[help me decide] Healing Class

HaPpY

HaPpY

Veteran XX
specifically Horde and more for PVP (bgs and arena 3v3 & 5v5) but also for PVE (raids).

my line of thinking so far....

PALY (holy/prot)
pro:
- great support buffs: BoF(pvp), BoP
- auras
- best survivability
- efficient heals
con:
- easily shut down by interrupts/cc (pvp)
- no hots
- no group healing
- poor cc

DRUID (resto + some bal/feral)
pro:
- best healing under pressure, but more difficult to manage (pvp)
- great cc
- efficient heals
- best instant cast heals (pvp)
- innervate
- natures swiftness
- hard to kill and be cc'ed, 161% speed escape with pvp gear. (pvp)
- battle rez (pve)
- warstomp (pvp)
- can tank well without deep feral spec (pve)
con:
- no magic dispell
- cooldown on rez (5man pve)
- slightly weaker buffs/auras(lack therof)
- supposedly less viable in 5v5 for above reasons

PRIEST (holy/disc)
pro:
- mind control (bg pvp, pve)
- best overall healing
- shields
- mana burn (pvp)
- best dispell (2debuffs) and mass dispel (pvp)
- decent mana regen racials as blood elf
con:
- more vulnerable to key arena classes (pvp)
- less versatile beyond healing

SHAMMY (resto + ?)
pro:
- natures swiftness
- totems: ex: grounding totem (pvp), mana totems (pve), etc
- bloodlust
- earth shield
- good survivability
- decent offensive support (pvp)
- stun resist racial or warstomp (pvp)
con:
- no hots
- no cc
- worst overall healing of the above


so far im slightly leaning toward resto druid, however i'm not as familiar with resto shammies as with the other healing classes. i also feel as though i have to be a pali or priest for 5v5 but perhaps thats just a stereotype? (i do see some resto druids in the top10). i also have a secret fetish for priests mind controlling people off cliffs, teehee :)

my guild's active healer makeup is roughly:
- paly: 50%
- priest: 30%
- shammy: 10%
- druid: 10%
 
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I leveled a paly 1-70 as holy and a Draenei healing priest (holy/disc), of those 2 I would chose the priest, although for pvp you would need to work on the gear to get your HP up as well as having a decent mana pool and healing. With the healing plate drops from even quests in outlands a paly can survive quite well while you work on the gear.

You seem to know all key info for all the choices, like you mentioned a paly can be shut down very easy and the healing is very boring. Priests have lots of tools for different situations.

I haven't made a shaman or druid but I know with a druid if you can handle changing roles and forms on the fly it will probably be the most interesting class for you to play. If you aren't the primary healer, primary tank being able to change between secondary tank, secondary healer and dps on the fly is huge.
 
i love shammies, so ill say shammy

totems are great, windwall is clutch when you get those pesky hunters, windfury dominates as support for melee classes
 
HaPpY said:
SHAMMY (resto + ?)
pro:
- natures swiftness
- bloodlust
- earth shield
- decent offensive support (pvp) (unless you spec resto)
- stun resist racial or warstomp (pvp)
con:
- totems
- no cc
- no hots
- no cc
- terrible survivability
- worst overall healing of the above
- no cc
- worst mana regen of the above
- worst mana efficiency of the above
- no cc
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fixed.
 
I tried playing my Paladin as a healer for a few weeks (I play protection 99% of the time). I was just doing 70 instances as I was working on my tanking gear so I can't comment on raids.

Healing instances is a breeze but I thought it was wayyy too boring. 90% of the runs consisted of Flash of Light spam with the occasional Holy Light thrown in if things were getting rough.

Paladins lack a Heal over Time and Multi-Target heal so you have to be prepared when you're in a fight that causes more than one person to take damage.

I think a Priest or a Druid would be a solid choice.
 
Why do you think shamans have the worst overall heal? Chain heal dominates any fights in ssc/tk/hyjal/bt.
 
I've yet to find an efficient use for Chain Heal in PvP since people tend to be focus-fired upon. :( It's great in PvE (or in Alterac Valley, semi-PvP) where everyone near a boss is going to be taking damage.
 
Felonius said:
I've yet to find an efficient use for Chain Heal in PvP since people tend to be focus-fired upon. :( It's great in PvE (or in Alterac Valley, semi-PvP) where everyone near a boss is going to be taking damage.
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chain heal is nice in eye of the storm, especially in pre-mades. they're also pretty fun to play in those situations, with the additional toys you get w/ totems, bloodlust/heroism, etc
 
more for PVP (bgs and arena 3v3 & 5v5)
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I'd say pally depending on what you're pvp buds play (not what's in your guild). Priest is good, i suppose, and druids can be nice. I think that Blizz is going to make it so that non-pallies have a better chance in 5v5. If shaman survivability got a boost for 5v5, then i think that would be fantastic route for a new char.

The problem is that priest, druid and shaman walking into 5v5 without top pvp gear is just a death sentence.... unless it's 4dps with you being the only scrub geared char.
 
Synth said:
if you have enough resil and hp shamans have good survivability. Also how are totems cons?
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[$0.02]
Shamans have good survivability? If you could choose each class for a 2/3/5 man arena team, you would want a shaman over a paladin for those teams? Having high resiliance and HP says NOTHING about the actual class's survivability. You're talking about gear. Every class has equal access to PvP gear with with +stam/resil.

Shaman's have no CC, and 1 interrupt on a 6 second cooldown (if you've spec'd into elemental for it, otherwise it's 8 seconds). Considering tremor totem's less than stellar reliability, shamans have no to way to prevent getting fear locked in pvp. Add to that, cyclone/stun/silence... Not to mention, getting silenced will lock up just about everything a shaman has (if you're ele and/or resto, melee is completely out of the question).

A lot of "good" things a shaman has also cost a lot of mana. Bloodlust and Earth Shield are almost going to cost you 1k each. Mana inefficiency is the biggest problem for their survivability. If a fight goes long, a shaman will find himself out of mana sooner than any other class.

As for totems, how are they NOT cons? In PvP, totems require far too much overhead/upkeep. If you're a paladin, you have an aura that follows you. It's not a stationary target in plain sight for anyone to one-shot. Not to mention, there are a lot of faggots out there that use scripts to have pets auto-target and destroy any totem you put down. Pally/preist/druid can buff everyone up for free before the doors open. Shamans get to follow everyone around and re-drop totems everytime the battle migrates out of their range (if they don't get destroyed). There's a lot a shaman has to do in a fight and not enough time to do it all. At any given time, expect to have to totem (for buffs and counters), purge (multiple targets), and heal (probably multiple targets). As for PvE... lol, buffs that draw aggro. Fucking brilliant!

Also, being a shaman brings with it an extraordinary amount of focus fire. I know if I ever saw a shaman on an opposing team, he'd be the first I would want dead. Shamans pose a very large threat (purge and bloodlust alone are enough to make them my most wanted), but can't do much to avoid an ass beating (no fear, no immunity bubble, no roots, no stuns).
[/$0.02]

Feel free to argue any of that to your heart's content. I've played a shaman for years, and it's easily the least OP'd class in this game, imo. For PvP in WoW, the ability to prevent a player from fighting back is paramount. You could have all the abilities under the sun, but if you get saped, cheapshot, kidneyshot, feared, deathcoiled, counterspelled then cycloned; you're fucking useless. So, a good class is one that can CC, and prevent CC on himself. Add to that the ability to deal DoTs and HoTs. If you do get CC'd, you're still either doing damage or healing even though you're unable to actively cast spells. Shamans don't score very well in that criteria.
 
While I've enjoyed playing my Shaman thus far in PvP, I agree with the above. The class is without question the worst in terms of survivability. People focus fire you like crazy. I'm resto at the moment with about 200 resilience (just hit 70 about 1.5 weeks ago), but I can never sit back and buff/heal despite that being the most efficient way to spend my mana given my talents. I always get picked out of a crowd, with people switching targets to me more or less immediately... Even if it's detrimental to their winning the fight. So rather than be the pacifist healer in the back, I play very aggressively and try to kill off a few of my threats as quickly as possible. With Earth Shield I live quite a while, but a 1v1 is almost always joined by an ally or another enemy before it's decided.

The class is the worst, overall, in terms of holding its own in small scale PvP, but the benefits to groups tend to make up for it at least in 5v5. In 2v2 I'd be better off as a Pally or Druid. (My 2v2 team is Shaman + Lock atm.)
 
All of them are viable for arenas, but I think that priests are generally most valuable (good tanks, instant heals, PoM, offensive dispel and Mass Dispel). Then incoming nerf to pallies will really hurt our ability to avoid cc (1 min sacrifice is gay)
 
I keep saying alot of good holy-disc priests/holy paladins/elemental shamans in 5v5 arena, the higher i get in 5v5, druids are scarce, rogues don't exist, and hunters are rare

I'd roll priest or paladin, just my 2cents
 
Atreides said:
[$0.02]
Shaman's have no CC, and 1 interrupt on a 6 second cooldown (if you've spec'd into elemental for it, otherwise it's 8 seconds). Considering tremor totem's less than stellar reliability, shamans have no to way to prevent getting fear locked in pvp. Add to that, cyclone/stun/silence... Not to mention, getting silenced will lock up just about everything a shaman has (if you're ele and/or resto, melee is completely out of the question).
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Do you know about focus targetting? It's all about stopping that polymorph or holy light at the right moment. Drop a grounding totem if shock is on cooldown instead of just dropping it randomly.

GASP A SHAMAN CAN'T DO ANYTHING WHEN HE'S SILENCED???? What about mage/paladin/druid/priest/warlock? I guess they're so OP they can cast while silenced.

What can a warrior do while rooted/cycloned/sheeped except call for a paladin dispel?

A lot of "good" things a shaman has also cost a lot of mana. Bloodlust and Earth Shield are almost going to cost you 1k each. Mana inefficiency is the biggest problem for their survivability. If a fight goes long, a shaman will find himself out of mana sooner than any other class.
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Bloodlust is great but you're probably one of those shamans that pop it when the opposing team isn't under pressure so it'll get purged off easily or dispelled wasting it. Try using bloodlust when your target is under pressure where if a healer wastes their 1.5 global purging/dispelling, someone dies.

If a fight is 1v1 with a resto shaman, the shaman should win all the time. Earthshield is OP in 1v1 situations.

As for totems, how are they NOT cons? In PvP, totems require far too much overhead/upkeep. If you're a paladin, you have an aura that follows you. It's not a stationary target in plain sight for anyone to one-shot. Not to mention, there are a lot of faggots out there that use scripts to have pets auto-target and destroy any totem you put down. Pally/preist/druid can buff everyone up for free before the doors open. Shamans get to follow everyone around and re-drop totems everytime the battle migrates out of their range (if they don't get destroyed). There's a lot a shaman has to do in a fight and not enough time to do it all. At any given time, expect to have to totem (for buffs and counters), purge (multiple targets), and heal (probably multiple targets). As for PvE... lol, buffs that draw aggro. Fucking brilliant!
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Yeah paladins have aura that follows you but it only does one thing at a time. The totems that a shaman uses all the time in 5v5 would be tremor, windfury, poison cleanse and grounding.

Learn to drop the totems behind pillars out of LOS. If there's someone actively working on your totem then they're wasting time. Did you know windfury will stick on the warrior for 9 seconds after the totem is down?

What pve aggro buff?

Also, being a shaman brings with it an extraordinary amount of focus fire. I know if I ever saw a shaman on an opposing team, he'd be the first I would want dead. Shamans pose a very large threat (purge and bloodlust alone are enough to make them my most wanted), but can't do much to avoid an ass beating (no fear, no immunity bubble, no roots, no stuns).
[/$0.02]
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No shit you bring a large amount of focus fire. Build yourself to be able to take it. If they let your mage/warlock/priest free to do whatever the fuck they want, then they'll get controlled, mana burned, feared, sheeped etc. Like all classes in arena, play to support each other, not rambo fuckface someone. Tell your team to sheep, fear, or snare that dps off you.
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Feel free to argue any of that to your heart's content. I've played a shaman for years, and it's easily the least OP'd class in this game, imo. For PvP in WoW, the ability to prevent a player from fighting back is paramount. You could have all the abilities under the sun, but if you get saped, cheapshot, kidneyshot, feared, deathcoiled, counterspelled then cycloned; you're fucking useless. So, a good class is one that can CC, and prevent CC on himself. Add to that the ability to deal DoTs and HoTs. If you do get CC'd, you're still either doing damage or healing even though you're unable to actively cast spells. Shamans don't score very well in that criteria.
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So what you're saying is the best class in WoW is the one that doesn't exist? Don't be another retard shaman that thinks CC is the solution.
 
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