Tag Archives: pally

There’s this patch on the PTR and it’s driving me crazy!

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As my regular readers know, I’ve went to work full time!  Yay!  However, this leaves me with lots of obligation and very little time.  Boo!  I will be taking my Guides down until I have time to update them, however, I will leave some great links up for the various healing blogs being written out there!  If you write a healing blog that you’d like shared, please let me know!

I will leave my farming/cooking guide up for now, as *most* of the info it contains is not going to be outdated when the patch drops!

While I do NOT plan to stop writing entirely at this time, my posts are going to become even less frequent as a result of little time and minimal time healing this expansion thus far.  I do plan to update my guides and have them back up once the patch hits and there are resources to link to (and I have time to actually put them together!)

My Healer Resource Guide as is:

http://healingmains.com/guides/healer-resources/

We are always looking for more resources, so if you’d like to be included, OR know a source that would be a nice addition, please let me know in the comments!

Guide Section Added

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We’ve added pages with links to the Mists of Pandaria Guides!

Gear Lists for Pre Raiding:
http://healingmains.com/mists-of-pandaria-gear-lists/

Guides for Healing after 5.0.4

http://healingmains.com/mists-of-pandaria-class-guides504/

Be sure to check there if you are looking for information on your healing class and/or gear going into Mists of Pandaria!  If you’ve got a gear list or guide you’d like to have featured, drop me an email at Eluna (at) healing mains (dot) com (without the spaces and with the symbols!) and I’ll get it added :-)

I do still plan on adding a guide of healer consumables and the mats needed for them in the near future!

Big thanks to the linked blogs/sites for publishing their content for us to view.  I do not own, nor claim to have contributed to any content linked.

 

Guild Leader Perspective: Big patches

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Hey, I heard we may be getting a patch on Tuesday…did you?  Yeah, yeah, ok, even though I’ve been living under a rock the past couple of weeks, I’ve been aware of the patch since it was announced!  As a guild leader, I’ve been reminding folks about patch day for about a week now.  Even though most of my guild mates are as up to date as I am, it never hurts to remind people about things!

Given that this Tuesday is the BIG PATCH before Pandaria, with the Theremore event and such, some things that are very important to remember:

  1. Look for add-on updates now! (WoW Insider did a great write up on this!)
  2. Check out the class changes! (Priest, Pally, Druid, Shammy) *I did a google search, I’ve not checked out any of these links (except wtsheals)!*
  3. Be prepared for add-on breakage!
  4. Be prepared for the servers to be down…while Blizzard does a really good job, sometimes expecting the worst leaves us pleasantly surprised!
  5. Breathe!  What we see Tuesday is the pre-expansion patch, it may be buggy, it may be unbalanced and it may be wonderful.  What it won’t be?  The end of the world.

Now is the time to play with your talents!  Go discover what changes you need to adjust for, and be ready for Mists of Pandaria.  If you are planning on changing specs, this is not a bad time to do so, when everyone is relearning their class changes.  Now is also the BEST TIME to let your guild or raid leader know if you are going to make any changes….perhaps you want to swap classes, or raid more, or raid less, or even quit!  Let them know so that they can recruit or adjust their rosters accordingly!

Oh and if you haven’t upgraded (or preordered) your expansion yet, you should really get that done!

Please leave a comment if you have a great resource not mentioned!

The secret meaning behind healer comments

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This post is meant entirely to be funny, no actual raid members were harmed in the creation of this post….mostly

How about a nice light post for today?  Well here you go:

What your healer says:
Guys we need to avoid more damage
What your healer means:
GET OUT OF THE FIRE BEFORE I STAB YOU IN THE EYE WITH THIS KEY!

What your healer says:
Can we focus some?
What your healer means:
I can’t hear DBM please STFU!

What your healer Says:
The tank just suddenly started taking a ton of damage
What your healer means
I was thirsty, and looked away from the screen long enough to open my soda…sorry!

What your healer says:
Did you change your spec?
What your healer  means:
You’re dying and I don’t know why but likely you have a fishing pole equipped like the last time this happened…..(kurby).

What your healer says:
Oh of course you’re easy to heal
What your healer means:
Yes, yes indeed I am very drunk right now

What your healer says:
Sure I’ll heal your new tank through some heroics
What your healer means:
*eye twitch*

*eyetwitches* And that is the secret behind the calm and collected healers of of our guild!  *drinks more rum*

Healing Stats and You

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So, now that you’re trying to earn that plus sign by getting healer gear, you’re wondering…what exactly do they mean by healer gear?  What makes gear for healers?! Well have a seat and we’ll talk about what stats are useful, keep in mind this is written with the intention of being used as a healing only point of view, so we aren’t considering offsepc usefulness!

Intellect

One of the most important stat you’ll find on any healing gear.  If the gear does not have intellect, you do not want this to equip.  What does intellect do for you?  Currently it provides more mana, it affects your regeneration of mana and it provides more spellpower and critical strike.  Going into Mists of Pandaria, it will no longer affect how large your mana pool is, nor how you regenerate mana, but it will continue to provide spellpower along with critcal strike.  The most important part though, is if the item doesn’t have intellect it has a stat that doesn’t do anything at all for you.  Like Agility or Strength.  We don’t want that!

Spirit

Spirit is a healers best friend.  Seriously.  You want it!  Right now, My druid is comfortable with around 2500 Spirit on her gear, with rarely any mana problems unless things are goign badly.  The amount of spirit you need at this point in the game is a personal choice, if you are running out of mana early in a fight and you are not over-healing, you need more.  If you are ending a fight with lots of mana left over and people are living fine, you could probably reforge some of it off.

Spellpower

If you find gear with spellpower on it, it is useful, however mostly at maximum level you’ll only find this stat on weapons.

Haste

Haste allows your direct spells (non hot/dot) to cast faster, but it also affects HOTs!  HOTs last the same duration with haste as without but have the duration between ticks shortened.  This means that if you have enough haste your spells can gain extra ticks gaining a ton of effectiveness.  Each healing class has different haste “caps” they are looking to hit to where haste is most effective.  Priest, Druid, Shaman, Paladin (click your class for a link to that information!).

Mastery and Crit

Mastery and Crit are tricky, because each class has its own flavor based on how mastery is balanced at that point in time.  Both are useful, but I recommend reading the class guides from the Haste section, to see what is being suggested for your particular class and/or style.

Those are the stats you should look for as a healer.  If the gear does not have Intellect and one of the other stats listed, you should not use it…I’m looking at YOU “of the Gorilla” gear! Once you get to higher levels, that won’t be as much of a problem as it is at lower levels.  Always avoid gear that doesn’t have Intellect on it!

As always though, each person plays their character a little different than the next, while I like my spirit level, others may be comfortable with less and others may want more.  The important measure of your stats is “did we kill internet dragons without letting people die”.  If you are looking for help with gear, I would suggest checking out the forums over at Plus Heal  I’ve always found them to be helpful and honest about my questions, while not being jerks about it :-)  (it’s scary out there as a new healer!)

Mists of Pandaria: An Early Look at Consumables – Alchemy

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It’s a given that Mists of Pandaria are still in Beta, but, I did promise more cheat sheets on my last post about cooking.  I’m not going to list every possible flask, potion or elixir here…what I will list are ones that pertain to the Healing aspect of wow.  I am not a theorycrafter at all, therefore if you are looking to find best in slot sort of information, this is not the blog you are looking for.

Flasks, Potions and Elixirs

When it comes to Flasks, you’re going to want to go with which stat you need the most.  If you’re having regen problems, go with Spirit! If you’re not go with Int!  With Elixirs you always want to use two at a time, one Guardian and one Battle.  The combo is really up to what you need stat-wise.  As for potions, I generally tend to use mana potions, but there are several other options!

Flasks:  

Flask of Falling Leaves - Increases Spirit by 1000 for 60 min.
Mats Needed: Crystal Vial, Green Tea Leaf (4), Golden Lotus

Flask of the Warm Sun - Increases Intellect by 1000 for 60 min.
Mats Needed: Crystal Vial, Silkweed (4), Golden Lotus

Elixirs:

Elixir of Peace - Increases Spirit by 750 for 60 min. Battle Elixir.
Solid choice I would choose this if I needed more mana regeneration or if a haste elixir would adversely affect my haste numbers.

Elixir of the Rapids - Increases haste rating by 750 for 60 min. Battle Elixir.
If I did not need the Spirit elixir, I would choose this one instead

Monk’s Elixir - Increases your mastery rating by 750 for 60 min. Battle Elixir
This is the battle elixir of my choice, as currently mastery > crit for most healers

Mad Hozen Elixir - Increases critical strike rating by 750 for 60 min. Battle Elixir (note:  most people don’t focus on crit for their healers, at the time of this writing, but I included it just in case)

Potions:

Master Mana Potion - Restores 28500 to 31500 mana
This is the mana pot most people will carry around for everyday use, stock up on these!

Master Healing Potion - Restores 60000 health
As a healer, I don’t generally keep health potions on me, I give these to my favorite rogue!

Potion of Focus - Puts the imbiber in an elevated state of focus where they can restore up to 45000 mana over 10 sec, but they are defenseless until their focus is broken
This is my absolute FAVORITE mana regen, I carry a stack of these to use when I have a moment to regen mana while my fellow healers heal.  Even if you only get to use half of it’s duration its larger than the regular mana potion!

Potion of the Jade Serpent - Increases Intellect by 4000 for 25 sec
These can be pretty good for crunch time or to prepot at the start of the fight

There you go ladies and gents!  Granted, this is a list from the beta, so it could become incomplete or completely outdated very quickly.  I also did not include alchemy only items!

If you would like a more complete list of what’s going on in Mist of Pandaria for Alchemy, you should check out WoWhead’s Guide. It’s pretty darn awesome!

Earning your Plus Sign

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There are some things you must learn before earning the “plus sign” role of healer.  ”Dear goodness this woman is mad”, you may be thinking, “anyone can click the plus sign and get through ok enough”.  You would be right, but selecting the role and earning the right to select it are two different things entirely.

Sometimes, Good Healers Must Let Someone Die

Not out of feelings of vindication “that jerk hunter won’t feign so I’m just not going to heal them”…no, that is something entirely different.  However, Mr Melee shaman and tank are both taking heavy damage, if I stop healing Tank he will die!  Is fine…you whisper the shaman and apologize if you feel the need, but it happens.  Now in the case “jerk hunter” are you entirely sure his aggro is his fault?  Because if not, you’re going to look like an ass.  I’ve been there, we’ve all been there.  Don’t be vindictive, but do triage.

Healing Gear is Vital

I don’t care if you are a dps spec healing your way until dual spec drops.  As long as you are keeping everyone alive, most people won’t even notice.  But if you’re doing it in gear not designed for healing, you’re doing it wrong.  Make sure you have the mana to be able to pull it off.  This is also true for people with a healing spec trying to heal their way up.  Know what stats you need.  Healing gear is vital, but not so vital that you should be taking gear from dps classes.  Ask before needing on +hit gear.  Ask before needing on gear that isn’t your intended type (ie cloth, leather, mail).

Be Vocal About Your Needs

If you need mana, be vocal about it.  If you can keep going, let the tank know.  Tanks have it just as hard guessing if 50 percent mana is a need to stop and drink as we do trying to reach them when they forge ahead while you are drinking.  Let the group know what you need.  If its your first few times healing, tell them.  Most groups are pretty understanding if they know they are working with someone new, or know ahead of time you may need to drink often.  If they are abusive or won’t listen?  Leave.  The timer is better than a group who can’t take 5 seconds for a healer to drink or use some crowd control to help even out the damage.

You WILL be Blamed

When people die, they will blame you.  It will happen.  It doesn’t matter that that person was standing in the fire, or tanking the mob that was supposed to be sheeped.  They will BLAME you.  It doesn’t matter that the tank is a ret pally in holy gear, they will blame you.  Usually pointing out what actually happened can result in one of two things.  The person stops doing what got them killed or one of you will be vote kicked.  Don’t let it get to you.  If you did everything you could and people died because their play-style is…well…bad, there’s nothing you could have done differently.

But…Sometimes it IS Your Fault

Sometimes you could have done better.  It’s a learning experience.  If you are having a hard time, ask if there’s a strategy you could be using to do it differently.  Perhaps there is a dispel you are are missing, or a cool-down you could use to improve your ability to get through the rough part.  You’ve already let the group know you’re a new healer right?  Usually people will offer some pretty good insight you may not have thought about.  They may have some tricks that help you out be it crowd control or interrupts or a good strat.

Know Your Abilities

If you can dispel, make sure you have your UI set up to show you when there is something you can dispel.  If you have some pretty awesome spells to use on other people, read up and find out when or how they should be used.  Don’t be that guy!  You know the hunter who, when asked to use flare, states they didn’t spec into flare.  (Yes that was me on my hunter at one time!).  Healers usually have a huge arsenal of spells at their disposal, which are easy to overlook when you get used to using a few spells all of the time.

 

Earning your plus sign can be a hard and discouraging road, particularly with people who are not understanding.  But it’s also a rite of passage.  To become a good healer, you’ve got to earn it.

 

What other examples do you have for earning the plus sign??

 

Tips for Transitioning to a Different Healing Class

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Many people who decide they are main spec healers, wind up having several healing classes to choose from in their day to day play.  This can get confusing, particularly if you play one healing class more than the rest…I still try to fade on my druid!  With the overall current feel of the classes, this isn’t as hard as it could be, but may take some work.  How you set up your keybinds and UI can play a big part in this.

Compare your Skills
Each class has a cheap slow heal, an expensive quick heal, and a long cast big heal.  It is called different things for each class, but everyone has it.  There are other comparisons, such as a druid’s rejuvenation to a priest’s renew to a shaman’s riptide.  Once you’ve compared your skills, and get a real feel for what is the same, then you can focus on what is different.  What has really helped me, is to then key-bind the similar spells first.  If my right-click is always my long cast big heal, then that is what I bind it as on every healer I have.  My mouse-wheel is always a quick instant heal (Prayer of Mending, Swiftmend, ect).  I use shift right-click for my magic dispel on every healer. (or decursive, I still use decursive!)  This makes your key-bindings become less of an issue and second nature no matter which class you are playing.

Compare your Cooldowns
I generally try to compare my cooldowns.  My go-to spell when the poop hits the fan?  Yep, always on my action bar, but really close to my healing frames!  My mana regen?  Macro’d by the oh poop spell…macro’d because of all the times I’ve cast it on the mage by accident….!  I tend to fat finger sometimes…so they were taken off my mouse, your mileage may vary.  On my paladin all of my “hand of” spells are used with the mouse-over macro from last week.

Sort out the rest
Once you’ve figured out what is comparable and what is not, you can work on building each healer’s ui in a way that is the most useful to your own individual style.   Some people need more information at their disposal to heal well and others don’t need so much.  Since I am the raid leader when Kurby isn’t available, I tend to err on the side of lots of information.  What is most important for transitioning is that it is smooth.  Though two years later I do still wonder why my shadowmeld doesn’t sound like fade.

 

For my fellow altoholics, how do you transition?  Do you keep with a plan or play each character differently?