Is healing in this game always so demanding?

Classes Shaman
1

Hi all,

I’ve recently tried my hand at leveling a Resto Shaman and unfortunately since I’ve spent a lot of time healing a more slow paced MMO I’m not sure if I just suck or if healing in WoW is so focus demanding.

Just as an example.

In dungeons what usually happens is tank picks up mobs. I initially start dotting them but soon I need start healing them. Ok no worries so I throw a Riptide and start trying to use my Lava Surge procs. Problem is I find the incoming damage so high all the time and I rarely get a chance to do anything other than fantically spamming the tank and group or they’ll die.

Bosses are the same, its just non stop healing . Now I understand this looks like I’m complaining about healing on a healer lol I’m not honestly.

I just wanna make sure I’m not doing something wrong, if healing is 100% focus on heals or people die with the odd bit of DPS here and there thats cool. If boss fights are a constant struggle or tank will get squashed thats cool I’ll just know what to expect then.

Thanks for the heads up!

2

It gets a bit better as you level up, and get better gear at 60, and meet better geared / more skilled people. Nevertheless, as a healer, in PuGs, you will most likely be healing much much more than you would in a fixed team. People tend to stand in bad, or they don’t coordinate interrupts / stuns / etc as good, the tank doesn’t line up their defensives well with externals, and so on and so forth.

In a set team (or a particularly good PuG), you’ll have much more opportunities to do DPS. As an example, in random heroics, I can usually spend more time doing damage than healing - because I outgear it quite a bit, and my HoTs can keep up even a paper tank most of the time. (And if DPS stands in bad and dies, well… my DPS will carry the group through while they run back anyway… :P)

On the other hand, in M+ keys, while I still find opportunities to do damage here and there, I’m just getting to the point where I can find enough opportunities to do damage for more than a few casts.

3

Leveling is extremely unbalanced. In certain level brackets you feel like an absolute god and in other brackets it’s the direct opposite. People are missplaying their class alot (especially tanks not using any mitigation) and you are still missing several core abilities, talents and passives.

What i can tell you about healing at level 60: When tanks learn to use their mitigation and you learn to time your healing and the mechanics, there will be times for you to do damage. But there will always be times where you need to focus on healing.

You should always apply your flame shock to priority targets and use your lava surge proccs. Outside of that you do not really have to do damage and you can focus on healing the group. Group healing in general gets alot better with higher levels, especially when you gain access to cloudburst totem.

But: the restoration shaman will stay at the lower end of the damage meter compared to other healers. Currently holy paladins do the most damage, followed by disciplin priests, fistweaver monks and restoration druids. Restoration shamans are horrible at non-single-target damage, but have solid priority target damage.

Another tip: you can make your own damage windows by using your utility. You can place your capacitor totem for example and open up a few seconds where you can do damage.

4

Is the MMO you’ve healed in by any chance FF14? Because if so I know what you’re coming from.

I used to main healer in WoW and gave FF14 healing a shot and I was frustrated about it because I barely had to heal at all in FF14. Just in pretty much hard scripted moments. Rest of the time I had to DPS and that felt really off for me.

So if you’re coming from FF14 - yes, you have to heal a ton more in WoW.

5

As above this is not close to FFXIV, you will be healing all time with barely to zero time spend dpsing. On raids you’re 100% healing, in dungeons you have some spare time to do dps but only if your group is good.

6

Also there is a an add on. Elite something. Can’t recal - I’ve got it. It shows avoidable damage taken.

It is fantastic for showing whining people they actually are the reason they are dying. Like when they get 1 shot over and over and somehow thing it’s a healing issue.

Healing PvE right now is only as fun as the skill level of the DPS and tank. To many expansions of not needing to interrupt (which is so important this current one) and use personal defences.

Big gap between good dps and bad. It’s not just how much damage gets done now.

3 Likes
7

Just posting here, to remember this post. Gonna answer when I’m home after work. I have a ton of tips. :slight_smile:

8

Tbh, I noticed this sometimes as well. It happens esp. if tanks are playing higher content than they’re supposed to.

Was doing a 12 last week, and this tank needed CONSTANT healing, every hit brought him to 20-ish %. He was also a DK, not sure if that contributes to it as well, since they are reactive tanks, not proactive. They get hit and then need to self heal, I have the same with some DH tanks.

I prefer to heal guardians, monks, paladins and warriors.

I always see healer dmg as optional. If I can since group take dmg, then I can’t, so be it. And yes, healing can be very intense. Also what sucked last week, was that with spiteful, you can’t sit and drink, need to wait until they’re gone.

But tip, always bring mana pots. But happened a few times and I was oom when prideful started.

9

I hate healing DKs. Health jumping from 10-100 over and over. Doesn’t make for a fun time.

As for healer dps. I think as a shaman your in the best spot to dps without any real issues. Flame shock, wait for procs and my chain heal/lightning are both the same keybind. Just chain more than 1 and lava single. Even adding 1.2k dps or so can cut a run down by a minute+ that can mean making it in time or not.

1 Like
10

Theres actually not much room for DPS outside of Lava Surge proccs in higher keys. Especially this week is so stressful you barely manage to get Chain Lightning in there. I personally like healing Guardians the most, their damage income is pretty linear and their mastery allows for big heals on them.

Deathknights are horrible to heal, especially this week. Their health is just bouncing in all directions with low mobility. With this weeks affixes (Necrotic) they are a complete nightmare to heal.

Just dont put the Elite-addon on auto-post into group chat. I had a tank once where its addon posted every mistake into the group chat. It completely ruined the run.

1 Like
11

Shouldn’t DKs be the easiest tanks to heal during a Necrotic week? AMS completely negates this affix…at least it used to.

12

Does their AMS help them with the healing reduction? At least it did not help the ones i tried to heal ^^

13

Afaik Necrotic stacks can’t be applied as long as AMS is active. So if a DK pops AMS Necrotic stops stacking. If he is timing it correctly then the current Necrotic stacks fall off before a new one can be applied so it goes back to 1 stack.

It helps handling the Necrotic debuff by being able to prevent it. It doesn’t dispel already applied stacks so if he pops it at 30 stacks it’s too late anyways.

But if he pops it in time… let’s say at 10… then it’s way easier to heal him because before the 11th stack can be applied the current 10 stacks already fell off of him and he’s back to 0 or 1.

14

Ok. I’m back from work.

First of all, as a new healer. Focus on healing, don’t worry about your damage. Don’t even bother using globals on abilities that allows you to deal damage, you should even consider removing those abilities entirely from your healing bars until you’re comfortable healing. If anyone calls you out on this, just say that you’re new to healing and you’re learning.

The most important thing I learned as a healer, when I was new. Look into what tanks takes the most damage, and when.
For example monks, are the WORST tanks in low level because they lack purifying brew, but they’re gods in end-game.

You should try to see patterns between, which tanks take alot of dmg, and when. If you know the dungeon, if you know what hurts, and what doesn’t hurt - you will also have a way easier life as a healer. Obviously, during leveling, scaling can make reading diffferent tanks VERY difficult.

Study your cooldowns hard, DO NOT SHY FROM USING it on non-bosses.
I see SO many people holding their CD’s on trash because: “it’s not a boss”
In dungeons - TRASH, is the REAL boss. Do NOT hesitate, to keep your group alive, AT ALL costs.

And lastly, learn to make micro decisions. This will come automatically, with healing experience, and you’ll eventually learn to read unit frames etc etc and will be able to anticipate amount of damage your party members will take. Experience will teach you, and your party members to make microdecisions.

Best of luck to you, from here!

PS: Study your class, your cooldowns, and the dungeons.

1 Like
15

In theory maybe, but had another one yesterday, not fun! :smiley:

Plus he was walking way too much and far, completely ignoring the rest of the group, at one point I just thought, just die, and see if you learn from that, not my problem :stuck_out_tongue:

16

I agree but in BfA it was all about healers that need to do dmg, it was almost as if their healing was secondary.

I do DPS when I can, indeed just put on a flame shock, I chose my target (/focus) to interrupt and I do DPS when healing is low.

I just don’t know how much mana I should waste on a tank with high necrotic stacks, since obv. his healing intake is low, should I just let it be his problem at one point (high stacks) ?

I am choosing spirit wolf usually in Tyr. weeks, not sure if me choosing e.g. Root Totem helps.

17

Only in high keys. And it’s pretty much the same now, too. If you want to time +20s, healer DPS will matter. If you want to time +15s, nah.

18

DPS is possible, but not if you tank and DPS need constant healing :wink:

19

Again, this comes down to your tank, and your synergy. If it’s a premade tank, you should talk mobility, cc’s roots, slows etc over.

Necrotic debuff has a 10 second duration, so, if you i.e use incap totem, he can build distance, whilst having an entire group of mobs stunned for 4 seconds. This has great synergy. Being able to call “incap totem” out on voice is alot better for the tank, for obvious reasons. Also, stop healing your tank past 30 stacks - it’s a waste of globals.

20

Dont worry about the dps, that will come with practice and knowledge and gear. Also it will rely on your group and tank and how good they are at controlling trash and avoiding damage. If your group is good u will have time to dps quite a bit, if its bad you will indeed have to spam heal.