Hmmm ok.. my unique perspective is of someone who has never healed, ever, and I hopped on my friends mid-level druid and immediately spec resto, and go pug 5-mans.

As the main healer in Maraudon with an appropriately leveled group, I think I did pretty well. I think I can tell you why, too. It just so happened that the random pugs I grouped with were actually the alts of Naxx-level raiders Bibdy and Firehazard. The tank of my group happens to post on these boards. I would describe healing Bibdy's alt, at any point in the instance as immensely easy.

So is there something to be pointed out from this little story? Maybe. I'd say look at your tanks first before you look at your healers. Healers are in my guild are always saying "x tank is easy to heal, but y tank takes so much damage so fast". I can tell from playing a warrior 1-60 that the tank has an active role in helping to take less damage, and that can be quite challenging. Gearing the tank properly makes such an enormously noticeable difference in how easy he is to keep alive.

I'd say an easy 5-man is a good place for a healer to start learning, though like has been said earlier the attitude of the player will really determine how well they do. When I first started using mutilate on my rogue I was constantly evaluating my dps from sw_stats to try and determine what works and what doesn't. Likewise by the end of the Maraudon run I had figured out that healing touch was a much more efficient heal that rejuv->swiftmend, but swiftmend was much faster and the hots made for more powerful healing when a lot of damage was being thrown out. Anyone who is eager to learn can do so, and quickly, if they put forth the effort to experiment, compare, and improve.

One thing that greatly helped our healers with mana conservation was Healer Assist. I'm not sure if it's still out there (probably got killed by the 2.0 changes), but it basically showed you a cast bar for other healers healing your target. We had a lot of situations where someone went into the red and 7 healers would start casting their largest spell at the same time. This was around the time we were learning Twin Emps, and our healers were running out of mana after 7-8 minutes. That was also one of the first encounters (that I remember) where healers really needed to be aware of the environment, since blizzard could wipe people out pretty quickly.

Good healers listen, bad healers don't, in general. If you can get your "new" healers to listen to "constructive criticism" then you can get them to shape up fairly decently. As said already, don't over-complicate things. Instead of going in-depth with stats, just outline the basics, tell them what you've experienced with things and let them draw their own conclusions. Try and get them to ask you questions rather than just letting them take your advice as the word of god, as however good it may be, it's almost certainly not going to make them a good healer as they will be using what YOU find useful most, which probably won't work for them. This is also a point that needs to be made raid-wise. If people listen to who you assign them to and try and do that job above all others, they generally do a lot better. There's no point telling them who to heal, getting them doing an emergency heal on someone else (that turns out to be overheal because there were already 3 people on that person) and then their own tank dying. Although this seems pretty basic, I've seen a lot of people that just can't do this - they always feel a need to do something that someone else is already on. (I get very pissed off at this actually - being a druid with slow heals/hots and having been assigned to heal the raid and having someone who is supposed to be MT healing doing it so i end up with pure overheal is immensely frustrating).

I also agree about the point on tanks - some tanks are just so much easier to keep up with particular healing tactics than others. Some don't know the value of shield block when spike damage is possible, and some just don't gear their character very well, or slack on enchants and gems.

It can also be down to the raid leader as to why some healers seem to be so much better than others - if you assign 2 paladins and a druid to one tank, and 2 priests and a shaman to another, the priest/shaman group is likely to be having a ridiculously easy time due to 3 lots of inspiration/ancestral fort proc chances in comparison to the other group. If you can get healer teams to work together a lot (such as on gruul, have the same people doing MT and OT healing every time, or on maulgar the same people doing MT healing and the same person doing mage healing) then they link up and sort out who is doing what, and are much better at dealing with emergency situations (or at least that's my experience).

I really don't think the skill of the tank has much to do with it. The gear and spec does, of course, but the skill doesn't. Pallies and wars have holy shield and shield block which I'm sure every competent raid tank uses every time it's up in raid situations. Apart from that warriors have a bunch of "oh shit" buttons like last stand, life giving gem, shield wall but those aren't abilities you usually use consistently (except for some fights like shield wall after huhu enrage). Druids don't have anything like that actually. The skill of a tank has more of an effect on the aggro they do, and even more so in how quick they are to react to changing situations (extra adds, moving mobs around appropriately, etc.). And there is alot of difference between good and bad tanks on those points.

As for healing 5-mans... I recently did a blood furnance run in which the spriest ended up tanking mostly everything (and some stuff on the warrior tanking with a 2h) with me on my priest healing him. We did just fine - all that proves is that early 5-mans are trivial to heal for a holy specced priest sporting some T2 gear. In most raids everyone has most of the easy things down and there are alot of finer points that you have to pay attention to.

Actually, between maintaining battle/commanding shout, demo, thunderclap, shield block, not to mention sunders, and keeping aggro on up to 2-3 mobs, you might be surprised the quality difference between tanks, and what they can bring to the table in terms of mitigation. Also, better tanks tend to spend more time getting their gear crafted and enchanted w/the very best available.

You can drop some of these things and still be a tank, but dropping demo/thunderclap/shield block, and you'll be taking significantly more damage, and that does matter.

I'm not trying to make this into a tanks rule over all thread, but don't diminish what individuals can bring from this class until you've seen the broad spectrum. Tanks with all their tools can cut 30-50% of the damage straight off the mob... now adays quite a bit more, and this is neglecting gear selection, which is often appalling at times.

Well in most raids a tank tanks one mob - and if he tanks 2-3 he gets hit so many times with smaller hits that shield block looses alot of it's usefulness. Demo and Tclap (now that it's in defensive) is really a given to my mind. When I found out our tank was not putting demo on maulgar initially I was stunned :P. Maybe I'm just taking these things too much for granted

I would definitely say that keeping demo/TC up is taken for granted too often. It's amazing just how many times i have to remind people to keep things going, even though on something like Gruul it's AMAZINGLY obvious when TC isn't up because of the massive purple suction thingy around his feet. Demo shout is obviously harder to keep track of because of the debuff being lost among a zillion dots/fireball debuffs/etc. Does anyone know of a debuff tracking mod where you can select what debuffs to track and it will display only those if they're on? (Pretty sure i've seen warlock versions but I'm not sure I've ever seen a configurable/warrior version).

Quoting this for truth.

I have only been resto-specced to raid one single time, a day before patch 1.12 came out. I started really learning how to heal in late MC and all through BWL, always as a pure 12/34/5 feral spec. By the time we made it to Emps in AQ40, my healing skills under the "handicap" of feral spec had improved to such a degree that (when I was healing) I was easily placing in the top half of our healing meters with an off-spec and inferior healing gear. My off-spec forced me to learn to play much better than I otherwise would have.

I agree. In fact, the only way that the "Most healers leveled as something other than a healing spec, and therefore need to learn to heal when they start raiding" works is if they quested themselves to the level caps without touching instances.

I did a lot of instancing on my way to 70, in a pure grinding shadow build, frequently as the only healer. That's darn good practice. Making do with slower, smaller, less efficient heals and fewer emergency bailouts means more emphasis on mana management and damage anticipation, which are exactly the skills you need to raid.

True, it may be more difficult and teach you a particular skillset, but it's significantly less tactically interesting. A lot of the subtleties with healing revolve around the toolbox of heals that we have available and deciding when to use which tool. Some of the toughest tactical decisions I make as a healer involve deciding when to pop NS or when I need to rejuv->swiftmend someone.

Ultimately, it just takes practice, good communication with other healers for sharing tips and advice, and a good UI that efficiently displays all the info that you need. Don't underestimate raidframes that show when a player has aggro from a mob, tank/player targets, and target-of-target.

I agree with many of the comments in that raid healing is different than the other roles because it's always a fuzzy cooperation with the other healers in your raid. You basically "feel out" how other healers do, or when they're likely to switch off. I know there are plenty of times where I see someone drop low, but intentionally stay on the MT because I know at least a couple other healers are likely to peel off and throw them a heal. There's a lot of double-guessing your other healers that goes on, and that's not a skill you can learn by looking at numbers.

I think Demo shout is one of the most important skills we bring to the table given how bosses calculate attack power, I use imp demo myself. That being said it is a very annoying skill to keep track of since its very easy now to miss the -Demo resisted- notice.

Ive always been looking for a mod that shows me only the debuffs I care about.

You guys need to get dfilter, it's exactly what you want.

Mmm, interesting discussion and something I've been wondering myself. Currently stuck at Curator with my guild - we run with 3 healers and a shadow priest on top of that. I'm consistently finding myself doing >40% of the total healing and generally the least % of overheal. Is this down to fast reactions, mana usage vs conservation, more willingness to burn mana pots?

I don't see healing to be particularly difficult, but then I play a paladin with only two healing spells. As it's been said, I feel healing is more about anticipation and reaction, making it more of an art than a science. With that said, is it even possible to 'teach' people how to heal effectively, or is it something you learn from experience? I'll compare it to learning to drive, for arguments sake. If you could teach people to react to hazards and 'see things that aren't there', it'd take a lot less time than it does. As has also been said, DPS is a matter of setting up a rotation of skills to maximise output while moving etc to stay alive.

So, with all this said... probably mostly gibberish, you can't effectively teach someone to heal if you're healing with them. I think getting them to arena as a solo healer, or run TBC 5-mans (Arcatraz particularly) and heroics, they'll pick up a lot of pre-TBC raid skills. Considering I only raid up to Faerlina and that was as a warlock, I'm hardly an expert, but this is my two cents. You can't teach someone to heal effectively over night, it's all about experience and willingness to take on board advice/critiscism.

Slightly OT but: Just went and had a search on curse for "debuff" before seeing your post and found it. Just been mucking about with it on my warrior, seems like the perfect thing to use for it, and even comes with a thing for keeping track of buffs/debuffs on yourself and focus target aswell as the target. Handy!

http://www-en.curse-gaming.com/files...debuff-filter/

I don't have it installed, so YMMV

I generally believe there to be (3) types of good WoW (or probably most MMORPGs) players: The Gamer, the Mathematician, and the Zenn Buddhist. The gamers usually are DPS builds or classes and pvpers. They learn mostly through experience and practice. The mathematicians track down videos, know the algorhythm to calculate out of combat mana regen, and tell you the threat value of sunder. A lot of tanks I know are mathematician type players. A lot of peak DPSers as well. I'd say most of this board is like that. Then come the Zenn Buddhists. You can ask them their spec and they'd have to open the window to tell you. They don't know what exactly X talent does but they know they like it. And somehow, despite their inability to talk shop, they get the job done. A lot of my guild healers are like this. They use very few mods. They don't post in forum discussions. I think all they do at work (other than maybe work) is watch YouTube videos of strange forum commercials and sports accidents.

If I had to train healers, which thankfully I don't, I'd probably start out more by asking questions than telling them things. I'd ask them about their spec and why they value certain stats. You might be able to identify something they simply understand incorrectly. If you can engage them with discussing how they go about something, then they have to at least come up with a method to how they do something. A lot of players I get less than stellar play out of simply do not try hard. They equate video game with stressless time killer. They try to heal boss fights while eating. I'm not going to argue with them about the level of focus the raid needs. As long as I know whats up, I can decide whether they are someone who will contribute or not.

I could be off base. I've been in the same guild for 2 years and don't have to deal with new people often.

Veering even more dangerously off topic...

I don't think that's an uncommon observation. People who want to feel necessary, and so are taking up what they believe to be so important that everyone is willing to overlook everything (including themselves and their own fun) for how very necessary they are.

Our guild application has a paragraph that goes something like - "Don't bother saying you'll spec any which way. It's nice that you want to impress us, but really, if you aren't having fun, you won't stick around. If you really enjoy two specs - and I'm that way with feral and resto - then go ahead and put that down. But our guild doesn't need any martyrs."

Don't punch me, because I have done it for a long time in some fairly trying places (no, not Naxx, but up to AQ40, as much as "that previous dungeon was actually easy, this latest content is really the only hard stuff in game"), but I honestly believe healing is the easist role in the game. When I'm tired, or burnt out, or wanting to relax... I put on my healing dress.

I completely understand I may be the only human being that way, but it's the honest truth for me, I swear.

Most guilds, I find, are led by warriors. Healing tends to be (and this is a generalization, so it's effectively worthless) a black box to them. They have rage, it fills as the fight goes on, mana empties as the fight goes on. In the twain, who knows what goes on.

I've been in two guilds that were run by healers. The lack of "amg wru healers" in those guilds is just exciting.

You know, in my mind, while I was going around on errands today, this was "subtle" suggestions, so I had the very clever (if I may say so myself) response of well, my loudly observing how totally sweet item X is isn't terribly subtle, and it is appealing loudly to something as compelling as avarice. But you just said passive. So I've got nothing on that.

Obviously, some horses can be led to the water and no amount of forcing will make the water drunkeded. But as for helping with coaching tips, surely there's a large intermediate swath of people who aren't willing to go searching for the water, but will drink from it.

You know, if it's there.

Moving back on topic...

I'm a little surprised by people actually using Clique to cast heals, as weird as that may be. I love it for buffing, and removing debuffs, but healing? I just don't see it. It just makes sense to me to hit my choice of 3-6 as I click on who needs a heal.

On to something concrete, the expansion and being even shallower in resto then pre-expansion have sort of changed the healing game for a person like myself. Taking the starting point of I'm a complete moron running around with ~+1200 healing and letting lifebloom tick-out on anyone who needs heals (prayerbook of lower city on a 4 button action bar [hint, the other buttons are Moroes's Lucky Pocket Watch, Ogre something something click AP, and Arkoros Core of click AP] near the middle of my screen, sized slightly larger then most elements), and then hoping if they need more then that, my +35 dodge rating granting rejuv will tide them over until the next lifebloom... blooming... of life, I guess.

What can I do to shape up my noobishness?

I did MC through AQ, including Twin Emps and C'Thun, on an extremely shitty ISP with 1200 ping at times. Made up for it by being really liberal (in the "calculated risk fashion) on healing for Vek'nilash and mana pots. And C'Thun? Ugh. :/ Although I got by with assist Eye --> Regrowth which more or less kept the party up in P1 as a solo healer looking after 5.

That doesn't really contribe much to the thread; basically ping -can- be a huge factor in the healer game in terms of efficiency, but as long as you know what you're capable/not capable of, ping included, that usually makes a world of difference. We did C'Thun, Patchwerk, Thaddius, Heigan with 95% Australian/Singaporean/Malaysian latencies, overcoming the various issues (both healing and otherwise) with a bit of ingenuity, and we were hardly the the only guild to have done so.

(p.s. I now raid with a 'better' ISP, usually 600-800ms in a raid setting. It feels like heaven in comparison)

(p.s.s. I, too, miss Fastcast. If I could have selected only one mod to have in the game, I'd have selected Fastcast (even over 3rd party raid frames, etc) Oh well... here's to hoping Blizzard implements spell-queueing in future)

Haven't read the whole thread yet, but let me give you a quick tip that will most definitely help you in the "anticipating heals" department.

Get the agUF_Banzai addon for AGUnitFrames.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5858.html

Any time an engaged mob targets a player, the mod will color his frame red. This add-on has been absolutely invaluable. Of course, there is a lot more to being a good healer but for starters, this small add-on will provide a significant boost in the "skill" of your healers.

A friend on my re-rolled Pally, and we gave him the task of cleansing the raid. But he wasnt doing a good job, plus he was reluctant about getting "heavy-duty" mods... but the Banzai addon solved the problem. He now dispels even those short 2 sec fears.

Try it.

If they don't have the right mindset for healing, they're not going to heal very well. Going from a fury warrior to a priest was a major change for me because where tanking and DPSing was just doing as much as possible as fast as possible(especially with rage mechanics), healing became doing the absolute minimum required for the least mana possible. That is a huge difference, and something that not everyone will understand. Getting a new healer to understand and work towards that concept is huge.

One thing I'd like to suggest is asking them to get SCT and toggle on the option to show overhealing. When I finally updated that mod to 2.0 and turned that option on, it became something of an obsession to see how close to 100% health I could get a target with no overhealing, using greater heal.

And on the subject of people who like healing vs. don't like healing, I hate healing in good groups, it sucks. The only job in the game where the better everyone else is, the more bored you get. As soon as I get more interested in my new wand crit records than trying to achieve that perfect greater heal I just get bored and respec shadow again(I respec a lot). Then we go to Karazhan and try to learn Moroes while I'm spec'd shadow and still needing to heal(three healers in the raid), so I went holy again and found it fairly enjoyable to heal in a situation like that, far far better than a shadow lab run with a group that knows what its doing and a tank who doesn't even let assasins make my job interesting for more than a second or two.

Your method of casting Heal Spell X, if I'm reading you right:

- Place mouse over target's health bar
- Click on health bar
- Press 3

My method:

- Place mouse over target's health bar
- Middle click

That's one less button press every time I cast something. Not a huge difference, but it makes things that much easier for me. Plus it frees up more keybindings for other stuff. I think it's probably mostly personal taste, though.

Twin Emperors was my introduction to 'advanced raid healing' - that is, having a heal constantly casting and cancelling it about 0.5 to 1 second before it completes if the tank isn't seriously hurt. I'd say heroic instances could be the new way to teach healers that, take a couple healers and have them practice keeping the tank alive on a hard-hitter like the Bog Lords in Steamvaults without resorting to shields, flash heals, Prayer of Mending, etc.