How to gain the undying love of your healer

[Livewire]

Stole this from MMO-Champ but thought it would be worth having on theese forums. Original post by exquisite

Healing isn't faceroll anymore. Those of us who heal for the love of healing have generally adapted to the recent changes. However, healing is no longer a one-person role. It's everyone's responsibility to contribute to the well being of the group. Here are a few ways you can make our lives a little easier so we can make your life a little easier.

Don't Stand in Bad Things

This may seem like a no-brainer, but in Wrath of the Lich King, it became rather common for avoidable damage to just be healed through rather than actually avoided. This was possible because mana was infinite and heals were big. That is no longer the case. As the old saying goes, a dead DPS does zero DPS.

Do Stand in Good Things

Cataclysm brought with it some new AoE healing spells that are placed on the ground and heal everyone standing in them. These include Holy Word: Sanctuary from priests, Healing Rain from shamans, and Efflorescence from druids. So, if it's on the ground, and it's good, and you can stand in it and still damage the boss, please do. Also, for our paladin friends, please stand in front of them so you can bask in their cone of golden goodness.

To review:


Click the #$%!ing Lightwell

Lightwell, the former red-headed stepchild of healing spells, has been majorly revamped and is now an amazing healing tool. Some facts:

• It is the highest heal-per-mana (hpm) spell for priests.
  You can click it from up to 20 yards away.
  Clicking it will not change your target and does not trigger the global cooldown.
  It heals for more per tick than Renew.
  It can be used while stunned, disoriented, sapped, blinded or casting.

Lightwell loves you, and only wants you to love it back.


Interrupts, How Do They Work?



Even if an ability won't one-shot the tank, it's a pretty good idea to interrupt everything you can.This reduces the amount of healing needed, which reduces the amount of mana used, which reduces downtime. Most interrupts are off the global cooldown. In the same vein, stunning a whirlwinding mob is also a great idea. Here's a list of interrupts by race, class and spec.

Racials

• Warstomp (Tauren)
  Arcane Torrent (Blood Elf)

Death Knight

• Mind Freeze
  Death Grip (to be used carefully, as it is a taunt)
  Gnaw (Unholy Ghoul)
  Strangulate
  Frost
  Hungering Cold

Druid

• Cyclone
  Hibernate

Feral (Bear)

• Bash
  Skull Bash

Feral (Cat)

• Skull Bash
  Pounce
  Maim

Balance

• Typhoon
  Solar Beam

Hunter

• Freezing Trap
  Scatter Shot

Marksmanship

• Silencing Shot

Beast Mastery

• Intimidation

Survival

• Wyrven Sting

Mage

• Counterspell
  Polymorph
  Ring of Frost

Frost

• Deep Freeze

Fire

• Dragon's Breath
  Impact

Paladin

• Hammer of Justice
  Rebuke
  Turn Evil

Retribution

• Repentance

Protection

• Avenger's Shield

Priest

• Shackle Undead
  Psychic Scream

Shadow

• Silence
  Psychic Horror

Holy

• Holy Word: Chastise

Rogue

• Kick
  Blind
  Kidney Shot
  Cheap Shot
  Gouge

Shaman

• Bind Elemental
  Hex
  Wind Shear

Elemental

• Thunderstorm

Enhancement

• Bash (Spirit Wolf)

Warlock

• Death Coil
  Fear
  Howl of Terror
  Spell Lock (Felhunter)
  Seduction (Succubus)
  Inferno

Destruction

• Shadowfury

Demonology

• Axe Toss (Felguard)
  Demon Leap (Metamorphosis)

Warrior

• Charge
  Shield Bash
  Pummel
  Intimidating Shout
  Intercept
  Heroic Leap

Arms

• Throw Down

Protection

• Concussion Blow
  Shockwave
  Heroic Throw (2/2 Gag Order)

Note: Applying crowd control, even if it's immediately broken, will still interrupt casting. Fears should be used carefully or glyphed to prevent pulling additional mobs. AoE damaging spells should be used only if there are no crowd controlled targets in range.

Crowd Control and You

For the benefit of those who are new, or started playing during WotLK, crowd control (CC) basically refers to taking a mob out of the fight by incapacitating it in some way. Ideally, this should be done on the pull, so the CC'd mobs stay back while the free ones run forward. Crowd control, like interrupts, reduces incoming damage, resulting in an overall faster run. Here is a list of effective crowd control by creature type:

Any

• Freezing Trap
  Cyclone
  Entangling Roots (melee only)
  Ring of Frost
  Blind

Humanoid

• Polymorph
  Sap
  Mind Control
  Seduction
  Repentance
  Hex
  Wyrven Sting
  Fear (glyphed)

Beast

• Polymorph
  Sap
  Hibernate
  Hex
  Wyrven Sting
  Scare Beast (be careful with this one, as there's no glyph that will make the mob stand still)
  Fear (glyphed)

Elemental

• Banish
  Bind Elemental
  Wyrven Sting
  Fear (glyphed)

Demon

• Sap
  Repentance
  Banish
  Enslave Demon
  Wyrven Sting
  Turn Evil (be careful with this one, as there's no glyph that will make the mob stand still)
  Fear (glyphed)

Undead

• Shackle Undead
  Repentance
  Turn Evil (be careful with this one, as there's no glyph that will make the mob stand still)

Dragonkin

• Sap
  Hibernate
  Repentance
  Wyrven Sting
  Fear (glyphed)

Giant

• Repentance
  Wyrven Sting
  Fear (glyphed)

Here, Have Some Cake

There is absolutely no reason why a healer should have to heal you up after a wipe. If you're down 50k hp, it would take, in my experience, roughly 6 Heals to top you off. Your healer is going to be eating and drinking as well, so you might as well sit down and nom on some delicious cake. If you don't have a mage then use your own food. It doesn't have to be buff food, though that would be ideal. Mobs drop food like Roasted Beef which restores 67,500 hp over 30 seconds, in addition to your out of combat regen.



Dispelling: It's Not Just for Healers Anymore

With the release of Cataclysm, Blizzard mixed up the dispel system. Now, all healers can dispel magic defensively, provided they take the talent. However, each has at least one type of debuff they cannot dispel and that's where you come in. Yes you, the fat one with the feathers. The one hurling lightning bolts. The one raining golden death upon the enemy. And yes, even mages. So if you have a priest healing in your group, please be aware that priests cannot dispel curses or poisons. Druids don't do so well with diseases, shamans need some help with poison and disease, and paladins just can't get rid of those pesky curses. So if you have a button to remove a debuff that your healer can't, consider using it.

While Your At It, Why Not Press Your Heal Buttons Too?

We're not asking you to heal for us, but if , for example, the group is reasonably clumped up and taking a ton of damage, go ahead and hit that Holy Radiance button, Mr. Ret Pally. One global isn't going to kill you, but an overburdened healer might. Rebirth is also not just for resto druids. DPS shamans, be aware that Healing Stream does stack.

And in that vein, whether a DPS dies in Cataclysm is almost entirely up to that player. So if you're gonna stand in something bad, try to save yourself with self-healing or damage absorbing/immunity abilities and talents. These include, but are not limited to: Recuperate, Ice Block, Ice Barrier, Deterrence, Death Strike, Dispersion, Shamanistic Rage, Cloak of Shadows, etc. I guarantee, unless the tank isn't taking much damage, you probably will not get much in the way of direct healing.

Conclusion: Being a Good DPS Isn't Just About Meters

Success in Cataclysm is once again a group effort. It's everyone's job to ensure the run goes as smoothly as possible. The sad truth is, if groups continue to expect their healers to heal through avoidable damage, sit and drink alone between pulls and have an extremely stressful experience in every heroic run, soon there won't be any healers. Meters aren't everything, and I think I speak for all healers when I say players who are situationally aware and considerate far, far outweigh ones that can blow up the meters while standing in fire. No one's going to remember your DPS numbers, but they will remember that clutch interrupt or quick CC on an accidental pull. Those are the kinds of things that gain you a spot on a healer's friends list and, quite possibly, their undying love.