Healing subjetct

[Krellian]

Hello fellow adventurers!
I know this topic has been debated, fought for and not once there was a veredict, but today i would like to talk about healers.
I intend to create an alt char and its role will be to cast dps and heal, but you see... I've never made one myself and i'm quite insecure about which one to choose.

So far ive narrowed the choices up to Druid and Shaman (ah, horde side (if it matters)), but i would like to hear you thoughs about priests as well (but why not paladins you may ask. Well, my main is a paladin and i dont want to repeat classes)

So, this is today's topic. I am alraedy grateful for all your replies and see you around!

PS: Oh, i forgot to mention: PVE-wise please

[Kronosxviii]

I've always prefered healing on druid over shaman simply because how mobile rejuv / wild growth spamming is in comparison to riptide & chain heal. Also boomkins are always fun and it performs very well in raids, whereas ele won't really be leading the damage meters in a situation of equal gear but it will provide its own compliment of raid buffs.

A lot of people point out that shamans bring more buffs to the raid, which is true but the majority of those buffs across all shaman specs are provided by other classes with superior versions. That leaves BL spell haste being the only unique ones via resto sham, but any sham can bring those.

For a complete list of raid buffs & debuffs by class:
http://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=367833

[Auxerre]

I was always a big supporter of the Rshamans but lately i've been playing with a Rdudu and I'm having way too much fun! Rshamans brings a lot of buff to the raid but as mentioned before by Kronos, other classes give it too and in upgraded versions... Rdudus are way way much mobile and that is important if you are thinking in the end game content.

Also Druids are easier to level and with almost no downtime.

[bergan97]

I think its strange how no one is talking about the best healing spec in the game: Discipline Priest

It has the highest output, is easy to learn, and other healers can't steal your heals. You are very needed raids always need one, and only one, two discipline priests would be too OP but its not a good idea due to a certain debuff.
The reason for this spec's OPness is Power word: Shield, this ability places a buff on your target that absorbs a big amount of damage, lasts 32 seconds (long time) and doesn't have a cooldown so you can give it to everyone, and because it is absorbed damage there is no way another healer is going to steal your heal. The other healers are in your raid only to fill in the blanks that your overpowered shields leave. This ability is so powerful that sometimes priests have to use lower ranked shields because their normal shields don't break with infest, and getting your shields broken is important in that fight.
This spec's most used spells are in general instant casts which means you can heal on the move aswell, penance is a channeled spell tho that can't be used while moving and is one of your most powerful tools that can save a person from death very fast, but your shields are so powerful that no one is going to be near death.
You also have a mini-bloodlust, that you can choose who to give it to, either your most powerful caster dps or another healer: Power Infusion, if you want to give it to a healer give it to a holy paladin if you want the tank to get more healing or give it to a resto shaman if theres too many people that don't get out of the fire in time, seeing as both of those healers are constantly casting and ones job is to tank-heal and the other's is to group-heal. It would be actually better to give it to a holy priest instead of resto shaman, seeing as it is another awesome priest spec that benefits the most from PI, but since nobody knows how to play it just forget it. Caster dps will also pay you to give PI to them, while shamans will give bloodlust to everyone because thats their job, you have a buff that only one player can get and people will do anything for it.
Druids have a chance on their hots to give rage/energy/runic power (not sure if mana too) to their targets, discipline priests can do the same with their shields, so frost dks, warriors, rogues, etc will love you for that.
Discipline Priests are so powerful that some people often think its a tank-healer spec, but no its a group-absorption spec.
Ocasionally some raid/group leaders needing healers are going to refuse entrance to you because they think discipline priest is a dps spec, this is also another mistake some people do sometimes because discipline priest is so powerful they are also capable of doing dps. Just so you have an idea, a Discipline Priest with 35k mana is capable of removing 10k mana off Lady Deathwhisper with just one mana burn during 1st phase, making them not only the best healer but also the most versatile aswell.
Discipline priest is also known to do almost no overheal, seeing as their main source of healing is through shielding, this makes discipline priest the most efficient healer in the game, no mana is wasted.
In 25-man raids, healing with a Discipline Priest can seem boring as theres always someone that needs a shield but in time you learn to use your other tools to make all the diference in the success rate of your raids. In 10-man raids the playability is surreal, you can use and abuse so many of your spells, shields, heal-on-damage procs, very fast flash heal casts, penances, mini-beacon-of-light-on-yourself spell, healing over time spells, external defensive cooldowns, etc, so many diferent types of healing spells and tools that makes you a versatile healing bazooka in smaller groups, like holy priest but better.

TL:DR Discipline Priest is the best healer spec in the game and everyone will love you for being one.