I've had people in the beta tell me that shaman heals are not up to snuff.

[Andromansis]

I've heard the same thing about Priest heals as well, but this is the Shaman forum, where we talk about Shaman things.
Specific complaints I've see are that healing rain heals for 1/3rd of what the druid equivilent one does and that they can't squeeze out but 2/3rds of the throughput of a holy paladin at approximately half the mana efficiency.
Is this true? Will I finally be able to drop my resto spec and go back to enhancement?
I'm kind of excited, I hope they don't fix it until 4.2

[Deleted]

I've heard the same thing about Priest heals as well, but this is the Shaman forum, where we talk about Shaman things.
Specific complaints I've see are that healing rain heals for 1/3rd of what the druid equivilent one does and that they can't squeeze out but 2/3rds of the throughput of a holy paladin at approximately half the mana efficiency.
Is this true? Will I finally be able to drop my resto spec and go back to enhancement?
I'm kind of excited, I hope they don't fix it until 4.2

There is a good article on the front page off wow insider by matticus on the state of the different classes at 85 in terms of mana regen at the differing levels of 85 content. The fact that he is considering stacking priests and Shamans over the others mayhaps points to the fact that they are in a better position over paladins and druids.

i however havent direct experience but its a great article to check out.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/05/ra...-regeneration/

[Lucetia]

Specific complaints I've see are that healing rain heals for 1/3rd of what the druid equivilent one does

First it's bad to compare one class spells to another and say that it's not doing what it's suppose to. Every class has different abilities for different reasons. If you want to compare however, here's an example below from Beta as of a few moments ago.

Example:

Efflorescence Rank 3
When you heal with your Swiftmend spell you also sprout a bed of healing flora underneath the target, healing all nearby friendly targets within 15 yards for 60% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.

Now taking a premade Resto druid in heroic blue gear and has 4651 spell power. After casting Rejuv or Regrowth and hitting Swiftmend to proc the AoE bed you get 475 non-crit heal for 7 seconds. Ending up with 3325 healing the duration.

Healing Rain
46% of base mana 30 yd range
2 sec cast 10 sec cooldown
Calls forth healing rains to blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring 309 to 367 health to allies in the area every 2 sec for 10 sec.

After talents, totems and Earthliving buff casting Healing Rain at 5116 spell power results in 1027 healing every 2 seconds for 10 seconds for a result of 5135. Casting it with no totems nor Earthliving results in 980 healing every 2 seconds for 10 seconds for a result of 4900.

Now take the two scenarios and collect the data for roughly 30 seconds. The druid gets two Efflorescence and the Shaman gets 3 Healing Rains. The druid would be providing 6650 healing while the shaman provides 14700 healing (without buffs).

I don't see how the Shaman version heals for a third of the druid version. This is also not mentioning the fact the shaman version is roughly twice as big of an area as the druid version. So in theory if you were to compact 25 players in one circle the shaman one would provide even more healing because it can fit in more people.

[Radux]

I believe Blizzard also said that Paladins and Druids are healing for too much. They want to tone it down to where Shaman and Priests are at.

[Andromansis]

Ahhh. Alrighty. Thanks for clearing up that misinformation.
I was really hoping that resto was lackluster though... so my GM would stop claiming my offspec in the name of the empire.

[Fulltimejoke]

Ahhh. Alrighty. Thanks for clearing up that misinformation.
I was really hoping that resto was lackluster though... so my GM would stop claiming my offspec in the name of the empire.

By the time Blizz is done balancing healing classes (and tanking for that matter), it seems like everyone is going to be roughly the same... so that no class really falls into a specialized niche of being a raid or tank healer. At least this seems like their end-goal even if they say they want the classes to feel different (lol). As for being the pawn of the empire, I know the feeling... I am my guild's "hybrid" if you will, meaning I heal on fights when needed, and dps if our 2 priests can handle it on their own. I mentioned changing classes for Cata to our raid leader and he's very resistant to let go of my healer/dps capability (but mainly because he doesn't wanna lose Bloodlust lol).

[Volitar]

Shaman start off weak in early tiers and start to stride in later tiers

[Deleted]

By the time Blizz is done balancing healing classes (and tanking for that matter), it seems like everyone is going to be roughly the same... so that no class really falls into a specialized niche of being a raid or tank healer. At least this seems like their end-goal even if they say they want the classes to feel different (lol). As for being the pawn of the empire, I know the feeling... I am my guild's "hybrid" if you will, meaning I heal on fights when needed, and dps if our 2 priests can handle it on their own. I mentioned changing classes for Cata to our raid leader and he's very resistant to let go of my healer/dps capability (but mainly because he doesn't wanna lose Bloodlust lol).

get a mage

[Myte342]

Ahhh. Alrighty. Thanks for clearing up that misinformation.
I was really hoping that resto was lackluster though... so my GM would stop claiming my offspec in the name of the empire.

just don't get any resto gear as you level up....

[Jahoota]

get a mage

...or Hunter.

[Egeldi]

...or Hunter.

The best part of hunter BL, is that if you're an alliance hunter, you get bloodlust. Not lame old heroism. As in, ancient hysteria uses the bloodlust sound effect.

Using it was bringing me back to my TBC raiding days. It was glorious.

[Nedrud]

Efflorescence Rank 3
When you heal with your Swiftmend spell you also sprout a bed of healing flora underneath the target, healing all nearby friendly targets within 15 yards for 60% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.

Now taking a premade Resto druid in heroic blue gear and has 4651 spell power. After casting Rejuv or Regrowth and hitting Swiftmend to proc the AoE bed you get 475 non-crit heal for 7 seconds. Ending up with 3325 healing the duration.

LOL, you should check your numbers again, 'cause level 80 druids wearing level 80 gear on live are currently healing for more than double that ;-) ... Also, 3325 total heal from Efflorescence means a 5542 Swiftmend, which is quite unlikely from a level 85 resto druid...
The truth is, at the moment, Efflorescence ticks for way more than Healing Rain, and does it at double the frequency (1s ticks vs 2s ticks), while costing no mana, unless you "waste" a Swiftmend just to proc it (and Swiftmend costs 1/5 the mana of Healing Rain anyway).
It's not hard to do the math... ;-)

[Leki]

I hear that R Shammies are boss in PvP atm. Only H Pallies are better, and still not by a huge margin either. It's all relative baby.

[link064]

LOL, you should check your numbers again, 'cause level 80 druids wearing level 80 gear on live are currently healing for more than double that ;-) ... Also, 3325 total heal from Efflorescence means a 5542 Swiftmend, which is quite unlikely from a level 85 resto druid...
The truth is, at the moment, Efflorescence ticks for way more than Healing Rain, and does it at double the frequency (1s ticks vs 2s ticks), while costing no mana, unless you "waste" a Swiftmend just to proc it (and Swiftmend costs 1/5 the mana of Healing Rain anyway).
It's not hard to do the math... ;-)

It is my understanding that Blizzard nerfed the Efflorescence HoT but hasn't updated the tooltip yet. There were a couple resto druid nerfs in the works but I don't remember the exact numbers. It is possible that that is why the numbers seem so far off.

[Lucetia]

LOL, you should check your numbers again, 'cause level 80 druids wearing level 80 gear on live are currently healing for more than double that ;-) ... Also, 3325 total heal from Efflorescence means a 5542 Swiftmend, which is quite unlikely from a level 85 resto druid...
The truth is, at the moment, Efflorescence ticks for way more than Healing Rain, and does it at double the frequency (1s ticks vs 2s ticks), while costing no mana, unless you "waste" a Swiftmend just to proc it (and Swiftmend costs 1/5 the mana of Healing Rain anyway).
It's not hard to do the math... ;-)

Because numbers are adjusted for Level 80, right? Those numbers were taken specifically from the beta that morning with any adjustments Blizzard has made. Remember all AoE healing spells have been adjusted on Beta they are not on Live. The other thing is that is with Heroic Blue gear (what most people will be wearing through Tier 1 of raiding) with no enchants or gems. That's also being talented appropriately. Would you prefer a screenshot showing the actual numbers? If so, I can go get those too.

[Ðuracell]

Shaman heals are expensive as all hell, and most of them don't heal worth a shit. But as long as you know how to use them you'll be fine. I have no problems raid healing in cata.

[Cimento]

Itś true ... I've got a decent set for pvp purposes and H-pallies and resto shamans are hell ...

[Lucetia]

Because numbers are adjusted for Level 80, right? Those numbers were taken specifically from the beta that morning with any adjustments Blizzard has made. Remember all AoE healing spells have been adjusted on Beta they are not on Live. The other thing is that is with Heroic Blue gear (what most people will be wearing through Tier 1 of raiding) with no enchants or gems. That's also being talented appropriately. Would you prefer a screenshot showing the actual numbers? If so, I can go get those too.

Just pulled these screenshots directly from Beta so the numbers are as of 8:50 AM PDT on 11/10/10

Druid Efflorescence without Tree Form - 4651 Healing


Druid Efflorescence with Tree Form - 4651 Healing



Shaman Healing Rain w/Totems + Earthliving - 5116 Healing




Shaman Healing Rain w/o Totems and Earthliving -4826 Healing



Healing Rain costs 10130 Mana to cast while Efflorescence costs 6305 (w/Rejuv) and 7881 (w/Regrowth). This is with talents and such. Yes, the shaman versions costs more mana to cast but heals for more. The druid ones costs less, but heals for less. The totals I did before Nedrud was taking into account the entire duration of the spell. What it comes down to (or at least I'd think) is who will pull off more healing with their new AoE spell. Obviously you are not going to be casting it the entire fight but when you do who will be able to provide more for it?

[Nedrud]

You should never run healing tests on targets with +healing received talents/abilities/effects, such as (resto) shamans with Spark of Life... ;-)

Your Healing Rain numbers, coming from the healing done on the casting shaman, are inflated by the +15% healing *received* part of the talent: take that away, and Healing Rain heals for less than Efflorescence.
Yet, it costs A LOT more mana (Efflorescence has NO mana cost by itself: if you factor in Rejuv+Swiftmend costs, then you should add their healing too ;-) ), has a 2s casting time (which also means you can't cast it while moving btw, it's not just the time itself: even if it takes the same time, druids can move freely while casting Rejuv+Swiftmend to proc Efflorescence), has a lower hps (2s vs 1s ticks, unaffected by haste), has a much worse scaling, and so on...


Edit: When I wrote my previous post in this thread, I didn't know about the latest changes to Efflorescence later published on MMO, and that's why your numbers seemed quite unlikely to me. I didn't mean to sound rude. :-)