Quickie WoW post

[thistlechaser]

There's a blog post from Ghostcrawler up, talking about how hard Cata dungeons are. I disagreed with the logic of a lot of it, but as I don't do them myself, that's not all that important. This line is:

"We also know that plenty of players like the changes and find healing more enjoyable now."

I'm on a number of WoW comms, I read a whole bunch of WoW LJs and blogs. I have not seen one single healer who is happy with how things are now. Healers are generally in tears or in rages over the changes (and over things like DPS and tanks still in WotLK mode). Since the moment Cata dropped, I have not seen even one post from a healer saying they are happy with how things are.

I'm not a healer myself, I have no personal stake in this, I'm just curious as to if they honestly think there are happy healers out there (which there may be), or if they just added the line in to support their own decisions.

Edit: Also, ha! On our debate the other day about if the dungeons will eventually be nerfed or not. "We also just tend to nerf content over time because the original players hitting that content have moved on, so we want to open it up to a wider audience."

Comments

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Where I have personally seen them get into trouble is when they slip into overconfident “I got this” mode and try to tank too many things at once.

But but but, that's the only mode I have! ; ;

Anyways I agree with what he was getting at. Although it's hard for healers right now, most of that difficulty is probably coming from overzealous tanks and "derp derp derp" DPS. I haven't done any heroics (Haven't even really been on WoW in awhile...) but I did do all the Regulars and I can understand what's going on.

There was often when I would have to literally run away from a battle because the close range AoE was too much and I would die or overburden the healer if I stayed there. I can imagine that's even worse in heroics. Combined with the fact that many DPS end up in bar lock (where they see nothing other then their rotation/priorities) and don't see what's going on.

But because of that I also kept Death Strike on my bar. It's basically shit in terms of damage for a frost DK but if I'm at 75% health and the tank is getting his face torn off I'll throw out Death Strikes. Why? It doesn't help the tank any, it helps the healer. I like to think it sends the message, "Hey, I got this, you just make sure that tank stays alive and I'll worry about me." Of course this variable thinking is like some alien language to many of the people of WoW who were reared on the WotLK easy mode (which is even me).

Also, I wonder how many of the WoW crowed actually understoof:

I hope that this post may serve to some as the "tare" button that helps you zero in on the intended dungeon difficulty scale.

heh.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

. Combined with the fact that many DPS end up in bar lock (where they see nothing other then their rotation/priorities)

Oooh, there's a name for that! That happens to me all the time.

most of that difficulty is probably coming from overzealous tanks and "derp derp derp" DPS.

I think that could be right, yeah. I also feel bad that everyone blames the healer when things go bad. That's just not fair!

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

There was actually some cases of that in my old guild raid group. It was all in great fun though.

*group wipes after I convince the tanks that pulling 3 pulls at once is a great idea*
Vel: Totally not my fault, I blame the heals.
Heals: You know, one of these days we'll stop healing you!
Vel: :P

One of the best was when a tank was sitting there waiting for some people to come back from AFK so he could pull and I just randomly shouted out "Pull!" in vent and he apparently had his finger over his charge button and when I did that it startled him and he zooom! Off he went XD We died horribly. Damn jumpy tanks!

PS I cancelled my WoW subscription (I'll actually put it back on now though, yay government rebates! Plus it's still active till end of month anyways) and since I don't really feel like spamming dungeons just yet I plan to go invade WRA. Because I can.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I
plan to go invade WRA.

:o You should totally come say hi!

[livarot.livejournal.com]

"Off he went XD We died horribly."

haha

that's awesome

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

Guess I should throw my two cents now... I'm a healer, and I just adore Catacalysm. Healing hasn't been this much of a challenge since 60, and perhaps before then. It's tricky and truly involves me staying awake and aware. It's true that it feels a little too difficult - healing has always been harder than DPS, and the difference seems to have become only more exaggerated. But I absolutely appreciate having to focus and use ALL my healing spells effectively to keep the tank alive, rather than every expansion before, where I can usually spend half the dungeon alt-tabbed out.

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

"Before then"... I should have said, even moreso than then. Ha!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh, good to hear! And see, proof you should post more! ;) I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

People who are enjoying themselves don't usually post to say as much. Conversely, misery loves company.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Good point!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Healing was not more difficult than dpsing in Wrath, particularly when in five mans rather than raids. The only difficult thing was staying awake. By the end I spent more time dpsing as a healer because an earth shield or PW:S was enough to keep the tank up most of the time. Not that dpsing was hard, but at least there was something to do other than stare at bars that would never move and jump on them if they happened to change just a sliver because then you had something, anything to do.

I haven't healed heroics yet, but from what I can tell, the problem is people still in Wrath mode rather than the actual healing. When people run off without letting me get mana, it's very bad.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

When my Shaman hit 80 my guild took him to an alt run of ICC. He had like 2900GS at the time and they took him because they knew I knew what was going on and they just needed some more heals for the raid. I would literally throw Earth Shield on a tank and then then smash chain heal until I oomed. And it worked out very very well heh. XD

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

I geared up a couple of alts in a similar fashion. It's especially easy with shamans with so little competition for gear. I got something like seven pieces the first night I took mine in including my ring. Not all resto gear, of course, but it was ridiculous how fast she geared up. And it made me want to cry to see her hps in mostly blue gear chain heal spamming was higher than my disc priest and about the same with absorbs factored in. Chain heal spam was ridiculous.

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

I'd say healing was more difficult than DPSing in raids, but you're right about five man heroics at WotLK. I would usually just go DPS and throw out the occasional heal near the end of it, they got so easy.

[livarot.livejournal.com]

even 5 man heroic bc, i would always dps (i'd often be #3 on the list. so yes, that meant 2 dps were below me. which always made me want to cry.) and just throw out the occasional heal. and the tank would literally go out for a smoke for some fights and come back, and we'd still be ok. it's always gotten easier as time goes on, people learn the fights and gear gets better.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Depends on what kind of healer we're talking about. Shaman raid healing was pretty much spamming chain heal and throwing riptide in here and there and disc raid healing in 25's was just shield spam. Squeezing out good dps from a suboptimal spec was a lot harder than either of those things.

ETA: In contrast, there were hard things. I simply couldn't two heal BQL or Sindy as disc paired with a pally. We just didn't have the aoe throughput to deal with the constant damage from the auras in addition to the active moves the bosses were doing. The same situation as resto wasn't hard, though. Back to chain heal spam!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Squeaky wheels get the grease and all that. It's usually only people who are unhappy who post. I haven't healed heroics yet, but from what I've seen, the problems are either people not doing what they're supposed to as far as mechanics (crowd control, not standing in fire) or lack of gear. The minimum gear level required to get into dungeons doesn't necessarily mean you've got the mana regen to handle them. I also think people have missed the memo on how important spirit is. First time I was in Shadowfang Keep heroic, the group broke up after we wiped a bunch on one boss and the healer said they apparently didn't have the regen to handle it...but she was half in elemental shaman gear, which has no spirit!

Already things have improved a ton. Pugs can actually succeed at heroics now, which was pretty rare the first couple of weeks. In another month, I expect a fair amount of the whining to stop as people continue to get gear and thus are more successful. I'm already seeing some tanks trying to faceroll pulls that should be using CC and being successful at it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It's usually only people who are unhappy who post.

Based on the responses here, I think that's the case.

Pugs can actually succeed at heroics now, which was pretty rare the first couple of weeks.

Oh! That's good to hear.

In another month, I expect a fair amount of the whining to stop as people continue to get gear and thus are more successful.

Yeah, the blog post had said they expected that, too.

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

I was going to give Chryseth shit about it, actually, since I remembered him saying he liked Halls of Reflection because it was an actual challenge. I was going to be all CHRYSETH THIS IS YOUR FAULT.

But. I have found it enjoyable after I got used to some of the changes and made some adjustments to my healing style to account for it. One of those changes is I've had to just accept that sometimes, dps is going to die if they insist on standing in fire. I know I have life grip now, but: I have the tank to worry about, and a lot of the new instances are heavy movement-intensive.

Now, some of the encounters are just annoyingly ridiculous and need a change - for example, I have immense trouble with Altarius, this one encounter in Vortex Pinnacle, because there is a wind graphic effect that makes it impossible to see ANYTHING. There are a million little twisters that you have to avoid, and no matter what angle you look at it from, SOMETHING IS IN THE WAY. If you look top down, the dragon's WINGS are in the way and you can't see the tornadoes and you can't tell where the tank is pointing the breath weapon and you die. If you look at it front on, tornadoes sneak in from the side and throw you up in the air and into another tornado and you die. IT IS AN ENORMOUS PAIN, and the wind effect makes it even more difficult to see. THAT IS ANNOYING.

However, in general, I have been enjoying it. I've even had a few enjoyable pugs, and the difficulty did answer my major nitpick from Wrath, which was: dps seriously did not ever have to do anything remotely difficult except in raids.

Most achievements had a hard version that were essentially, "The boss hits harder, so the tank and the healer have to work harder, but nothing has changed for dps." Yet who was always linking the fucking achievements in pugs? Dps.

So I love that there are lots of fights now, like the robot in deadmines, and Evil Al'ar in Lost City, and Setesh in Halls of Origination, that are heavily dependent on dps. If you don't kill a certain thing in time, or manage certain adds in time, you are going to die, and there is nothing your tank or your healer can do about it, and they have designed the encounter so that it is IMPOSSIBLE TO BLAME THE TANK OR THE HEALER.

This pleases me, and because of it, I have heard something I never, ever, ever heard before in pugs before Wrath. It was: "Your heals are fine, dps just sucks real bad."

Whereas before, infallibly, it was "WTB HEALS, GOD."

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha! This was good to read, especially the part about DPS able to be blamed held responsible now.

I'm glad I'm hearing other opinions on this! And that you don't hate it! :D

[livarot.livejournal.com]

i'm a healer, and i've done healing on heroics, in item level, probably around 325 at best on the actual gear that i was wearing. (the last few points on best in slot were from items that i had no intention of wearing because it had stuff like agility on it lol.) i'm wearing greens, stuff with hit on it, no spirit... i have spirit on only 6 things.

i'm perfectly happy being a healer.

if i weren't, i'd go back to tanking or switching to dps.

i don't have issues with mana regen usually, if the fight goes well. the fight can even go badly, and i'll usually be ok. even though i only have 6 things with spirit on it.

and yeah, i'm aware that caster dps is pissed that i roll on their stuff too, but 1) if it's an upgrade, it's an upgrade. 2) i get called to interrupt spells 3) i have to do crowd control. 2 & 3 don't work so well if i miss 6% or 17% of the time. and i've gotten yelled at for not having hit gear in raids. we've actually had raids fail because healers didn't have hit gear, and their spells kept missing.

so anyway, i do sweat a little bit for some fights, but it's a fun sweating. it's not frustrating because of blizz changes. it's only frustrating when the tank & the dps refuse to work and just decide that i need to heal harder or get better gear.

i did heroic deadmines with a pug, and the only comment i got when i told them it was my first time, could they tell me if there was anything special the bosses would do, was "heal". so... it was horrible. not because of the fight itself, but just because of the refusal of the four other people to just explain what would happen. we ended up wiping multiple times because, well, how am i supposed to know what to do if no one explains, and it's pretty easy to die in great balls of exploding fire?

i ran heroic blackrock caverns with a guild tank & rogue. although we wiped once for each boss (it was the tank's first time, so we were finding things out that we didn't know before; also, we had 2 pug dps who didn't always help), it was fine because we talked about what went wrong & then the fight went fine. i even ended up doing dps for corla because the tank hardly needed any healing. (we died once on corla bc one of the pug dps didn't do the stacks properly) i had to cc lucky because the other dps said they couldn't cc. and for the ascendant lord, i ran out of mana bc the rogue & the tank thought it would be funny if they had the pug lock kite the adds. (quote from the rogue when i yelled at him afterwards "we thought it would be hilarious to see a clothie take the adds") so... the pug lock took all my mana to keep alive (bc the rogue initially said that i had to keep him alive no matter what). and then he died. so i only could throw a heal on the tank every now and then when i actually had enough mana. (and then rogue kited the adds, taking zero damage the entire time. sigh... remind me to slap him around a bit some time.)

i've found that most of the time, if it's hard for me to heal, there's something wrong with the group, whether it's the tank or the dps. but that was the same for wotlk. just maybe people forgot. i remember when magister's terrace first came out, i couldn't heal through it on heroic. i'd eventually get called to leave for another guild healer (different class--i was told it was impossible for my class to heal it). and then one day, i ran with some competent guildie dps, and it was a breeze. amazingly so. it went from impossible, horrible wipe to piece of cake.

i don't think healers should gripe about blizz. they should yell at the tank & dps. but tank & dps are probably less responsive than blizz. i mean... putting a dot on the sheep or not killing the adept or not interrupting healing spells or force grip or pulling when the healer is oom & in another room... when that results in a wipe, i get yelled at in a pug for not healing hard enough. but that's not blizz's fault. they can change cata mechanics all they want, but that's still not going to help. not unless they do something like "reset" my mana to full after each fight and give me aoe cc. but then that would take all the fun out of it, now wouldn't it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comment! Another person in the 'happy healer' group. :)