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  1. #1

    Best way to learn holy?

    If I have absolutely zero experience with healing, what's the best way to learn holy? My guild wants me to take up holy as my off spec, but I've never healed and have no clue what I'm doing or any clue at all.

    I'm not looking for a basic guide like icy veins or the like, I need a complete lesson on healing in general as I know nothing about it at all.

  2. #2
    First, read the holy paladin sticky here on mmo champ. It'll tell you what spells do what, which spec is optimal and how to gear. After you get that out of the way, get your gear together and throw yourself into a 5 man, with guildies if possible. Do them over and over until you know your key (or mouse) binds by heart and you know which spell does what. After you're comfortable there, head to LFR and practice some AoE healing. Learn your mana and how to manage it, learn how to trust your other healers but don't make them do everything for you. It'll take a bit of time and patience but it's not too hard to figure out healing
    Last edited by Jordaen; 2013-06-28 at 05:39 PM. Reason: Spelling r hard
    Quote Originally Posted by Socialhealer View Post
    judging 25man raiding by LFR standards saying it requires no coordination, is like saying 5mans require cheese sandwiches because i like turtles.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Jordaen View Post
    First, read the holy paladin sticky here on mmo champ. It'll tell you what spells do what, which spec is optimal and how to gear. After you get that out of the way, get your gear together and throw yourself into a 5 man, with guildies if possible. Do them over and over until you know your key (or mouse) binds by heart and you know which spell does what. After you're comfortable there, head to LFR and practice some AoE healing. Learn your mana and how to manage it, learn how to trust your other healers but don't make them do everything for you. It'll take a bit of time and patience but it's not too hard to figure out healing
    This, also look into the Fix my heals thread and look at the tips people are being given, if you read a few pages of replies there it should give you a good idea of what to look out for once you've passed the stage Jordaen mentioned above, and if you would still like help in the 'more advanced' stages, you can post in there and ask for further help.

  4. #4
    Best thing you can do is play. Do 5 mans, do scenerios, and another thing many leave out is pvp.

    Random BG as holy and practice. Practice knowing when to pop cds and learning your keybinds. Not many people realize how much it helps to practice like this. It increases your reflexes and allows you to know your class healing abilities better. You dont have to be an arena jockey or do RBGs, just queue for random BGs and mess around with your abilities. The only way to learn them is to use them.

    Google mouseover macros as well. Healing with mouseover macros is a breeze and shaves off some time. Rather then having to click on someone, heal, click on another person, heal you can just mouse over them and heal.

    http://www.twitch.tv/hammerpairs 7/7 Mythic EN / 3/3 Mythic ToV / 10/10 Mythic NH / 9/9 Mythic ToS
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBmNLMo4vcI some old school CM fun
    "Your lights will go out. The darkness will envelop you. And you will fear the shadows that move within it."

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Theholypally View Post
    Best thing you can do is play. Do 5 mans, do scenerios, and another thing many leave out is pvp.

    Random BG as holy and practice. Practice knowing when to pop cds and learning your keybinds. Not many people realize how much it helps to practice like this. It increases your reflexes and allows you to know your class healing abilities better. You dont have to be an arena jockey or do RBGs, just queue for random BGs and mess around with your abilities. The only way to learn them is to use them.

    Google mouseover macros as well. Healing with mouseover macros is a breeze and shaves off some time. Rather then having to click on someone, heal, click on another person, heal you can just mouse over them and heal.
    At this phase in the expansion, I don't think 5 mans/scenarios/etc really teach you how to heal. Most groups truck through everything and it's a bit too fast paced to learn and get familiar with your skills.

    PvP healing is a completely different beast than PvE healing. You'll primarily be using FoL and HS in PvP and requires a completely different style (in my experience). PvP definitely teaches you how to effectively use some spells in your toolkit (Freedom, Sac, BoP, etc), but I don't think PvP and PvE healing can really be comparable.

    As suggested above, get an idea on how to gear/what spells to use/general "rotation" using the resources here at MMO-C and on YouTube, and jump into some LFRs. The ToT LFRs aren't exactly faceroll depending on the group you get, and you'll always have a target to heal. It also doesn't hurt having a friend who is familiar with the class to answer questions.

    When I got my druid to 90, I watched a few videos online and read over the class guides here at MMO-C. I'm far from an expert on the class, but I do pretty well on (LFR) meters.

  6. #6
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    PvP heal is another world... U use FL a lot, in PvE u use HL and DL, and AOE Heals....

    If wanna learn to heal, go to 5 man, with friends and, LFR isn't a option at begin, LFR is better with a little experience.

    Luck

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by paulleedot View Post
    At this phase in the expansion, I don't think 5 mans/scenarios/etc really teach you how to heal. Most groups truck through everything and it's a bit too fast paced to learn and get familiar with your skills.

    PvP healing is a completely different beast than PvE healing. You'll primarily be using FoL and HS in PvP and requires a completely different style (in my experience). PvP definitely teaches you how to effectively use some spells in your toolkit (Freedom, Sac, BoP, etc), but I don't think PvP and PvE healing can really be comparable.

    As suggested above, get an idea on how to gear/what spells to use/general "rotation" using the resources here at MMO-C and on YouTube, and jump into some LFRs. The ToT LFRs aren't exactly faceroll depending on the group you get, and you'll always have a target to heal. It also doesn't hurt having a friend who is familiar with the class to answer questions.

    When I got my druid to 90, I watched a few videos online and read over the class guides here at MMO-C. I'm far from an expert on the class, but I do pretty well on (LFR) meters.
    There is no "healing rotation" for holy paladins. Not even a "general rotation" for holy paladins. Simply put, thats why playing the class and doing some pvp is better then trying to rely only on guides to help you heal.

    There is no rotation.

    The best thing you can do is practice getting your cooldowns and keybinds memorized then practice in a controlled setting like 5 mans with friends, even LFRs. PvP wont teach you how to PVE and vice versa but it does one important thing for you as a healer and that is it lets you understand your toolkit better.

    No one is comparing pvp to pve, the best way to get comfortable healing in any situation in pve is to learn your class in areas that are a bit more unpredictable so you know how to react accordingly when (not if) stuff goes south in your raid and/or 5 man.

    If you are trying to find a healing rotation, you wont find one. Good holy paladins run off of a priority base for the current situation. Its the same in pvp AND pve, the difference is pvp just gets your reaction time up. You will notice a difference in both areas even if you dont actively pvp.

    Class guides DO help a ton, i used them quite a bit, but they wont help your reaction time and your ability usage.
    Last edited by Theholypally; 2013-06-28 at 08:37 PM.

    http://www.twitch.tv/hammerpairs 7/7 Mythic EN / 3/3 Mythic ToV / 10/10 Mythic NH / 9/9 Mythic ToS
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBmNLMo4vcI some old school CM fun
    "Your lights will go out. The darkness will envelop you. And you will fear the shadows that move within it."

  8. #8
    PvP my friend. It will defiantly teach you valuable skills. I did PvP back in cata when I had never healed before, and boy did I learn fast. I learned how to keybind fast, how to react with my spells, how to properly use my cds, and most importantly, How to heal while Oom. Yes, it is vastly different then PvE heals. Its better to practice in random bg's. Why? Damage spikes are predictable in PvE. Always have been. Its all a matter of timing out your spells. Where as in PvP, you must quickly and on the fly identify which spell to use and when. From practice in bg's (obviously geared up my holy as well in pvp gear) I went from bottom and laughable healing to quickly my guilds top healer despite a sever lack of gear on my part (crappy trinkets, out of date gear from firelands reg for heroic DS healing).

    So while it is true PvP and PvE are different, practice in PvP is what will help the most. Heroics are easily out geared now by simple OS rolls in LFR. Making you unable to get a feel for how to heal in a challenging content. LFR is also not the greatest. People either tunnel and stack, or tunnel and ignore mechanics. Easily allowing someone to give off the appearance of good. To see if you are good while PvP healing, you want to be near the top of the healing done, with as few deaths as possible. Good luck.

  9. #9
    Get a decent foundation to work with first.
    Download a reliable healing addon like Vuhdo and work out your keybinds to see what works for you.
    Try out these keybinds and settings and adjust as needed in LFR (there's less reliance on you actually doing your job here as there is in a 5 man imo).
    Then try healing a 5 man, make more adjustments.
    Read guides to figure out what spells you should be using when, obviously, but to actually GET started I think it's most important to get your keybinds down and a decent addon to start with a good foundation instead of bad habits.

  10. #10
    Log your LFR stuff, look at logs, compare to other paladin logs and see how you did. When you're in the heat of it, it's not that easy to stop and think about what you're doing. The article in my sig might help you to see what you're looking for when you do look at your logs.

    Do the big PvP battlegrounds like AV and IoC. Those are the closest you'll get to a raid setting and you'll have to be very quick to hit your buttons. Try to remember to use them all as well so get used to where you've put your hand spells, devo aura, divine protection, etc. Look for reasons to use them all. In a big bg you can screw up a spell or a thing here and there and it's not as obvious as doing something real dumb like bopping a tank in lfr.

    Healing is all practice so the more you do the better you'll get!
    Living the casual life, oh yeah.

  11. #11
    The Lightbringer
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    Try healing ppl doing commanders in North Barrens (v-bars). If you can handle that then 5 mans / LFR is a breeze.
    You cared enough to post.

  12. #12
    Keep in mind, when people are saying to help people in this situation or that situation, I don't even know what that means.
    I literally have no idea where to even begin with healing. People have mentioned keybinds. I've seen healbot used (though know nothing of it).

    Also since Ret is still my main spec, I can't afford to undo my keybinds for ret, so I'm not sure that's going to be doable depending on what is meant by it.

    I'll defintiely begin reading. I have a while to go since I have zero holy gear, so I need to start gathering that before I can even consider.

  13. #13
    Ok, starting from zero the first thing you need to figure out is how you're actually going to heal people. Obviously you'll have raid frames of some sort but are you going to use stock frames or some sort of healing frames like Vuhdo, Grid, or Healbot? I use Vuhdo, lots of people use other options. What I like about Vuhdo it that I can customize a lot of what shows up, where it is on my frames and how it displays.

    One of the major advantages (to most people) is that the healing specific frames allow you to use right and left clicks with your mouse to activate mouseover heals. This means that when your mouse pointer is over a player frame and your left click it will automatically cast the spell you told it to cast. Using standard Blizzard macros you can't do that. A disadvantage to Vuhdo is that it doesn't like (or in the past hasn't liked) lots of mouse buttons. Another option is an add on called Clique that allows all the mouseover/mouse button binds and it's a breeze to set up. It also allows you to change binds based on spec so you can keep your ret binds as they are and it will automatically load your holy binds when you switch over. I'm currently using Vuhdo with Clique and I've disabled the binds in Vuhdo.

    The next step is to set up your keybinds in a way that makes sense to you. I can tell you how mine are set up but that may not work for you and likely won't even make sense since I use a Logitech G700 mouse so options I have you may not but if you use a Razer Naga (or something) you may have options I don't. The key is to have it be as intuitive as it can be for something you've never done before.

    The best way to figure out how to set up your binds, and you're not going to like this, is to reroll the toon. Probably any other healing class would work, but I'd do a pally. Your plan isn't the take it to 90 and make it your new main but if you start as holy from when you're just into the level 15 dungeons and only have a couple spells to manage you can play around see what feels right to you. As you level you'll slowly get more abilities and can find places to put them and rearrange as necessary. Once you feel like you have a pretty decent idea about the basics of your binds and how to heal low level 5m you can transfer that experience and start working on your 90 paladin.
    Living the casual life, oh yeah.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trel View Post
    Keep in mind, when people are saying to help people in this situation or that situation, I don't even know what that means.
    I literally have no idea where to even begin with healing. People have mentioned keybinds. I've seen healbot used (though know nothing of it).

    Also since Ret is still my main spec, I can't afford to undo my keybinds for ret, so I'm not sure that's going to be doable depending on what is meant by it.

    I'll defintiely begin reading. I have a while to go since I have zero holy gear, so I need to start gathering that before I can even consider.
    do you know the difference between spells that create yellow numbers and spells that create green numbers?

  15. #15
    Mechagnome
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    The same way you learn everything else in WoW. Roll the toon, and play the spec.

    Completely serious btw. There's worlds you can learn from websites, forums, guides, whatever. But the only thing that will tell you how playing a role in an mmo feels like is playing that role. Run dungeons, do pvp, if people give you shit for your healing early on just put them on ignore and keep on trucking. Play the spec consistently in many environments for about a week and then come back to the forums if you want to hit the books. You'll either be ready to learn more, or you'll have decided that healing isn't right for you, and either way is perfectly fine.

    Just my opinion though, FUCK Guilds telling you what spec to play! Nuts to that. If you WANT to heal, by all means go for it, but if you like another spec/role better than your guild has no business telling you how to play the game, that isn't fun in any sense of the word.
    Naftc, "Hunters are the cheapest class in game and when played right are more deadly than a train plowing through a field of bunnies covered in napalm"

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucyrotten View Post
    Ok, starting from zero the first thing you need to figure out is how you're actually going to heal people.
    This, before you listen to any of these suggestions, figure out your healing UI. You can do this either on your paladin or on another character, if you prefer. It will help a lot both in the short and long run.

    I use VuhDo now but learned on ElvUI's "healer" default setup.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trel View Post
    Keep in mind, when people are saying to help people in this situation or that situation, I don't even know what that means.
    I literally have no idea where to even begin with healing. People have mentioned keybinds. I've seen healbot used (though know nothing of it).

    Also since Ret is still my main spec, I can't afford to undo my keybinds for ret, so I'm not sure that's going to be doable depending on what is meant by it.

    I'll defintiely begin reading. I have a while to go since I have zero holy gear, so I need to start gathering that before I can even consider.
    You wouldn't need to undo your key binds for ret, that is what dual spec is for.

  18. #18
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    #1 Go Holy and run a lot dungeons. You'll eventually pick up some mouse over macro's to keybind to make things more quick and efficient.
    #2 Raid as Holy and you'll learn to be more efficient.
    #3 Quit the game cause healing is boring.
    #4 Come back months later as Born again Ret.

    It's a vicious cycle that many people experience when trying to play as Holy.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dukenukemx View Post
    #1 Go Holy and run a lot dungeons. You'll eventually pick up some mouse over macro's to keybind to make things more quick and efficient.
    #2 Raid as Holy and you'll learn to be more efficient.
    #3 Quit the game cause healing is boring.
    #4 Come back months later as Born again Ret.

    It's a vicious cycle that many people experience when trying to play as Holy.
    Wait, what? I play holy and I love it!
    Ret on the other hand.. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

  20. #20
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    Scenarios (Normal, then Heroic) I think would be your biggest, most helpful tool in learning how to heal at this point!

    With only two other people to worry about, it gives you less people to worry about at first, with normally a lot less pressure on you than say LFR, or a heroic, as you can do this more easily with friends, and with any group comp. It will help teach you the basics and how to manage yourself, your CD's and how to get into the groove of things. Once you're comfortable, do Heroic Scenarios which will apply a slight bit more pressure, but still be easy enough to manage.

    They are easy started, easy finished and you'll be in and out in no time!
    -Retribution, the path of the protector or mender brought to it's natural conclusion; destroying evil before the weak need to be shielded from it, and before it can wound the innocent.
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