Healer population all time low?

[muto]

I was forced to dps in WoD cause everyone wanted to heal, so I said fuck it for Legion, and am probably going to main Lock instead of Priest.

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Anyone can play a healer: playing a healer well however isn't performing a role, it's a calling.

You can say what you want, but if a boss doesn't die it's usually because of retarded/bad dps, or tank swapping issues. A boss not dying is seldom a healing issue.

[dwarfkicker]

I think healers get burned out more easily then dps/tanks. You have to really enjoy healing to not be affected by it. You are constantly watching healthframes and pretty much see the moment a dps is standing in fire. Out of position/standing in fire/finishing cast before moving/no hp potion/no defense cooldowns used. Those are the things i will notice on dps players right away. You watch for other peoples failures and then if you fail it can have some pretty big consequences. Much less of an issue in higher-end organized pve content. But i wouldn't want to be a healer who pugs everything. And yes there are always exceptions. They might have a perfectly valid reason to it. But lets face it a lot of people simply stand in fire.

That right there is what keeps me from healing. I've tanked on occasion, but man that can be a thankless job. On an unrelated note, as a 722 unholy DK doing archimonde for some valor the other day, we had one tank and he kept getting banished so I tanked him for the last phase of the fight. Can't take full credit as the healers were on point. So yeah, heals are the glue that holds it all together.

[ItsTiddles]

Healing is love.
Healing is life.

As someone who mains a healer and has all the other healer classes as alts, I can't complain about a lack of healers.

[Lady Dragonheart]

Well, being a healer isn't a lucrative experience for the most part. Couple that with the addition of Demon Hunters, and relearning most classes and such and it will be rare.

[Jotaux]

Healers are usually in high demand. I always keep my resto spec up to date in case I want to get a fast queue.

[ReleaseDay]

One of many factors, is that previously, disc priests could be healers. Then came cancer-prune. They cannot anymore.

[Binko]

The new super speed, run and gun, never stop, zoom, zoom mentality in dungeon runs has shifted almost all of the stress to the healer.

In the earlier days of WoW the stress primarily fell to the tank. He had to manage the run, set the pace, pick up adds and carefully control aggro.

But now the pace is GO AS FAST AS YOU CAN and the only limiting factor is how much the healer can handle. Very few people will find this enjoyable.

I've never enjoyed playing DPS in groups. I've always played healer. But the new super-speed mentality is wearing me out. If pug healing is totally miserable in Legion I'll just switch the DPS and save myself from the misery.

[Taeldorian]

Yes, I've found one quest that granted immediate AP instead of a token... but you could simply switch specs at the point where you accept the reward and that still works. So you can pretty much level all the way to 110 as DPS without ever spending any AP on your DPS artifact, should you wish to.

It's not really necessary though to do that... in the long run the vast vast vast vast vast majority of your AP will be from repeatable sources at max level, so even if you spend all your levelling AP on DPS after a short while at 110 it's not going to make any noticeable difference.

Do you remember what zone that was in?

OT: I've been healing since Wrath and I love it. What others are saying is true, it can be stressful, it can make you realize the failures of other people, it shows you who is really good and who isn't, etc. It can be punishable if you make an error, but what I honestly love is the fact that I have 3-4 other people healing with me. I hate tanking because it's me and one other person, I hate dpsing because it's too many people, healing feels just right honestly even though it can be 2 people when clearing heroic, but my team is a team of 20 so it isn't.

Either way I love healing, at least as a Holy pally. Always will, love the class and love healing.

I also don't have the issue of being under appreciated. My guild commends anyone for doing well on a pull. Being a good healer is rewarding itself though.

[FLANOFETT]

You just feel so unappreciated as a healer, you don't get the killing blow to save the day. If you are doing your job well no ones gets excited, it is expected.

[Binko]

Healers are usually in high demand. I always keep my resto spec up to date in case I want to get a fast queue.

Up through WoD everybody who played a hybrid class could easily keep their healing spec up to date with minimal effort. They could jump in and play healer anytime they wanted to. Sure, they'd be rusty but, if their gear was good, they would probably do well enough.

But with the artifact weapons everything changes. You will have to be dedicated enough to the healer role to keep your artifact advanced enough as you move through the content. People will do it for their guild. But I'm not so sure that many people will do it for Pugs.

[Jotaux]

Up through WoD everybody who played a hybrid class could easily keep their healing spec up to date with minimal effort. They could jump in and play healer anytime they wanted to. Sure, they'd be rusty but, if their gear was good, they would probably do well enough.

But with the artifact weapons everything changes. You will have to be dedicated enough to the healer role to keep your artifact advanced enough as you move through the content. People will do it for their guild. But I'm not so sure that many people will do it for Pugs.

You can easily get the first golden trait on your OS. I'm planning on doing that then farming satchels for the augment runes and extra ap.

[Leih]

Do you remember what zone that was in?

I'm fairly certain it was a sidequest in Azsuna. It was definitely either that or Val'sharah. Can't remember the exact quest but it had something to do with wildlife in some way

[anon5123]

After the pre patch changes with no artifacts yet, healing is a little more difficult. Most geared healers won't be doing pug content, so you only get the swath of newer healers. I suspect many are taking a break until Legion hits.

Yeah, I'm usually healer, but I tried out tanking, and got shitty healer after shitty healer.

I'm talking, like...REALLY shitty healers. Ones that barely even know how to dispel. I thought I was tanking badly because my health kept dipping low, but no, I see the rest of the group low as well and dying to debuffs. On trash. Then I inspect the healer and see he's in almost all blue 700 gear...bleh.

Can't wait for Legion to drop.

[thilicen]

Aren't healers wasting artifact power if they level in dps spec? This is why for my guild we have assigned dps or tanks to level with the healers so they can stay heals while leveling and not lose artifact power.

noone needs their artifact ranks during leveling, just save the AP items and use them on you healer artifact if that's the case.

[Shekita]

Healing is really boring right now. Like...really, really boring.

I mean, if you're doing a Timewalker's or Mythic dungeon things get a little interesting but anything LFD/LFR related is a damn snoozefest.

Same with Normal/Heroic raiding. I can't speak on Mythic as I haven't healed it.

It's a pretty common complaint about most of the healing specs in the game currently.

That being said, I don't know how much that will change in legion. Maybe groups will actually take enough damage to make a healer actually have to think about which heal to cast. If nothing else, Mythic+ dungeons will accomplish that, so that's something to look forward to.

[Xar226]

Healing raids sucks since you are preemptively spamming heals. Hardly any thinking involved.
What i like about healing is the triage, you have to decide who to heal and how in splitseconds. That doesn't apply to raids.

Any good healer is fashioning their response around not only the current conditions but the upcoming mechanics. The belief that healers are reactive is what separates the good ones from the mediocre ones.

You now know that being a healer is the most ungrateful job in World of Warcraft

I can agree with this to some extent. Doing a good job almost never gets any recognition, doing an exceptional job rarely does and mistakes are very often criticized, sometimes when they're not even your fault. (There's only so many times I'm healing you while you stand in fire before I decide the time is better spent elsewhere.)

Holy Nova doesn't heal and the only non targetable AoE other than that is Halo/Divine Star both of which have cooldowns and Disc has access to as well.

Keep Spreading that wrong info though!

The dude deserved that for his attitude and you guys are right that Holy Nova does not heal anymore. He's right that it is a really good leveling skill though. Use that shit up.

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Alright, so, specific replies out of the way... I still plan on going back to my healer as my main and I plan to level him as Holy. I don't think the discrepancy is any worse than it has ever been.

[Taeldorian]

I'm fairly certain it was a sidequest in Azsuna. It was definitely either that or Val'sharah. Can't remember the exact quest but it had something to do with wildlife in some way

Sounds good to me. Thanks!

[goblingirl]

Right now in game you have a HUGE population of freshly minted DH's with only 2 of their talents and zero artifact talents, crap for gear, all looking to "gear up" to level Legion.

No one in their Right mind wants to heal that shit, unless a guild or close friend group. I for one am on "strike" until a few months into legion, sans the guild/friend thing.

This. They nerfed everyone with the prepatch, and on top of that these new DH tanks are without much in the way of available skills and gear. Healing that in a mythic dungeon would be... unfun.

Otherwise - yeah I've been full time resto the last few expansions, but I am 90% sure I'm going to drop it as my main spec this time and switch to boomkin. Mainly because I just don't want to deal with all the fekking artifact juggling involved with doing daily quests as a dps and getting all that applied to the resto weapon, etc.

I suspect overall that healers are going to be a bit more scarce this expansion, both because of the artifacts, and because there are more incentives than ever to play as dps. I need a Ratstallion like I need air, and that ain't gonna happen playing resto spec. I also want to Prestige, and again, healing in BGs sucks because nobody ever, ever helps you.

[PixelFox]

I love healing and always end up maining healing by the end of an expansion, but at the beginning of an expansion it's just way more fun (mostly due to less effort and stress) to DPS.

Easier to wait for the inevitable buffs/nerfs and people generally getting geared up and learning how to play.

[Chucksauce]

This. They nerfed everyone with the prepatch, and on top of that these new DH tanks are without much in the way of available skills and gear. Healing that in a mythic dungeon would be... unfun.

Otherwise - yeah I've been full time resto the last few expansions, but I am 90% sure I'm going to drop it as my main spec this time and switch to boomkin. Mainly because I just don't want to deal with all the fekking artifact juggling involved with doing daily quests as a dps and getting all that applied to the resto weapon, etc.

I suspect overall that healers are going to be a bit more scarce this expansion, both because of the artifacts, and because there are more incentives than ever to play as dps. I need a Ratstallion like I need air, and that ain't gonna happen playing resto spec. I also want to Prestige, and again, healing in BGs sucks because nobody ever, ever helps you.

I've been a healer main since the end of wrath, and I'm moving away from that for legion. I don't like the direction blizzard is moving towards in regards to healing. With the artifact leveling, it makes holding a dual spec a pain in the ass. With my job increasing my days and hours, it's going to be awhile before I can focus on doing that with a healer. Plus, the stress from pugging is real.