Even though others tend to think I do great as a resto shaman, I disagree because 90% of the time I’m hitting my CH key, heh. I do have reasonably decent raid victories under my belt where I was resto, though…so I guess I’m doing something right. o.o

I still prefer to blow things up as elemental, though…been that way ever since I rolled my original shaman (when wow was ~4 months old). Now that it’s a viable spec, here I am.
.-= Kazgrel’s last blog: Hiatus Aftermath, and Cataclysm Spoilers Galore =-.

Renew is one of my least favored Priest healing spells. And I think it’s much stronger than Riptide.

If you’ve got the Glyph of Power Word: Shield (which does a nice smack +heal component on your instant spell) it becomes amazing – if you spot a DPS start to do something bad (like stand in fire) you can Shield them as they lose a bit of health, heal them to full via the glyph, and buy them time to get out of the fire or whatever.

As for Power Infusion there’s no right or wrong – use it for yourself unless you have way more mana regen than the situation calls for and in those instances give it to someone else during a boss fight. But I think if you already feel overwhelmed by the number of spells you need to come to grips with, just macro it in with Penance or Renew or something.

I remember the pre-Naxx times when healing heroics was quite challenging as resto shaman. I remember my first time healing the ToC 5-man and thinking it was impossible. But one of the posters above mentioned that there’s this moment where suddenly everything changes, and healing heroics becomes trivial. I am always embarrassed in raids, because I usually forget to carry water around. Even in ICC heroic 5-mans I don’t have to drink. In all honesty, heroics usually means putting Healing Stream down, refreshing Earth Shield, healing people with Riptide, and otherwise DPSing. I think on Loken I once outdpsd a DK like that.

What I love about being a shaman is that there is always something to do. Refresh Water Shield, keep Riptides rolling for Tidal Waves, casting super-fast 10k Lesser Healing Waves. A lot of shamans fall into the Chain Heal trap where it seems like every single button on their bars is just that one Heal. Be versatile. Learn when to use what. Fall in love with Riptide. I know I do.

I will have a huge learning curve as disc priest. He’s 52 now, I hadn’t touched him for 1.5 years, and he’s been shadow since level 10. I felt very mobile in that first BRD run yesterday, but also very limited. I don’t have this huge arsenal you mention, so I excessively shielded people, used Power Infusion randomly because I have no idea when to use it and felt like I should be doing a lot more somehow. I guess I’ll have to figure it out somehow. I think it’s possible to love both play-styles, and I will definitely try.

I know I am much happier play resto shaman than holy paladin. I tried that once, and the absolute lack of mobility and the strange mechanic of Beacon really turned me off that path.
.-= Kadomi’s last blog: Tank like a girl, the series: The Death Knight =-.

This. My resto shaman was my main back in TBC and at the beginning of WotLK. Then I played a disc priest. When I first played my resto shaman again after more than 6 months playing a disc priest it was all “omg resto shaman is hard! I need more instant spells!” But after a few instances/raid it was ok again. And then in my first ICC raids I found shaman was way easier than disc priest (even with a very poor gear) as I didn’t have to manage my mana at all.

Now resto shaman ca be a bit harder some times, but it’s not that bad. In TBC there was a quest (for Tempest Keep attunment \o/)where you had to do heroic Shattered Halls in a limited time. As a resto shaman, you just COULDN’T do this quest until you had a protection paladin as a tank. (Or until you where with very skilled players who all outgeared the instance)

I just tried heroic Pit of Saron and it wasn’t that bad. For the first boss we were all in melee range and it was really easy to keep up with damage. After the first rock I just hid behind it and spammed Chain Heal on me. It bounced on the other even if they were not in ligne of sigh.
I found the first boss in Forge of Soul harder, as if you’re the one who’s feared, there’s not much you can do to stay alive (Tremor totem doesn’t work).
.-= Zahia’s last blog: Shortest Shared Topic ever ! =-.

That article was one of the reasons I re-visited the priest, actually. She was sitting at level 15, and Vixsyn’s thoughts on the disparities between the healing styles encouraged me to have another go at disc healing.

Two things I want to try soon:

1) Healing on my Priest. I leveled her shadow all the way and really have had no idea what spells to use.

2) Getting back to my Resto Shaman. He has been sitting at lvl31 the last few months while I focused my attention elsewhere. In Gnomer, I actually considered him much easier than the Druid. I guess I need to see if I still feel that way as he advances.
.-= Melvyl’s last blog: An Aacr Update =-.

If you’re in a 5-man and everyone is shielded, it’s entirely possible they will have Weakened Soul and you can’t toss another shield.

Now, there is a little nuance to this as well. Borrowed Time only lasts for 4 seconds or the first _casted_ spell. Key word being casted spell. Instant cast and channeled spells benefit from the 25% haste it awards, but do not consume the charge.

This means you can pull off some interesting combos by using the extra 25% haste. If you know there’s incoming AoE damage, you can pop a shield on yourself (to protect from push back) and use your Prayer of Healing. It’ll cast 25% faster, and the added bonus of casting it on yourself; you can become a focal point. That is, you can position yourself so all your part members get hit.

If the tank is taking big damage, Power Word: Shield -> Prayer of Mending -> Penance -> Greater Heall is ridiculous and all 3 spells will benefit from the 25% haste.

It’s like playing under heroism, permanently.