raid-healing
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Raid Rx: How to determine healing spell priorities
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Following up from last week's piece on when to wipe, I want to take a closer look at healing priority in Cataclysm. Last year, I wrote an article discussing the different factors to consider when choosing your healing targets. I guess the question to ask is: Have things changed since then? Here are all the factors to consider: Inbound heals Cooldowns used Imminent damage Key players Accessibility There are bound to be others, but that's the main idea. Target priority hasn't changed much in Cataclysm. The question I continue to receive is what a player should actually do in terms of spell use. Let's do some healing analysis, and I'll walk you through what I do. Just do keep in mind that healing can have multiple right answers. Figure out what works for you and is effective for your raid group.
Raid Rx: When is a wipe a wipe?
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Seen the new Holy Word: Sanctuary spell graphic yet? That's what it'll look like, in the screenshot above, after patch 4.1. We're going to talk about panicking today. It is a common occurrence among healers, especially during raids. I have been known to lose my cool. But there are different types of panicking, and it helps to recognize them so that you are both aware of it and how you can best react to it. First, some additional healing changes and additions have been announced. Upcoming healing changes in patch 4.1 Druid Nature's Swiftness now also increases the healing done by the affected nature spell by 50%. Priest Holy Word: Sanctuary healing done has been increased by 35%. Shaman Cleansing Waters now has a 6-second internal cooldown. source My thoughts after the jump.
Raid Rx: Best practices for healing heroic Chimaeron
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Next big test on the raid list after taking down heroic Halfus is the heroic multi-face boss (commonly referred to as Chimaeron) in Blackwing Descent. No, Chimaeron isn't the dragons that are pictured above (although they're all in the same place). I haven't been able to get him down yet, since he is one tough dude. The reason why I've found Chimaeron more challenging than Halfus is because the Halfus encounter is over in a minute, if your raid can survive the initial rush. In Chimaeron, the healers are working overtime. We've been able to consistently get him down to the final phase. I imagine we're not the only ones who are still struggling with him (or it).
Raid Rx: Blackwing Descent healing playbook
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. No, this isn't the playbook that will help you secure your dreams and fantasies. This playbook is designed to act as a quick reference guide for normal mode bosses on 25-man. It can be nerve-wracking to organize six to eight healers in a 25-player setting. Sometimes you forget things. Sometimes you're not sure which player or which class is optimal for a given role. If you don't know where to start, then start here. (Note: The playbook assumes that the raid group has a basic understanding of encounter abilities and assorted phases.)
Raid Rx: Raid healing horror stories that taught us a thing or two
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. A new PTR build went online a few days ago. We're getting closer and closer to a release. Two weeks, perhaps? End of March? Ides of March even? Who knows? The Spirit Link totem has officially been added on the PTR. I've never heard Joe Perez squawk with so much glee before after using it in Zul'Aman. If you want to read more details on the totem, go read up on Joe's post about it. Other than a shortened cooldown on Tranquility for resto druids, still nothing on the defensive front. Chakra for priests now lasts a really long time! In fact, it lasts so long that the effect won't go away until it is canceled. I liked the whole Chakra volleying mechanic. It was an interesting way to add additional thought for holy priests. The last big change I want to note is the pushback protection that druids and priests are getting. Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, and Tranquility now have 100% pushback protection from damage. For those that didn't know, a pushback effect is caused when you take damage. When you cast a spell, it might take a little longer than normal because you've been hit by an enemy. This causes the casting bar to move back slightly. This week, I want to share some healing stories. Some will make you laugh; some will make you cry; and some will simply make you plant your face in your palm.
Raid Rx: Heroic Halfus healing case study
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and Matticast, the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast. If there ever was an encounter in which Atonement-specced priests really stood out, this would be it. Aside from that, Halfus on heroic mode is a great test for healing leaders and raid leaders on the art of syncing defensive cooldowns. Objective: Can your healing team help the raid survive the first minute of the encounter? Once you get past that first minute, the hardest part is over, and your raid will get there. In this post, I'll show you a textbook case of cooldown planning from start to finish. On the the matter of cooldowns, it looks like shaman will be getting their own fairly soon. Spirit Link Totem: Reduces damage taken by all party and raid members within 10 yards by 10%. This lasts 6 seconds, and every second it is active the health of all affected players is redistributed among them, such tha teach player end sup with the same percentage of their maximum health. This counts as an Air totem and has a 3 minute cooldown. For restoration druids, Malfurion's Gift appears to reduce Tranquility by 2.5/5 minutes. The actual effect of Tranquility has not changed. If I were to guess, I'd say it would get modified further for reduced incoming damage while the spell is being channeled. No confirmation yet either way. So how does one survive Halfus in the 25-player raid?
Raid Rx: An unofficial look at patch 4.1 healing changes and trinkets
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and Matticast, the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast. Information on the 4.1 patch has started slowly filtering through. Can you say nostalgia? I remember Zul'Gurub being one of my first raid instances. I was just a young dwarf priest then. My beard was still in the first stage of infancy. I remember trying to finish out the Zul'Gurub gear sets. While nothing is finalized just yet, there is an interesting ability being added that'll be of benefit to healing corps of all sizes. From who? Arms warriors! Rallying Cry *New* (Level 83) temporarily grants you and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 seconds. After the effect expires, the health is lost; 3-min, cooldown, instant. I don't know enough about melee DPS to determine whether or not an arms warrior is going to be attractive in raids or not with all those buffs, but I sure love seeing more defensive-minded cooldowns being spread out. No information as of yet on potential cooldowns for druids and shamans. You crazy and creative readers had much to say about it last week, so props to you guys. Although none of us will ever get to do much in terms of design, it is rather fun to try armchair game design once in a while. Some of the preliminary data out there shows slight changes inbound for healers.
Raid Rx: What druid and shaman cooldowns would you like to see?
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast, Matticast. No beating around the bush today. There were some upcoming healer changes that were announced earlier in the week. I can tell you as of right now, I'm worried about the Power Word: Shield change -- not because I think discipline priests will remain overpowered, but because holy might go the route. I'll explain that later on in the post. The main focus of today's post is defensive cooldowns for shaman and druids. I'm sure a number of players don't believe there's a need for the two classes to get defensive cooldowns, but in order to compete for utility, I think druids and shaman would benefit greatly from having those spells available. The argument here is that since the four healers are approximately the same across the board (from a throughput perspective), the edge might be given to paladins and priests because of the additional cooldowns they have to offer. Shaman and druids might end up being even more attractive in 10-player raids.
Raid Rx: No healing assignments?!
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast, Matticast. "I don't believe in healing assignments." Oof! Whenever I see those words, I wince as if though I've been punched in the gut. I still have difficulty believing how any group of healers can get to a telepathic level of healing without spending copious amounts of time playing with each other. Stuff like that takes time. How can anyone "know" who the other players are healing? I can't make an accurate assumption based on their class. I might be able to make an educated guess that the discipline priest is on the tank and the resto shaman is on the raid. But unless healer roles are spelled out by one of the leaders or by the healers themselves, it's adding an unnecessary burden. I like joining pickup raids on my shaman. I get to observe and see what mistakes are being made or what strategies are used. Healing is one aspect I pay close attention to in order to glean any possible insight.
Raid Rx: Delivering and receiving healer feedback
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast, Matticast. You ever get called out for being bad? I'm sure you have at some point. It might have been in a pickup group within the dungeon finder. Maybe it was in an organized raid with random players. Or perhaps it was by members of your own guild? It could happen at any level. You could be a lowbie working your way through The Deadmines alongside a bunch of players leveling alts. It really destroys your pride. You start reeking of self-doubt. People start whispering and talking about you when you're not around. "Why is that player so bad? He's terrible at this game. We need to find a replacement immediately." Something along those lines sound familiar? I daresay every healer has experienced the receiving end of words like that before. I know the immediate reaction is to lash back right away. As much as we healers like to wish it were true, we are not always right, and there are times where the reason the group isn't "getting there" is because of us. I think one of the hardest aspects about the game to learn is swallowing your own pride and really taking stock of your own abilities from an objective standpoint.
Spiritual Guidance: Priest healing tactics for Omnotron Defense System and Magmaw
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers healing for discipline and holy priests, while her archenemy Fox Van Allen dabbles in shadow and shovels his way out of a snow storm that Dawn has absolutely nothing to do with (the cookies are in the mail, Christian.) Dawn also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. So at this point, you've probably restored the world pillar, been solely entrusted to protecting Hyjal by a demi-goddess, and made off with several dozen pigs (or pumpkins) from the poor farmers of your faction's capital city. You've probably also ventured into countless enemy strongholds and slain everything from wind dragons to rock monsters -- or at least had a panic attack trying to heal the guys doing the slaying. You sure are amazing, and everyone knows it (except the Guardians of Hyjal reputation vendor), so it's not surprising that about now you've been called upon by other heroes to delve deep into the deepest, darkest lairs of Azeroth so you can fulfill your destiny of spamming Prayer of Healing on groups 1 and 2. Sound good? Excellent. If you haven't guessed already, during the next few weeks, the healing side of Spiritual Guidance will be taking a tour of tier 11 raid content and discussing how to best approach it as a holy or discipline priest. If you're ready, let's get started.
Raid Rx: 4 more healing lessons
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast, Matticast. First, I wanted to add that there was some awesome discussion going on in the last Raid Rx post I wrote. I wanted to just stress that the purpose of the post was to help illustrate the various challenges that healers faced. It wasn't meant as a "hate on healers" type of post. Tanks and DPS players could help alleviate some of the strain and the pressure placed on the healers just by keeping a few things in mind. At the same time, the healer perspective is often different then the other two roles. That's why I wanted to open up a dialogue to see what we could do to help each other get better and the gaming experience much more enjoyable. I figured that if we all tried to present our different perspectives, then maybe heroics and raids would go easier for everyone. It is rather surprising the different things you learn if you take a moment and just listen to what other people have to say. As a guild leader, a player, and a writer, I've learned to keep my mouth shut and hear or read what others have to say about stuff. It is a difficult skill to pick up. You know, the next time I need to take time off from writing a Raid Rx column, maybe I'll get a tank or that Christian Belt fellow to fill in. In a continuation from last week's post, I wanted to raise a few points.
Raid Rx: 7 pet peeves of healers
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding and guild management podcast Matticast. Healers, you get to take the week off from reading Raid Rx. Instead, I'm going to encourage you to send this link to DPS players or tanks you know. As a healer, there are these little things that really annoy us. Now granted, they are little. They don't bother us healers all that much individually -- hey, we have to wear our big healer pants sometimes. Now the problem occurs when these little things all add up. That's when we have a problem, because then it makes our life that much more difficult. If our life becomes more difficult, dungeon runs become brutal. It's in the best interests of everyone to just slow it down. Curious about the title image? Consider it a subtle reminder to get to work cracking on those Therazane deals and representing.
Raid Rx: Patch 4.0.6 healing thoughts
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding and guild management podcast Matticast. Even though I wasn't responsible for it, its nice to believe that my little story in last weeks column might have influenced the Mana Tide change. What is the change, you ask? Mana Tide Totem has been redesigned. The totem no longer multiplies the Spirit of those affected by it. It instead gives a flat amount of Spirit equal to 400% of the casting shaman's Spirit, exclusive of short-term Spirit buffs affecting the shaman when the totem is dropped. In addition, its effects are now raid-wide. It won't be an overpowered mana reset ability anymore. I have to admit, I do miss having that synchronizing aspect that all the healers share. Having a shaman give a 3-second warning that he is going to drop a Mana Tide cued the rest of the healers to activate their spirit trinkets. I thought that was a neat little interaction. I wouldn't mind seeing more of it somehow later on -- little ways that help promote (but not so much require) healing coordination would be a cool addition. I'm just not sure what other ways methods can be explored. On the bright side, I don't need to figure out which players have the lowest mana regeneration in order to stack them into the healing group. But hey, enough about resto shaman already! Some additional healing changes (both nerfs and buffs) will be coming soon. No idea if any of this stuff is going to stick. Tell me what you think.
Raid Rx: Handling healer mana in raids
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. Nothing brings a healer down more than realizing that he screwed up. It gets worse when the healing lead is the one who messes up such a simple oversight. I'm really beating myself up over this, because it was such an easy fix. In fact, it should be the first thing that should be checked before entering encounters. I'm going to share the conversation I had here with my fellow columnist Joe Perez. I hoped that confessing to him might help alleviate the despair. (It didn't.) Matt: Hey Joe, can we talk for a sec? I think I goofed yesterday. Joe: Again? What did you do this time, son? Matt: ... I uh, forgot to put the resto shaman in the healer group. Joe: <10 seconds of silence> ... You know how bad that is, right? Matt: Yeah. Realized it after the fact. I'm surprised the WoW Insider editors haven't fired me yet for making such a rookie mistake. Joe: I think you need a re-education. Take a seat. By the way, my guild scored the Critter Kill Squad achievement finally. Next step? Crittergeddon. Personally, I've found mana management in 25-player raids to be far more forgiving in comparison to 10-man raids. Would you agree with that? I'm basing this on my own experience, but it does make sense. With more raid slots, it means there is a higher likelihood that additional players can be brought in for mana cooldowns.
Raid Rx: 2010, a healing retrospective
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. Another year, eh guys? I imagine some of you have since drifted away from healing (or from the game entirely). At the same time, I hope I picked up a few more regular readers. Healing is one of the essential arts in the game. Although I am somewhat biased toward priests, that does not mean I do not appreciate the strengths the other healing classes bring to the table. In any case, this year was a big year for healers. Healing received a large overhaul. There were some new (well, new-old) concepts introduced. And of course, what's another expansion without new toys and spells? Critter killing update: Once the guild found out that the pet could only be obtained with a reputation of exalted with the guild, production just dropped. We're at about 31,000 now. So much for getting that done by 2011! I doubt I'll be able to garner enough time or players to form a quick raid group for critter slaughtering. You know who has two thumbs and is a sad panda? This guy. Also, this screenshot is a testament to perseverance. That protection paladin up there? He's been kiting that whale shark around the zone for a good 30 minutes. Did he end up getting it?
Raid Rx: Are you prepared to raid?
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. Happy holidays, everyone! I'm sure many of you are taking the time with heroics or reputation grinds to get yourself at a level needed to raid. I've managed to take down Halfus Wyrmbreaker on 25 and Conclave of the Four Winds on 10. In some cases, I raided a little underprepared. I didn't have the good flasks from this expansion, so I figured I'd burn the older ones. Oh, and I've got another great pickup story to share -- you can stop me if you've heard it. It's about the player who refused to enchant or gem his blue gear. Also, I'm 50% of the way there to the [Critter Kill Squad] achievement.
Raid Rx: Reality check for heroic healing
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. Granted, this is supposed to be a raiding column. But you know, since it is a new expansion, we need to work our way up the progression ladder. What comes before raids? Heroics, of course! Before I dive into the serious business that is heroic healing, I figured I'd open up with a screenshot of me slaughtering a bunch of penguins. That's how I take out my anger and frustration when I feel helpless in certain groups or compositions. It is also a fun method in obtaining the [Critter Kill Squad] achievement. I once mentioned to Allison Robert that it would be fun to compile an Overachiever guide to critter slaughtering and that if she didn't want to do it, I would graciously volunteer critter-killing advice and areas where they can be taken down en masse. Suffice to say, I could feel that e-glare of hers coming straight through my monitor when she replied with nothing more than a "...". But we're not here to talk about killing critters today. Oh no, today we get to face the reality check that is heroic healing. Are you ready for it? I don't mean just gear-wise. I mean do you have the mental fortitude to endure the stress of healing in today's mechanics? Here's what you need to find success in your runs.
Raid Rx: Analyzing the new Cataclysm healing trinkets
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. Annnnnnd Cataclysm is here! I'm 85 and have just started the gearing up process for my priest. I'm pretty good when it comes to other drops; mine have come from being lucky in instances, as well as taking advantage of quest rewards. However, the one slot that's often tough to fill, especially in the opening part of an expansion? Trinkets! But there appears to be a much wider selection of trinkets this time around. Let's take a look, shall we?
Raid Rx: Leveling tips for Cataclysm healers from 80 to 85
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. A few more days before Cataclysm -- and I don't know about you, but I'm excited! I've already got my plans and strategies in place. I'll try to answer a few frenzied questions for leveling healers as well ... questions such as the following: Where should I go level? Should I bury myself in dungeons and chain heal (not the spell) that sucker until I fall over? When do I replace my gear? Do I power my professions as I go? What consumables should I stack up on?
