Here's mine:
Cristorpheus (My Pally) dinged 80 approximately 48 hours ago. I gave up my ret spec, hung up my axe, donned myself in whatever healadin gear I could find, and went to work with Hazl on a "how to" exploration into the way of the light.
Started in some regular dungeons--and have gradually worked my way into heroics. And..........
(Drumroll)
(Don't ever let anyone know I said this to you)
(First rule of fight club)
(Drums still rolling)
(I swear if you tell anyone I will flog you)
...
I kinda like it.
Truth be told, I sort of thought I would. I like the challenge. And, this healing aspect of the game, is presenting itself to be a very refreshing one.
On my DK, I can smash through most heroics with disregard to aggro--cause I kill everything so fast. If I pull a mob, it dies without landing a punch. Anymore, I find myself doing more talking, and less playing. And, the only realy thrill I get anymore, is working on raid bosses. So, when I don't raid, its all kinda....well....bleh (save for holidays, helping friends out, etc.).
On the Pally, all the fights are new again; the mechanics are completely different. Sometimes I need to stand close in, others further away...need to wait for this silence, or this interrupt. It creates a sense of urgency--and I enjoy putting myself under pressure.
I'm finally understanding (this is for Haz) the importance of always being in the right place at the right time. Meaning, I more closely see dps being in places they shouldn't be; running into HoL whirlwinds, standing in poison, not paying attention to threat, running out of LoS (Yes, I said LoS)...these things are all taxing...especially on an undergeared healer =P
I'm learning the intricacies of healing on the pull, and what it means to healer-aggro. I'm getting frustrated at the stupid CoS zombies, people standing in shit, and overgeared dps disregarding my tank; I'm becoming an asshole.
I never thought that I'd become an asshole. Maybe I'm over thinking it and am just in telling people like it is. The role reversal here has really got me trippin. As a dps, if I take a bit of damage, no sweat...I have ways to self heal. As a healadin, when I see party members taking damage, panic starts to set in; I clench my teeth, stop breathing (yeah Jules, it happens quite a bit), and get to clicking as fast and furious as I can, all while trying to make sure my cast time allows for a landed heal and smooth transition...
To all the healers out there...I'm sorry.
Posts
Got to say, that's one sexy-looking healadin.
ReplyDeleteHealing makes me a snarky bitch. Best quote from the other night was me yelling in vent at a friend to get out of the bad, "Hey, colorblind! Out of the green shit!"
Yes, he is colorblind. But no excuse for standing in poison, green or no.
Most of the runs I've made with you healing, we've been pretty geared. But you're doing really well. Last night in Nexus I never once gave thought to my health when I was tanking. And yah... this is what I mean when I say Ret was SOOOOOO boring. There is no adrenaline rush like healing... except maybe some PvP. Once you get more comfortable with it, you'll see there are healing strategies -- planning ahead for spell order and maximizing mana burn. Hell... I never had to worry about Divine Shield/Divine Sacrifice until ICC. The move from Naxx to TotCr required more than just FoL spamming. There's just so much depth to the role.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is one downside: there is nothing more agonizingly boring than being totally over-geared for an instance or being one of too many healers in a raid. Playing a healer that doesn't need to heal is like being grounded and looking out the window at all your friends playing outside.
I also want to thank you... for a couple of reasons. First, the guild can use another pally heals. It will definitely help out. Second, you've sort of refreshed my interest in healing. Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed it. But helping you has made me get back into the blogs and consider some different add-ons and such.
So thanks. And you can try to not let me die anytime.
I agree that you are doing a great job healing. The transition for going from dps/tanking to healing is huge. Everyone is dependent on you...
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting to hear 2 pallies talk about the different ways to go about healing a fight. A tree sees things from a totally light than a pally, but we all have one goal, don't let anyone die.
I'm looking forward to getting you into a Uld/TOC run so that you can see some additional fights. You have learned a lot from the heroics and are having fun, but lets crank up the intensity 2-3 notches....
B R I N G I T!
ReplyDeleteYou know I'm always down to do something stupid, err, I mean, challenging. Lol.
Looking forward to trying my hand at ToC...
Haste (especially vs. crit): http://www.holypaladin.net/index.php/holy-paladin-haste-cap
ReplyDeleteIntellect vs. SP/crit: http://www.holypaladin.net/index.php/holy-paladin-gear-spell-power-or-intellect
Haven't seen anything on EJ that contradicts. You seen something?
Also (on intellect): http://www.wow.com/2010/02/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-its-all-intellects-fault/
ReplyDeleteAlso -- once you have a 2 piece tier 10 bonue -- you will want to remove Divine Illumination from healing spell macros and combine it with Divine Plea in a macro to use when we need to gain mana back fast -- which can happen a lot in ICC. Might lower overall HPS if only used in emergencies, but with the set bonus, you won't have to use it just in emergencies anymore.
Good Articles, haz. A lot to look over--hopefully I'll be able to pick it all up quickly
ReplyDeleteDude...you really look gay in a dress, but thats besides the point. That is cool as hell that you have started healing, I am so used to seeing you as the kick ass tank, or the top dps in the raid. Just to let you know, I am almost 75 on my DK, and I've been tanking alot of instances. Maybe when I hit 80, you can give me some pointers on tanking, and pulling mass mobs and still surviving.
ReplyDeleteSay What??? Morgan, your DK's almost 80? Damn.
ReplyDeleteFo Sho though, holler at me when you want the lowdown on Tanking DK style (its a lot of AoE button mashing) lol.
just wanted to also point out, especially in a 10 man raid situation, that the thing that will kill you the fastest is not watching your own health.when you concentrate on healing others, your health bar will disapear from the screen, and as a healer, the most important thing to heal is yourself, cause if you die, the raid *will* die.
ReplyDelete-Vic