How do you justify your raid spot as a resto shaman?

[Barrun]

I play a resto shaman as my main, and have in most raid tiers been content, if not happy with the toolkit we have and what we have brought compared to other healers. However in the current state of the game I can't help feeling demoralized and hopeless, and not due to what we lack, but based on how we perform relative to other healers - I find it very hard justify my raid spot when I could be healing on my priest instead.
I'm fortunate enough to play with a group that understands the value of our utility, and that matching a priest or paladin on healing meters isn't always an accurate measure of our effectiveness, so I'm lucky enough that I don't have to justify to anyone else why I should be brought to a raid - but trying to justify it to myself I'm coming up short.

How do you justify your spot as a resto shaman?

[twinkleblur]

our resto shaman in 10 man normally tops meters..a good 90% of the time. no clue what hes doing but hes pretty damn good.

[Deleted]

I dont really know what you mean, I know I got a disadvantage over most healers because of the postional requiremnt on our AoE heals but it works anyway, dont be afraid to use Greater Healing Wave on spread fights, getting the chain heal glyph could work too

Also remember your mana totem, figure out how much mana it regens each fight and try to imagine how much healing the others do with that mana, thats basically healing that came from you!

[Barrun]

The other healers in a raid group can have a significant impact on that. I currently heal with a disc priest and holy paladin on three heal fights, while I can normally rank during progression fights I find it frustrating they can sit with 3-4k less spirit than me and not have mana issues, and have 20-40% of their healing entirely from their mastery. When doing tier 14 I was healing with a mistweaver monk, which I would always lead by a solid 15-20% on meters, and on three heal fights where we used a disc priest I could still maintain a competitive lead. This tier however it feels like our utility just doesn't even come close to other healers, largely due to the increased importance of damage prevention/absorbs compared to effective healing. For example dealing with Lei Shen's static shock during transition phases is an example of how glaringly inferior we are in being able reliably keep people alive, I suppose resto druids probably have similar woes. Maybe this is more a case of disc priests and holy paladins being superior this tier by such a huge margin.

These notes for patch 5.3 just feel like more salt in the wound as well, hopefully it's just too soon to tell how things will pan out.

[Knightsavior]

Everyone get into a group with my Healing Tide/Spirit Link so my HPS goes through the roof!
But seriously though, when everyone is together, a resto shammy is beautiful. Healing rain is very powerful.

[Deleted]

By working hard and coming prepared to every raid.

[Chiquihuite]

Don't try to be something you're not. Healing isn't just about topping the meters. You need enough healing to negate the damage coming in, but you also need to deal with damage "spikes" and nobody does that better than a Shammy.

Pair yourself with a good raid-wide healing class and let them do most of the heavy lifting for raid healing. You're better off doing steady GHW/CH healing (assuming you can't make good use of HR) and using Tidal Waves + HS to respond to single target spikes, or popping your *awesome* raid cooldowns for group spikes. 70+% crit chance Healing Surge on a low HP target is just stupidly strong. Not to mention being able to do the biggest predictive heals in the game w/ UE/UF + GHW.

You will top meters only on *some* fights, but as long as you have the right mindset you'll be a lifesaver on all of them.

PS: While HR isn't always useful in every situation, when you *can* stack in it it's absurdly strong. Other healing classes cry themselves to sleep at night thinking about how weak their AoE heals are compared to a HR that's hitting 6 injured people for the full duration.

[midgetsj]

If you are just a good player most of the time you will outheal the other guildies on that alone. I rank on WoL on occasion but my other healers never do. If the other healers happen to be at an equal skill level well, you are not going to beat them. So just play the best you can, the goal is to down bosses not beat your teamates.

[Barrun]

I suppose my initial post may have been misleading. I wasn't curious how people justify their raid positions as themselves a player, but as a resto shaman. Why bring a resto shaman over another healing class?

I wish I could chalk it up to L2P but I have no problems ranking on progression fights, and our raid group has yet to hit any roadblocks, especially in the healing department so the job gets done. It's a not a question as to whether a resto shaman can get the job done, but more a question of why bother with a resto shaman when you could bring a different healing class. Stacked healing as to justification for our raid spot seems extremely limited, especially considering that we really aren't much (if at all) better off than other specs - I have no trouble sustaining 110k hps on my priest as holy for the duration of a rampage (even without hymn), yet on my shaman with 20 ilvl higher it becomes a huge stress to reach those numbers. Currently the other healers I raid with are sitting at 3-4k less spirit and never have mana problems, and their mastery accounts for 20-40% of their effective healing on some fights - it's hard to look at this and try to justify why a resto shaman should be brought.

[vuur]

Cooldowns.
When stuff starts going badly a Healing Tide totem to bring the raid up fast, a spirit link to save a group from a big hit, Ascendance to quickly burst the raid back up...

This is why resto shaman are awesome. Pallies and priests do a great job of getting absorbs on incoming damage (mitigating total amount required to heal). Druids and monks blanket heal the raid well (keeping everyone from dipping much lower while damage is going out) but when you are in intense damage spikes (megeara heroic, horridon heroic last phase), a resto sham's CD's can save the raid.

Even when almost OOM, a HTT or a spirit link is a huge CD that other classes do not bring.

Spirit shell= ramp up time, Devo Aura - magic only, Spirit link= instant

Revival - one time big heal, Tranq - channeled heal, Hymn of Hope - channeled heal, Healing Tide - Drop it and let it work its magic
(great for phases when there's a lot of damage to heal and things that may require you to move - such as after a quake on Tortos when spinning shells are still active and flying around or you have to dodge falling rocks).

[Walterpayton]

I suppose it is a bit different being I am in a 25 man and we have all healing roles covered. Myself as resto sham, a resto Druid, hpally, most weaver monk, holy priest and a disc priest. Our resto Druid and I typically lead the meters and rank on fights often. In a melee heavy 25 man healing rain is very OP. also great for groups of 5 or 6 stacking for iron qon P1 giving max efficiency. If you make good use of every cool down and every talent (PE empowerment can be huge but is often forgotten about) there is more reason to bring a shaman than other fotm classes. Coming from a former disc priest. Also with talents like PE if you don't need the empowerment sometimes the extra damage on the boss can be a big help especially in a ten man. Besides, who else is bringing stormlash?!

[Toomin]

Using the right setup and correct abilities improves. I will say though it seems we are underpowered atm. Priest and Monks seem to get the better advantage as many a monk will whine til no matter what they get to be in melee, or kill the raid trying

[reikoshea]

I'll say this, I raid on a pally with a disc priest and a resto shaman.

There is no question between us that healing tide and ascendance have saved us in some close fights. Additionally resto shamans can easily become ele shamans when the fight calls for it, so they make a great third healer for their hybrid ability, especially with the introduction of the reforge mounts.

I don't think you should have to justify your spot as a shaman, the utility is second to none, and the bacon saving ability when everyone is low because the pally/priest shields ran out is amazing.

[Volitar]

Using the right setup and correct abilities improves. I will say though it seems we are underpowered atm. Priest and Monks seem to get the better advantage as many a monk will whine til no matter what they get to be in melee, or kill the raid trying

Monks are a melee class, they don't get targeted by ranged abilities such as wind bomb.

[IntellectuallyChallenged]

Couldn't tell you. I have never had to justify my raid spot. I go in, I do my job, no one complains. I must be doing something right. It doesn't hurt that I can effectively raid and tank heal at the same time. Resto shaman have always been easy-mode for me personally. The most effort I put into raids is farming mats for food/pots/flasks. The rest is just a matter of showing up, pushing buttons and knowing what's going on around me. Simple stuff.

[chocobo606]

When your raid is almost dead and you toss down a chain link, a healing tide, and a healing rain, combined with your mastery as a shaman, your cooldowns.. that is more than enough to justify your presence in a raid.

We're not disc priests, who can smite spam and PoH spam and do healing without any thought through damage, heal through their shield procs, and mitigate damage. We can't be paladins, whose mastery makes overhealing beneficial.

I tank now, but in the past all I've done was heal. I will be the first to tell you the same thing I'd tell any healer, and that is that healing meters are by no means a measure of skill or effectiveness. I have had the displeasure of raiding with some of the worst healers. I 2 healed FL heroic and DS with a disc priest, who was the worst healer I've ever met, yet through mindless PoH spam and shields always outhealed me, even though sometimes I'd outheal them. It's the same with this expansion, mindless smite spam, shield proc heals, paladin overheals turning into effective heals. Ruining the fun of fistweaving as a monk. Why don't we all just be priests and paladins? It's why I will never heal again, because people can't tell a good healer from a bad anymore, until they're standing in fire and dying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, you don't even have to think about trying to justify your position as a resto shaman in a raid, because it is very, very important.

[Shockeye]

The rest is just a matter of showing up, pushing buttons and knowing what's going on around me. Simple stuff.

Yeah, pretty much the same here. I show up. We raid, or not. Regardless of which guild I'm in I've never had to justify my spot. I guess being present, on time and doing my job is justification enough.

[Tziva]

I rarely top meters because most current fights are so spread out, but I easily pull my weight. I keep my targets alive, and I'm usually only barely lagging behind the other healers on the charts. I have a lot of tools and utility, some strong raid cooldowns and I'm good for our raid comp. I don't feel like I need to justify my raid spot with an argument; I do it with my performance.

There is a huge area between "the best, topping the heal charts" and "so poor you have to construct an argument to persuade people to invite you." Resto shaman might not be the former, but they're far from the latter. Do I wish we were a little stronger or that there were more fights that played to our strengths? Sure. Do I feel depressed about my class? Nope.

[rnbwtrout]

i think each class brings their own flavor of healing CDs or specialties which are needed on almost every fight. in that aspect, no class is useless.

however, if you're looking at meters, then yea, pallys and priests are gonna be hard to de-throne because of the mindless spammable lol-skill-healz they have that can proc shields. if it makes you feel any better, you aren't being out-played by those classes, you're just being out-blizzard; cause blizzard refuses to address the skill-less mechanic of proc'ing shields.

[Manhands]

Both <Method> and <DREAM Paragon> brought a Resto Shaman on their Ra-den kill...and in the progression up to that point. That helps justify bringing one. The fact that Method and Paragon brought one, though, is not a QED in the Bring-a-Resto-Shaman Theorem, but it does mean that they have their niche in cutting-edge raiding.

More than that, though, our passive smart-healing is quite amazing. HST + Ancestral Awakening + Restorative Mists (not smart, but strong and passive) account for over a quarter of our overall healing, and our overall healing measures up (raidbots.com/dpsbot/Overall_DPS/25H/100/14/60/default/#0000000000000000000000000000111111) to the other specs. In addition, the Tidal Waves buff allows us to heal extremely quickly in intense situations. And lastly, Healing fucking Rain.

All the above is in addition to HTT, SLT, MTT, and our 10% fire/frost/nature dmg reduction from HST ticks (from the glyph).

If your raid leader/healing leader understands damage and the strengths and weaknesses of healers, at least one resto shaman will be very secure in their spot.

Edit: Typos are a sin.