Yes, I have a paladin. Some of you know that, I suspect some of you don’t. I know for a fact that very, very few of you know that I actually heal on said Paladin.
Heal instances, even.
All if you who just shivered or otherwise suddenly felt a great deal of fear are forgiven. It’s ok. I’m not exactly a very… responsible person when it comes to my actions.
Cue Scholomance flashback:
Tank: “Do we need to kill all the trash first? What happens if we just pull the bosses?”
Me: “Let’s find out!” /cast Frostbolt
(Those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, there’s a room in Scholo with dozens of neutral, non-elite trash mobs. However, they all turn into hostile elites and immediately engage the party if the boss is pulled first. Good times.)
Cue Wailing Caverns flashback:
Healer: “lol ur easy to heal. much harder at 70″
Me (as warrior tank): “Really? Ok” *swaps to 2H weapon and battle stance*
I believe it was Flirt who said “Yeah… I don’t trust you to tank anything.”
You are hereby forgiven for your lack of faith.
Being a healer has some… rather harsh lessons accompanied with it. So far I’ve done tons of random battlegrounds, and dabbled in a couple instances.
It’s… an adjustment from being a purist DPS class, to say the least.
The first thing I learned in an instance was priorities. My top priority was to keep myself alive. I’m no good to the tank dead. Second priority is the tank. Rarely was there ever a conflict between these two priorities, and when there was, Lay on Hands or bubble easily removed one or the other.
DPS, obviously, are below the tank and I in importance. And even then, I quickly arrange them into which DPS are more important to heal, and which ones I can deem acceptable to allow to die.
As an example, say the DPS make-up was as follows: fury warrior, frost mage, elemental shaman.
Of those three, the warrior takes top priority. Being melee, he can get wtf gibbed far faster than the casters, who at least have time to react to sudden aggro pulls. The warrior is also putting out the most DPS, and therefore is more valuable.
The frost mage has many survivability options, and I know for a fact this mage has glyph of evocate. He can survive many things, and even heal himself. The elemental shaman has less options, but unlike the mage, actually can heal himself of random damage. Both can be safely neglected if need be.
This, I think, was the strangest thing I had to learn. To weigh my options, come to the realization that someone was going to die, and then deciding who that was.
It’d be great to lie and say it was a difficult decision… but in truth, it wasn’t. It was surprisingly easy to say “you die, you don’t” and move on. No guilt. No second thoughts. A snap decision, and now the hunter is face down on the floor.
I’m not sure what this says about me.
Second thing I learned was that HOLY LIGHT IS A MANA HOG HOLY CRAP. There’s a possibility I sort of panicked on the first boss and leaned a little too heavily on my 3 key and was basically sucking fumes with the boss at 40% health.
Must remind myself to continue leveling. I have a need. A need for Divine Plead.
Third thing I learned is that healing PvE content without Beacon of Light is completely, totally, and utterly impossible. How the HELL did paladins heal anything pre-patch 3.0?
Getting away from PvE stuff, I’ve learned quite a bit in battlegrounds.
For instance, I think the hugest challenge to healing is the ridiculously overpowered line of sight.
Seriously, line of sight is brutal. Spec into x-ray vision all you want, line of sight will chew you up and use you like the whore in bubblegum wrap you are.
I think I might have messed up my metaphor there. Oh well.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more frustrating than trying to heal someone and seeing that stupid red text.
HURR HURR U CAN’T CAST
I bear nothing but the raging hatred of a thousand Sunwell wipes towards those that make my life far more difficult than it needs to be.
Dear all past healers I may have broken LoS with:
I am sorry. Just… for everything. Really. I’m sorry.
Another thing that is, apparently, extremely important, is Stamina.
That buggered stat that I never bothered using years ago in PvP, firmly believing more spellpower was the way to go…
Dear all past healers that attempted to keep a sub-2k HP fire mage alive in PvP:
I am so sorry. My sorrow is deep enough for Fatigue to afflict those attempting to delve it’s depths. Please come back. I made you delicious pastries.
It’s almost surreal trying to heal someone when my Holy Light heals for more than their entire hit point pool. Crit heals are hilariously superfluous in such a situation.
I’ve caught myself screaming “Get some damn stamina!” at my screen far more than once. I always feel a little stab of… something, I’m not sure what. But it fades quickly, and I go back to raging at all these idiots around me who refuse to get more stamina.
The final thing I’ve learned… I’m actually quite fond of being a utility class.
Spotting a warrior rooted by a frost mage, and tagging him with Hand of Freedom… dispelling Polymorph… rescuing a mage from an evil DK with Hammer of Justice, then promptly getting the DPS ball rolling with Judgement of Justice and Holy Shock before going back to Flash spam…
It’s weird to feel so… useful.
Yeah, I’m a numbers whore, I still crack into a huge grin or even laugh when I crit heal people, but the ability to sit back, survey the battle field, and apply my skills exactly where needed, when needed, is rapidly becoming an addiction.
It’s something I practically never get to experience as a mage.
Maybe it’s just a fad I’m going through, thanks to playing a Warlord in D&D 4e.
It makes me smile whenever a DPS player tries healing, especially pally healing!
Having an SPriest alt, I am sometimes called upon to heal stuff and things. I had a wise shaman (no RP, he’s a RL coworker of mine) tell me once his secret to healing. He stated that healing was like Whack-A-Mole – find the one dropping, click on him, and heal him. Helped me out tremendously!
Hehe, well I have a druid healer so I’m not a total stranger to healing. It is very different from DPS and one thing It did for me was make me a lot more aware of other peoples actions. I mean obviously you have to be a healer to appreciate how hard other people make it for them, but rather than just focusing on yourself, you’re focusing on everyone and if someone does something silly and makes your life harder it certainly does get noticed.
I’m actually levelling a Pally at the moment. Retri with Heirloom items is just insane, move over DKs. I don’t know if I’ll stay DPS or Tank/Heal at 80. As I already have a healer I’d be leaning towards the other 2. That said, Paladin heals can be very sexy.
Oh and of course, as a Druid healer LoS issues are slightly less annoying because of our HoTs. That’s not to say it still isn’t a massive, rage-inducing pain though
More Flash of Light and Holy Shock heals, less Holy Light. Don’t forget Sacred Shield and you can Judge Light on Seal of Wisdom; well at least that is what I do in 5 mans!
I switched it up from my mage to a druid. Only thing I did on it was feral tank and resto and LOVED it, was pretty good at it too for coming from a mage.
Something you should add is…rerolling to a tank or healing class, like you said about noticing stamina and all that, is you see things through all your old tank and healer buddies eyes. I can only imagine the type of words flying at Angermage from the mouths of my tanks and healers.
It is something I would definitely recommend for any pure dps class.
My first week of druid tanking, I was all cautious and if a dps pulled off me I would taunt it back…BUT after about a month of that…well…guess who started dying.
I could see from the tanks perspective how annoying it is when dps pulls the mob with the mark corresponding to last kill off of you while {Skull} is still alive…and so they would die…no more taunty from me.
As a healer (lol) if I saw the mob marked last kill pull to a dps…if the tank took the time to taunt it back, then I would heal the poor dps…but if the tank was as annoyed as I was…guess who died.
So now I’m back on my mage…and it’s like I’m floating above my little clothy body watching everything with a dps, healer, and tank perspective all at once and has made my repair bills and relationships with healers and tanks much much better.
Now I get to laugh at the dps that have never played a tank and don’t realize “hai uuu dpser! eet takez moar than 1 second for me to get AoE threat on all these guiz” they pop out their AoE right on the pull…top the meter for that pull and accept their rez, rebuff, eat some a my strudel ‘n get back to fighting.
I have all 3…a dps mage, a healy priest and a prot pally for tanking. It definitely gives you different insight into gameplay and a certain appreciation for people who know how to play their classes in difficult situations.
I have never understood people, who have a class that is capable of healing or tanking, but refuse to fill those roles. Why would you not use the abilities of the class to fill a role that is always needed in a group? It makes me cringe when I hear Warrior say, “I don’t tank.” Or, a Priest say, “I don’t heal.” It always makes me think less of them, because I immediately think they are a weak player and unable to take on the stress/responsbility of tanking or healing in a group. Of course, they could just think that dps’ing is what its all about, but we all know that its not.
Personally, I enjoy the challenge of being the person responsible for making the group successful, which is why I enjoy healing and tanking. However, there are times, when I just want to have some fun without the added stress of feeling responsible for the group’s success and that’s when I just pew pew with my mage.
“It’s weird to feel so… useful.”
That feeling? That feeling is what pulled me away from the Warlock in TBC. Originally my Paladin was going to be my PvP dude (healing in BGs) while my Warlock continued to raid.
But then I did a 5-man. And I realized… “this group could NOT have finished this run without me”. My Warlock never had that feeling. The only thing I could remember doing that was useful was putting a Soul Stone on the right person. Woo. Hoo.
Now, 2 years later, my Paladin is fully my main. I’ve healed and tanked and done DPS at the end-game. My Warlock (who still gets tons of love) just hit level 78 while my other alts languish in the early 70s.
Oh… and healing TBC content as a Holy Paladin without Beacon wasn’t too bad. At least not until MgT was added. Holy crap that place was like a brick wall of pain for us single target dudes.
I agreez with you Dubldeez. I only got moonkin gear on my druid because my guild wanted a moonkin for the raid buff. I absolutely hate looking for groups and asking a tank/heal class if they can tank or heal and bein’ told they’re dps. I always end up respecing for instances and then back for raids. If these people “don’t tank and don’t heal” then why didnt you at least get some brains and roll a mage so you can at least be at the top of the meterz. mwahahahahahahahahaha
I too have a Paladin alt that I am leveling after getting a bit bored on my Mage at 80 endgame. My first level 60 back in pre-BC days was an Alliance Paladin so I know the game but now it is so much easier to level then it was back then (The improvements to Ret are crazy) and having as many heirloom items as I can get doesn’t hurt either. My plan is to Tank and Heal at 80 with dual-specs and I cannot wait, I’ve already tanked and healed almost all of the instances I can visit for my level so far and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. I love being in LFG and saying “I can Tank, Heal or DPS”. The sad thing I see happening when dual-specs come to live is that most people who CAN tank or heal with their classes but currently DPS instead will probably just make a PVP DPS spec and still never want to Tank on their Warrior or Heal on their Priest, as others have said, they don’t want the responsibilities that go along with being the most important people in the group or raid.
My pally is lvl 25 at the moment – I’m leveling retardin, but hope to heal eventually. I miss healing sometimes. Blasting things can be so destructive.
Eh…now that I take another look at it. I probably woulndn’t want that warrior dps, that doesn’t want to tank, to tank for me or that priest dps, that doesn’t want to heal, to heal for me. Chances are they would probably be over the top horrible at it and just waste more time than sitting in lfg waiting for one that actually cares. haha I now hope that they do use their dual spec for a pvp spec so they don’t ruin my heroics/raids.
I was just like you on my Druid Ryuk. Join LFG and either grab a healer and make a group in 5 min. or get invited to one within 2 min. Sure beats /2ing for tank and heals as a mage.
Although…a lot of the Heroic Achievements are up to the dps 
so when my group gets those I feel important again.
That sound you hear right now? that’s the sound of healers and tanks cheering at one more enlightened dps that will no longer throw them into murderous rage.
Ever since I tried healing (and more recently – tanking) – groups love me a lot more and an occasional tank or healer tells me in whisper : “hunters like you are the reason I’m still healing/tanking”
it is such a warm fealing – being useful. and it really does transfer to your dps characters, since you now see what is going on around you better, with a new perspective, and in a future you might be that person who sees an add on a healer, pick it up and kite it back to a tank, thus saving your group from a wipe, while other dps are blindly pew pewing away. A very warm feeling
Well, I am just happy to read a post like this. I love when people see the light. (Bad pun intended) Great post.
Yeah Leah I’d put money on that before I tanked and healed…(I can’t really remember)…but if I saw an add get on a healer I was probably just like….eh healer will kite it to tank.
After having to kite mobs back to the tank as resto druid, not that it was really tough but it would have been a lot easier for a dps to slap it off me and kite it over, I do that now.
I definitely miss my droood tho
They need to add talent tree “Fire of Life” to mages…give them a shapeshift form of a ball of fire that floats around and casts fireball graphic’d heals…
I’d be bangin’ that healy mage out for sure !!!!
LMAO, healing post 3.0 wasnt that bad, heal the tank, let everyone else die, use bubble judiciously.
I never would have pegged you for a holy pally though. .
A couple of things:
1) I think it’s always good to “walk a mile in another man’s shoes”. I think it’s always good to know what to expect from others’ classes (though that’s not carte blanche to criticize the playing of classes not really your own), and is doubly important for people who want to help run raids… I do think there’s a lot of assumptions made about “other classes” made by players that lead to difficulties in communications.
2) You play D&D 4e regularly? Wow. I’ve not heard much about the playing of said game, though I do own the books. (Plays a lot more like WoW, than 3e.) I’d be curious to hear how you think it plays, and how it compares to previous editions.
My 2 yen,
Akiosama
@ Akiosama
IMO, it’s far more streamlined than 3.5, I play it regularly with a collection of good friends. I’m a cleric (albeit a damage-oriented one), and I like how the rules were simplified in some areas. There are now far fewer skill, meny being condensed. Think Morrowind-> Oblivion, with in the former you had a different skill for each weapon(spear, short blade, long blade, ect,) in Oblivion you just had Blade and Blunt.
@ Akiosama
It feels a lot less archaic, if that makes sense. A lot of things that used to be needlessly complicated have been significantly streamlined.
.
You can say “dumbed down” if you really want to
It runs a lot faster than 3.5 did. Far less time is spent figuring out rules and how stuff works, so more time is spent actually playing.
Though that might be because the DM I have now is better.
@ vlad
I’m not at level cap yet, so I don’t have Sacred Shield at my disposal.
Using Glyph of Flash of Light/Holy Light at the moment. Seems to me like the others aren’t as important.
Then again, what do I know?
@Fish: Holy Paladins are the Mages of healing. We throw lots of big single heals (19k Holy Light crit FTW).
@ Euripedes: Holy Light is (in my experience) not that useful in smaller groups. One: tanks rarely take enough damage to justify a HL. Two: your DPS is often mixed between melee and casters which makes the AoE heal portion sometimes wasted. You might try Glyph of Seal of Light instead. YMMV, of course.
Yeah, it’s good to feel useful isn’t it? I have 4 80s (Mage, Warrior, Shaman and Paladin), they’re all spec’ed currently for DPS because I’m still “developing” them (finishing quests, grinding rep, farming for professions and making crafted gear, etc), but I was called upon to heal an otherwise level-appropriate Amphitheater PuG on my poorly-geared Retadin and even without any spellpower on my equipment at all, and a pathetic mana pool and MP5 (I’ve been building up a healing set, but it was in the bank at the time), I was able to get us through it. Sheath of Light FTW.
It’s a rush when you step out of your usual role and are actually able to pull off a feat that most people would consider very difficult or impossible. The Feral Druid in the group even complimented me afterwards. We’ll see if I can be lured out of my DPS shell to develop both the Pally and the Shaman as full-blown healers. That’s my Master Plan (with the Warrior becoming a tank as well), but up until that Amphitheater “surprise” I was very much lacking confidence in my ability to heal higher-end content (I haven’t been the main healer in a level-appropriate instance since about Sunken Temple, you see). Now I’m much more optimistic about my odds for success.
Yeah… I don’t trust you to tank anything.
I really have to admit, arenas with you and Vox were one of the most interesting healing experiences of my life. Kind of like putting band aids on tissue paper in the mouth of a very angry, very slobbery bulldog.
But I’m glad you’re liking it!