Primary Healer

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » February 8, 2005, 3:58 pm

How is it that the Druid has become the primary healer over a straight up Priest? I keep hearing in threads about, "If WoW expects us to be the primary healer then we need blah blah blah..." I had no idea that the Druid was supposed to be the primary healer in groups before I created one. Those that remember when I played Dohrum know that having me as your healer is a risky prospect depending on what is on tv at the time.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » February 8, 2005, 4:35 pm

Priests are still the "best" healer, but druids can do the job to certain extents. They're better at it than Shamen/Paladins (provided the druid actually heals and doesn't think he's pulling his weight playing some pseudo-wannabe-damage cat).

In other words, druids can be the main healer for a group fairly easily, but a lot of stupid people play druids.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » February 8, 2005, 5:51 pm

With the shortage of folks playing priests, druids are the next best thing. Not as good as a priest, but a lot better than a shaman.

Ebumar · Post by **Ebumar** » February 8, 2005, 6:03 pm

<---- IS PLAYING A PRIEST

masteen · Post by **masteen** » February 8, 2005, 6:29 pm

Priests are gonna be even more rare if Blizzard keeps fucking nerfing us.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » February 8, 2005, 6:53 pm

That's ridiculous, priests are powerful in solo, group and raid situations, both PvE and PvP. They're one class that can "do it all".

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » February 8, 2005, 7:15 pm

I started a priest when I first started playing but switched to a druid because I could solo much better. Granted I may have not played the priest as well as it could have when I started mainly because it was my first character and I think I moved out too fast from my homeland before I was supposed to.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » February 8, 2005, 7:30 pm

It's my understanding that priests start out pretty ho hum but it's their talents that can make them stupid ridiculous.

Damiarch · Post by **Damiarch** » February 8, 2005, 10:31 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:It's my understanding that priests start out pretty ho hum but it's their talents that can make them stupid ridiculous.

Yep. Shadowform is seriously deadly. I loathe the thought of having to respec holy for raids at 60. I love being able to hold my own soloing and PvPing. I'm hoping my skill and background experience as a cleric will make up for the lack of healing bonuses at the high end PVE encounters.

As for the topic, Druids definitely can sub for a priest in healing. They just have to be good at it. I haven't heard of a shaman as main healer for a group before. Be interesting to see if that's possible. I bet they could, again if they're really good.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 9, 2005, 2:25 am

Druids can easilly function as the main healer in most situations, but what always got on my nerves was grouping with stupid priests. I understand that most spec'd towards solo PvE and PvP though. Having a priest (even a stupid one) with a Druid backup tends to work a bit better most of the time.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » February 9, 2005, 9:57 am

Damiarch wrote:I haven't heard of a shaman as main healer for a group before. Be interesting to see if that's possible. I bet they could, again if they're really good.

It's very doable on regular elites, against 60+ bosses it's borderline (for me). I'm not really geared for the role though. An "int at all costs" shaman does much better.

Janx · Post by **Janx** » February 9, 2005, 10:13 am

Shaman can be main healer NP, problem is most dont spec talents for restoration and instead go enhancement for 2h axe/mace flurry, crits etc.. Resto shaman do damn well though.

Problem with druid being main(only) healer in a group is limitation of their res spell.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » February 9, 2005, 10:30 am

IMO both shamen and druids can be main healers in a group. I prefer shaman over druid because of their reincarnate and resurrect abilities. Overall priests are better and they can alleviate some healing agro problems while shamen and druids cannot.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » February 9, 2005, 2:54 pm

Priest soloing without full shadow spec is MUCH less than ho-hum. Try "cock on a cheese grater" levels of frustration.

Tegellan · Post by **Tegellan** » February 9, 2005, 5:30 pm

How would a shaman with a full restoration spec fare as a main healer in a group? I am thinking of going that way and would like a little input on what talents are important in that regard.

TheDarkreigns · Post by **TheDarkreigns** » February 9, 2005, 7:10 pm

Shamans can definitely heal very well. The only problem is most shamans in groups weather they're the main healer or not seems to think they need to tank/melee.

Jice Virago · Post by **Jice Virago** » February 9, 2005, 8:55 pm

I don't see why that is a problem until you get to the higher end stuff. Heals are the best agro in this game and ig a shaman just self heals an entire fight everyone else can bust out full DPS with impunity and never draw agro. Clearly they are no warriors, but they can tank in most circumstances.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » February 10, 2005, 9:41 am

I'm going to vehemently disagree with Jice's post. If there is a shaman as a main healer, it usually means there is a tank he is supposed to be healing. A shaman should only be healing himself if he is NOT the main healer. Shamen cannot heal themselves, their tank and the other party members AND tank. It cannot be done, I've seen it tried though, and it makes me wanna rip their head open to see if there exists any brain there.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » February 10, 2005, 11:38 am

Depends on the group, you can't tank and melee but you can melee and heal just don't use any shock spells to get aggro off of ya... it's easy.

Again all depends on the group and WHERE you are playing though, I wouldn't really try it in a instance unless the tank was Xyun then ah... it's ok if he dies

j/k of course. Lower levels you can almost do both but that dosen't include all three (being the main tank) just can't do that.

Personally I like to be the secondary tank so that I can melee some and use my shock spells to keep the casters alive but each to his own, I solo most of the time so I'm sure by time I get to BRS someone is going to have to give me a heads up on what they have been doing the past month or so

Marb

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 10, 2005, 3:03 pm

Xyun wrote:I'm going to vehemently disagree with Jice's post. If there is a shaman as a main healer, it usually means there is a tank he is supposed to be healing. A shaman should only be healing himself if he is NOT the main healer. Shamen cannot heal themselves, their tank and the other party members AND tank. It cannot be done, I've seen it tried though, and it makes me wanna rip their head open to see if there exists any brain there.

but Jice just said the shaman self heals. As a Druid, I have done this through fights and just kept the aggro on myself by self-healing.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » February 10, 2005, 3:05 pm

The problem is that most shaman who try this are stupidly trying to tank adds while the warrior gets beat on.

Jice Virago · Post by **Jice Virago** » February 10, 2005, 3:09 pm

Well, we have had a static group of a Shaman, 3 hunters, and warlock with the shaman taking all the heat. Its worked fairly well for us, but obviously the higher instances require a warrior to tank the elites. For the bulk of the 1-50 stuff, though, its a viable tactic as long as the shaman has the anti interrupt talent maxed out. I agree that if a warrior is present that they should be doing the tanking, thats just a given. But even in that situation the Shaman is generally going to be tanking adds due to heal agro. Chain Heal is the key to being efficient at it and understand I am talking about grinding out 4-6 mob pulls with lots of AE/Multishot. Its quite a difference for Hunters (and Warlocks) when they can unload their max potential DPS without having to worry about getting assraped.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » February 10, 2005, 3:14 pm

ok i will concede that it is specific to where you are and what the group make up is. My only experience is with warrior though, so my view is slanted. In my mind, when a mob is hitting my healer, i'm not doing my job right.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » February 10, 2005, 6:45 pm

Xyun wrote:If there is a shaman as a main healer, it usually means there is a tank he is supposed to be healing. A shaman should only be healing himself if he is NOT the main healer.

I think you and Jice are talking about seperate places, mobs doing 400 or so dps on a 60 warrior aren't something a 60 shaman can tank for any period of time.

I've finished fights chain healing myself and keeping agro off the rogues, not a preffered strategy though.