So about those healing changes...

[Cypher0]

In my opinion, the changes to healing and mana costs make the game more challenging in general, but not impossible. As a Disc Priest all throughout WotLK (Didn't get a chance to do much in BC, I got to 70 2 weeks before WotLK came out) I got accustomed to having infinite mana and spamming Flash heal and bubbles everywhere. Greater Heal and Heal didn't exist on my bars, and I didn't really worry about Spirit a whole lot. So judging by these facts alone, you could say I'm one of those wrath babies.

So what am I saying about these changes?

I think these changes are the best thing to happen to this game thus far. It was a bit of a shock when, soon after the patch hit that night, I could barely keep my tank and dps alive through Blackrock Caverns and Throne of the Tides. At first I was infuriated like so many others, thinking that Blizzard had broken my class. But as I continued running instances, I realized that my healing style needed some changes. I learned to adapt. Holy carp, I just ran out of mana on a trash pull.All I did was cast Flash Heal on the tank! Smite? What's that? This talent allows it to heal now? When did I get a spell called Heal? Holy crap, it doesn't heal for a whole lot, but barely costs mana either. These are the kind of changes that people need to start noticing. Blizzard didn't buff the crap out of some spells you previously never touched for no reason. There's a very good reason that Flash Heal now costs 5k mana.

So now that Blizzard has made healing a job that you need to pay attention to, rather than a chore that you only do because it earns you shiny lootz faster, healers need to understand what has changed about their class and, most important of all:

ADAPT

[SensAzn]

Can we sticky this, please? At least for a month or so~

Also, it's easy to put the blame on the healer, but it's important as a dps to avoid dmg if possible too. That's why I love playing with frost mages!

[Oerba Yun Fang]

While I somewhat agree, I think it MAY need some fine-tuning on Blizzard's part. I'm waiting to say that for sure until I have better gear (since this is the weakest I'll ever be, having just hit 85 day before yesterday and not playing at all yesterday).

[Varex]

For me, I have to say it is a great change so far. Regular modes are not bad and pretty easy to do with a guild group. Heroics well that is where the real challenge is, last night it took us 9 tries in Vortex Pin H mode on the 2nd boss to get him down healing was stressful and i had to make decisions on when to heal and when to let health get low. Cata is teaching us Priority of mana use and that DPS need to not be dumb in there positions.

So far im really liking the changes and I welcome the challenge that raid healing will bring for progression.

[Kworal]

For me, I have to say it is a great change so far. Regular modes are not bad and pretty easy to do with a guild group. Heroics well that is where the real challenge is, last night it took us 9 tries in Vortex Pin H mode on the 2nd boss to get him down healing was stressful and i had to make decisions on when to heal and when to let health get low. Cata is teaching us Priority of mana use and that DPS need to not be dumb in there positions.

So far im really liking the changes and I welcome the challenge that raid healing will bring for progression.

I can give an opinion here from a tank and a dps point of view. I have yet to heal any dungeon in Cataclysm because I cba to level my Shaman just yet. As a tank, however, I find the changes awesome. I find myself rage starved (druid) if I just go on "farm mode". Attention is required at all times, it's a challenge, decisions must be made on the spot and the role of tank has never been so important. Is it hard? Yes. Is it too hard? Hardly. It's doable with a group that knows what to do and is geared accordingly.

As a dps (Moonkin) I can say that it's largely less stressful than tanking, yet "farm mode" doesn't work either. I absolutely love doing Solar Beam in the big packs in Grim Batol, silencing them all for 15 seconds (glyphed on purpose for it). Gives enough time to take out 2 casters and the rest becomes a lot easier.

However, that being said, I find that healing, from what I've seen from *most* the PuGs and guildies i've played with, they are having a much much more stressful job, a lot of more mana spent, drinking almost every pull, because they can easily drop 50% mana in a pack of 2-3 mobs.

While I consider the dps and tanking requirements on dungeons "just right", I yet wonder if healing should or should not get a ever-so-small buff. All healers I've been with have been pulling their hairs out just to heal the tank. It feels like spike damage is still around, while they are not supposed to use their spike heal (due to mana constraints).

But, who knows? I'll keep tanking and dpsing ^^

[Cypher0]

I'm glad people actually read my post instead of just blindly flaming after only reading so far = \

That being said, healing IS a little more stressful now, so I think I'll be taking a short break from healing and give Shadow a try for a bit.

---------- Post added 2010-12-12 at 05:46 PM ----------

Bumped because healers need this.