Struggling to choose a healer Monk or Druid :(

[agli]

Good afternoon all, I've come to the realization that I quite fancy having a healer character sorted out for when Warlords of Draenor is released.
I'm currently playing an arms and soon to be prot warrior so that is two spec's covered.

I'm currently deciding between:

Restoration Druid
Mistweaver Monk

The class that I make will be healing the majority of the time, apart from maybe soloing old dungeons for reputation or transmogrification items.
Mistweaver seems to be appealing to me the most just from the amount of people that say that Druid Dps is too hard to comprehend.

What I'm looking for.
A good solid healer for 5 mans / 10 man content with LFR/Flexi included
An alright offspec to do dailies in and some of the other things I want to do
Perhaps a bit of PvP thrown in whilst leveling up.

Are you a druid or a monk? why do you love your class?

[Deleted]

I have all classes but rogues at 90 and have spent some time as both a druid and a monk healer, and I must say I prefer monk's for their ability to fistweave, you won't even necessarily need to respec to farm stuff, but as a resto druid that's just not possible.

[Inay]

MW monks are going to be under heavy changes so how they play out now will not be the same it is going to be in WoD. There haven't been much talk about the changes but at least these points have been stated by blue's:
- Fistweaving will get separate stance (red crane)
- They want to reduce the RNG nature of the spec (meaning the ReM spreading)
- Healing Spheres (the castable spell) is going to be removed.

There's some more information available but all in all you can't really make a decision considering the new expansion before beta has been out for a while since we don't really know how MW will play out after the changes.

[pkm]

Healing Spheres (the castable spell) is going to be removed.

There better be some compensation for this. This is the only way to heal ourselves under pressure in pvp...

[Notdev]

I have every healing class at 90 - and I despise MW monk. Was the least fun IMO. I switched my monk to tank after healing a few LFRs and flexes.

It's just my opinion, but I don't like their style of healing.

I boosted a druid and now play him as resto. It's pretty fun. Below Resto Shaman and Disc/Holy, but above MW and Holy Paladin.

Again, just my opinion. Won't be the same for everyone.

[cabyio]

Go Resto Druid! I love my resto druid, currently doing 10 (569 ilvl). You have a crazy amount of mobility. You have a permenant ground heal (which is super awesome, especially on group up fights). Druids also have alot of utility and speed. Ferel is a great offspec for dailies, or if you dont want seperate gear you can go boomy.

[Deleted]

They are both awesome ( have both at 90 on both sides) and both can cover all the things you want. If I had to pick just one it would be monk for being able to dps as mistweaver, however as many have said this is getting completely revamped for WoD so I'm gearing up both just in case...

Monk:
Tank - speedy, tons of fun, huge aoe threat grabbers but utterly 100% dependant on active mitigation - no shuffle up? You are now dead.
DPS - spammy quick and power ranger dps clones + lightning tiger
Heals - If you're used to healing on other classes its very weird - read the mistweaver sticky, fistweaving rocks but is due for massive revamp

Druid
Tank - dead easy tank - rock up and hit stuff, grabbing aoe threat is slower than monk tho
mDPS - exactly the opposite of spammy, set up bleeds and wait for regen, still a bit tied into RoRo trinket use and can be complex for getting the most out of it
rDPS - cant comment - I dont get boomkin at all :/
Heals - massive heal toolkit, tons of instants and a lot more healing control than monks (which suffer from RNG) - cant dps as a tree

Overall I'd say druid has more utility + extra role ability.

For me currently monk is more fun in a spammy kung fu kinda way but it's been through so many play style iterations I've no idea what WoD will do to it.


If you are going primarily for healer then Id recommend Druid, you can offspec boomy without any different gear for a questing spec (and yes crappier dps but meh), or you can allways go bear as offspec and be indestructible questing!

[Smudge]

A mistweaver is a hugely versatile spec. Resto druid isn't.

Both are obviously versatile classes. However, I think MW wins as being one of the best "all in one" specs along with blood DK, except with 2x the DPS.

Boomkin questing is terrible unless you like "World of Pushbackcraft"; if you don't like collecting two entirely different sets of gear, that's another reason to play MW.

(Some idiot is going to say "but boomkins have reduced pushback" and this is how you know people are idiots, because: not for healing spells, which is the only thing a boomkin ever cares about not having pushed back)

[Anzen]

Druid, strong class.

[Lumiair]

If you plan to do 5/10 man content I'd say go Monk. We're currently 1 of the 2 strongest healers in 10 man content and like others have said you don't necessarily need an offspec to do farming, daily's, etc. because of how strong fistweaving can be. It's also the only healer I've TRULY enjoyed, (coming from a Druid/Pally in previously) simply because it's incredibly engaging and rewarding when done correctly.
The class isn't without it's downfalls however. I'm sure it's simply because it's the new class, but I see a LOT of people struggling with their Mistweavers and a lot of incorrect information out there leading to confusion on stat priorities, "rotations", etc. You'll also need two sets of gear should you need to use an offspec. And with WoD approaching we're going to see quite a bit of change from how the spec currently works though it can only make the spec better as outside of 10's we effectively become the worst healer.

TL;DR Monk
Pros: One of the best 10 man heals, able to solo stuff without changing specs, engaging spec, great DPS and even greater AoE DPS
Cons: Seemingly the hardest to learn, worst healer in 25 man

[kaib]

the real kicker is: do you want to be in melee? if you aren't up for chasing a boss down and be in melee range, you're not gonna play a monk healer to its fullest potential. I personally despise melee, no matter if healing or dpsing. I was even bothered to have to be in 20y range back when paladins wanted to use judgement for mana regen. if you're okay with that or actively like it, monk sounds like a good choice then. if you want to play a pure healer that stands back and cast healing spells, go druid.

power wise, the dps healers have been insanely much better then real healers in this expan. getting a free 50 to 100k dps from a healer that performs the healing part as well as a non-dps healer is obviously a big deal in a lot of encounter.

[Deleted]

I got a R-Druid i576 with 14/14 HC and a Mistweaver i564 with ~8 heroics or something down so far, and 14/14 nhc clear obv. I also did 9/9 CMs with both (and several other toons) in healing-spec, despite the fact the Mistweaver would've been stronger as a tank.

(Only talking about MoP, not about the Patch Notes)

I would choose the Druid, not only because it's my main for so long, but because I feel the Druid is stronger in every situation. You got your hots to cover steady damage, you got a lot of instants (Swiftmend, NS/HT, Sagemender) to top people instantly, enough raid-wide cds and utility in spreaded and stacked fights, mobility, and I never felt the urge to "need another healing class" in any situation (I got a Disc i530 and a R-Shaman i545 as well).

The Monk can fistweave, which is really nice, and counting as a melee is cool as well. You will *never* have any mana issues. It's nice for consistent AoE-damage and with spheres and soothing/surging combos you can provide a lot of tank/burst healing. But topping 4 people up that dropped at the same time for >50% is harder or more mana consuming than with a Resto-Druid.

AoE- and Single-Target healing is comparable imo, can also compare Iron Bark with Cocoon and ReM/Uplifting with Reju-Blanketing/Genesis/Efflo. But the utility I get from Shrooms and a combination of CC-Regrowth + Swiftmend + Sagemender for emergencies is something I miss with my Monk. It's too random. I also like the LMG more on my Druid; on the Monk it's more or less "just 2x TP/Jab".

However, with the new ideas to healing (which I like), I'd definitely choose the class you like more. It will be balanced once WoD hits, have faith in blizz ;p

[kaib]

It will be balanced once WoD hits, have faith in blizz ;p

woha, 14/14hc and only started to play a few weeks ago? if the dps-part of monk and priest healers gets tuned down, druid sounds rather amazing as with larger health pools compared to incoming damage and people supposed to be not topped off for longer time frames, anything with HOTs is going to be great, unless they really nerf HOTs. which seems unlikely.

BUT (and caps don't really do that but justice) they say the very same thing before every expansion. ablbal dmg to spikey, healers have to chain cast just to land heals right after the tank took a hit etc. they said the same at the end of wotlk and cataclysm. and it was true for maaaaybe the first few weeks and normal content. heroic tank healing was the same as always, if you don't have a constant flow of incoming healing on the current main tank, he will fall over. so I wouldn't give too much to that announcement.

[Notdev]

If you plan to do 5/10 man content I'd say go Monk. We're currently 1 of the 2 strongest healers in 10 man content

You sure about this? I know meters aren't the only thing that matters but they represent a good deal of what does matter, and raidbots.com has them only above Holy Priests for 10 heroics.

[TankedTalk]

I think you need to decide on your own, you have to remember LFR will now be 20 man and so will flex, from how I take all the new information there will only be 20 man raids in WoD.

Both classes offer you a good amount of non healing specs incase you wanted to dps.

One class can be good now, and can be bad later. Always remember that.

[MisterMine]

for right now : go resto druid, theyre are a million times better than mistweavers

for next xpac : no one knows yet

[Meillquei]

Why not try both and see which one you like better?
I think both druids and monks are effective at what you are looking for.

My personal opinion: I like monks so much better because playing MW monk isn't quite the same as playing the other healing classes. They can also fistweave if need be, which is nice. MW monk is very strong in PVP as well right now I believe.