How to play as healer after xx years of dps'ing?

Hello!
I'm playing wow for like 10 years, but I've always been an DPS. Just came back to wotlk on Icecrown from retail (Legion sucks for me like hell) and I'm thinking about an healer. I did Icc10/25 and RS long time ago, as warrior fury (my fav specs), also played as retri paladin and hunter a bit.

The point is I've never been an healer. Maybe one time I made an resto sham till 5k gs, but I felt like the worst healer ever on every dungeon / OS/VoA/etc and I came back to fury war very fast.

So, maybe I was doing something wrong? Maybe sham is just too hard for a guy, who never healed before? I'm looking for class which is 1) viable 2) Maybe not so hard if possible? I dont even know if there is different difficulty level besides any healing classes/specs. I'm interested in PvE.

As I know, there are 5 healing specs:
Druid resto - I'm not interested in it. Not my type totally.
Priest holy - idk if its even viable on wotlk? I don't want to be like 5k gs and cant even go for OS, cause ppl will say "hurr durr why u no disci omg". Otherwise seems interesting.
Priest discipline - a lot of absorbs i suppose? But what about hard single target/aoe healing? Whats if I'm the only healer in instance and absorbs is not enough? Do i have other possibilites to keep my teammates up?
Paladin Holy - great amount of intelect. Good single target healing i suppose, but what about AoE?
Shaman resto - I only know chain heal. No idea what he is doing for single target healing etc.

So guys, what can you recommend for someone like me? Maybe point pros and cons of each spec for me? Any tips, advices?

Thanks for reading, see ya in game!

Ok, ammm i think it will be easiest if i kind of put down the different styles :)

Druid - k, 1st thing at choosing a class is that you must like its story; else, they focus on aoe healing, and primarly use HoTs (to counter bleed ie)

Priest holy - they Are, if you like playing pve; they are Not, if you like playing pvp - holy priests are the most vertasile healing class in the game, they have all kinds of stuff like a shield, speed boost, different kind of heals (flash,greater, binding, circle, name it), HoT, the rest will leave for you to discover (the really op stuff) - and to kill a holy priest... is the greatest mistake you can make, especially with a lock in the group xD

Priest discipline - look at it like this: Shields are heal in advance - so, you need to know when and who will be hit, and how hard. They focus on mitigating damage, and are actually quite good at dealing with aoe, if they have the time to shield everyone to be affected - for the rest, remember you can trust the rest of the healers! In later points of the story, they have a mass dmg reduction cd, however, in wotlk, this is not the case... Also, they have a heal spell (bugged on warmane for quite a long time, sadly), so after they have shielded someone and it is down, they arent just standing and watching - still, if you do not predict damage correctly, they Will die (or you will run oom with flash heals). They share hymns with holy & shadow, and have a major single-caster cd (like hysteria for phys damage); also, are quick in dispelling with mass dispell and burning their own mana with Mana Burn. Disco is considered more of a pvp spec, however there are few lk runs, where you are safe to go without one!

Paladin Holy - buffs, auras, hard single-target heals (dont forget beacon though!), also hands, though many people simply forget about them, sadly (and i have to remind them to put on action bar Every single raid x.x) - 'nugh said.

Shaman resto - totems! They have many ways of healing like the holy priests, however miss the many cds which i omitted for you to discover on your own. They have a hot, which is on quite a cd though; reactive heal (Earth Shield), quick& expensive + bigger and longer heal (which change a little with the riptide buff though; also chain, which we all know what is doing... They also have a mana cd, blood lust/hero is obvious, however don't have any really good panic buttons - neither for raid healing, nor for themselves, and if they get aggro... their only hope is that the mail armor will help them survive till the tank wakes up. As a shaman, your task is to also think for the damage a little in advance, as chain heal has quite some cast time; to watch what type of damage is coming, so you can prevent it with a correct totem (tremor); also, to think well whether your group needs melee or caster haste... basically, to be aware of the raid (and to tell that nab leader that tremor & mana tide is only for party, on alliance you are one of the few draenei for the %hit, etc. Yep, most of them are noobs.) Also, they have an interrupt, however it can miss.

Btw, there is a sixth healing class, it is called Shadow priest - as for them, they are good in aoe healing, and in cases where they will take hard damage. They share hymns, still can use shields, the fear ward; clear magic & desease effects, unlike in like pandaria. If you are a troll, go for it! Also, works for helping lower gs friends, while you are taking the attention of the boss. (disclaimer: i am not responsible if tried in icc without some good weapon stacking!)

All in all though, though repeated any single time, remember that it is up to you - much like dps, you must like your play style, as any healer has something to shine with, though many may underestimate it for not that big results in recount ie. Remember, your thing is to save them, mostly, of their own mistakes; also, in different situation, some classes are too good to be omitted (disco lk, resto dudu val'kyrs & icc bql, toc arena - shammy & again disco, vdw - holydin...)
Choose the way you like, in both gameplay and lore, and go for it! :)

Holy Priest is very viable, infact its one of if not THE hardest hitting aoe healer out there, with instant Flash heals too, speed bubble for multiple boss encounters such as LK, Halion.
The only Issue with Holy priest is gearing, they eat mana. Also they have a stigma of being bad for whatever reason.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thydus

Holy Priest is very viable, infact its one of if not THE hardest hitting aoe healer out there, with instant Flash heals too, speed bubble for multiple boss encounters such as LK, Halion.
The only Issue with Holy priest is gearing, they eat mana. Also they have a stigma of being bad for whatever reason.

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Do you mind elaborating why it is bad for "whatever reason"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ToasterLoveBuns

Do you mind elaborating why it is bad for "whatever reason"?

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Their renew ticks slower than any HoTs by Resto Druids. So, if there is a resto druid, it would seem holy priest is doing close to nothing if he is only spamming Renew.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zelda1220

Their renew ticks slower than any HoTs by Resto Druids. So, if there is a resto druid, it would seem holy priest is doing close to nothing if he is only spamming Renew.

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Probably lack in haste or just broken. I dont know :( Since a disc main :(

Discipline Priests - AoE healer. Relies on absorbing, therefore requires awareness of knowledge where the damage comes from. As I said, strong absorbs, average HoTs, weak direct heals. In terms of raid support, it gives Power Infusion(20% casting speed to one target for 15 seconds with 2 minute cooldown), Pain Suppression(reduces damage taken by 40% for 8 seconds with 3 minute cooldown, extremely good defensive cooldown for tanks) and provides the raid with Renewed Hope(3% less damage taken from all sources). Discipline Priests are very easy to play in 25 man raids, might be a bit hard in 10 man ones.

Holy Paladins - Ultimate tank healer. Completely relies on direct heals with big cast times, which results in lack of mobility. But people are often mistaken that holy paladin don't do aoe healing - they do a lot of that. Glyph of Holy Light does quite a bit of AoE healing, not to mention current state of Judgement of Light(heals a lot). Provides the raid with Divine Sacrifice(20% less damage taken for 6 seconds with cooldown of 2 minutes), not to mention all the Hands.
Holy Paladin are easy to play in general, both in 10 mans and 25 mans, but their mistakes hurt the raid the hardest, probably has the most responsibllity of all the healers.

Holy Priests - AoE/Tank healer(depends on the way you spec it). Relies on HoTs, smart heals and direct heals. Extremely fun to play, a lot of potential. Good mobility and Guardian Spirit(prevents a target from dying for 10 seconds) can save plenty of lives in your raid. Holy Priests are probably the hardest healer class, but in terms of performance, they are amazing.

Restoration Druids - AoE healer. Relies on HoTs, which once again, requires the knowledge of where and when the damage comes from. While they have good HoTs, their direct heals are quite good as well. High mobility, fun to play as well. Very mana-efficient class as well, not to forget that they have Innervates. Can also save the raid in clutch moments with Rebirth.

Restoration Shamans - both AoE and tank healers. Most diverse healers in the game, basically jacks of all trades, but masters of none. Provides the raid with totems and heroism. People like having restoration shamans in the raids because that way they don't have to invite elemental/enhancement shamans to the raids.

So in terms of difficulty(from hardest to easiest one):
10 mans: Holy Priest > Discipline Priest > Restoration Druid > Restoration Shaman > Holy Paladin.
25 mans: Holy Priest > Restoration Druid > Restoration Shaman > Holy Paladin > Discipline Priest.
In terms of HPS in end-game raids(TOC, ICC, RS)(from most to least):
10 mans: Holy Paladin > Restoration Shaman = Holy Priest > Restoration Druid = Discipline Priest.
25 mans: Holy Paladin > Discipline Priest > Holy Priest = Restoration Druid = Restoration Shaman.

This above is obviously based on my experience and will be different on every encounter, in every raid, depending on the capability of players playing those classes.

Personally, I would recommend you to roll Holy Priest/Restoration Druid/Restoration Shaman at start, since they don't hold as much responsibility as Holy Paladins and Disciplines do.

WoW, thanks a lot for such a precise responses!

Soooo, as I told, no drood for me, same for disci. I'm still too much scared to play priest holy ^_^

Seems like I'm gonna roll Holy paladin or shaman, I'm rather convicted to shaman, but in your description Holy paladins looks kinda OP as healer o_O Can't decide yet, but here are only 2 options for me :)

One more question - heirlooms. I may have a Chance to buy 1 or 2 for my sham or paladin, but I cant remember how it's working ^^ Shaman can use leather at start and mail since 40lvl (same for paladin with mail/plate). So if I want to buy a piece of heirloom armor, for example mail shoulders, my shammy have to equip it at level 40? And if I want heirloom since 1lvl I need to buy leather for shaman and be stucked with it till 80? Hope you guys will get what I mean.

Nop if you lvl an Paladin you can just buy the plate chest/shoulder and us them from lvl1 they wil then be mail and when you hit 40 they wil change to plate again same go's with shaman.

So paladin buy plate loom
Shaman buy mail loom