Is it just me? I got both shaman and druid to 60 and shaman is doing 8k crit heals but druid is like 3-4k crits from regrowth and rejuv is only doing like 300 or so. Like when I watch people’s health it goes up sooo slowly. Is this how it will be? I tried a normal dungeon and compared to druid, shaman was so easy. I would like to make druid work tho cuz I really like the class. Does it get better?
Yes it will get easier, as you get more Mastery(gear), and people learn to stop taking so much avoidable damage
I came from a shaman and Paladin healer myself and one of the hardest things for me to do was trust in my HoTs. As a healer it bothers me to not see everyone topped off. But you have to trust that your HoTs will do their job. And that means being okay with people floating around that 70% health mark while your heals do their thing.
Slow and steady. And the more HoTs you stack on a target, the bigger the chunks of health that come back at a time.
Thank u grizzle.
Is this true even after the big resto Shaman nerf a couple days ago?
Anyhow, I do OK as resto druid, but mana is a huge issue, especially in raids. I am constantly having to hold back in order to ensure that I won’t be OOM before the end of an encounter, or even in trash pulls in M+ once it gets past +4 or so.
It would also probably help if I got a single upgrade drop in the past 11 days.
Yeah I’ve played resto for years and this feels “off” I’m not a great player and I fully admit that, but something just feels wrong from a throughput perspective. I know the top 2% playerbase is clearing high keys with the class, but again, something just feels off.
I do understand it will get better with Mastery, but mana costs are high, I HATE the swiftmend change, our legos don’t seem all that spectacular, tanks seem to take a lot of “chunk” damage without solid tools to recover from. I have tried different builds, nourish vs ward, soul of the forest vs incarnation, etc. nothing really seems to feel right.
I would love to hear other folks experiences and how things are going for the average player.
I’m very average!
Also, I have a level 60 Shaman and a level 60 Druid, both in average gear(around ilvl 60) and both healing in standard heroic dungeons.
Haven’t fully explored all of the talents available, but here’s my take on how the classes feel at lower tier healing.
Druid - Hots are surprisingly powerful. This allows the Druid to better manage global cooldowns because you can slap HOTs on people before they take damage. The healing style feels a bit more fluid, but rolling HOTs on folks is a bit of a pain.
One amazing tool Druids have is multiple self and targetable damage reduction spells(Ironskin, Barkskin, Ward of Cenarion). These are all really useful and necessary when targets are taking burst damage, because Druids really lack reactive burst healing.
In the past I would save Nature’s Swiftness, these days it feels like I have to pop it on cooldown just for the burst it provides. The fact that Regrowth is my only option to combo with Swiftnees feels bad, because overlapping Regrowth HOTs feels wasteful.
Shaman - Lots of tools availble for burst healing with Healing Surge and group spells like Downpour. Overall healing throughput feells better than on the Druid, especially in burst situations.
The downside is that most Shaman healing feels reactive, apart from healing totem. Another downside is no damage-reduction spells, though I’m planning to experiment with Earthwall Totem. This issue is mitigated by Earth Shield. When a Shaman pops Ascendence, there is no way a Druid can match their throughput. The closest a Druid comes is popping Tranquility.
Overall, I prefer the Shaman for 5-man heroic healing, but the class feels clunky and outdated in a lot of aspects. Druid is a more fun character for world questing, quality of life and boomkin.
Convoke the Spirits is a really great tool for Resto - at least for dungeons. Use it when the entire party is around half health, and in 2 seconds you’ll have them all topped off.
Shamans are a little overtuned compared to other healers right now, they’re getting nerfed Tuesday.
Having said that, you need to layer HoTs for mastery to really see the true power of resto druid healing. My Regrowth Crits for around ~5k with no Hots stacked. With a full stack of Hots it crits for around 7k w/ something like a 55% crit chance if a regrowth HoT is still in place. If it’s empowered with a SotF or a Nature’s swiftness it can crit for 13-14k.
We have to work a little more to get their, but our throughput is pretty strong.
I been playing healers since Vanilla.
Did my first dungeon today on my druid and was absolutely appalled how little I heal. Rejuv/regrowth barely move a health bar. What happened to the days when I could throw a Rejuv and watch it slowly improve a DPS? I was throwing everything I had and just didnt seem like I could make a difference.
I’m getting more healing throughput with my resto druid then my shaman just less consistently
I was doing 6-7k hps the first two weeks of SL on resto druid running a germination, abundance and tree of life build which was just disgustingly OP when you needed big healing. Germination really helps boost that mastery which means you get big regrowths
I feel the same way. I haven’t hit 60 yet, but leveling as healer feels painful. If I get a good PUG that avoids avoidable damage, it’s 100% fine. If I get a crap group that stands in fire, it’s impossible to keep people alive (but that shouldn’t be our fault right?).
I will say that you should take a look at your Heals Per Second in a tracker addon like recount or something. Compare between the two classes.
Like some others have mentioned, I’m guessing the difference is due to Druids being more of a HOT class that heals over time slowly but methodically and Shamans being more of a reactive “chunk” healer throwing out big heals to recover from big hits.
this was the harded thing to learn and realize when i came back to WOW tawrds the end of BFA. As someone who played mainly as a tank druid all throughout vanilla, burning crusade and lich king ( with ocassional turns as a healer) , coming back going full resto I noticed big changes in how druid healing worked , being entirely reliant on HoTs and trusting those HoTs to do their jobs.
I would say healing is different this expansion. You really need to take Soul of the Forest talent. Use swift mend to empower your wild growth cast. Always do this every time it comes of cool down. Its an incredible heal and will make everything so much easier including having more mana. Regen and rejuv are just fillers now really. You want the talent spring blossoms helping your efflorescence as this is also a lot of healing. You still keep lifebloom and rejuv on tank. But you have new massive heals really. Convoke the spirits followed by talent flourish is a great catch up if you get behind as it brings a ton of healing. Heart of the wild into transquality is great as a last resort for massive damage. Cenarion ward is a great save for a single person who steps in it. Take soul bind Dreamweaver at covenant level 9. You get empowered chrysalis which is awesome. your legendary pick depends but a nice all around is Memory of the mother tree. It goes so well when you start really casting swift mend in wild growth all that you can. Seems like empowering healing into two cast is a theme this expansion versus spell selection like in past is the difference i think.
Restoration Druids used to be overpowered back in Wrath of the Lich King. They were so good that Blizzard kept nerfing them in every expansion since. They are in a pretty good spot right now, but far from what they used to be. They still probably are the best healers for Mythic+, but fall a bit behind at Raids.
Stat-wise, make sure to prioritize Mastery and Haste. Mastery will increase your overrall healing output, and haste will make your heal-over-time tick faster, meaning higher healing per second.
Like Grizzle said, you have to trust your heal-over-time, and make sure to keep everyone with at least one active all the times, so you can Swiftmend at demand. Our healing spells are pretty cheap, so it is alright to do even when everyone is topped.
If you’re Night Fae, then you’re in for a treat, because Convoke the Elements is absolutely bonkers of a emergency cooldown, and can quickly heal the whole party to max health. And as a Night Fae, you also unlock Dreamweaver as a Soulbind, who has the Empowered Chrysalis Covenant Ability, which converts overheals into shields, which is great given that Resto Druids are notorious for their overhealing.