The ups and downs of being a healer

About a month or so ago I pulled out my level 25 Shaman. I was getting a bit tired of running around in Northrend with my DPS spec'd Death Knight, doing random dungeons (or pugs) almost every day, hacking and slashing my way through enemies with my enormous axe.

I pulled out my Shaman to try this 'healing' thing out. I was lead to believe it was the job with the most responsibility, so I didn't take it. Almost every class I've ever played has been spec'd to DPS, and I rarely play any class that can do otherwise. I've never played a priest, and my druid is resting happily on level 25, waiting for me to start caring about my Alliance characters again.

So, I wheeled out my Shaman, respec'd in Restoration, and clicked the 'Join random dungeon' button.

Not one second - not one second - passed before I saw the familiar "Enter dungeon" button in front of me.

I was starting to like my Shaman, who I made god knows how long ago and abandoned in favour of a different class.

Thrust into my first dungeon as a healer, I did rather well. The party didn't wipe, and the tank stayed above 50 health almost through the entire dungeon.

I did bare in mind that this was a reasonably low level dungeon, and the dangers posed there aren't nearly as deadly as some of the later dungeons I would face. And I did use Healing Wave every time the tank took damage, even if it was nothing more than a simple scratch.


My Shaman's now 42, and I've learnt a lot about the art of healing, and I respect healers a hell of a lot more than I did when I played my Death Knight.

I suppose it is true that healers have the most responsibility on the party. Coming in close second is the tank, and they share about an equal amount of stress - the tank is supposed to keep all the enemies attacking him, and the healer is supposed to keep that tank alive (and make sure the rest of the party stays alive too).

My time as a healer has changed me somewhat. My aim is to no longer cause damage - it is to heal it. It was a massive shift from how I used to play. Playing used to be rather simple - keep hitting the guy until he falls down. Now, I have to make sure certain people don't fall down.

As a healer, you learn to manage your mana. If you don't, you'll be either running out of mana in the middle of a fight [very, very bad] or you'll be stopping after every fight to drink you mana back up [makes the dungeon take twice as long]. For example, only healing the tank when he or she actually needs it (as opposed to healing them whenever they took even the most pathetic amount of damage), and using Chain Heal when most of the party needs only a little healing to keep them going.

I've also learnt that most people don't play healers for a reason. Healers have a huge amount of pressure to make sure the tank stays alive, and ever since I started dungeoneering (going into random after random) I've found the tank does as little as possible to help you.

Out of every ten dungeons I go into, only two tanks ever bother to watch the party's health and mana, and at least another two are complete dickheads - charging off into the distance and expecting everybody to follow him, and when everybody inevitably doesn't (this type doesn't tell everyone he's making a massive pull) he leaves because it's everybody else's fault. And then other people start leaving because it takes ages to find another tank.

The other six don't really care either way. They'll probably stop if you say "I'm out of mana", but they expect you to take care of the party as a whole.

Another thing that I've learnt is some people can't handle wiping. It's an enormous deal for them, like it's the end of the goddamn world (the actual end of the goddamn world is coming later on this year, hopefully).
They don't realize I'm a Shaman with the maxed out Improved Reincarnation talent and Glyph of Renewed Life. By the time I'm ready to reincarnate, the drama queens have already left, and there's a high likelihood that one of those drama queens will be the tank.

Healing is still something I'm having fun with, though. It's a lot more different than playing a DPS class, and I'm enjoying playing my Shaman if only for the reason that it's a different experience.

Plus, you get into random dungeons a lot quicker. And at level 80, once you start doing raids, everyone is looking for a healer.

Don't be afraid to play a healer - once you've got the basics down, it's a lot simpler than you think.