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The four healer classes (question)

Hi all,



Starting to get more used ot the game, but I need advice on the healer classes. I don't totally understand the differences between the Priest, Druid, Shaman, and Paladin. Does one outright heal better in all circumstances, or does one healer do a better job at a particular kind of healing?



I know roughly that a priest is a cloth caster who can do lots of damage with shadow spells, the druid can switch forms and roles on a fly, the Shaman is sort of a caster/healer/fighter rolled in one, and the paladin is a healer/warrior. Are any of these classes better at soloing than the other?



Finally, if I'm a shadow priest, will I have no place in groups since I can't heal as well as a holy priest? How will I play compared to a mage?



Thanks for any info, this forum has been a great source of info.

Comments

  • herculeshercules Member UncommonPosts: 4,924
    Originally posted by Sawtooth

    Hi all,



    Starting to get more used ot the game, but I need advice on the healer classes. I don't totally understand the differences between the Priest, Druid, Shaman, and Paladin. Does one outright heal better in all circumstances, or does one healer do a better job at a particular kind of healing?



    I know roughly that a priest is a cloth caster who can do lots of damage with shadow spells, the druid can switch forms and roles on a fly, the Shaman is sort of a caster/healer/fighter rolled in one, and the paladin is a healer/warrior. Are any of these classes better at soloing than the other?



    Finally, if I'm a shadow priest, will I have no place in groups since I can't heal as well as a holy priest? How will I play compared to a mage?



    Thanks for any info, this forum has been a great source of info.

    Hi

    Well each class has a talent tree which makes them more effective in healing.Now firstly WoW is very gear dependant so before we talk further you must understand this .The guy with the better gear/talents will outheal the other with poorer gear no matter the class.

    Healing talents aka holy or restoration are mostly group/raid friendly.Most will suggest you spec say feral as a druid ,shadow as a priest etc till you hit maximum level and then decide.

    If you hunt mainly with friends in a dungeon you can consider speccing healer before then.

    Depending on your guild they will most likely prefer you specced holy or restoration though many prefer druids as  off tanks in raid now via feral or paladins.

    Now down to what they can do.The priest is probably the all round best healer because he has a bit of everything .In raids you need fast heals,shielding,mana effective heals and in some situations large heals.

    So while the druid has the most effecitve and largest heal which is called healing touch ,its cast time is slow .

    The shaman has one of the best fast heals along with the priest.

    The druid has a talent called treeform which provides good healing over time at very low mana cost but has its limitations too.

    However the druid has 3 healing over time spells which makes them very important in raids.Only the priest has such spells but the druid is king of HoTs.

    The priest has very good group heals.While the best by a mile group heal is the druid but but it is a channeled spell and has a massive 10 mins cooldown.

    Only the priest can shield a group member .

    Paladins make good healers with heals not as fast as priest's flash heals but not as slow as druid's Healing touch.

    All have they pro and cons and then to compliment each other in raids.

    I say play whichever healer u like best as they are all good in their own way.

  • VolkmarVolkmar Member UncommonPosts: 2,501

    off the bat, druids and priests are healers. Paladins and shamans are hybrids as such, rarely they are asked to perform healing duty as main job. They are usually employed as backup healers though, together with backup tank or DPS depending on their class.

    So if you want to play an healer full time, priest or druid is your choice.

    Priests have not got much love recently from Blizzard. As a result everybody love shadow priests, but holy priests? yes, there are, because people still believe in "priest=best healer" mantra, but it is not so true.

    What priests give is versatility. They surely can heal in lots of different ways. Small, large, over time, group, bubbles... you name it. What priests' problem is? lack of mana or mana regenration abilities. Beside a Draenei racial spell, priests have NO way to get back mana if not in a very limited form... nor they can cast spells for free... so Spirit is fundamental for priests, even higher than int or stamina.

    The druid, on the other hand, is much more restricted in the healings, BUT a fully restoration druids heals will be more mana efficienct than a priest one... And for a good reason. Druids tend to have less mana than a priest BUT have many ways to either cast free spells or gain back mana just like that. Plus, they can wear leather armor and change to bear for maximum survivability.

    Of the two, the druid is good in the few things it has, but the priest give you a full range of powers.

    At the end, both classes can perform admirably as a main healer in a group or raid, so either will do.

    As for solo classes, the druid is way more solo friendlier than the priest. Both paladin and shamans are also good solo classes, can't say which one is better. paladin cannot do much damage, but are very hard to kill. Shamans can do way more damage than a paladin, but their survivability is more limited.

    hope this help. bye

    "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"



  • TharcideTharcide Member Posts: 97
    I don't play WoW.

    But there are four people in my apartment (four out of six.. lol)



    and it seems to me that Druids...

    Are very good tanks(I hear some are prefering them over Warriors), very good healers(read previous post..), and good dps.

    I have a roomate playing as a Priest, commenting on a druid in bear form... tanking:

    He says that if he tries real hard he can out DPS the bear.



    OP much?

    image

  • kraidenkraiden Staff WriterMember UncommonPosts: 638
    A paladin  can heal better while speced holy than a priest speced shadow. But to me a holy priest outputs the best healing. Just use greater heal, 3 sec cast time to heal your target to full for 500 mana works for me
  • Binary^.nlBinary^.nl Member Posts: 44

    1. Priest - Holy

    2. Druid - (healing spec)



    --- mainly back up ----

    3. Paladin / Shaman / Druid -

    4. Priest - Shadow

    Personally I like a shadowpriest as back-up, cause off the huge DPS and Leechlife ... but its hard for a warrior to tank when a shadow priest is on a DPS strike

  • AntipathyAntipathy Member UncommonPosts: 1,362
    Paladins and shamen are generally not expected to main-heal groups until endgame raids, whilst priests and druids are expect to main-heal five man groups at all levels - even if they are not specc'd for healing.



    So if you want to be a healer throughout the game, play a druid or priest.



    The healing abilites are very different between the two. The druid focuses on heal over time spells and slow heals, whilst the priest has a wide variety of heals. Both are capable of healing tanks, whilst the quick priest heals and shielding are better at keeping a mage alive who is receiving damage (e.g. when aoeing). Within a raid they both complement each-other, and it is a good idea to have some of each available.



    One key skill for a priest is fade, a skill that helps reduce the priests aggro. This is very important if you find yourself working with a merely average tank. In my opinion this single skill gives the priest the edge when healing 5 man groups (if a druid gets aggro, he has very few effective responses e.g. becoming a bear means healing stops for the entire group).


  • AntipathyAntipathy Member UncommonPosts: 1,362
    Another point to be aware of is that when a group looks for a healer, priests almost always get asked before druids. This is partly because so many druids are feral spec'd, and partly an irrational bias. If you want to be popular, play a priest.
  • HubabubaHubabuba Member Posts: 229

    I'll agree with most everything said here.

    I'll run just about any instance with just about any type of healer as long as they have decent gear and are healing spec.   Each type of healer brings something different to the party.  Shamans and paladins buff their party thus lowering the need for healing, a druids strength is in his HOTs and his versitility, and a priest is just hard-core healer.  I wouldn't say there is a best healing class, its a matter of personal preference, gear, spec, and ability to play. 

    Shadow priests...yes, they can DPS, and every group does need DPS classes, so yes they are needed.  However, there are more DPS classes than there are healing classes, and half the healing classes are spec'd for DPS.  Healers are usually in high demand so you'll probably have an easier time finding groups as a healing priest. 

  • digital_sodadigital_soda Member Posts: 9

    Druids are  nice with the utility they can bring, and innervate is nice, but as far as pure raw healing goes, although despite what anyone droods say, their kittyform dps is horrible, and no decent +def items in leather hurt bear form in the end.

    Priest's are nice, though their heals are more of an area effect nowadays it's seems, which is a huge mana drain and they have not a single way to recover mana besides spirit which is only good if you don't plan on casting for a couple minutes.  Oh and maybe you get the chance to shackle something once every 30 levels.

    A resto shaman is sick, good regen, mail armor plus nature's swiftness and ghost wolf owns all.  Though they are too dependent on proc's to do any major sustaining dps, and they lack decent armor so they don't quite tank as well either.

    There really is no choice honestly.  All classes can heal just as well as one another, which is the problem; a plate wearer can heal as good as a clothie.

    Play what you choose, it's your money not ours, but honestly, paladins are rigged. 

    As far as pve/pvp survivability goes, only 1 of those healers get plate armor, dispels, insta invuln bubbles, tank well, crazyass mana regen and a free mount.

    priest can do some batshit crazy dps though, until their mana runs out.

  • How does a Shadow spec priest stack up with a mage? If I go that route, besides being able to heal, what seperates me from a mage?

  • AntipathyAntipathy Member UncommonPosts: 1,362
    Your raw damage is similar, possibly slightly higher. In PvP you will be effective.



    However whilst you will have the ability to heal when not in shadow form, the mage has a wider range of utility spells, including the excellent polymorph . The mage probably also has more staying power. Whilst both classes will tend to go out of mana in long battles, the shadow priest is likely to do so first.
  • AntipathyAntipathy Member UncommonPosts: 1,362
    The mage also much better AoEs and is by far the best AoE class in the game.
  • earthhawkearthhawk Member Posts: 247
    Originally posted by Sawtooth

    Hi all,



    Starting to get more used ot the game, but I need advice on the healer classes. I don't totally understand the differences between the Priest, Druid, Shaman, and Paladin. Does one outright heal better in all circumstances, or does one healer do a better job at a particular kind of healing?



    I know roughly that a priest is a cloth caster who can do lots of damage with shadow spells, the druid can switch forms and roles on a fly, the Shaman is sort of a caster/healer/fighter rolled in one, and the paladin is a healer/warrior. Are any of these classes better at soloing than the other?



    Finally, if I'm a shadow priest, will I have no place in groups since I can't heal as well as a holy priest? How will I play compared to a mage?



    Thanks for any info, this forum has been a great source of info.
    For all around healing and general gaming I like the holy paladin. Tough to kill, super buffs, and can off-tank when things go wrong. I have a 66 holy paladin and he just keeps getting better. Plus you can find plate mail with "+ heal and spell damage. " I have a 68 druid, who use to be resto, but they suffer when doing solo quests and play (i.e. poor DPS, low armour, etc...). I went feral for the sheer ability to pwn in PvP and solo quest. Shammys are good, but make better casters than tanks; the mail armour just dosnet stand up well to hits. For pure healing go priest. Whatever you choose have fun!
  • laffncrylaffncry Member Posts: 92
    Originally posted by Sawtooth

    Hi all,



    Starting to get more used ot the game, but I need advice on the healer classes. I don't totally understand the differences between the Priest, Druid, Shaman, and Paladin. Does one outright heal better in all circumstances, or does one healer do a better job at a particular kind of healing?



    I know roughly that a priest is a cloth caster who can do lots of damage with shadow spells, the druid can switch forms and roles on a fly, the Shaman is sort of a caster/healer/fighter rolled in one, and the paladin is a healer/warrior. Are any of these classes better at soloing than the other?



    Finally, if I'm a shadow priest, will I have no place in groups since I can't heal as well as a holy priest? How will I play compared to a mage?



    Thanks for any info, this forum has been a great source of info.
    hi there..well all class that you mentioned are good healers but of course, they have their own cons..so i suggest that you just choose whatever you feel like using..ok? goodluck!
  • RuthgarRuthgar Member Posts: 730
    Priests have been getting the short end of the stick lately. I have a 60 Druid and a 70 Priest. I would suggest that you pick a Druid because even with the major nerfs, there are more Holy Priests than Restoration Druids.



    A restoration Druid can still go into Bear and Cat form. A Holy priest can do light damage, but it stinks compared to a Mage 10 levels lower.
  • FaoiteFaoite Member Posts: 30
    The day of the druid is over. If you want diversity go Priest. They are the best healers (although druids are close in straight PvE). In PvP druids are the worst class to bring along as a healer. If you go shadow spec as a priest you one of the 3 best classes in the game for PvP.



    Shaman or Paladin. Go Paladin hands down. Great Battle healers and are a pain in the butt to kill to boot.



    You can solo farm as all 4. They are all pretty decent soloist.
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