Wanna roll healer, help me choose :)

I'm looking forward to roll healer on Horde side and play mostly pve, but i still cnt decide which one to choose.
I know there is no ''best healer'' class and that it all depends how u play it, but still here are questions I wanna ask:

What do you think, which class is most desireable/wanted for raids/dungs and why?
Which healing class/spec u think server will lack?
Which class is best/scales best with fresh 70/blue dungeon gear?
Which is most mana efficient and which struggle most ?
Also, which race is best to go for pve wise and why?
Which proffesions to pick ?
Which one you find funnier and hardest to play properly and why ?
It would be nice to answer those questions comparing all 4 classes[pala,priest,shamy,dudu].
I've never played TBC, so ur answers will be rly helpfull :) thanks for ur answers ahead

resto shaman
resto shaman
resto shaman

resto shaman

race doesn't matter as horde shaman imo. orc/troll would be the "best" but meh.

enchanting and tailoring. wear that cloth 3 piece.

feral druid dps since you have to power shift and use a lvl 45 helm as BiS.

as a shaman you'll get invited to everything.

shaman is one of the rarest classes by census in tbc so it should be very desirable

it also has some of the best utility most of whom are groupwide so raids like to have 1 of each in groups and that raises demand for them

the most mana efficient is not shaman tho even with downranking I think because of all the aoe spam. Maybe paladin is more efficient. Druid can be inefficient too cuz ur hots could tick after tank is already made full by someone else.

troll is good because at low hp you can use the racial for a quick heal

take alchemy to make ur consumables and make them last longer too with the right spec and the alchemy trinket matters much

priest could be fun if u wanna mind control people or druid to stealth around. Shaman might be hard cuz u gotta pay attention to all people.

any healer you pick will be good and in need tho so dont judge too much

the only thing that have always turn me off shamans is....i am sooo lazy to play with so many totems....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

yeah and in tbc u cant spawn all 4 at once

resto sham bro, you will be loved by so many, and the possibility of dual spec on this server means you might be able to switch specs for farming or fun.

People say Shaman because of the totems, particularly the mana tide totem, in addition to the rarity of the class. However, if healing is what you want to focus on and not utility so much, the Restoration Druid and moreso Holy Priest is what you would play. In a raid setting, generally you will want at least one Restoration Shaman and one Restoration Druid because of their utilties, but Holy Priests will be wanted because of their raw healing power. Holydins are decent tank healers, but that's all they really amount to, since any Paladin spec can bring the Paladin buffs (which are EXTREMELY important, mind you).


"What do you think, which class is most desireable/wanted for raids/dungs and why?"
For raiding, it depends on the raid size. For 25-man raids, generally one of each healer will be wanted, then additional healers depending on the raid comp that is built, additional healers. Dungeons almost unanimously go to Priests simply for raw healing output and the ability to Fade threat away.
For a 10-man raid, usually 2 healers will be used. Sometimes 3, but only when the group feels the extra healing is really necessary. In this case, the go-to comp is usually Sham or Druid + Priest, or Druid + Paladin. Ideally anyway. Any comp can work though.


"Which healing class/spec u think server will lack?"
Probably Restoration Shamans, honestly.


"Which class is best/scales best with fresh 70/blue dungeon gear?"
Don't forget crafted gear. Holy Priests win here. More on this below, but Holy Priests just scale the best with pre-raid available items.


"Which is most mana efficient and which struggle most ?"
Depends on how good you are at playing the "mana game", which is an absolutely huge part of the game for any healer. With proper gears in mind, it's really up in the air which one suffers the most, but a Restoration Druid suffers the least. If you are using the Whitemend and Primal Mooncloth crafted sets in addition to Bangle of Endless Blessings and Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon trinkets (all of which can be obtained without stepping into a TBC raid) on a Priest, then you have a very clear advantage in mana efficiency. I say Priests have an advantage here, because despite all classes wanting to use the set bonuses, Priests get the most out of those armor pieces due to the spirit they provide and a Priest's strength with the spirit stat.

However, it is important to note that Priests and Paladins have abilities they can use to regain mana (Priest Shadowfiend, Holydin Seal of Wisdom), while Shaman and Druid mana regeneration utilties are particularly strong at helping the mana efficiency of the other healers in the group (Innervate and Mana-Tide Totem).


"Also, which race is best to go for pve wise and why?"
That depends on your faction and class choice.
Night Elf and Tauren are the only choices for Druids, and neither race particularly benefits healing in PvE. Draenei have a heal over time racial CD they can use, and they are able to be Paladins, Priests and Shaman. Blood Elves have a mana steal racial combo, and they can be Paladins and Priests. Trolls have a haste racial, which is pretty nice for both of their available healer classes, Priest and Shaman. The only healer class that has a specific "best" race is Holy Priest, which goes to the Human racial because 10% increased Spirit is absurdly powerful in TBC.


"Which proffesions to pick ?"
I have the tendency to go Alchemy so I can supply myself with mana pots. You're going to need those a lot, no matter which healer class you choose.
Tailoring is also extremely good, because it allows you to craft/wear the crafted gear set bonuses, which can be very powerful;
Whitemend set bonus: Increases healing by up to 10% of your intellect.
Primal Mooncloth set bonus: Allow 5% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting.
(Yes you can wear both at the same time.)


"Which one you find funnier and hardest to play properly and why ?"
The Priest is hands-down the most difficult of the healers to play. This is because the Priest has a lot of healing spells, in which they have to utilize all of them and have multiple down-ranks available for mana efficiency, even multiple ranks for just one of the heal spells. I would then categorize the Druid and Shaman similarly to each other. Which leaves the Holydin as the easiest. What is more fun to play really depends on your preferences. Each class has a number of mechanics that are fun, or some things that can be considered fun. I personally find the Priest the most fun because of the large amount of healing tools that they have, thus making them an extremely versatile healer. Others in the thread have also mentioned some mechanics that can make certain healer specs fun. Things like Mind Control(Priest), changing forms(Druid), Innervate(Druid), totems are cool(Shaman), buffing people can be cool and fun(Paladin), etc.


"It would be nice to answer those questions comparing all 4 classes[pala,priest,shamy,dudu].
I've never played TBC, so ur answers will be rly helpfull :) thanks for ur answers ahead"
Hopefully you've considered my answers to be adequate. Yes, I love Priests, and my post may appear biased towards them. However, I do not deny that all of the healer classes can be quite powerful in their own ways. It is also likely, as in about every expansion relevant to the issue, Shamans are the least common Healer class and are just as useful (in their own way, due to the tools they have) as every other healer spec - thus the recommendations by others to play them. However, I wouldn't base my decision on what to play on that alone. For two reasons. 1) I find that people are biased towards recommending Shaman play by those who ask for advice in TBC, because people love to get totem buffs; every 5-man group within a raid group needs their own set. 2) You may not necessarily enjoy what was recommended to you as much as another one of the healer classes, so I definitely suggest you make your decision based on what you feel is useful/powerful AND what you would find the most fun to play.

Thanks so much for ur replies again :) but as much as it helped me to understand more how healers situation in tbc is, it made me even thougher choice to make, lemme explain:
After additional searching info about healers in tbc on many sites/forums, I downed my choice to Rshamy&Hpriest, but with bigger dilemma which one to choose :S
I found that Hpalies aint for me, cuz usually they gonna spam FoL[with huge cd on holy shock] most of the time and that aint challenging/funny enough for me,tho they gonna be needed cuz buffs they provide and decent healing they do.
Also, I alrdy played rdudu in later expansions and pretty much know that its very funny&a lot skill based spec to play[you can be topping almost every encounter if ur rly good with it], however i'v alrdy played it and I think since in TBC mana is BIG issue+ with lower tier gear u cant afford to hot[pre-hot] ur mates rdudu shouldnt be that good[ correct me if im wrong]. But on the other side, I see Rdudu is considered best PVP healer due to OP kiting&cc, so I encourage everyone to go and try playing it :)

And here goes my big dilemma weather to roll hpriest or rshamy [on Horde side mostly PvE]:

Rshamy--- is/gonna be most wanted class due to totems party buff+BL[I find it challenging to know which totems you should use/keep track of them+ reposition em in fights,tho it can be pain in azz sometime]
---very nice aoe healing from chain heal
---very nice tank healing with earth shield+ healing weave [idk why they say rshamy is bad tank healer? when both shamy & priest critical heals apply buff on targets :)]
---dont have insta heals[apart NS]>>>cnt move much
---can purge+ interrupt enemies,slow them, but cnt dispell magic effects[+dont have hex]

Hpriest---Ultimate healer>> have hot, instant spells, very good cast spells + can throw shield for absorption
---can dispell both allies & enemies + OP mass dispell
---cant slow or interrupt but can Fear,shackle + MC[best spell in game imo :)]
---can Fade to lower threat

When I summary all those + what Mercy said that priests have beast pre-raid gear + mana potential& other stuff[dw I love hpriests too :D] I would prefer rolling hpriest

BUT since holy priest doesnt give buff other than any other priest in raid[ i guess there will be always 1 spriest as mana fuel], other than IDS [ I would prefer going CoH instead IDS], while shamy give so much buffs to the raid + i guess I would have to go tailor/ench [to make early OP gear sets], leaving no space for alchemy to ease my life as healer with longer flasks duration+ trinket+ lots of money saving for pots [I guess when u said tailor/alchemy, you meant having alt with herbalism], Im not so positive rolling hpriest over rshamy. Guess there will be quite number of hpriest, so getting spot as non IDS hpriest would be nightmare.
Actually, is there often a spot for CoH priest in early tiers? and wat about IDS one [guess can roll that one too]? I slightly prefer more playing hpriest, but if there gonna be no spots, no point going for it xD
And for last question Orc[guess this is shiity for healing?] or troll rshamy? undead,troll or belf hpriest [is that 3x 161mana every 2min better than rest?]
Thanks again :D

Also I've almost never healed with lower rank spells, but since in TBC down-rank healing is very usefull, it makes healing enjoable & challenging ^^ im rly looking forward to it
btw Im used to heal with VuhDo, is there any version for it in TBC or should I expect any sooner backport ?

1 more thing... i am also a little on, ok, shammy or priest? Both classes are cool, and somewhat complicated for the spells they have - sham totems, priest spells... still, if we look it from the other side - what about the off specs? As much as i know, shadow priests are called "mana batteries", though will discover why once i start playing as one most probably, and are quite good for raids comps in caster & healer groups...
What about shamans? I personally prefer ele... Still, are elementals & enhancement good picks & what are they shining with?
Probably, about the dudus and the pallies (besides buffs) as well...
Ty :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cheinii

1 more thing... i am also a little on, ok, shammy or priest? Both classes are cool, and somewhat complicated for the spells they have - sham totems, priest spells... still, if we look it from the other side - what about the off specs? As much as i know, shadow priests are called "mana batteries", though will discover why once i start playing as one most probably, and are quite good for raids comps in caster & healer groups...
What about shamans? I personally prefer ele... Still, are elementals & enhancement good picks & what are they shining with?
Probably, about the dudus and the pallies (besides buffs) as well...
Ty :)

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Enhancement Shamans are really highly desired for their powerful Windfury totem for melee groups. Elemental Shamans are still nice to have for caster groups, because totems are just good, period. Shadow Priests are called mana batteries because 5% of the shadow damage they do to a target with Vampiric Touch on it is converted into mana for their entire party. It's basically the TBC version of the 'Replenishment' buff in WoTLK. It makes a HUGE difference for both healers, and mana-reliant DPS groups.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spidi

BUT since holy priest doesnt give buff other than any other priest in raid[ i guess there will be always 1 spriest as mana fuel], other than IDS [ I would prefer going CoH instead IDS], while shamy give so much buffs to the raid + i guess I would have to go tailor/ench [to make early OP gear sets], leaving no space for alchemy to ease my life as healer with longer flasks duration+ trinket+ lots of money saving for pots [I guess when u said tailor/alchemy, you meant having alt with herbalism], Im not so positive rolling hpriest over rshamy. Guess there will be quite number of hpriest, so getting spot as non IDS hpriest would be nightmare.
Actually, is there often a spot for CoH priest in early tiers? and wat about IDS one [guess can roll that one too]? I slightly prefer more playing hpriest, but if there gonna be no spots, no point going for it xD
And for last question Orc[guess this is shiity for healing?] or troll rshamy? undead,troll or belf hpriest [is that 3x 161mana every 2min better than rest?]
Thanks again :D

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@Profession, honestly, you should only pick Tailoring OR Alchemy. Not both. You'll want to get herbalism for Alchemy, or enchanting for Tailoring, so that you can make yourself self-sufficient. It is very possible that during T6 content, you could switch from Tailoring to Alchemy with hardly any adverse effect if you wanted. After that point, the only thing you would be missing out on is the chance at gloves/chest self-crafted gear in Sunwell.

@CoH vs. IDS, It is very much possible to run CoH in Kara and T4 content across the board. This is only true, however, when there is another HPriest to provide IDS to the raid. Fortunately, only one Priest needs to provide it. In T5 content, probably the same case, but it is more likely that you will have another HPriest in your raid(s), simply because you won't be dealing with Kara raid size. T6 and +, IDS is still a very desirable buff due to the bonus healing gains, but not an absolute requirement. So, basically put, HPriests being popular plays IN YOUR FAVOR, because that increases the chance you don't have to be the IDS buff.
>>>> Also, keep in mind we are implementing dual-spec on the website. You will be able to store each of these specs so that you can switch them on demand.

Also, trust me, there WILL be spots. Groups are ALWAYS looking for healers and tanks. Priests may not be as common as you might think, because they are absolutely the worst class to level up. Leveling one is a true trial of endurance. Shamans may be the least played healer class, but that doesn't mean other healers will be overflooded. There may be a lot of Druids for PvP, but Priests are also generally less popular for PvP, and Druids are also significantly easier to level up.

@Troll vs. Orc Shaman, I don't recall if the Orc racial provides bonus healing in TBC, but even if it does, I would probably consider the Troll racial universally better. Haste is such a strong stat for every Shaman spec.

@Priest Race, I would highly suggest Blood Elf for early tiers. Even a slight amount of increased mana efficiency is great. Consider the racial basically 1 free heal cast every 2 minutes. Once you get some pretty good gear, you would be fine race changing to Troll. I wouldn't touch Undead unless you planned on PvPing.

Im a healer by nature, and i can olny play Priest.
but i do remember that shaman and druid were a bit OP when compared to "me" .

Thanks very much Mercy on detailed answers :) its very helpfull
Hope this thread will help others too

Resto Shaman every time. Holy Paladins are the ultimate tank healer, but can't do much of anything else. Resto Druids are decent for raids, but they are way better in PvP. Healing Priests are just obsolete as a Resto Shaman can do everything they do but better.