Switching Raid comp for Resto Druid?

[Krothar]

Hey everyone, This may have come up before but I think it's always better to get an up-to-date answer.

I'm currently a Resto Shaman in one of my guilds 10man raids. We actually run two resto Shaman and a Holy Paladin. This isn't because it's a good set up, but generally because when the group was formed, it was formed with friends and out of the level 85's that were available after the first group formed.

While we progress well for our server, we are by far from the best, we do minimal Min/Maxing and just raid for fun. In the words of one Canadian, "Games are Games".

However, I'm wondering if we'd do a little better with more varity in our healing setup, would we be doing better with a Resto Druid in our lineup.
As we don't have a Boomkin, all Int leather goes to waste, while myself and the other Shaman have to share gear.

I suppose the ultimate question is, are druids as bad as the Doomsayers like to make out? I know Shaman were the brunt of it at the beginning of Cata, but they are in a decent place now.

[Pixia]

lvl a holy priest instead

[carela]

I don't think resto is in a bad spot at all. Every time I have to go tank/dps for our raid (I am a resto druid) the healing is noticeably worse. Druid aoe heals are quite good, the tanks are shored up with lifebloom/nourish with minimal effort, tranq is a good raid cooldown and no one except maybe a holy priest is as good at patching up the raid's hp. Resto druids do bring replenishment but if you guys are relying on your double mana tides to keep your mana good I wouldn't mess with a good thing.

tldr: druids aren't bad

[Myrrar]

Not sure who claims resto druids are bad, especially in 10s. In 10 regs and HMs druids are great. There will be some fights where a priests CDs will be better than druids straight healing, but not to where you wont be able to do the fight with them.

A priest or druid will be equally good for your set up, play whichever you think is more fun. Though, even a 2nd shaman for HR on aoe and MT is pretty good too. The gear thing may make another class look a little better. Just remember, you still have to get the gear to catch up.

[Deleted]

In terms of pure HPS rdruids are in a very sexy place atm compared to the rest:

http://worldoflogs.com/rankings/players/Firelands/hps/

So I'd suggest that if you don't mind, it may well be worth rerolling druid, both in terms of loot not getting sharded, and in terms of some hps, 2 rShammies isn't bad either, it's just a bit pooh on the loot front, tho as Myrrar mentions you are going to have an undergeared resto druid for a raid or 2 until you can catch up (not to mention the 1-85 issue ).

[Jurik]

HPS is a terrible measure of healer efficacy though. There's so much more to what makes a good healer / healing team than just HPS.

All healing classes are in a reasonably good place right now for everything except perhaps the bleedingest edge of content (where leading edge guilds will always class-stack on a per-fight basis to overcome gear deficit; it's hopeless to try to balance around this)

I think the only 10 man healing comp I'd be hesitant to take is one with 3x the same class (like druid-druid-druid or pally-pally-pally).

[cleotaurus]

I feel that any healing team of 3 different classes will be stronger than any team that has more than one of a certain class. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses and when you bring other classes whos strength can balance out the other class's weakness, it makes a stronger healing team.

For example: Druid burst healing is comparatively weak, if someone drops dangerously low wild growth and rejuv will not bring them out of the danger zone very quickly and our only option is to use slower casting inefficient heals. However, a disc priest can compliment druids hots well by shielding the player that is low, giving them a buffer to allow the hots to do their work. Shaman also compliment well because of their mastery which does more healing on lower health targets.

So the short answer: yes trading out one of the shaman will probably see an increase of effectiveness of your healing team. Not because shaman are weak, but for the reasons I mentioned above.

[axxey]

Firelands content raid cooldowns(tranquility etc) are in a stronger place than tank cooldowns were for rest of cata. Druids are currently VERY strong compliment to other healers.
In a 3 healer 10man comp I'd always have one of them a druid.

[enojy]

Resto druids are excellent in raids, especially 10 mans, since cooldowns such as Tranquility effectively blanket half of the raid, and Tree of Life is a twofold benefit -- light everyone up with Lifeblooms, proc Clearcasting multiple times, get free instant Regrowths on those who need it, and regenerate mana in the process. Both of these are on three minute cooldowns, meaning multiple uses per boss fight! They make great raid healers and totally decent tank healers as well.

Any flak you may have heard about resto druids may have been about their current state in arena? :-P

[Krothar]

Thanks for all the feedback. The druid is currently level 41, if I push things after tomorrow (Last raid night this reset) I could hit 70 in a day or two without hardcore grinding. 85 a few days after. Gearing shouldn't be too big an issue. Now, I know this isn't the place to ask, but is there a JP cap atm? I'm adking because I could PvP 60-70 and reach the honour cap more than once, if I transfered that honour into JP, would I have a cap to worry about? xD

[Kyuu]

Yes, there is a JP cap (4k). However, you can buy some pieces with your main's JP/VP and send them to your alt (valor bracers/justice boots). Other than that, you'll need to grind a lot of HCs.