1. #1

    Druid Healing - It's not for everyone

    I leveled a Resto Druid as my second 90 in MoP. I had started from 0 once all my reps were finished and there was really nothing much to do on my main toon (a Blood DK).

    I leveled as Balance since I had never made a caster before and grew to love the gameplay of it; however, I knew that in the end I was not going to play a DPS druid. I wanted to heal. And so I did.

    I reached 90 relatively quickly (well for me at least) and began healing heroics and LFRs. This was not my first time healing since I had done plenty of healing as I leveled through the LFM feature. I was already aware that Druid healing involved mastering HoTs and was much less dependent on direct heals than other classes. But it wasn't until I started to raid heal that I realized that this wasn't for everyone.

    Not sure if any of you have abandoned your druid healer for this reason but I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt angry when I needed several large heals but just couldn't deliver them consistently. It bothered me to the point where I said "Forget this" and never played it again. I bought a full Mail BoA set and created a Shaman instead which I have leveled almost exclusively by healing dungeons. The change of gameplay was quite noticeable and I really love Shaman healing. Just looking at my Druid makes me cringe at this point.

    I know there are people that love the idea of HoT management but I just couldn't deal with it. For those of you that still do Druid healing, would you prefer to see more direct heal capability?

  2. #2
    Elemental Lord clevin's Avatar
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    No. If I wanted a different healing style I'd play a different class (I have a an 85 priest). There's too much homogenization as it is...Disc priests insisting that they need strong AoE heals, etc. Too niche and you have issues too ('we can't bring the pally, we need raid heals...') but there needs to be some differentiation

    All that said, you can definitely heal successfully as a druid but you cannot do it and rely on only direct heals - hots are part of the toolkit. If someone doesn't like it, they should do what you did and switch classes. Incidentally, your experience is one more reason I feel that they should allow people to start classes at a higher level once you have a few max level toons... the experience at endgame is so different from leveling that you just don't need 89 levels to 'learn the class' and get a feel for it.

  3. #3
    Im completely differant than you, i can only heal on a druid. I love the way hots work and always have, ive tried healing on every other class but i just cant get into them (Just started healing on my monk about a week ago and i have to say im enjoying it very much) But other than that all the other healers are just boring to me

  4. #4
    I understand the uniqueness to druid healing style. All I'm saying is that it is not for me and that a lot of people I know are turned off by it. I would love to know why people seem to like druid healing despite the lack of "right now" heals readily (and viably) available.

  5. #5
    Elemental Lord clevin's Avatar
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    Because I like the mobility in having a lot of instant casts. Because I like the ability to HoT people intelligently and not have to worry about them for a bit. Because my direct heals are OK most of the time. If you're in "Oh shit I need a huge heal RIGHT NOW" situations a lot you or your healing team are doing something wrong (or you feel you're in that situation when you're not... a lot of people still feel that they need to top everyone up all the time).

    Don't take this wrong, but it rubs me the wrong way to be implicitly told that I need to justify why I like something just because someone else doesn't. I've raid healed on my priest before (not recently) and on the druid. I like the druid fine and the feel of it suits me. If you don't like the style and prefer a more direct heal style, that's great.

  6. #6
    Brewmaster Outofmana's Avatar
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    Because the idea of HoThealing makes me cringe, a resto druid is the only spec I have never ever tried in 8 years of WoW.

  7. #7
    A long time ago I hated HoT healing. Classes were too squishy and too dependent on NEEDING a healer. It's different now that there are so many personal defensive mechanics, I really enjoy HoT healing.

  8. #8
    As someone who's played a Druid from the inception of my WoW career and as someone that has cleared all current content from level 80 Naxx to 16/16H t14, I can offer a little insight.

    I've played every healing class at least somewhat competitively, and understand the finite roles that each play. Understanding the class diversity as far as healing goes really helps make my choice an easy one. I have always preferred doing things on the move. All the dps classes I enjoy playing have some sort of "cast-while-moving" feature, namely my Shaman whom I heal and dps on regularly.

    My Druid takes that ideal to a whole new level, allowing me to basically continue my entire healing "rotation" on the move. I can cast Rejuvenate while running away from certain mechanics while others cannot. I can maintain a very large amount of my healing while moving almost the entire time. A recurring joke is that players who jump around a lot in game have at one point played a night elf. In fact, that's the race I first played on my Druid, so the jumping around joke is pretty prevalent in my gameplay. I like to be able to hop back and forth while instant-casting others to full health. It sounds really silly, but that's why I truly enjoy playing a Druid.

    Every single healing alt I have rolled always presents me with new challenges of learning a class and it's genuinely fun to play them when I feel like it, but I have never imagined playing anything other than my Druid competitively.

    I also dislike worrying about many alts, so having four specs and one of every aspect of the game on a single toon is another major benefit to me.

    Anyway, to make a short story long, I really like being an instant-cast sort of healer. Paladins come in next on my list, as they've recently developed a more mobile toolkit. Shamans, Priests, and Monks are all next in descending order of preferred playstyle. It all just really comes down to opinions and a matter of what playstyle you enjoy more.

    -Treebloom
    Last edited by Treebloom; 2013-02-08 at 10:21 PM.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by clevin View Post
    Don't take this wrong, but it rubs me the wrong way to be implicitly told that I need to justify why I like something just because someone else doesn't. I've raid healed on my priest before (not recently) and on the druid. I like the druid fine and the feel of it suits me. If you don't like the style and prefer a more direct heal style, that's great.
    You don't need to justify anything to me. You pay for this game just like everyone else does and you can roll around with a melee Hunter if you find that enjoyable. I just wanted to know what it is about Druids that people enjoyed and compare that to the reasons that I could not stand them in a healing context.

    Quote Originally Posted by Treebloom View Post
    Anyway, to make a short story long, I really like being an instant-cast sort of healer. Paladins come in next on my list, as they've recently developed a more mobile toolkit. Shamans, Priests, and Monks are all next in descending order of preferred playstyle. It all just really comes down to opinions and a matter of what playstyle you enjoy more.
    Druid was my first healer. I didn't enjoy it but I really do love the Shaman playstyle... maybe in the future if I try other healing classes my opinion changes.

  10. #10
    Herald of the Titans Orangetai420's Avatar
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    I really love my druid when I am healing with a friend. If the other healer is some asshole that is sniping all my HoTs and then spamming meters it's not fun at all.
    MMO-C, home of the worst community on the internet.

  11. #11
    I am Murloc! Azutael's Avatar
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    It's the other way around for me as well, resto druid is the healer I enjoy the most. The worst is holy paladin.

    I really love my druid when I am healing with a friend. If the other healer is some asshole that is sniping all my HoTs and then spamming meters it's not fun at all.
    makes a huge difference who you heal with for sure.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Blah337 View Post
    I would love to know why people seem to like druid healing despite the lack of "right now" heals readily (and viably) available.
    A few reasons why I personally like it a lot:
    - I reaally reaaaly like tossing hots and just letting them do the work...
    - I have fun jumping & moving all over the place on farm bosses and still doing a lot of healing, I even start jumping in front of our disc priest (my buddy) as if I'm taunting him while hes standing in place spamming his PoH.
    - Really love the spells sound and effects of rejuv, wild growth, efflorescence...

  13. #13
    I've played every healing class except for the monk. I've played them at the max level up to Wrath and a few in Cata and I always go back to my druid. I like the hot healing mechanic. Name a class that gives you mobility and if you know how to do it Bust healing on the move. In my mind since I've done almost every raid as a healer the druid is the only one that has every healing role you need. Large cast able heals if you need it, rolling constant healing and everything in-between. No other healing class gives you almost every tool in the game.

    Sure druid healing isn't for everyone its either you like it or you don't, it's all based on how you want to play.

  14. #14
    Druid is god mode if you are fast with the hots.Druid is the 4th healer i be gearing now and its alot of fun.In 5 man all i need to do is put lifebloom and go to sleep.

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