December of 2010, I'm still going to include this aspect as a part of 2011. I had to learn how to heal all over again. I had some familiarity with the system because during The Burning Crusade, I had several rows of spells of different ranks. Now in Cataclysm, my single-target direct healing spells consist of three options.
Phasing out Heal Just as we were getting into Firelands, it was confirmed that the usage of our middle healing spell would no longer be needed as much. While it was efficient, it simply did not provide the speed or the punch that was required. That's all fine by me. Our gear got better, which meant we could use our inefficient spells and slow spells without as much penalty. Don't get used to it, though. Once the new expansion comes out, we'll have to resort to using Heal again until we are geared out.
More stat changes While it hasn't happened yet, we're going to see another change to stat priorities. That won't happen until Mists of Pandaria, though. I wrote about it back in November, but I felt it was worth mentioning again. I wish these would've been the stats right from the start of the expansion, but I guess Blizzard couldn't do that just yet. Spirit will be a regen stat and intellect will be the healing power stat. No more of this nonsense where intellect is a sometimes regen stat. I know it confused some of the newer healers who wanted to get started with raiding but didn't quite know how to allocate their gems or reforging. But at least there won't be any confusion this time around.
The clutch heal of the year We all make those plays from time to time. You know what I mean -- that one flash of insight where that seemingly innocuous spellcast manages to prevent a wipe? It's a play that would've ended up on TSN's Top 10 Highlights of 2011 or something. For me, it was in Blackwing Descent, and we were working on Maloriak. After we had blitzed him down to the final phase, our tank started kiting and maneuvering him around all over the place. Half the raid was dead at this point, and our tank took an almost lethal hit and I was completely out of mana. My healing spells were darkened out, implying that I didn't have the resources to cast them.
Without even thinking, I kept slamming Guardian Spirit and sighed in relief. Either the other healers were out of mana or they saw the glowing wings on the tank and ceased healing. The time it took for Guardian Spirit to proc felt like an eternity. His health bar shot up and the golden wings disappeared, indicating the spell had done the job. The rest of us started breathing, and we held out long enough to finish off the boss.
Surely you must have experienced something similar. What was your clutch healing story of 2011?
Thanks for the memories
Was this year memorable for you at all as a healer? Even though we didn't get any legendary weapons this year, I'm holding out we'll get something wicked in Mists of Pandaria next year. I'm guessing it'll be a mace of some sort again. But I'm not going to get my hopes up! Happy New Year, everyone!
Need advice on working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered. Send your questions about raid healing to mattl@wowinsider.com. For less healer-centric raiding advice, visit Ready Check for advanced tactics and advice for the endgame raider.
Filed under: Raid Rx (Raid Healing)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Moomoo Dec 30th 2011 9:19PM
"I love druids very much! But druids were simply amazing throughout Firelands."
Oh no, we can't have that! How dare that hybrid class be amazing in an actual raid!
(I also don't see how the soon-to-be availability of the Monk Class is undoubtedly the best news for healers all year. For who? Those who are bored with the current healers available and want to heal as a different class? The fact that resto druids will be sharing gear with them? How is this "best news for healers everywhere"?)
I'll still play one, of course, along with everyone else...
eel5pe Dec 30th 2011 9:29PM
But all healers are hybrids... does that mean none of us get to be awesome?
Sayis Dec 30th 2011 9:35PM
You do realize every other healer is a hybrid, right? Pallies, Priests, Druids, Shaman... all can DPS/Heal, Druids and Pallies can even Tank too. The Monk class is some great news for healers because it means, well, a new healer. The way the Monk is set up also means that their healing style will probably be different from the healers we have today. It spices up the game a bit, changes up raid comps, and it should be a nice addition. The way your post is written, it sounds like you're just a Resto Druid with a chip on his shoulder because of an overdue nerf. Resto Druids are still extremely competitive; my guild ended up PuG-ing a great Resto Druid that could outheal our main pally and priest healers.
Xano Dec 30th 2011 9:50PM
@Sayis: Overdue Nerf? I'm still reeling from the conversion to Tree Cooldown Form from Tree Awesome Form.
Moomoo Dec 30th 2011 9:57PM
@eel5pe - Oh, I realize all healers are essentially hybrids (able to take on two separate roles), I was thinking more along the lines of how Paladins & Druids are "true hybrids" or whatnot...maybe I'm using the wrong term here.
@Sayis - Hey, I welcome a new and different healing class. Do I get to be a teensy bit bitter about having to share my lovely spell leather? Sure, but I ain't outright mad.
I just fail to see how the introduction of the Monk Class is the "best news for healers this year." It is a welcome addition and I am excited to see how it will play out in both pvp and pve, but I'm not quite messing myself in excitement.
I apologize if my post came out bitchy, the way this article was written just seems to neglect the presence of existing healers in Mists of Pandaria and, honestly, my main is staying my main.
Also, I wasn't even aware of the SM nerf until about two weeks into 4.3 and by then I was already healing so many HoT heroics (and now 10-man DS) that it never even phased me.
Moomoo Dec 30th 2011 10:01PM
@Xano _ YES! I totally agree. Give me perma-tree form any day. I'm more sad that I don't have enough time to "do the twist" with my buddies in between pulls than I am about...well...any other major druid change this expansion.
Evlyxx Dec 31st 2011 4:46AM
Whilst all healing classes are technically hybrids, the only one that is a pure healer is the priest as they only get 1 non-healing spec.
Sayis Dec 30th 2011 9:35PM
Chimaeron, for our guild, was actually a confidence booster. We went in expecting some difficulty, but after our healers had a few attempts under their belts, and they'd figured the fight out, we walked all over him. As a DPS, it's nice to know you can count on the healers when the going gets rough.
Philster043 Dec 30th 2011 9:55PM
Oh, and I absolutely love Guardian Spirit. It's a holy priest's best friend. Saved more groups for me than I can count.
Philster043 Dec 30th 2011 9:55PM
Sorry, meant that as a reply to my own post. *shoots self*
Philster043 Dec 30th 2011 9:51PM
I never COULD get used to using Heal too often. Here and there I'll remember to use it and then I'd forget it for a long time, even though I had gear that encouraged its use.
Zachariahs Dec 31st 2011 12:35AM
That's funny, i use it all the time as disc. I gain more mana than I use when cast it, so if i have nothing else to do i cast heal on the tank, which decreases my shield cd, and takes care of any small dmg the tank may take. I use it a decent amount as holy, but not nearly as much as disc.
Cazic12 Dec 31st 2011 2:22AM
Heal, or in my shaman's case Healing Wave, is so much easier to use when you can crit it for 30k AND get refunded some mana at the same time.
Philster043 Dec 31st 2011 5:19AM
Zach, I'm usually holy, so, yeah.
Katherine Dec 31st 2011 3:30PM
Using heal is for non-smiting chumps.
Necromann Dec 31st 2011 12:53AM
My clutch healing happened on Thursday. We were in ZA doing the bird boss. The tank pulled with the mage outside, so he didn't contribute. The shammy died to lightning storm twice. At that point, it was the tank, an undergeared dk dps and me, healing on my pally alt. Somehow, I managed to keep everyone alive while being tossed between 4 of the big birds and being outside for the thunderstorms. I still don't know how I managed to pull that one off.
harrytp1991 Dec 31st 2011 11:54PM
I don't have any max-level healers, so it was not *my* clutch healing moment, although it was my clutch tanking moment.
I had just finished leveling my now-main rogue (switched from a feral to help the guild, not only but in part due to the legendaries). I do not remember if she had a bit of heroic FL gear, or maybe just the head and trinket from a Rag kill on monday, but even so, she was really not well geared.
It was ZA, bear boss. The tank died, god-knows-why, with the boss at 70%. I didn't notice the boss health, otherwise I might have given up right there. The moment the boss turned to me, I hit evasion, used a 5-CP Recuperate, and continued dps'ing. It was then that I saw the boss health, still above 50%, and the disc priest at less than half his mana. My only thought was 'wipe', but I kept on tanking the boss. Evasion ended with the boss at a bit more than 30%. I went so close to death many many times, was saved more than once by a tick of Recup, and the healer was completely OOM, but we killed the boss.
After it was over I typed on party chat 'Plate tanks are overrated' XD
Sunaseni Dec 31st 2011 1:26AM
I find it funny that we started the expansion with a boss that punished you for healing too much, to a fight where you HAVE to heal people at full health (Spine). It's like Blizzard is allowing the healers to release their pent up desire to overheal the hell out of the raid.
Gennifurfur Dec 31st 2011 11:35AM
I don't like healing someone at full health though, it just feels stupid. But I agree overall with your point.
Evlyxx Dec 31st 2011 4:41AM
You say we'll have to go back to Heal again in Mists. Sadly that won't be true for all priests as Disc is not going to have access to this or Renew. I'm not sure if this will mean a new bubble type heal or if Disc will be expected to replace heal with Atonement, which I admit was way better than heal early on in 2011 anyways.