Riding the Omnipotent Healing Train Towards Mists

As Mists of Pandaria are approaching, I enjoy roaming around various healing blogs /Blizzard forums and read all about my fellow health bandaging administrator complaints. I love it. It’s the coffee I don’t drink . Be it shaman, druid, priest or paladin ( and soon to be monk ) they all share the same grievance at the end. ( Among other legitimate complains.)

“Why can’t my class be good at everything?”

I can break it down to various complaints from current healing classes but I will not. I fear I will be dragged down too deep to ever get out. I can talk about shamans though. Latest scoop. Shamans are complaining these days about how they are the only class that does not get a targeted damage reduction cool down.

Of course, this is a generalization. I could go in depth about every class’s weaknesses. I realize some abilities need fine tuning. Hell, some need to be tossed out of the window completely. And I’m not saying that there aren’t problems that need to be addressed. Of course there are. There will always be. But the solution is not to give to everyone omnipotence . I have grown sick and tired of everyone treating the healer placement as part of some imaginary ironman challenge that urges them to reach to the top before anyone else. I think healers have forgotten what our class is all about. Healing is not about who has the best numbers. Do I love it when I come on top? Of course I do, I am very competitive after all. But what we need to realize here is that as healers we are only competitive to ourselves. To our last performance.  It is not a dps race. Dps are designed to compete with each other. Healers are designed to work as a team with each other. Dps goal is to down the boss as soon as possible while following it mechanics, healers are supposed to keep the raid alive. Complement each other’s abilities, work as partners . No, I don’t want as resto shaman to get a targeted damage reduction cooldown, I don’t mind being the only healing class that doesn’t have one.(Unless Blizzard decides to make Boss encounters that will absolutely require healers having one. And then my raid leader will notify me I m being out not because I m not good enough but because what can you do, you need a targeted damage reduction CD for progression. I will be a sad panda for that. No pun intended.)Not all the healers should have the same exact abilities only named differently. I wanted to get a damage reduction cooldown period as a class and spec because we had no mitigation whatsoever. On hagara I would be second to damage and healing received after the tank. If I got more than 2 stacks of lances I was as good as dead. On lightning phases I would die while chaining as elemental and that would be after I had dropped glyphed stoneclaw totem, self healed and stood away from the crap .Thank you blizzard I will cherish the personal damage reduction CD I got but no thank you on receiving a targeted one. Why would a shaman want to heal as a druid? A paladin as a priest? Why would you want to have the same abilities as them? I love healing alongside my fellow healers. I love that we have somewhat clear placements and directions according to our class. What would happen in a raid when a tank drops to 20% and you have a priest a druid and a shaman with similar abilities competing for numbers?

I could see it happening. All healers rushing to bring the tank up while forgetting that their uniqueness and cooperation is what keeps the tanks and the raid alive. This is an extreme scenario of course that doesn’t correspond to reality. But it shouldn’t take too long to realize what could happen if we went down the road of loosing what makes our classes so distinct.

 I don’t want to have hots as a shaman when a druid can do that so well. I don’ t want to have shields as a shaman when a priest does that so well. I want to do my job and I want my fellow healers to have my back while I am doing it. I want to help them help me. Nobody plays a supporting role to the leading healer. THERE IS NO LEADING HEALER! All the healers stand in the raid as equals to each with their own unique abilities. That is the balance Blizzard is trying to bring. Give the raid a super healer. One super amazing healer that splits himself into 3 and delegates responsibilities to his extensions. Look at your fellow healers as extensions to your own class. Strive to complement each other. Strive to be unique and be proud of your strengths, compete with yourself to become better and feel safe in your weaknesses because your healing team has your back.

PS : Don’t stop giving feedback for actual problems that need addressing. Just be smart about it.