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| Boosh. |
Pardon the unstructure of this (Yes, I just made up a word), I've been busy these last few weeks and decided to finish up this post sitting in my drafts on my blackberry while I had some downtime away from home. This isn't up to my usual quality standards, but it's been on my mind and I've been ridiculously busy with a heavy class load and work. I'll try to polish it up a bit later if I get some time.
Now that Cata has been out for awhile, and we've gotten to play around with the new healing system, we can finally make some decisions about whether or not we actually like it. Was spam healing superior, or do we like that we've gone back to the triage days of old? Is triage "too hard" for people to grasp? Are we even truly on a triage system?
Spam and Triage defined
Spam healing is what we refer to the style of healing where one spell reigns supreme, and most others are ignored as they are deemed useless. Also, that one spell is usually fired continuously, or close to it. For example, in BC, Holy Paladins basically spammed a downranked Flash of Light. Or in Wrath, a Disc Priest's job was basically to roll shields on the whole raid.
Triage healing is where you pick the right spell for the right job, paying more attention to costs and using spells based on what is needed. It uses more of the toolkit, as we need to pay attention to heals per mana (HPM) more than heals per second (HPS).
What's more fun?
Honestly, I've loved healing through all of it. I enjoyed spamming and I enjoy triage, so I'll give a couple reasons for each.
I liked spamming because for one, it was simple. I didn't have to think about my spells that much, just who was getting hurt. I called it "masochistic whack-a-mole". It was fun for me because I liked the reactionary nature of it. Damage was coming fast, so you had to be quick moving from target to target. However, it had the drawback of being repetitive, fairly simple, and we didn't care about our resources, and teamwork wasn't an integral part. It really was whack-a-mole. It was difficult to distinguish yourself as a great healer, because it was so easy to be good.
Triage is a bit different. While we might not always be casting and damage is slower, we are more conscious of our resources and we get to use more spells. It's the same kind of quick thinking, but instead of putting more effort into picking targets, we put that effort into picking spells and rely on teamwork and assignments to handle a lot of the target work. It's easier to shine in a triage system because picking the wrong spells can lead to mana starvation, or player death. On the flip side, we are seeing less capable healers because people are struggling. this should resolve itself in time as people get used to it, but are we patient enough?
My Preference
Spamming was fun, I enjoyed it. But at the end of the day, I prefer the larger toolkit of a triage system. I love the rush of using the right spell at the right time and seeing my raid succeed. It's also nice just having some different buttons to press and more of a toolkit to use. I prefer the triage system, but it's presenting itself with a problem for healer balance since we're all using more spells than we were in the past.
What about you, do you miss the system in wrath, or do you like the direction it's going now?
/bubblehearth
I'm not really sure how to define raid healing at the moment, to be honest, but it is incredibly fun.
ReplyDeleteThe damge intake is just as fast as it was in Wrath with respect to our output, but we have a much bigger health buffer, and I love it this way. It can get Spammy, but I'm still pretty much using my entire toolbox, and need to keep an eye on my mana. There's seldom a moment where I'm not having to heal in progress fights
It's certainly not like it was when people were just starting cata heroics, and to keep everyone alive and my mana steady, the tank would spend more time at 20-40% HP than 100%, and I'm relieved that I don't spend the whole fight worrying that the tank could go splat any second, which, incidentally, was what I least liked about Wrath's healing system (I'm looking at you, heroic beasts and lich king!).
I'd say the biggest barrier for new people is the initial gearing, the system does slacken a little once you have some decent gear rolling, and I'm glad - though as I enter heroic raids, I suspect this will very quickly change. Halfus heroic was bad enough.
Nonetheless, I wouldn't mind reverting to my Wrath Pally for a day, just to remember what it was like spamming 20-30k Holy Lights every 1.1s. <3
Well triage healing isn't really present anymore. That changed so quickly with gear. But I do like that it's in between at the moment, not quite as faceroll single button casting as Wrath and not as much "triage" as blizz tried to warn us of. I like where it is atm :)
ReplyDeleteIn the sense that triage is simply "using more than one spell", then I'd say triage is the most entertaining. I can see how it would be challenging to newer players, but various talent procs sort of help to dictate which spell to use and when, which tends to chain off of spam heals. Admittedly, the only healing class I've ever played is this holy paladin starting in late Wrath and I really have little clue how the other classes work, but I love having two whole bars worth of abilities that I know will receive some action in most fights now in Cataclysm. That kind of variety, I suppose, is what made me switch from 5 and a half years of Rogueplay to this.
ReplyDeleteI'm playing a resto shaman and there's a new third way of healing:
ReplyDelete1) Throw out your biggest heals as necessary
2) Regen Mana with Telluric Currents
Ultraxion HC for example, first half is just:
HR, LB, LB, LB, ... HR, ...
and a stray chain heal to get the trinket stacks back up.