Main Healing off spec?Follow

Keep going down the enhancement tree. Unleashed Rage is your friend. When full it will increase Attack Power by 10% which is a significant boost to your damage. And to boot it buffs everyone in your party when your in party situations too. ShamRage will help you out with replenishing your mana pool mid-combat and is defiantly worth the 1 point. Once you get those then branch into your resto tree and start improving your totems.




Healing VC isn't a huge deal mainly cause at that point everybody is just starting there trees so chars like us that are hybrids haven't really lifted one tree up enough yet. So we can do all 3 jobs without worrying about talent points. Later on when you are 40-50 like you are it gets trickier. Now people have there trees and specs and have the strengths and weakness's. This has been a long sought after argument. It really comes down to gear and what instance. Myself personally I carry a epic healing set that I can throw on in times where I need to heal. This helps out big time as the weight of a set can decide if you can or can't heal. So if you haven't already started to build one I would start grabbing some loots for it.

Now can you heal an instance? Yes, but there are exceptions. If you don't have a set it's going to be extremely difficult because you don't have the talent tree to help you out. If the instance is same level as you then it's going to be tight, especially on boss fights as larger mana pool and steady healing are required. Now if the instance is lower than you slightly or by a lot then your odds improve. I wouldn't exactly go out and put in LFG that your a healer but if your in a group and they just desperately can't find a healer than you "could" (used lightly) possibly pull it off. It's going to depend on the level of the mobs, how good your set is, and how good your tank is. I'm 70 and I have healed a large portion of the 60-68 dungeons with being enhancement spec, but I also have a good set to back me up. So yes it can be done but the only way to really find out is to try and see. Make sure you warn the group ahead of time that your not spec'd and if you can't do it there going to have to find a spec'd healer. If there having trouble finding people they might let you try it.

So if you would like the freedom of being able to heal when called upon (happens alot in outlands for group quests) then start building that set up now and run some lower instances just to try it out. So seeing as how your 44 I would maybe try running Uldaman or something like that. You won't fully know till you try.

Edited, Sep 10th 2007 9:07am by Sercease

Having the druid experience defiantly gives you an edge on dealing with and playing a Shaman. They are very similar in there hybrid natures.

I had around 11 points in resto when I healed sunken temple. I was worried about those 5 elite dragon kin grouped together. But we made it through that. We cleared the floor, and that's the hardest part. But the instance was taking a while, and people dropped out. Had a 61 guildie paladin tank the last dragon (4 people in party total) and he couldn't do it (he dropped out). He'd lose aggro because of banish and I'd be hammered into the ground. Eventually had to get a 70 restoration shammie tank the last dragon :). He popped a fire elemental and barely needed any healing. We only had 3 people in the party for this. But we cleared the hardest part (and the 2 dragon fight), so I feel I could do that. My points at that point were 5 points in each of the first tier resto talents (quicker heal time and reduced mana cost of heals). And I was using old INT gear from Scarlett Monastary era. (level 40ish). No +healing. So it can be done. It's the outlands instances I'm a little worried about. I'm going to get a little higher level before doing ramparts. I have 31 in resto for natures swiftness (which will also give me an instant heal if I need it)

Edited, Sep 10th 2007 7:13pm by thrashering

Heh, I main healed on my Shammy as well for a long time with no points in Resto, lots of mana gear though.

I have also Tanked SM, you can Tank up until about 40-ish cause that is when the Warriors start having the advantage of plate. You have to be real careful though cause your tanking by doing more damage.

Well im my OP if you are going to eventually switch over to resto spec and plan your end game as a healer then your best to switch over before you hit 70. 50 might be a little early as you still have a VERY long way to go before you hit 70.

I would recommend right around 58-60 switching over, that way you get experience in the easier hellfire instances and gear is easier to obtain at that point. Healing isnt an easy job, and you should definately learn what your doing before hitting 70 and asked to heal something like mech or bot (or higher) without any experience.

I leveled my shaman full resto since level 10, and I know its tough to level resto. If i had to do it all over again, I would level with enhance or elemental until 60, then respec.

Here's a good Idea, go to 62 with your current spec. After hitting 62, fill your talent tree with everything up to earth shield and put the other 11 points into 2 handers, that way your not totally gimped throughout your last 8 levels. Then once you hit 70 and get some healing equipment, re-spec and go full resto.

Just my idea on the matter to save you some headache, and im sure not everyone would agree. But now that I leveled it, If i had to do it again, thats how I would approach it!

LOL I did have one noob ask me if shaman could heal. He was surprised I was healing SM

Did ramparts and blood furnace with my shammy. 21 points in resto (rest in elemental). I'm really happy with switching over. Because a lot of the equipment is interchangable. True eventually you'll accumulate a healing set. it's not like they offer 2 mail rewards for one quest, though occasionally I'll see a dps jewelry, and a spell damage jewelry, so you'd have to make a decision there what is most important.

Interesting thing to not is hellfire peninsula had a lot of elemental shammy gear, and zangarmarsh has a lot of enhance shammy gear. So I'm happy with going elemental at 61. Would of had a tough 2 levels ahead of me.

don't plan on going full resto until 70.

edit: oh I wanted to ask about chain heal. I'm finally getting in the habit of using it more, but I don't like it. Doesn't heal enough for the long cast time. It's okay if everyone is taking a little damage. But when everyone was taking massive damage from the mines and bombs in blood furnace, I was just afraid of losing someone. Though if you think about it, the time it takes to cast 3 lesser healing waves... We had 2 pallies and a druid (in bear form). So all were taking lots of damage, and a hunters pet. I didn't have enough time for the hunters pet, that died several times. I healed it when I had the chance, but I usually didn't have the chance. Perhaps I should have used chain heal. Because once the bombs go off, they weren't taking damage that fast anymore. But instinct tells me when hp's go down fast, use lesser healing wave. No one died though, except the pet. Just burned through a lot of mana, but never ran out on those fights. Only ran ofter the last wave of orcs before the second boss. quaffed a pot, and second boss was easy anyways.

Edited, Sep 21st 2007 4:31am by thrashering

To the person about lesser healing wave...you will learn to love your big heals and chain heals. Lesser healing wave is overrated. The quick cast time is nice for tight situations but the ratio of mana cost/healing done is not great.

I play a 70 resto shaman (Analogkid on Gorgonnash..check him out) and have played resto for a long long time...around level 20 to be exact.

Heres a tip, when healing your MT (especially on boss fights seeing as how your ES does most of the work on trash pulls..besides a few exceptions) only use your healing wave. It sounds stupid right now but it is more mana effiecient. The tank gets your healing way buff and if you get your pattern down (using the 5 second rule and all) then you get compliments on being such a great healer. My guild runs Karazhan regularly and the first time i entered i was in al blues except for 2 elemental quest greens =P. Needless to say, i topped the healing charts, even above our guilds main priest healer. Granted, chain heal is wonderful in this regard, but I was last on overheal charts. I came out of boss fights with 7-8k mana...except for (forget his name) the rogue boss.

Just learn basic healig rules and only use lesser heal in a desperate situation, remember natures swiftness is your friend with a big/chain heal...especially when chain heal crits and everyone gets armor bonus!