The Role of the Shaman Healer

[Orcbert]

I was talking about this with the other healers today and what we saw our individual roles as and how it plays out.

The paladin is constantly at the top of the meters. They say they are tank and preemptive healer, but have very little options in the way of emergency cooldowns for the group. They say they are great for keeping things in a good place but are not so hot when things start to turn south. A disc priest sort of feels the same way about their class but thinks they have a few more options than the paladin for the group as a whole.

Holy priest says they are the jack of all trades. No matter what they seem to find a roll. They never top the meters but they are constantly in the middle, no matter what fight we're at.

We don't have monks or druids usually, and when we do I don't really value their input on healing a lot... (not that great of healers)

I play a shaman. I'm generally not top, but I feel when things start to get bad we're the best people to have. Our mastery feeds off damaged people and we have some of the best cooldowns in the game. Healing tide is huge in a lot of fights and spirit link used correctly can be the best tank saver available (dropping it so it hits melee and tanks and running in to help soak damage). I see us as the ultimate triage class right now. We're great for progression and learning fights, but when things are going smoothly we seem very meh on the meters.

What is your take on our role as opposed to other healers?

[Puupi]

One word: cooldowns.

[Deleted]

I dislike the fact that i can only perform very well when my guild is fucking up on mechanics.

[Orcbert]

I dislike the fact that i can only perform very well when my guild is fucking up on mechanics.

I sort of agree but I am a big fan of the fact that I'm the only healer in our group with the ability to complete negate a wipe or utter fuckup.

It's a little annoying to see myself dropping on the meters the better we do on a fight. For instance, on our first few clears on a boss I am 1 or 2 on the healing meters. When it's on farm I'm usually 3 or 4 even though my gear is much better. Compare that to our paladin that has a very linear increase on the meters with better gear.

[Koor]

I agree, our remaining niche after all the nerfs is to spot heal people with low HP with mastery boosted healing surges.
We're better at this "triage" than other classes, except a disc priest, since a timely power word:shield can save someone faster since it's an instant cast.
We actually have great synergy with disc priests -- the shield prevents death, buying us the little time we need to drop that huge healing surge.

[Orcbert]

I agree, our remaining niche after all the nerfs is to spot heal people with low HP with mastery boosted healing surges.
We're better at this "triage" than other classes, except a disc priest, since a timely power word:shield can save someone faster since it's an instant cast.
We actually have great synergy with disc priests -- the shield prevents death, buying us the little time we need to drop that huge healing surge.

The last expansion I 2 healed with a disc priest just for this reason. I never 2 heal anymore (Less exclusive raids! Yay, no more drama!) but I think that was probably the best combo of healers in MoP and it's still very strong. Might say right now it's probably Paladin and someone else... don't know who yet. Maybe shamans for their emergency heal and cooldown capabilities. Haven't really played at all with any Monk or good Druid healers this expansion so it's tough to form a solid opinion for me.

[Cover25]

How are Monks and Druids not that great of healers? They're two of the strongest, if not the strongest, raid healers right now.

[Irisel]

All Cooldown aside
Resto Druids are the glue
Monks are gluey also, with some better single target skills
Disc priests are the shields
Holy Pallies are the raw heals, with some nice shields
Resto shaman are bursty glue
and Holy Priests are jack of all trades

To answer your question, Tons of Cooldowns and a consistent medium amount of healing, with the ability to snipe low targets with big bursts. We also have pretty good mana regen with gear, right now. Could be better, but it's nothing to shake a stick at.

[Orcbert]

How are Monks and Druids not that great of healers? They're two of the strongest, if not the strongest, raid healers right now.

I didn't say they weren't. In my raid group I have no monk healers and an occasional druid who is bad. I'm guessing most druid healers to oom when the boss is 60% so I'm saying I have no experience with good ones to make a solid personal opinion on where they are at.

[Alltat]

I'm guessing most druid healers to oom when the boss is 60% so I'm saying I have no experience with good ones to make a solid personal opinion on where they are at.

The good ones don't go OOM, and do more raw HPS than an equally skilled and geared shaman can do.

[Rorschachs]

This is in my opinion the priority list to have when picking healers :

1. Holy Paladin
2. Disc Priest
3. Resto Druid
4. Resto Shaman
5. Mistweaver Monk
6. Holy Priest

Atm the question is "which throughput healer do I want to heal alongside my disc priest and holy paladin(s)" and the best answer is resto druids. That's because resto druids bring the most potent raid cd(alongside revival) decent assist in tank healing via 2 rejuvs, ironbark and lifebloom and the most mobile healing.

Between holy priests, mistweaver monks and resto shamans I would go with resto shamans. Despite what people you talked to say, holy priests aren't jack of all trades at all. They might do well on meters on each fight but they are really bad tank healers.

Mistweaver monks have pretty horrid tank healing as well. By that I mean they can't heal anyone else if they want to commit to tank healing. Though their only significant cooldown; revival is pretty strong as it is strong mechanically and does a lot of healing.

Resto shamans can't spread raid heal very well; but I don't think it's even a problem for them considering they have 3 very strong cds and really potent triage healing. They can also heal a stacked raid better than mistweavers and holy priests ; while actually being able to contribute to tank healing.

I agree, our remaining niche after all the nerfs is to spot heal people with low HP with mastery boosted healing waves.

ftfyi.

[Last Starfighter]

The last expansion I 2 healed with a disc priest just for this reason. I never 2 heal anymore (Less exclusive raids! Yay, no more drama!) but I think that was probably the best combo of healers in MoP and it's still very strong. Might say right now it's probably Paladin and someone else... don't know who yet. Maybe shamans for their emergency heal and cooldown capabilities. Haven't really played at all with any Monk or good Druid healers this expansion so it's tough to form a solid opinion for me.

Everyone has emergency heal and cd capabilities. You're making too much of it. Shamans are healers. Like everyone else. But there is nothing about a shaman that makes them absolutely necessary. I don't even think Paragon had one. But homoginezation is a mofo nowadays. Classes are losing their niches and identities because Blizzard frowns against that now. Bring the player not the class stuff. But a competent healer is a competent healer. And a MW monk will be just fine in place of a shaman. And vice versa. Don't make too much of it.