Healing...101

So here we go!

So where's the best place to start except at the beginning right?  The basics.  Basics are the curry of life, without basics we cannot even begin to accomplish the really complicated things in life.  So let's talk about the basics of healing.

What is healing?

Healing is one thing.  Survival.  Without a healer a tank and dps would not be able to live through a fight.  There is no at level instance or raid that does not require a healer.  So healing is replenishing the life that other player's characters have lost.  That is an easy question.

So what are my tools?

The average healer needs to know a few things about his tools.  One of those tools are the spells they use to heal and what they do.  This could be a wordy answer if I went through every class so I'll just give you a run down of the basic different types of healing spells.  First off, are the fast, low mana cost spells.  These spells usually do not heal as much as some, but they are fast and don't cost much.  These spells are good for normal casting, when small amounts of heals are necessary.  Second, are the long, high mana cost spells.  While they cost more and heal more, the cast times are so long that they actually are less viable than the fast ones.  They are "OH NO" moment spells.  Then there are what are called HoTs or Heal over Time Spells.  These give the target, or targets, a buff that heals them for an amount over time.  These are usually cheap but do not heal for much.  Druids have a lot of them.  The last kind are new to cataclysm.  These are AoE heals or Area of Effect heals.  These put an area where anything within that area receives heals.  These are good for when a lot of players standing near each other are taking damage.

So those are the healing spells.  There are some other tools though.  These tools are spells that modify something about the healer or his spells.  For example, druids and shamans have a spell called Nature's Swiftness that they receive in their Restoration trees.  This spell makes anything with a cast time less than 10 seconds instant cast.  This is good to use on the big, expensive "OH NO" heals, because minus the global cooldown, they become instant.  All healers have some form of this kind of spell.

The priest and paladin classes have a type of spell called a damage mitigation spell.  For priests this is Power Word: Shield and Paladin's have lots of them.  This spell absorbs damage or reduces damage.  I even like to extend this kind of spell to changes the player's state or keeps that state from changing (keep from getting feared or reducing threat).  But these spells can be game changers.

Why is healing so special?

Every role is important and crucial to group success.  Healing is no exception.  Knowing which spell to use at what time is an art and something that is difficult to explain.  Each class can be played differently and so the one thing I will not tell you what to do in this blog is how to play your character.  Run some randoms, heal a friend while leveling or questing, or ask a guild member of the same class about it.  I can help if you need it, but your personal play style is all your own.

Is that it?

Almost.  The next blog will include the top 5 things that healers do wrong.  This is the last thing that new healers need to know.  So next week will also be a blog for healers in general.