- Let’s celebrate Rhii’s second 80
- Let’s celebrate Saresa’s psycho Tree healing site.
- Let’s celebrate Almaster, because he’s there, he’s a Pally and he’s tagged me too
- Let’s celebrate Mages across Azeroth that have put down their fireballs, arcane blasts and deepfreeze for a little healing love.
I have been tagged by Rhii, Saresa and Almaster, two of whom like me, are DPS gone to the light side. I had seen this meme floating around, but haven’t had the chance to peruse it in any of posts properly.
Rhii gives a breakdown on where it has all come from:
I decided to steal the most excellent Miss Medicina’s non-meme questionnaire. Which I also read about on Tamarind, Oriniwen, and Kyrilean’s blogs. Since I’ve been a healer for such a short time, nobody’s likely to tag me so I tag me! Besides, it’s not a meme, I don’t need to be tagged to play. YAY! So here goes.
What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?
Gnomeaggedon, Gnome Frostfire Mage.
Hang on, this is about me…
Squidly, level 76 Resto Shaman
Pffft you aren’t even 80… Let’s stick with the real Gnome behind this blog!
Oi, I’m the only healer (Unless Mr. Tree or Mr. Z! speak up).
Well, let me prove you wrong!
What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
Gnomeaggedon:
5 mans, raids, PvP, I do it all. Emphasis was on 10 man raids, but you will see me in the other locations more often these days.
Squidly:
50/50 5 mans and PvP. Wherever someone is taking damage, you will find the Squid!
What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
Mmm that’s a hard one…
Circle of anti-healing (Flamestrike and Blizzard) or my HoT, Living Bomb.
Squidly:
Hey they aren’t healing spells you silly Gnome!
Of course they are, think of me as a Disc Priest. I don’t cure so well, but I certainly reduce the amount of incoming damage. A dead Mob does no damage!
Pffft, OK then. My favorite healing spell has to be chain lightning. Especially when I crack the 4 targets. It’s a beautiful geometry best viewed from above.
That said Earth Shield and Riptide mean I can go on extended AFKs, which is great because there is plenty of time for that with the right tank and intelligent DPS.
What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
A Lock’s health stone. Apart from the fact that they are created by Locks, they interfere with the beauty of my Mana Gems.
Ohh bandages, tend to get forgotten as well unless the tank is in trouble and the healer down.
Squidly: least favorite? I use them all, I love them all.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
Damage reduction through superior firepower!
Squidly:
Earth Shield is nuts, protect and heal at the same time!
Riptide, HoT em up, then cast a real heal over the top for better healing results.
Chain Heal… Why heal one when you can heal them all.
Ancestral Healing, buy one heal, get one free… Love it, especially as I am often the recipient, less worry about me.
In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?
Gnomeaggedon:
Trash healing. Tank rounds them up and I burn them down before they hurt anyone else.
Squidly: mmm that’s level 80 stuff isn’t it?
I guess I have plenty of 10-40 man experience in BGs.
The best healing assignment for me in BGs is the following.
- People that protect me (especially if still attempting to complete BG goals)
- People attempting to complete BG goals (flag carriers etc)
- People that are hurting but will live long enough to collect my heal
- Basically wherever there is a need for healing, I will be there.
So basically “raid” healing
What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
Mage, the best defensive healing is an offensive fireball!
Ohh you me by my side…
I love the constant trickle of Druid Hots.. it’s like warm honey dripping down my back. Pallies are good too, I love me a bubble!
Squidly:
Ummm I like me, I am shaman. I tried pretending to be a Druid, but I only have one HoT. I tried being a Paladin, but I couldn’t wear plate. I haven’t tried Priests…. I have bad childhood memories involving priests and they don’t include healing.
Who else do I like healing with… Druids are good. If they look after the Hots, I will drop some bombs in there to fix the big damage.
What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
The one that ignores me… I am squishy… I will protect you, just HEALZ PLZ!
Squidly:
The only class of healer I don’t like healing with is the class of healer that forgets they can heal and DPS instead… Hello BGs.
I think many players enter BGs thinking that it’s just all about killing or being killed. The smart one realise the more they prevent the “be killed” part of the equation, the more the “kill” bit can be fulfilled.
Seriously if you got em, flaunt them. Wve them in the face of the Horde
I got heals! Narny Narny Nah Nah! We got heals and you don’t!
What is your worst habit as a healer?
Gnomeaggedon:
Forgetting my heals don’t actually heal… If that mob gets to me, well it’s probably too late.
Squidly:
Hah! there, see you don’t heal!
Mine is EarthShield/Riptide sleep healing.
80% of the instance will be sleep healing, then I get a rude shock. Which leads to my other worst habit… forgetting I can get off an instant heal. When the healing detail goes from nothing to everything, I struggle to remember where my other heals are, let alone use Natures Swiftness
What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?
Gnomeaggedon:
Healers that don’t appreciate I want to stand in the BAD!
Squidly:
Mages that want to stand in the BAD!
Actually I don’t mind people standing in the BAD. It gives me something to do and if they die I don’t feel guilty.
So really there are two other peeves that get to me..
- Tanks that aren’t tanks… either they are spec’d geared for DPS yet insist on tanking, or they are DPS that don’t understand that we brought someone along specifically to take the hits… and they get 90% of my heals, not the “off tanking dps”.
- Mages… I already mentioned them.. but having a generous Mage buddy, it annoys the Water Balls off me that Mages wont give me sustenance.
Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?
Gnomeaggedon:
It will be once Blizzard wakes up, smells the roses and gives me my healing tree!
Squidly:
I think so. Shamans do pretty well. I often see LF1M requests specifically targeting Shaman. Ultimately if we are a little behind on the actual heals, we make up for it with our sexy totems.
What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?
Gnomeaggedon:
Recount… the higher my damage and DPS, the less healing everyone required.
Squidly:
Not being in the competitive healing world of raiding yet, I use a scale silimar to Rhii’s.
- I’m alive – good healing
- Tank alive – better healing
- DPS alive – lucky bastards
- Everyone alive – Earth Shield/Riptide/Chain Heal FTW!
If I have mana left over I consider that a bonus too.. means we can keep on healing on.
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?
Gnomeaggedon:
That I don’ contribute to the healing effort… yeah they post their healing meters, pat themselves on the back blah blah blah.
But let’s look at the important numbers… Healing received… I am at the bottom!
Damage done… see above!
Squidly:
That I care!
They think that as a healer I care about whether they live or die. I do to some extent, but hey as long as I don’t die, we have won.
Probably my biggest annoyance is that they all spread out too much… Chain Heal will only jump so far.. it wont jump to/from you on the other side of the room, so a heal on you is wasted… see above.
What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?
Gnomeaggedon:
Mages are more important than anyone including the tank… I give you food and water, you give me exclusive heals… OK?
Squidly:
Staying awake.
Coming from a balls to the wall DPS background, the lulls in healing action can be quite mind numbing. I actually had a tank apologize to me last night for making my life so boring, so I encouraged him and the rest of the party to be a little stupid just so I had something to do… I was healing (occasionally), DPSing and I still had 100% mana… /yawn
If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?
Gnomeaggedon:
Lots of overheal (incoming), not much healing out going. So I suggest they review incoming damage to the healer… there is none? Ohh that’s cause I took the bullet for them!
Squidly:
Really low activity rates… I would probably be inactive 60% of a fight… although I guess Riptide dots would hide that.
Lots of Overheal. Earthshield and Riptide will be ticking whether damage is happening or not (well, Earthshield will get activated by damage, but it might already be healed by Riptide). Chain Heal overheals… that spell was designed to rate high in the Overheal meters.
In a raid wide damage encounter (including BGs) you can expect to see us Shaman high on the heal charts, Chain heal just heals.. it sniffs out damage and repairs it.
Haste or Crit and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
Crit, Crit, Crit… Bring on the grand daddy of Mage healing spells… Instant Pyroblast!
Squidly:
Gotta have crit… not too much, just enough.
After that, well everyone likes to get that heal of 0.1 second before thier target dies.
What healing class do you feel you understand least?
Gnomeaggedon:
Mages.. I keep looking for that healing tree… it’s not even in the utility Arcane tree…
Squidly:
Probably Shaman. I know that sounds silly, but I know enough about receiving heals from everyone else.. I just need to know more about delivering mine.
What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?
Gnomeaggedon:
Addons: I have those Heads-up proc addons that tell you when something popped, died etc… too many of them too mention, all installed at once… don’t want to miss an instant Pyro!
Macros.. lots of target of target macros. If the healer is getting hit, I just want to know who is doing it, then we can go outside and sort it all out Mobo-a-Gnomo.
Squidly
Healbot does all my work
I also use target of target macros, but generally I am just clicking on Healbot like I am filling in an online job application. I play a little:
Enny Meanie, Minee Mo. Your standing in the Bad, and I’m going to let you go.
I just wish there was an addon that could do that automatically… like a slot machine I guess.
Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?
Gnomeaggedon:
My priority stat goes like this:
+damage > +damage > +damage = dead mob… Not much to it really.
Squidly:
Balance is nice.. currently working on mp5 & spelldamage, crit and haste are OK, but I figure I need the bases covered 1st.
A hasted or critting crap heal is still going to be a crap heal.
OOM = OOHeals.
To be honest I can’t wait to hit 80, just so I can do a little more of this, and little more of that.
Catch!
I know there are quite a few DPS out there that dabble in heals.. so rather than out you, I will let you come forward and join in the big healy hugathon. Let me know if you do!
Gnome and Out, Squidly and Stout!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/11/02/gnomeaggedons-life-as-a-healer/
Oh gosh, I never knew that a healing questionnaire could be so funny! Gnomeaggedon, you sneaky little booger, you almost had me convinced that it was you, and not Squidly, who was primarily responsible for the wellbeing of his companions.
Today I tested a new macro… in addition to my failtank macro which goes a little something like this: /rw Aggro on healer HELP!, I now have a “Can’t heal stupid” macro which goes a little like this /rw Don’t stand in the Bad!
I had to use it twice today in TOC when our boomkin parked it in the poison clouds. I apologized after, because I know macro’d lectures are annoying, but I just can’t type it fast enough to keep them from dying, and besides… I am busy!
lol soon you will have replaced all (one) of your heal keys with macros.
Well I guess prevention is better than a cure… Just as Gnomeaggedon
Pssssttt… lock candy and mana gems no longer share a cooldown.
We don’t have to choose between life or mana anymore!
Very funny twist to the not-meme. =)
How dare Blizzard remove a reason for Mages to ignore Locks!
Pffft. Squidly has been taking up too much of my time if I missed that.
From now on I am going to pop that Lock candy as soon as it’s handed over… Then grab another one… Greedy Gnome
Sent from my iPhone
This is too good not to link just because you’re a mage…. IM ADDING YOU TO THE LIST
Not just adding me to the list, but creating a whole new category of healers…
FIRE MAGES!
This is a great list, hours of useful healer analysis there.
Amazing read as usual!
I needed a laugh today, sir, and thanks!!!
And this is really odd, since gnomes usually scare me…
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