Holy - Vanilla vs Cataclysm

[think309]

I was a holy priest during all of vanilla, and I loved it. I basically skipped TBC, and I tried to heal during WotLK but dps getting insta-gibbed really turned me off. Anyway, my question is this... how similar to healing is Cataclysm compared to vanilla? It theory sounds very similar, but how is it in practice?

[Ethris]

I don't know what game you were playing or what you were smoking. DPS did not get insta-gibbed during WotLK.

Healing is supposed to be very similar to the Vanilla model. We're supposed to be mindful of mana and against spamming. Remember when healers were measured by how little their overhealing percentage was? We're getting back to that.

[Jiraiyah]

I don't know what game you were playing or what you were smoking. DPS did not get insta-gibbed during WotLK.

Healing is supposed to be very similar to the Vanilla model. We're supposed to be mindful of mana and against spamming. Remember when healers were measured by how little their overhealing percentage was? We're getting back to that.

Giving benefit of the doubt to the OP here, but I assume they're referring to the whack-a-mole style healing in LK as opposed to what he have today. LK healing was more along the lines of keeping everyone topped off so they don't get 2-shotted. Maybe not quite insta-gibbed, but it's not-far-off hyperbole.

To the OP, the challenge now is different, and in my opinion far more satisfying. Health pools are ridiculous but the amount healed hasn't scale nearly as much. Mana costs have absolutely skyrocketed, making the challenge more about balancing healing potency with efficiency to keep the tank alive long enough to finish the fight, rather than topped off so an unlucky roll doesn't cause a wipe. It's a little bit slower paced overall, but your brain should be working overtime by comparison. It's hard to describe, you'll jsut have to give it a shot.

I was not around in vanilla, so I can't comment on how it was then. But it's much more rewarding than Lich King.

[Deleted]

I havent played a holy priest in a while, but I did heal in Vanilla and from what I've seen, healers have never had it this hard before.

Mobs doing massive AoE damage to melee DPS and throwing random stuff at ranged, everyone getting loads of damage. (Unless CC'd) Mana costs really high, some healers OOM after one pack, health pools really high.

It's not similiar to vanilla at all, vanilla healing was really easy, almost to the point of being boring.

[harky]

I don't know what game you were playing or what you were smoking. DPS did not get insta-gibbed during WotLK.

Didn't do Ulduar, or ToGC? DPS certainly did get insta-gibbed in WotLK. Mostly due to stupidity.


Anyway, Cataclysm is more like TBC and Vanilla healing than WotLK healing. There are more mechanics that cause stupid people to die, but in general it's not your responsibility to heal them when they do it. In that respect there are 'insta-gibs' in Cata once again. There were in Vanilla as well though as any Rogue who decided to stand too close to a dragon's head will tell you.

Healing is more rewarding now. You will be complemented for being a good healer because the skill gap is back. Mana is a concern, heal selection is a concern, target priority is a concern and awareness is a concern. Most of the good parts of Vanilla and TBC are back, while most of the crappy parts are gone.

[Jiraiyah]

I havent played a holy priest in a while, but I did heal in Vanilla and from what I've seen, healers have never had it this hard before.

Mobs doing massive AoE damage to melee DPS and throwing random stuff at ranged, everyone getting loads of damage. (Unless CC'd) Mana costs really high, some healers OOM after one pack, health pools really high.

It's not similiar to vanilla at all, vanilla healing was really easy, almost to the point of being boring.

You'll notice most of the mobs doing massive AoE damage are quite susceptible to CC and interrupts

You'll also notice more and more of those random things being thrown at DPS causing DPS to die and eventually avoid said random things.

It's not healers who have it hard, really. It's everyone else. All of the content I've seen so far appears to have been designed to be unique encounters with fairly specific strategies in mind, leaving it up to everyone involved to find the best way to deal with it. Once a group is taking care of business properly, you'll find keeping everyone alive to be fairly easy.

This make cataclysm far, far more interesting than the repetitive spamming of Lich King.

[Ethesae]

Its similar in that mana is truly your concern (tank dies when you OOM, not when you blink) but as far as HOLY PRIESTS are concerned, it is completely different.

In Vanilla we had: Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Down-ranked Heal (Rank 5 was the best if memory serves), Renew, Prayer of Healing and Power Word: Shield. (Lightwell was borked. Not even going to list it) This is why Vanilla healing was considered truly "boring." There just wasn't much diversity in heals.

Add to the mix: Penance, Circle of Healing, Prayer of Mending, Chakra, Holy Word: Sanctuary, Holy Word: Serenity, Guardian Spirit, Pain Suppression, Power Word: Barrier, Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, Shadowfiend, Leap of Faith, Inner Will/Focus Twisting and my new favorite, Lightwell 2.0.

Vanilla and Cataclysm are VERY different when it comes to Holy Priests. We just have so many frakkin spells now. Don't get me wrong, I like it when they give us new spells, but unless keyboards give me another modifier, I'm not gonna have any room on my bars.

[Ethris]

Maybe other people had different experiences, but most of the wipes I can remember involve long drawn-out deaths. Sometimes we'd lose a player to stupid placement, but you're not meant to stand in a void zone and live.

[Kelesti]

We just have so many frakkin spells now.

I think I love you.

Don't get me wrong, I like it when they give us new spells, but unless keyboards give me another modifier, I'm not gonna have any room on my bars.

F1-F3. Chakra Activate, Lightwell, Divine Hymn.

Hey look, I found three more buttons!

[Deleted]

In Vanilla you would call out when you would do a long heal (big heal) so that others would stress their healing for the time it took you to cast greater heal.
In Wrath overhealing was no measure because it worked very differently for the healing classes. As a shaman overheal means you heal when it was absolutely not needed. As a druid and paladin overheal would mean that you are doing your job right. Priests would fall back on both parts as they have massive shields.
It was hard to compare healers. Pallys and Druids would go epenis about the overhealing meter and as a shamanhealer I would go epenis about the healing meter (because crits meant a heal to a target nobody else would be able to reach just as fast). In the end healing was about WHO you healed WHEN. On saurfang people with the mark would get more dmg than the tanks at some point. If you were the first healer to be called out you would win the healing meter.
Airship you would win, if you healed the tank that went to the other side. Sometimes in Pugs you would watch how the "tankhealers" would stick to one tank even though the other taunted the boss off.
The best healer would be the one that knew the mechanics, had enough mana (I did see druids go oom really fast but then healing decent at 5% mana), and healed the person that was taking dmg or was about to take dmg.

I havent raided in cata yet. In instances healers are largely dependent on how good the group works around avoidable dmg and if they use their defensive CDs which is still avoidable dmg if you ask me. Also if the boss doesnt die thats a manaeater.

Pallys in classic.. werent they known to not be able to do anything right? All pallys ever did in classic was re-buff. NON STOP! just like shamans came, put their totems out and then ran away for the pull to be an out of combat rezzer. It changed of course but for a long time that were their roles.