My All Star Healing Team
March 13, 2008 by Matticus
Filed under News and Opinion
During a raid, your QB has the mammoth task of figuring out which classes should go where. Often times, I find myself parted from a Shadow Priest or a Resto Shaman in order to increase the longevity of other DPS classes.
It’s like a big void within me suddenly appeared.
If I was the raid leader, and I didn’t give a crap about the DPS or the tanks or what not, I would structure *MY* healing group to look something like this.
Resto Shaman
What they bring to the table: Lots of totems. If you’re Alliance, you get space totems. Having a Resto Shaman in your group means Mana Tide, Mana Spring, Wrath of Air, and that funky Draenei Mana Regen racial thingy DRAeNEI MANA REGEN RACIAL IS ONLY FOR PRIESTS! FIRED!
What others miss out on: No windfury for the Rogues or Warriors. There’s only one Shaman out of 25 players, and they’re mine!
Shadow Priest
What they bring to the table: Not only do they consistently regenerate your groups heath but they regenerate your groups mana.
What others miss out on: Sorry Warlocks, looks like you’re not getting increased shadow damage this time. If I get the health and mana regen, it means YOU aren’t getting the mana regen (Completely forgot, MK thanks).
Holy Paladin
What they bring to the table: Auras for just about any situation you can think of. Most of the time, it will be concentration aura so we don’t lose cast time during annoying attacks.
What others miss out on: The tank doesn’t really NEED Fire Resist aura does he?
Resto Druid
What they bring to the table: The tree aura is nice to have around. It’s good to know that their innervate’s are close by ready to be blown in case us Priests need it.
What others miss out on: Oh right, the tank would probably benefit more from tree form then I would. Too bad. Hey, my ship!
If I were leading the raid, I would screw over other classes completely. To hell with group optimization. We all have our dreams. Blori would probably tell me to wake up because he would never part with a Shaman in the melee group. But alas, that’s why I’m just a measly grunt and not a lead.
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I'm Matticus and I play a Dwarf Priest. My home is in Carnage, a raiding Guild. Every week, I log 11 hours raiding on Ner'Zuhl.
Wynthea is the Troll Priest with the best Mohawk on Nazjatar. Currently, I raid 5 nights a week, and PvP occasionally. I started working toward end-game in May 2007, and my guild is currently working through Sunwell. I've tried playing other classes, but Priests are my passion; I've found our racial spells an endless source of fun and frustration. I am extremely fond of Dwarves.... especially with Ketchup. 
My name is Sydera and I like to heal things--think Florence Nightingale with foliage. I play a night elf druid on Vek'nilash-US, and I raid 12 hours a week. As a guild officer for Collateral Damage, I coordinate healing and recruit new raiders. I started playing WoW in Fall 2005, and it was love at first click. Before I discovered the joys of Broccoli-stalk healing, I raided as a holy paladin, and I now have alts in all healing classes. I have to say, though, bark beats poofy dresses and heavy plate in my book.
“Sorry Warlocks, looks like you’re not getting increased shadow damage this time.”
Actually, all the shadow damage in the raid gets the benefits of Shadow Weaving. Even if a warlock is in a different group in the raid they get the increase to shadow damage. Same thing with Misery and other DPS casters. The whole raid benefits from it, not just that group.
From shadow priests, Vampiric Touch and Vampiric Embrace only affect the group, not raid.
Oh, and I wish all draenei got the mana regen thing, but it is just the priests (Symbol of Hope).
Well…
As a raid lead you must realize ALL of the benifits each of these bring to the table not only for one class but for each class. Then they must be weighed against each other.
For instance…
If you see that your raid DPS is far outstripping your tanks ability to keep aggro.
One solution is to take that coveted Shaman and put him in the main tank group to raise the treat cap, thus allowing the whole raid to go ape shit and kill faster.
In a perfect world I’d steal the Shaman (windfury) Drood (5%crit) MS warrior(Blood Frenzy) Me(fury awesomeness) and a Hunter (TSA)
But alas it is not to be and we have to share and do what is best for the raid, which by the way is different for almost every encounter.
What about me when I become an enhancement shammy, will there only be one shammy in the raid?
“If I were leading the raid, I would screw over other classes completely. To hell with group optimization. We all have our dreams.”
ROFL. You go, Matt.
WTB shadow priest in resto druid group
but then again I never go oom go go mp5 lol
Shadow Priests help everyone out. Silly Matticus. Shadow Weaving/Misery being limited by group…ha!
Meanwhile, I love watching healers and DPS fight over which group I get put in.
Lol @ Agrona, I was also going to make a “resto droods don’t need a shadow priest” comment … give me Dark Pact over Vampiric Touch any day!
Blori: Yeah, yeah, I know. But I’m allowed to have selfish thoughts once in a while. =)
“that funky Dranei Mana Regen racial thingy”
That’s a priest racial.
Draenei Shaman get 1% spellhit for their group, and Blessing of the Naaru (which is a very weak HOT on a 3 minute cooldown).
The mana regen thing is for Dreanei Priests only. Sorry!
(oh - and Heroism. That’s the Draenei Shaman Racial Spell)