Healing: Boring...or Challenging?

"All healers do is just stand back, hit one button and heal, that's boring."

That is a sentiment shared by some people who have tried playing healers. They stood back, and just healed. That's it. They didn't do anything else but heal. They ignored all the other spells given to them while leveling up and the special spells given to them through their specialization in a talent tree. They Just Healed.

Well yeah, if that's all you're doing, I can see where it could be boring. But honestly, IMO, if that's all you're doing, you're not a good healer and you should go roll a class where you can face-roll on your keyboard and not harm the raid.

Now, I've only seriously healed from a shaman and a paladin perspective, but I do have a druid and a priest that I'm leveling up to heal with as well, so that I'll have better knowledge of all the healing classes. But I do know each one of these four healing classes has more abilities available to them than 'just healing'. They have cures for disease, magic, curses, poison (usually each class can cure between 2-3 of the 4). They have shields that heal when damage is taken, shields that absorb incoming damage. They have heals that are dependent on other heals (I think it's rolling lifeblooms and swiftmend? Correct me if i'm wrong on that Ceri).

Shamans have totems to drop, and it's not always the same ones each time. Some of them are encounter-specific, so a good shaman will know when to use what totem. Some healers have spells that help boost a raid's overall dps/dmg. Bloodlust comes to mind (it's available to any spec shaman, but if all you have is resto spec, they still need to know where/when to use it). Shamans need to know when it's best to spam chain heals off the tank or casters, and when it's better to just toss out a riptide, lesser healing wave or healing wave.

Paladins have their Hand spells and Judgments. They can 'Hand of Salv' a dps who is climbing up the threat meter. They can 'Hand of Sacrifice' on the tank then bubble themselves to absorb 30% of the incoming damage the tank would have taken. They can drop Judgments on the mob to help return mana to raid members or health. Paladin healing has changed since BC. Now Holy Shock is more useful as a heal, and it can trigger an instant Flash of Light or a fast Holy Light. Holy Light is considered more useful than it was in BC when we spammed FoL on tanks.

There is more to being a healer than just standing in the back playing 'whack-a-mole' with Grid (an addon) and pushing one button. Knowing what heal to use in what situation, knowing what needs cured NOW and what can wait a second before a cure, knowing what spell(s) to drop on a boss to help out, knowing when to move...yes MOVE, all these things are important as a healer.

You don't do the raid any good when you stand in the back just spamming that one heal button while raid members are dying to a disease or a curse... or you're dead because you didnt move out of a void portal.

Healing, just healing, can be boring. But remember, you're not 'just' a healer. You have many many spells available to you to help the raid. Use them.


Kammi

Who Are We?

We are the women from Evolutions Path, a horde guild on the Zangarmarsh server in an online game called World of Warcraft. We play female characters in game, and we are real women outside of game.

There are more women who play online games than people may realize. We are wives, sisters, cousins, friends, daughters of other gamers. Or some of us are the only gamer in our families.

Who am I? Well in game, I am Kammi, a level 80 resto shaman. I am married to Vitiate, a level 80 Death Knight who is also our guild leader. I started my journey in World of Warcraft as a rogue. Then we started raiding as a guild in Karazhan and we realized we really needed another healer. So I took the plunge and made a holy paladin. Leveled her up to 70, in holy spec. It's not a very fast way to level, but boy was she hard to kill. Eventually in my journey, I decided to try out a shaman, and I fell in love with the class. I love healing as a resto shaman.

Actually, I just love healing in WoW. I now have a level 80 resto shaman, a level 80 holy paladin, a level 61 druid that will be resto when she hits 80, and have recently started a priest who will be holy as well. We did the refer-a-friend deal and the priest is taking advantage of the triple experience up to level 60.

Outside of game, I am a writer and a housewife. I am currently editing a novel that I finished in February of this year and I have another novel that I am working on. As a recent college graduate, the current economy is rather painful when it comes to trying to find a job. So my husband encouraged me to work on writing a novel since he knows how much I love writing. I think the best job I could find would be to work at a bookstore and continue writing my novels and be able to someday see them on the shelves at the bookstore.

Welcome to Girls Gone Gaming.

Kammi