Will raid healing be more fun in Cataclysm than it is now?

[Slaytanicus]

I should preface that I love to heal heroics and battlegrounds as a Paladin. I do a good job raid healing, but I just don't find it fun.

With heroics, there is usually time between heals to breath and with that time, I enjoy tossing in a little bit of dps. This is also the case with pvp. However with raiding, its straight up whack-a-mole.

I know that health pools are supposed to be quite large in Cataclysm and I know that there are some classes, particularly priests with their disc tree that has really buffed smite, it seems that Blizzard has recognized that its nice to be be able to toss in a little damage as a healer. But is this intent only with dungeons and pvp or will it also extend into the Cataclysm raid design?

[Tamara]

Holy Paladins also got some utility to deal some damage, see shockadin threat with the exorcism spec. I tried it and its fun. In BGs as well as in 5 man dungeons or older raids. Nothing for demanding fights really. I usually play "fully holy" though, also in battlegrounds 'cause i love healing and only that.

I will probably use the exorcism spec questing while waiting for dungeons

Didn't Blizzard say something about healers - depending on role in the raid - having the chance to do some dps in some fights? Can't find any quotes right now.

I want people to die if i mess up

love it!

[Deleted]

Well i suppose it might just be a different kind of fun.

Atm its crazy spike damage that can almost 1 shot folks and your just whack a moleing to an extent. i like others find the pace really exciting and its touch and go alot of the time. Frantic as u9k13tjc says above. but i do reallly enjoy it or i wouldn't bother healing heroic raids, id dps instead.

The switch up to a more thougthful and balanced paced healing style might also be fun . Youll still be quite engaged because the bar thats going to be spiking down will be your mana bar not necessarily the players health So the game is just shifting focus a bit. I welcome the change cos itll lead to less spike deaths. (you know the ones that were player at full health suddenly appears to have 1546 health left!!! and you reach for your keybind or to click their name plate and boom dead). So we might not all develop stomach ulcers from the anxiety

i certainly hope it is fun too and it is the thing i look forward to the most about cataclysm .i.e whats healing like

[Fiercon]

I want people to die if i mess up or make a mistake, i want a fast paced high stress raid environment.

This didn't change it only shifted from
"Hey, you messed up because you spent the global cooldown topping the shit off of everyone but you just needed to put your single bomb heal on that DPSer that died in a millisecond but you couldn't have known that beforehand"

to

"Hey, you messed up by not managing your mana, by putting out a slow spell when damage came in way faster, by not saving your AOE heal for the AOE damage, by not spending your procs everytime they came up"

It has gone from reacting with little to no choice to thinking, using procs and managment. I like that way more over the randomness of people dying to unpredictable shit that could only be prevented by OP mass healing. Fast pace? All for it. Nuking because everyone could heal anything that did not instantly kill someone? Nope ma'am.

[iLive]

It's not as effective as you may believe to heal through Smite.

[mrsake]

Only Priest (Smite healing) and Shaman (using Lightning Bolt to get mana) got any sort useful damage spell utility. And frankly, neither are considered very viable in a serious healing situation.

[Fichek]

Smite healing was actually quite decent until they nerfed Atonement to give only 50% of the damage as healing. That kinda killed it

[Ronark]

You also have to keep in mind at 80 we lack Holy Radiance, as well as the re-worked Light of Dawn.

When you out gear instances (i.e. Heroics), they provide healers with DPS talents just so they aren't completely bored (See: Denounce).

[speehs]

It has gone from reacting with little to no choice to thinking, using procs and managment. I like that way more over the randomness of people dying to unpredictable shit that could only be prevented by OP mass healing. Fast pace? All for it. Nuking because everyone could heal anything that did not instantly kill someone? Nope ma'am.

Agreed. The cognitive and strategic experience of Cata healing will be much more rewarding than the spam- and twitch-reliant Wrath healing, at least to me.

[Soundeffects]

You also have to keep in mind at 80 we lack Holy Radiance, as well as the re-worked Light of Dawn.

When you out gear instances (i.e. Heroics), they provide healers with DPS talents just so they aren't completely bored (See: Denounce).

^ this
Holy Radiance makes a huge difference. Personally when leveling on beta it felt like we lacked something, but once I got Holy Radiance it seemed to make healing a lot more fun and new if you're been healing on a Paladin for ages. I have yet to use this in a raid, but I do find myself using it even as ret to help the healer catch up in Heroics.

[Koilie]

Been playing beta for a while now and I must say it feels a lot more like BC healing only better; Instead of using 2 ranks of the same spell I'm using every single spell in my arsenal depending on the encounter and the variables in that encounter. It's fun and refreshing and people will still die if you mess up. They just wont be as likely to get 1 shot regardless of what you do.

Quick reflexes are still required to be a great healer. In fact more so as you need to not only decide who most needs a heal, but also which heal to use for the situation at hand and you must do this all in the same fraction of a second that you previously would have taken to move your mouse cursor over the frame of a player who just spiked to 10% from an ability that it was probably on them to avoid in the first place.

[iLive]

Smite healing was actually quite decent until they nerfed Atonement to give only 50% of the damage as healing. That kinda killed it

It's 100%.

[Deleted]

Been playing beta for a while now and I must say it feels a lot more like BC healing only better; Instead of using 2 ranks of the same spell I'm using every single spell in my arsenal depending on the encounter and the variables in that encounter. It's fun and refreshing and people will still die if you mess up. They just wont be as likely to get 1 shot regardless of what you do.

Quick reflexes are still required to be a great healer. In fact more so as you need to not only decide who most needs a heal, but also which heal to use for the situation at hand and you must do this all in the same fraction of a second that you previously would have taken to move your mouse cursor over the frame of a player who just spiked to 10% from an ability that it was probably on them to avoid in the first place.

good info man. I cannot wait to try healing out at 85, everyone seems relatively positive so far

i have 1 question though. lets say the first dungeon we do on normal at level 80 in deepholm or wherever. Are we going to struggle with that in our plonky 1cc 10 man gear? or is it balanced kind of like current level 80 dungeons. ie with more spikey damage etc (old mechanics)
and then as we get to lets say 83 instances that it begins to swing more into the triage style? how did yee find it beta boys?

[Fichek]

It's 100%.

Dang, you are right. My mistake :/

[Soundeffects]

good info man. I cannot wait to try healing out at 85, everyone seems relatively positive so far

i have 1 question though. lets say the first dungeon we do on normal at level 80 in deepholm or wherever. Are we going to struggle with that in our plonky 1cc 10 man gear? or is it balanced kind of like current level 80 dungeons. ie with more spikey damage etc (old mechanics)
and then as we get to lets say 83 instances that it begins to swing more into the triage style? how did yee find it beta boys?

You shouldn't have an issue with healing in 10 man ICC gear. I think the biggest problem you would run into is people having that wotlk instance mentality when it's changed a bit. Although people have had awhile to get used to new abilities which wasn't the case when beta first started. You will be able to heal it in that gear. If you don't feel safe go ahead and do a couple quests and you will start getting upgrades for your 251 and lower pieces in the first 2 zones.

[Deleted]

You shouldn't have an issue with healing in 10 man ICC gear. I think the biggest problem you would run into is people having that wotlk instance mentality when it's changed a bit. Although people have had awhile to get used to new abilities which wasn't the case when beta first started. You will be able to heal it in that gear. If you don't feel safe go ahead and do a couple quests and you will start getting upgrades for your 251 and lower pieces in the first 2 zones.

Ty for that. yeah i was thinking today wither or not to maybe grab a good shot of new gear first. i also have a throne of tides video on youtube from a holy pala perspective. and she seemed to do grand out at level 80, its one of the first instances we can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...nnotation_7385

i have heroic icc gear so i hopefully ill be able to cope.

in terms of the learning curve for the wallies of wrath then i should be safe enough as i will ,with all hope, be running with my guild.