Thinking of making a healer alt on my 2nd account, but I have never even rolled a healer before and have no idea how any of them are supposed to function. Some things worth noting: 1. My main is a Monk. 2. My 2nd account doesn't have any expansions installed. I wouldn't be able to go beyond level 100 or beyond Altar of Malice content. I frequently chrono down and run old raids for appearance items and achievements though. 3. Keeping 2 in mind, I'm thinking of rolling a healer mostly to get the collectables from the Bristlebane encounter in the Temple of Veeshan raid zones and curing curses for Fabled Tarinax in deathtoll. Any suggestions would be great.
I'd look at a cleric or druid for the self rez abilities if you are going to be doing old raids. It's just a time saver. Otherwise, any class will be fine at those levels.
And portals and evac. Very helpful for running around. If you are actually going to play one, very basically: 1. Have the best quality buffs you can 2. Have the best quality heal spells you can. 3. Clerics (Inquis/Templar) are reactive healers, meaning you have to put your class specialty heal on your target before the fight starts. When the mob hits them, that triggers the heal. 4. Shaman (Defiler/Mystic) are warders, their class specialty heals prevent damage basically - with AAs they offer a small heal component too. Also should be on heal targets before damage occurs. By putting heals on like this, though, if the tank's taunt or damage is resisted, the mob will come straight for you. Have your deaggro spell warmed up and ready. 5. Druid (Warden/Fury) are Heal over Time experts. That means you have to start stacking HoTs and getting them 'rolling' very quickly into the fight, if not start them before the fight. All healers have single target and group straight on heals, but the above descriptions are the ones that heal/prevent for the most. A cure can sometimes be as good as a heal, if the detriment you are curing is the thing that is damaging your target. I like thinking of healing as 'reverse DPS' You are mitigating damage caused to your targets. In between all that, you do as much damage as you can - understanding that no one brought you to the group or raid to be DPS. You are there because they want you to heal. Do that first, and anything else...debuffs, damage...after you are sure everyone is alive and will stay that way. Remember you can't heal stupid. Sometimes a player death has 0 to do with your heal ability It's a fun profession - I hope you like it!
You forgot one...channeler! It's actually my second, not my main, so I can't give all the details very well on it the way Arielle did, (good explanation by the way!!!) But I don't remember when it came out either, so...nevermind, lol. I main healers in general. My main main is a fury (THE MOST FUN HEALER EVER) and let me tell ya, watching that green bar stay or go up is my obsession in this life. If you want something that can do decent damage, ports, evac or group invis depending on which one you pick, DRUID is the healer for you. Warden's have evac, fury's have group invis (I think this is more useful because if you need evac all you need to do is buy a potion of escape from the store for 50 cents.) But then, warden's could just buy totems I suppose. In my experience, and I have both, warden's are more heals, but fury's do some good dps. I find fury's to be very balanced, which is why I picked her wayyyyy back in the good old days. But no matter what you chose, I hope you have fun.
