Too many Resto Druids? Never!

If healers were cool enough to be rappers I’m pretty sure this would be called a Cypher. As healers are really more full of bunnies, rainbows, candy and all that, somehow I think a Healing Webring is a much more fitting name!

So the healing community of bloggers are calling out one another to fill in this questionnaire which is definitely not a meme. And because Tamarind asked, and I love reading his highly entertaining posts, how could I possibly deny him a response? The full list which is being labeled the Circle of Healers can be found here.

Vok, I’m calling you out to keep the chain going!

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

My name is Lathere and I’m a Restoration Druid (Dear god does this sound like an AA meeting or what?)

What is your primary group healing environment?
(i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

You will generally find this tree hanging out in this week’s hip and happening 25 man raid, though I am partial to the quick 10 man tribute run.

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

I love Wild Growth, not only is it very useful for trickling in HoTs on multiple raiders, but it also puts pretty green leafy things around the targets.

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

As of today I only ever cast Healing Touch on that very rare “oh shit” occasion and only then via a macro with Nature’s Swiftness. Word on the street is that Healing Touch builds and glyphs are the way to go on Phase 3 Heroic Anub’arak so I guess it’s time to dust off the spell book and look it up!

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class
and why?

Covering my raiders in a big warm, snuggly blanket of Rejuvenation and Wild Growth. Admit it, nothing reassures those squishy clothies more than seeing a forest of trees spreading out their branches and blanketing them with HoTs!

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class
and why?

I love the fact that druids are so versatile. I am loathe to say that we have a weakness, but I am very envious of healers that can do a bit of damage while they’re healing because they don’t have to stay in well a tree form. Lath NEVER makes it onto the DPS page for recount. For the record out of pure boredom I tree bashed my way through 25 Man Anub’arak phase 3 last night…

tree bashing = 58 dps
/sadface

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general,
is the best healing assignment for you?

In Wrath I feel that the role I enjoy and do best in is definitely raid healing with a side of tank hotting.

It’s amazing how much your role differs every expansion and sometimes from patch to patch. Back in BC I was generally assigned to Tank Assistant where I would roll HoTs on the 2-3 tanks and leave the raid healing to the Shammies and Priesties.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

There is something about the Resto Druid and Holy Pally combo that just works. I love how the baby HoTs and big Pally heals just click.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

I love all my fellow healers, but currently Shammies are just not doing it for me. I know they got buffed and all but… yeah… sorry guys, I hear Elemental Shammies are OP at the moment though.

What is your worst habit as a healer?

This is pretty naughty and I hate to say it out loud but I, erm, often forget to make use of Swiftmend. I know, I know, what a waste of a glyph and a wonderful spell! I promise that I am working on it, and trying to consciously use it whenever Mikes Scrolling Battle Text makes that little bip noise and announces on my screen that it’s ready.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

Mages and Warlocks that get trigger happy and pull aggro right at the start of the fight. Let them die, I say. And don’t even think about blaming the healers or the tanks for it either!

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers
for PvE healing?

Yes – Druids feel proud, dust off your leaves – we hold our own against the other healing classes!

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

I am very lucky that I have a companion tree in my 25 man raids who is an exceptional healer. I always look at the breakdowns in abilities between us, especially if there is a big disparity and when he does better than me (which is like nearly always), then try to adjust to improve my performance.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have
about your healing class?

That we can do everything. We can, yes. But not all at once, something has to give. So Raid Leaders: try not to get the poor Druid to cover off all bases.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

I’m sure Druid healing is probably quite overwhelming at first but it’s hard for me to remember because I have been doing it for so long now. I could probably heal in my sleep.

My guess would be that a lot of newer trees would probably overwrite their Lifeblooms and Rejuvenations before it’s really necessary. Only time and practice will help your internal clock get the hang of Wild Growth cooldowns and Lifebloom blooms. After a while you just get the hang of it and my advice is to invest time choosing and setting up a good raid frame add on that clearly shows HoT counters like Vuhdo or Grid (with GridStatusHots).

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of over healing, low healing output, etc)?

It’s really dependent on the fight, but in most cases you would see:

• High HPS
• A large chunk of my healing spell pie would be Rejuvenation and Wild Growth – not enough Swiftmend!
• You would usually see that the majority of my heals even when I’m a raid healer are on the Tanks and generally a DPS Shammy (don’t ask me why they are just so squish!)

Haste or Crit and why?

Well it was Haste, then it was briefly Crit and now it appears we’re back to Haste again /sigh.

I want to have Crit, there is no theory behind it, I just for some reason like Crit stuff (probably because I can then use it for my crit turkey set too).

What healing class do you feel you understand least?

Paladins, for all their apparent 2 button healing, seem to have all these judgements and auras and… stuff. I don’t get them, I love them… I love their juicy beacon and I wouldn’t want to do a Tribute to Insanity run without my guildy Tehret.

But I once attempted to do Heroic TOC playing my boyfriend’s Holy Pally and boy was I confused! I had to like press 4 spells and that was before the pull! Please don’t ask me to remember what they were either.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

My raid frames are Vuhdo and I am lost without them. I also use Miks Scrolling Battle Text which helps me keep track of my Swiftmend and Wild Growth cooldowns.

Funny story, I installed a mod called Penetrator last night in preparation for healing our Heroic Anub’arak attempts. Phase 3 healing of this boss fight requires the raid healers to get off fast 7k+ heals on 5 targets that have received the Penetrating Cold debuff in something like 2 seconds. This mod announces to the raid who has the debuff, puts 5 different raid icons on each of the targets and also whispers the debuffed players this lovely message:

Lathere whispers: <<YOU ARE BEING PENETRATED!>>

Now we were just doing normal mode last night and well I didn’t know that this addon was whispering such a risque message to players from me. Needless to say I received a lot of confused replies. Some of the choice responses were:

“Please don’t, I’m too tired tonight I have a headache”

“So…. who’s doing the penetrating?”

“Kinky! Lath, I didn’t know you felt that way”

Good thing I was so bored that I was just tree bashing, I couldn’t stop laughing.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats,
or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Mana is for sissys, Spell Power FTW!

/End Q&A

Well that was fun! Any other healers reading this that want in – post your answers as a blog article and let me know so I can have a read. I’m looking forward to reading yours, Vok.