WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2015 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.Raid Rx: Healing through Gara'jal and Spirit Kingshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/10/raid-rx-healing-through-garajal-and-spirit-kings/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/10/raid-rx-healing-through-garajal-and-spirit-kings/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/10/raid-rx-healing-through-garajal-and-spirit-kings/#commentsFiled under: ,

Raid Rx Garajal and Spirit Kings
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.

A few weeks ago, Joe wrote a piece about personal survivability on my blog. After healing some raid finder and pug runs, I wanted to help echo his sentiment. Whenever there's a new expansion, there's always additional abilities, bosses, and so forth. There's new players picking up the game and old players returning. It bears some reminding that you absolutely should help look after yourself.

Your class has talents that helps you live.

Use them!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing through Gara'jal and Spirit Kings

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Healing through Gara'jal and Spirit Kings originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredgarajalguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmogushan-vaultsraidraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidespirit-kingswow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 10 Nov 2012 14:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Healing through Fenghttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/19/raid-rx-healing-through-feng/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/19/raid-rx-healing-through-feng/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/19/raid-rx-healing-through-feng/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Raid Rx
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.

We'll get into healing tips for Feng momentarily but I wanted to examine the state of raiding healers.

It's been a couple of weeks since Mogu'shan Vaults opened up for raids. We've got another week and a few days to go before Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Springs open. A quick cursory glance at the preferred healers show that monks are the class to be right now. They appear to be dominating at the 25 level while in normal 10s, we're seeing additional representation from shaman and paladins. Priests have received some minor hotfixes. Prayer of Healing and Prayer of Mending was buffed by an additional 25% not too long ago.

5.1 is introducing another set of changes to priests:
No additional healing changes have been announced for the other classes yes, but I'd expect some more tweaks coming down the road.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing through Feng

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Healing through Feng originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>bossfeaturedfengguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmogushan-vaultsraidraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 19 Oct 2012 17:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Getting started with healing Mogu'shan Vaultshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/06/raid-rx-getting-started-with-healing-mogushan-vaults/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/06/raid-rx-getting-started-with-healing-mogushan-vaults/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/06/raid-rx-getting-started-with-healing-mogushan-vaults/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Raid Rx Getting started with healing Mogu'shan Vaults
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.

Raids are out! If you're anything like me, you spent a good chunk of week 1 powering to 90 as fast as possible. With raids open in the second week of Mists of Pandaria, you are no doubt in the process of preparing to step inside Mogu'shan Vaults! Today we'll cover some of the pre-raid items you should be doing before taking on the Stone Guard.

Yes, we'll be going over Stone Guard healing tips, too!

Reputation grinds: Blizzard has generously nerfed the reputation requirements when it comes to purchasing select gear. Now you only need to be revered to purchase those delicious valor level items. If you managed to cap out your valor last week, you have the ability to pick up a neck piece from the Klaxxi (provided that you have been diligent with their dailies). As a bonus, many of these quests provide those Lesser Charm of Good Fortune which gives you an extra chance at loot in any raid difficulty level.

Consumables: Have you been leveling your cooking and farming abilities with the Tillers? If not, Megan has a great introductory guide. We're looking to become Master of the Steamer due to their spirit food. For potions, arm yourself with stacks of Potion of Focus. Look for the safe periods in a fight where you can use these without getting interrupted. Finally, expect to spend some money on Flask of Falling Leaves. Gold Lotus prices are typically going to be really high. But you'll want that extra regen.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Getting started with healing Mogu'shan Vaults

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Getting started with healing Mogu'shan Vaults originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmogushan vaultsMogushanVaultsraidraid-guideraid-healingraidingraiding-guidestone guardStoneGuardwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 06 Oct 2012 18:00:00 ESTHealing Mogu'shan Vaults Part 1 in the raid finderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/13/healing-mogushan-vaults-part-1-in-the-raid-finder/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/13/healing-mogushan-vaults-part-1-in-the-raid-finder/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/13/healing-mogushan-vaults-part-1-in-the-raid-finder/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

Raid Rx Healing Mogu'shan Vaults part 1 in LFR ANY
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.

Imagine my delight when I realized that the raid finder in the Mists of Pandaria beta was available for testing. The only instance available at the moment is Mogu'shan Vaults, but heck, who cares? I've been dying to get more practice in. I must've waited around 50 or so minutes before we had enough players to jump in. There were times where we had two tanks, six healers, and 11 DPSers. Other times we had 17 DPSers, 6 healers, and no tanks!

The raid finder for Mogu'shan Vaults has been split into two parts. You can't access the second half of it until you clear out the first three bosses in the first half.

There are some spoilers after the cut. Consider yourself warned!

Continue reading Healing Mogu'shan Vaults Part 1 in the raid finder

WoW InsiderHealing Mogu'shan Vaults Part 1 in the raid finder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 13 Aug 2012 09:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: 6 signs healing is not for youhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/03/raid-rx-6-signs-healing-is-not-for-you/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/03/raid-rx-6-signs-healing-is-not-for-you/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/03/raid-rx-6-signs-healing-is-not-for-you/#commentsFiled under:

Raid Rx 6 signs you are playing the wrong class and role
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.

It is true that healing has come a long way since the game debuted. The mechanics and the systems have evolved to the point that the game is accessible now more than it was before. You got crazy people like me with five priests and other players who normally prefer DPS or tanking rolling healing alts just for the fun of it.

But if you find yourself in a tough position playing in a guild and you're just not feeling right at all about it, maybe there's a little more to it than that. Anyone can be a healer, but not everyone can be a great healer. I've always felt that really special healers were meant to be.

Continue reading Raid Rx: 6 signs healing is not for you

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: 6 signs healing is not for you originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSun, 03 Jun 2012 20:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Recap of recent healing changeshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/25/raid-rx-recap-of-recent-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/25/raid-rx-recap-of-recent-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/25/raid-rx-recap-of-recent-healing-changes/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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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.

There's been some large changes to healing for some of the classes in recent builds. This week, we'll recap and go through the classes to see what's new. You might be interested to know that at level 89, my priest has 250k mana. Who wants to wager that 300k mana is the maximum cap at level 90? Remember with the new intellect and mana system coming in with the expansion, intellect stats no longer raise the mana pool anymore. Your mana regeneration is governed strictly by your spirit levels.

Priest

Lightwell receives a few tweaks to the healing numbers. More importantly, it now has a glyph that completely changes the functionality of the spell. Glyph of Lightspring turns Lightwell into an automatic healing ability with a catch. Lightwell will only heal players with health lower than 50%. It will only perform the check once every 5 seconds. That is a fair compromise to me. I've never been truly satisfied with Lightwell since my experience has shown me that most players never click on it when it really matters. At least this glyph helps remove control from them and I gain the knowledge of my Lightwell kicking in when it'll be needed.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Recap of recent healing changes

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Recap of recent healing changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>druidfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmonkpaladinpriestraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guideshamanwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 25 May 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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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.

After covering monks, priests, paladins, and druids, there is one class left to review: shaman. How are they going to fare entering Mists of Pandaria?

Totems ... gone!

Just kidding!

They're not really gone. They've switched to more of a utility focus now. Looking at the entire list of totems available, not a single one provides any type of stat increase. Totems that provided passive buffs like Flametongue Totem, Mana Spring Totem, and Stoneskin Totem have been removed. Healing Stream took a nerf cannon to the face, now only affecting a player now instead of whole groups.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 06 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ascendancefeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestoresto-shamanshamantalenttalent-guidetalent-treewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSun, 06 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: An overview of druids in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/raid-rx-an-overview-of-druids-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/raid-rx-an-overview-of-druids-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/raid-rx-an-overview-of-druids-in-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: ,

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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.

Last week, we covered some of the more notable monk abilities along with the expected playstyle. Recently, the level cap on beta has been raised to level 87, allowing every class access to their new level 87 spell. Much of the talk this week on the major sites and blogs is about Symbiosis. We touched on it several times, but now we get to take a closer look at it in further detail.

Continue reading Raid Rx: An overview of druids in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: An overview of druids in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>classclass-changesfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmists-of-pandariaraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestorestorationspellstalentswow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowWed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mistweaver Monk 101http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/raid-rx-mistweaver-monk-101/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/raid-rx-mistweaver-monk-101/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/raid-rx-mistweaver-monk-101/#commentsFiled under: ,

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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.

Ghostcrawler introduced the monk in detail to us back during BlizzCon 2011. We didn't have as many details available to us until we entered the beta stage of the game. This week, I want to introduce you to the different aspects of healing monks.

The mistweaver monk is a stance-based class that has two forms of energy at their disposal: mana and chi.
  • Stance of the Wise Serpent Healing stance that replaces your energy resource bar and turns it into mana and converts your spirit rating into spell and melee hit rating. Abilities that would have cost energy now cost mana.
  • Stance of the Fierce Tiger Increases your damage done by 20% and allows access to a different set of offensive abilities.
When healing, you'll mostly be in the Stance of the Wise Serpent.

In terms of equipment, monks can use axes, staves, maces, fists, swords, and polearms. Your preferred weapons will mostly be staves or maces (although that may change as more items are revealed). For armor, you'll have access to leather and you'll get the 5% intellect from Leather Specialization. Like the other healing classes, your mana regeneration is going to rely on spirit.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mistweaver Monk 101

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mistweaver Monk 101 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>chifeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmistweavermonkraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 09 Apr 2012 17:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Priest thoughts and the 100k mana clubhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/raid-rx-priest-thoughts-and-the-100k-mana-club/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/raid-rx-priest-thoughts-and-the-100k-mana-club/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/raid-rx-priest-thoughts-and-the-100k-mana-club/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Welcome to the 100k mana club! As you may have heard, healer mana is being normalized across the board so that everyone has 100,000 mana. We heard about this change way back around November. After getting into the second wave of beta invites for Mists of Pandaria, one of the first things I did after setting my keybinds and messing around with my spec was to head straight for dungeon queues.

Waiting 18 minutes as a healer? C'mon, guys! Throw me a bone here!

I'm going to write about two vastly different experiences. Like many other healing priests, I decided to run two different healing specs, discipline and holy. Leveling as a healer isn't going to be that bad when your Holy Fires and Smites are hitting for 40,000 crits.

My eyes were slowly getting crossed between looking at my mana bar on the top left to the center of my screen where I place my party frames. That's before I realized I could poke around in the settings and get mana bars to show up within the frames.

Way to go, default UI!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Priest thoughts and the 100k mana club

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Priest thoughts and the 100k mana club originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Matt LowTue, 03 Apr 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changeshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

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.

You'll notice that there are a ton of new glyphs that have been added for all the classes. That list is by no means exhaustive. I also noticed some slight changes in the way certain spells work. I can assure you it won't be anything too drastic, but these changes are enough to keep you interested and wondering. This week, I'll be rounding up what we know healers will be getting, as well as any other notable modifications.

New for druids

Cenarion Ward appears to be a Prayer of Mending-like spell without the subsequent charges. Good spell to open with before an engagement. Won't have to pre-HoT as much. Just remember to pre-Ward.

Wild Mushroom: Bloom! Hope you love 'shrooms, since you'll be gaining the use of these in addition to your Balance friends. Anticipate a moment where big AoE healing is needed, and plant 'shrooms. Detonate after raid group takes a hit, and relish in the healing spores that explode.

Regrowth can be glyphed to remove the HoT component. Benefit? 40% increased chance of a critical heal. I guess you can configure a HoT-based class to switch to a non-HoT direction.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>disciplinedruidfeaturedglyphsguidehealinghealing-guideholyhow-to-heallightwellmists-of-pandariamonkpaladinpriestraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestshamanwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Yor'sahj healing on hard modehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/raid-rx-yorsahj-healing-on-hard-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/raid-rx-yorsahj-healing-on-hard-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/raid-rx-yorsahj-healing-on-hard-mode/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Did you manage to knock out heroic mode Hagara? Wondering where to go next? The summoner of ooze, Yor'sahj should be next on your list. Perhaps the biggest change in heroic is the extra ooze that spawns that your raid needs to deal with. This means Yor'sahj has more abilities with which to assault your raid. This encounter doesn't exactly have a set script, since Yor'sahj cycles through different slime combinations.

For healing setups, I strongly advise bringing in no more than six healers. Healers will want to configure their UIs so that they can view Deep Corruption debuffs on their raid frames. All in all, Yor'sahj hinges heavily on the ability of your raid to react to the different combinations.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Yor'sahj healing on hard mode

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Yor'sahj healing on hard mode originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>dragon soulDragonSoulfeaturedguidehard modeHardModehealinghealing-guideheroic modeHeroicModehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingyorsahjMatt LowFri, 09 Mar 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: How to heal Hagara on heroic modehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/raid-rx-how-to-heal-hagara-on-heroic-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/raid-rx-how-to-heal-hagara-on-heroic-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/raid-rx-how-to-heal-hagara-on-heroic-mode/#commentsFiled under:

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.

For most guilds, the next step after taking down heroic Mor'chok is either Hagara or Yor'sahj. I'd say both are similar around overall difficulty level but stress different raid aspects. You're coordinating movement and position heavily in an encounter like Hagara, whereas with Yor'sahj, straight-up brute force is all that's required to do the job.

I'll break down each major phase with some of the approaches that can be used to handle the different mechanics and outline anything that's considered critical for healers to know. The 10% buff should make these bosses much more accessible now.

Continue reading Raid Rx: How to heal Hagara on heroic mode

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: How to heal Hagara on heroic mode originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Matt LowMon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughtshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

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.

Were you excited about the latest changes that were made to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator that was introduced last week? Some earth shattering changes all around but who do you think won out? Let's examine!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughts

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughts originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>guidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Can healing be diversified further?http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/11/raid-rx-can-healing-be-diversified-further/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/11/raid-rx-can-healing-be-diversified-further/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/11/raid-rx-can-healing-be-diversified-further/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street (lead developer) published a developer blog post a few days ago and shared thoughts about roles within the game. DPS classes tend to have multiple specs that can be switched to in order to provide a different set of damage spells and utilities. Some of the examples cited included warlocks and rogues, since they're straight DPS classes. Would it be possible to hypothesize and think about single-role healing classes with varied specs? While I don't think it is unheard of, I can already think about the different logistical and gameplay difficulties that are going to come with it.

For DPSers, you have that role divided between those players in the ranged group and those belonging to the melee. With healing, you're limited with just being purely at range. There isn't a classified melee-only healer (and we don't know entirely how the monk will play out).

Continue reading Raid Rx: Can healing be diversified further?

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Can healing be diversified further? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>classdesigndiscussionfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmists-of-pandariaraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderolespecwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 11 Feb 2012 20:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Healing heroic Morchokhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/05/raid-rx-healing-heroic-morchok/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/05/raid-rx-healing-heroic-morchok/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/05/raid-rx-healing-heroic-morchok/#commentsFiled under:

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.

The recent nerf to Dragon Soul with the release of patch 4.3.2 means more players are now within striking distance of Morchok on heroic modes. He's a boss that serves as an execution check for your raiding group more than anything else. If your raid group mastered the art of healing through him on normal, then it should have no problem doing it again on heroic.

Just be prepared to do it twice.

The biggest hard mode change is that Morchok clones himself. His clone has the exact same abilities as Morchok prime, except the timing will be off. Your raid will be splitting in two and pulling the two bosses away from each other. You can envision the fight as two pseudo 10-man groups fighting (or two 5-mans, if you're in a 10-man raiding group).

Come into the raid with six to seven healers, if you're a 25-man raiding group. Actually, I'd consider bringing seven if it's the very first time. For 10-man, it is not uncommon for groups to bring in up to four healers for the first time. You'll need them, due to the amount of damage being dished out to the raid. Ideally, try to insist that when your raid leader splits the raid into two groups, the players will show up in your raid frames in different groups. Having all of the players in group 1 and 2 on one side with groups 3 and 4 on the other can be beneficial. The side that is tanking Morchok is the one that could benefit from the extra healer, as it seems more damage is done on that side.

I strongly recommend bringing in tanks with their four-piece bonuses, because they will be an incredible asset.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing heroic Morchok

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Healing heroic Morchok originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>dragon-soulfeaturedguidehard-modehealinghealing-guideheroic-modehow-to-healkochrommorchokraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidestompwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: How to be the world's worst healerhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/raid-rx-how-to-be-the-worlds-worst-healer/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/raid-rx-how-to-be-the-worlds-worst-healer/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/raid-rx-how-to-be-the-worlds-worst-healer/#commentsFiled under:

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.

Time to take a break from trying to be an awesome healer. It just feels much easier to be the best at being the bottom of the barrel. Without any concerns, you can simply play however you like with no fear. There are multiple steps on the road to being an excellent healer for your raiding guild. As you might expect, the same applies to being the worst healer.

Note: You shouldn't actually do any of these, as they're the exact opposite of the way you should be playing. I would like to add that I've seen parts of this list in action throughout the years in my experiences.

Continue reading Raid Rx: How to be the world's worst healer

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: How to be the world's worst healer originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidetipsworst healerWorstHealerwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Higher-level healing starts with your mindhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/raid-rx-higher-level-healing-starts-with-your-mind/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/raid-rx-higher-level-healing-starts-with-your-mind/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/raid-rx-higher-level-healing-starts-with-your-mind/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

"Wipe it!" my raid leader bellows. I whip off my headset in disgust and sink back in my chair, burying my face in my trembling hands and tuning out the usual post-wipe Mumble drivel. After collecting myself, I pull up any logs and try to figure out what happened. Could I have done anything to change the outcome? In most cases, the answer is a yes. There is always something that any single player could have done differently in the moments leading up to a fateful wipe.

Last week's column about pushing healing performance seemed to have struck a chord with several readers. I wanted to take a moment and examine some of the commenters' approaches to rankings, meters and healing logs.

If you want to play at a higher level than you are now, you must start with your mind. Blaming other players because you are being outplayed is not going to help you get any better.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Higher-level healing starts with your mind

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Higher-level healing starts with your mind originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Matt LowFri, 20 Jan 2012 20:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Start ranking on healing without even tryinghttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/raid-rx-start-ranking-on-healing-without-even-trying/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/raid-rx-start-ranking-on-healing-without-even-trying/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/raid-rx-start-ranking-on-healing-without-even-trying/#commentsFiled under:

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.

It was a Thursday night. For the past few weeks, I've done Ultraxion as shadow for additional DPS time. I'm usually the swing player who can spec into both healing and DPS. Mind you, I'm not the great at shadow. This time around, we were using five healers on Ultraxion because our other regular healer wasn't able to make it that day. On 25-man, Ultraxion has six healing crystal buffs. Using five healers meant that one of the crystals would not be in use. I opened up with red crystal before sneaking the blue crystal later. I think this was the second or third time I've actually healed Ultraxion.

Alas, I was not able to catch our resident holy paladin, who aced me on the meters again. One of these days, I will catch him. I don't have a clue how. Circle of Healing and Prayer of Mending used on cooldown while dropping Prayer of Healing nukes every chance. I'm even waiting until the last possible second on Hour of Twilight before triggering the phase out (which is very dangerous, mind you, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you have the dexterity and reflexes of a hockey goalie).

It wasn't until well after the raid that I noticed we used only four healers on that encounter. Looks like our other priest didn't get the memo and stayed shadow the entire time.

Eventually, your raiding group will reach a stage where you can simply heal full tilt. You can take shortcuts and bigger risks that lead to additional payoffs (like quicker raids and personal satisfaction from ranking, for example).

Continue reading Raid Rx: Start ranking on healing without even trying

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Start ranking on healing without even trying originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>alizabelfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmorchokraid-guideraid-healingraidingraiding-guideultraxionwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 13 Jan 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Why healing rotations spell death for your raidhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/raid-rx-why-healing-rotations-spell-death-for-your-raid/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/raid-rx-why-healing-rotations-spell-death-for-your-raid/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/raid-rx-why-healing-rotations-spell-death-for-your-raid/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Are you going through your healing rotation properly?

No question has raised my wrath more than that. The idea of a healing rotation is my ultimate pet peeve. I once had a ret paladin ask me what my healing rotation was. Not even his bubble could protect him from my stony glare that penetrated his monitor.

Healing is all about a priority system. It's about who needs what healing spell when. So as you're progressing through all the normal and heroic modes that Dragon Soul has to offer, learn to cultivate smarter healing habits. Find out what you need to focus on. Figure out what crappy habits you need to break.

Coincidentally, Mike Gray wrote about the DPS side of spell priorities just the other day. He goes into great detail about the history of the DPS rotation and what developers were witnessing from the players. With healing, though, no real rotation exists. It's all about priorities. Two types of priorities exist: spell choices and healing targets. For players who are just getting started with healing, let me go into further detail about each type.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Why healing rotations spell death for your raid

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Why healing rotations spell death for your raid originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehealing-rotationhow-to-healpriorityraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderotationwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 06 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST