"easiest" healer to learn?

[eErike]

Shaman's just don't have that many tools, most of their utility comes from totems that they drop and give a group wide buff while every other healer has targeted spells.

My premise about shamans is 100% correct, I play one and after my big cds are out I might as well fall over and die. Shamans also don't have a very high skillcap because there's nothing like deathing ccs or saccing ccs, only having one cc they can use themselves, very simple healing (healing surge and totems) compared to other classes.

Like the hardest thing about playing a resto shaman is having arena123 interrupt macros and maybe hex.

Did they remove grounding totem in MoP?
Mix in the "skill" to wind shear combined with LoS and shamans have a pretty decent skillcap to avoid CC in their full potential. I fyou do that you don't need to drop your big CDs so much and can skip the "fall over and die" part that you apparently face from time to time.

[Sinyc]

Shaman's just don't have that many tools, most of their utility comes from totems that they drop and give a group wide buff while every other healer has targeted spells.

My premise about shamans is 100% correct, I play one and after my big cds are out I might as well fall over and die. Shamans also don't have a very high skillcap because there's nothing like deathing ccs or saccing ccs, only having one cc they can use themselves, very simple healing (healing surge and totems) compared to other classes.

Like the hardest thing about playing a resto shaman is having arena123 interrupt macros and maybe hex.

Have you played a shaman at all?

Less escapes = harder learning curve.

Shamans are always getting focused which makes it much harder for someone to step into an arena as a shaman healer and excel. Obviously there are certain comps (excluding 2's) that can make up for this, but it is still much harder to pick up a shaman and learn the ins and outs and be competitive.

All healers have similar heals you know as pointed out very early in this thread, also our CC is on a 45 second CD and after we trinket we are pretty much a sitting duck for 2 minutes, explain how that is easy again..

[rda]

Shaman's just don't have that many tools, most of their utility comes from totems that they drop and give a group wide buff while every other healer has targeted spells.

My premise about shamans is 100% correct, I play one and after my big cds are out I might as well fall over and die. Shamans also don't have a very high skillcap because there's nothing like deathing ccs or saccing ccs, only having one cc they can use themselves, very simple healing (healing surge and totems) compared to other classes.

Like the hardest thing about playing a resto shaman is having arena123 interrupt macros and maybe hex.

Shamans have a lot more utility than just dropping totems and giving a group wide buff. Ever heard of purge?

Shamans have more than one form of CC. Ever heard of capacitor totem (+ totemic projection)? Or bind elemental? Or pulverize?

Shamans have significantly more forms of healing than healing surge and totems. Ever heard of, I don't know, earth shield, maybe? Or healing rain (+ conductivity)?

I guess it is simple to play a shaman if all you do is drop totems and run "and maybe hex", indeed...

[Terahertz]

LOL, no, not shaman. Shaman will just get you focused 100% of the time, and you will likely learn very little.

Try paladin.

Rsham really is easy to play. Even to learn they're pretty easy if you ask me. Literally all you have to do is drop totems, spam riptide and earth shield and you're done. Low rated players don't really know how to pressure properly yet, so you won't really have to worry about casting ever, which means you can slowly work your way up.

Besides rsham, MW monk is also quite easy since it doesn't take much at all to play. All you have to do is kite and spam orbs while CCing.

[Illana]

Have you played a shaman at all?

Less escapes = harder learning curve.

Shamans are always getting focused which makes it much harder for someone to step into an arena as a shaman healer and excel. Obviously there are certain comps (excluding 2's) that can make up for this, but it is still much harder to pick up a shaman and learn the ins and outs and be competitive.

All healers have similar heals you know as pointed out very early in this thread, also our CC is on a 45 second CD and after we trinket we are pretty much a sitting duck for 2 minutes, explain how that is easy again..

I really don't see how being trained makes it harder. Healing yourself is a LOT easier than keeping 2 other people alive especially as you've got all that cc coming your way.

All healers don't have similar healing styles. Shamans is just healing surge and totems, very simple compared to the others.

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Shamans have a lot more utility than just dropping totems and giving a group wide buff. Ever heard of purge?

Shamans have more than one form of CC. Ever heard of capacitor totem (+ totemic projection)? Or bind elemental? Or pulverize?

Shamans have significantly more forms of healing than healing surge and totems. Ever heard of, I don't know, earth shield, maybe? Or healing rain (+ conductivity)?

I guess it is simple to play a shaman if all you do is drop totems and run "and maybe hex", indeed...

purge is such a complex spell right

earth shield ok

healing rain and conductivity in arena? BWAHAhahHAshahakfla;f

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you play a hunter, do you even know what skill cap means?

yes, hunters are widely regarded to have one of the highest skill caps.

[ro9ue]

Holy paladin for PvP by far. I have every healing class and have done extensive PvP with them. To the people saying shaman, if this was a PvE thread, id agree but really maximizing your CDs in PvP is slightly harder for a sham than paladin. Paladin healing mistakes are more easily forgiven because of their flexible and simpler toolkit.

[Thelxi]

To me druid is easiest, but then again I have played lock for many years so the over time part never bothered me one bit. Lots of instants and mobility, not that many buttons. Rejuvenation is awesome.

[rda]

Rsham really is easy to play. Even to learn they're pretty easy if you ask me. Literally all you have to do is drop totems, spam riptide and earth shield and you're done. Low rated players don't really know how to pressure properly yet, so you won't really have to worry about casting ever, which means you can slowly work your way up.

Besides rsham, MW monk is also quite easy since it doesn't take much at all to play. All you have to do is kite and spam orbs while CCing.

Look, I don't mean to say that rshamans are the hardest of them all. Who's hardest is a stupid thing to discuss. I am just saying that maybe they aren't as easy to play as some other healer specs in the beginning because you are getting focused all the time, for good reasons (hard to escape / survive and it takes skill not to get exposed in the first place, which you, as a beginner, don't have) and so you live for a whole of twenty seconds and it might be a bit hard to learn when you die so fast while CCd half the time. That's all.

And no, this - "Literally all you have to do is drop totems, spam riptide and earth shield and you're done" - is BS. I am not sure what you are calling low rated play, it might be 800 for all I know, but at 1600+ double dd already know enough to kill a beginner rshaman in less than twenty seconds.

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healing rain and conductivity in arena? BWAHAhahHAshahakfla;f

I mentioned conductivity solely because it looked like you didn't know the spec. It still looks that way, by the way.

[Rafal]

I don't think shaman are the easiest healing class in PVP o_O Maybe in PVE. But in PVP resto shaman have a ton of tools that have to be keybound to play optimally, none of which are vastly superior to any of the other healers tools and spells, in fact shaman mechanics tend to be far more clunky and hard to pull off.

I would never suggest a someone new at PVP healing to try a resto shaman, they will probably get wrecked by any melee that knows how to stun.

Instead, I would suggest a disc priest. I honestly PVP better on my priest then my shaman and I hardly ever play it.

When I play my shaman

Earth shield on self! Riptide self, use unleash weapon + natures swiftness + greater healing wave combo. I have to capacitor, earth grab totem, tremor totem, stone-bulwark totem, healing stream totem, snap these CDS and reset them then do it all again. Don't forget to grounding totem a chaos bolt, primal elementalist stun the other enemy healer. hex, purge, windshear. Use ghostwolf and try and run away! Don't forget while using ghostwolf you cannot cast spells!

When I play my priest

On my priest its bubble for speed boost and run around like a chicken with my head cut off >_> if someone gets close fear! run around some more and maybe penance >_> throw a couple smites. By this time usually have already out survived my shaman haha

Another plus side to priest is you get holy spec for free. Priests usually have 1 strong healing spec every patch so priests are a good investment if you want to get into healing.

[Illana]

Look, I don't mean to say that rshamans are the hardest of them all. Who's hardest is a stupid thing to discuss. I am just saying that maybe they aren't as easy to play as some other healer specs in the beginning because you are getting focused all the time, for good reasons (hard to escape / survive and it takes skill not to get exposed in the first place, which you, as a beginner, don't have) and so you live for a whole of twenty seconds and it might be a bit hard to learn when you die so fast while CCd half the time. That's all.

And no, this - "Literally all you have to do is drop totems, spam riptide and earth shield and you're done" - is BS. I am not sure what you are calling low rated play, it might be 800 for all I know, but at 1600+ double dd already know enough to kill a beginner rshaman in less than twenty seconds.

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I mentioned conductivity solely because it looked like you didn't know the spec. It still looks that way, by the way.

1600 is above average so yeah you'll need to do a bit more than run around and drop totems.

Honestly it seems like you've never played a shaman in pvp if you even tried to bring conductivity into this

[Deleted]

Having played pally, priest and shammy in pvp, I found priest to be easiest due to mobility and strong instants.

[Sinyc]

I really don't see how being trained makes it harder. Healing yourself is a LOT easier than keeping 2 other people alive especially as you've got all that cc coming your way.

All healers don't have similar healing styles. Shamans is just healing surge and totems, very simple compared to the others.

We are just all healing surge and totems? Makes sense...

Our totems give us utility, but they are not overpowered to the point where anyone could pick up a shaman and be competitive in arenas.

Again if you are a hunter, then you carry no weight behind your argument and are just looking for trouble on the forums with your worthless posts.

[Osmeric]

I've found hpally easy, but that may just be familiarity, since I've (casually) PvPed with one since BC.

[Illana]

We are just all healing surge and totems? Makes sense...

Our totems give us utility, but they are not overpowered to the point where anyone could pick up a shaman and be competitive in arenas.

Again if you are a hunter, then you carry no weight behind your argument and are just looking for trouble on the forums with your worthless posts.

I play a shaman, I know how easy it is in average rated arena.

As to your misguided comments about hunters: have you ever played one outside of a level 10 bg?

[Sinyc]

I play a shaman, I know how easy it is in average rated arena.

As to your misguided comments about hunters: have you ever played one outside of a level 10 bg?

Yes, I mained one in a top Horde raiding guild until the end of Cata. And did PvP, although my Holy Pal was my main Arena character.

What is average rated arena? 1000-1400? That is nothing to base the claims of a classes ease in arena, also are we talking 2's, 3's, 5's?

[Illana]

Yes, I mained one in a top Horde raiding guild until the end of Cata. And did PvP, although my Holy Pal was my main Arena character.

What is average rated arena? 1000-1400? That is nothing to base the claims of a classes ease in arena, also are we talking 2's, 3's, 5's?

average is about 1400, the only bracket that matters is 3s though shamans are just as strong if not stronger in 2s.

So you've played a hunter and you don't understand how hard it is to do anything you want to do when you're playing against decent opponents?

I'm not denying hunters aren't strong: they are top tier in this season, but it's not as easy as most people seem to think it is.

[Deleted]

average is about 1400

Wow, what a PvP god.

[Illana]

Wow, what a PvP god.

what does that even mean.

[Sinyc]

average is about 1400, the only bracket that matters is 3s though shamans are just as strong if not stronger in 2s.

So you've played a hunter and you don't understand how hard it is to do anything you want to do when you're playing against decent opponents?

I'm not denying hunters aren't strong: they are top tier in this season, but it's not as easy as most people seem to think it is.

I understand how hard it is, but given the right comp you can do as you please in most cases.

Also if we are talking about 1400 then that really doesnt count. Everything is super easy in the 1400 range. Although I still disagree that Shaman is the easiest healing class regardless of rating.

You will find shamans stuck at 1500 due to comp/skill/difficulty, and shamans at 2k+ due to comp and their knowledge of the class. Doesnt mean they are easy though.

[Illana]

eas-IER

not easy

And 1400 is "super easy" relative to some people. I cap 10 wins every week on alts and end up around 1700 but for most people 1400 is their bracket


one thing that makes shaman easier is that they can heal through LoS due to totems. No other class can really do that apart from maybe monks with surging mist and long cds like tran/hymn.