Raid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by WoW Insider

This was a fun year for me as a healer. Granted, I had to learn how to heal again, but I do enjoy this expansion's model of healing (although a part of me does miss The Burning Crusade a little when all I had to do was pound Circle of Healing repeatedly). There were many memorable moments that I experienced during raids, and there are others that affected many more of us.

Announcing the monk Undoubtedly the best news for healers this year is this. BlizzCon 2011 unveiled a ton of news and announcements. The biggest one for healers was that there would be a new healing class for players. You guessed it, I guessed it, and I'm pretty sure half the world guessed and hoped for a monk class. These leather-wearing bears are set to help heal in the upcoming challenges that Mists of Pandaria will be throwing our way. While we don't have a complete look on the full range of abilities that monks can do, we do know that they rely heavily on mobility to get their spells out.

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Raid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: Healing the Spine and Madness of Deathwing

Posted on December 24, 2011 by WoW Insider

This is it. This is the final encounter of the expansion. Everything you've ever worked for and fought through has led to this point. This is the moment you get to help rid the world of Deathwing. First, we need to ground this oversized lizard. Immediately after the conclusion of the gunship (part two), you'll be parachuting onto Deathwing's back. We'll go over the different obstacles and what you and your healers need to do to get over the proverbial raid hump. (To the raiders who do 10-mans, you'll have to adjust the numbers a bit. I'm not as well versed on 10s, so you'll have to bear with me as I draw up assistance for the 25-man version.)

To attack the Spine of Deathwing, we need to peel off those metal plates on Deathwing's back so that we can really weaken him further. Our healing goal here is to ensure that our tanks live. Apparently, Deathwing has all sorts of little defenses that he'll use to try to shake us off; there are several threats on this fight that healers need to be aware of. You're on an extremely narrow field of battle here, so movement's going to be really limited.

What did you expect, though? You're fighting on the back of a former dragon aspect.

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Raid Rx: Healing the Spine and Madness of Deathwing originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: Healing Ultraxion and Warmaster Blackhorn

Posted on December 16, 2011 by WoW Insider

In every expansion, there's always been at least one raid boss that's really defined healers. In this expansion, we had Chimaeron back in Blackwing Descent. We've got another one in Ultraxion over in the new Dragon Soul raid in patch 4.3. This guy is a (literal) beast. After that, we get another crack on the next gunship encounter.

Setting up to heal Ultraxion

When you're setting up for Ultraxion, there are a few things you need to do. Decide on the number of healers you wish to use. I would highly recommend opening with five healers. The DPS requirements on normal encounter can be a challenge to match.

The next step is to figure out your buffs. There are three different healing buffs you can get. On 10-man, you get one type of crystal; on 25-man, you get two sets.

Gift of Life This comes from Alexstrasza. It'll be the first set of crystals that spawn. These should be handed out to priests or druids.
Essence of Dreams The green buff from Ysera duplicates your direct healing done and distributes it to the rest of the raid. I've found this to be extremely powerful for restoration shaman.
Source of Magic The last buff you'll get is my personal favorite. Reducing mana costs by 75% and increasing spell haste by 100% is really juicy especially for priests and paladins.

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Raid Rx: Healing Ultraxion and Warmaster Blackhorn originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor’sahj and Hagara

Posted on December 10, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

Ready for a trip back into the Eye of Eternity? Oh, don't worry, you'll get your chance to reminisce. This week, we're going to look at the next two bosses within the Dragon Soul raid instance. Some movement will be required -- hope you have your running shoes equipped. Last thing you want happen is to complain to your raid leader that your feet are in pain.

Yor'sahj is one of the bosses that some raid groups may have some difficulty with. I know that green and red slimes up can be the hardest combination to deal with. We'll go over how to handle those. ... Could always ask Greatfather Winter for a hand! I'm sure he'd be happy to help with some brand new raid loot.

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor'sahj and Hagara originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor’sahj and Hagara

Posted on December 10, 2011 by WoW Insider

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor'sahj and Hagara originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor’sahj and Hagara

Posted on December 10, 2011 by WoW Insider

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor'sahj and Hagara originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor’sahj and Hagara

Posted on December 10, 2011 by WoW Insider

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Raid Rx: How to heal Yor'sahj and Hagara originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Healing Morchok and Warlord Zon’ozz

Posted on December 2, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

A new month and a new patch means new raid bosses to learn! It means new mechanics to learn, new players to work with (for some of you) and new challenges. I'm pretty sure that it's safe to say most of us were getting a little ... burned out on Firelands.

The opening bosses should present a nice warmup for the rest of the instance. We'll start with quick healing setups for Morchok and Warlord Zon'ozz. The Raid Finder iteration of these bosses shouldn't be a problem for you if you already have a history of raiding. Normal versions might present a bit of a step up.

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Healing Morchok and Warlord Zon'ozz originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx: A new balance for intellect and spirit in Mists of Pandaria

Posted on November 18, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

One of the proposed revamps coming in Mists of Pandaria is the way intellect and spirit interact with each other in regards to healers. For the new healer, understanding the current formula for mana regen can be a little daunting. To make it really easy, let's just say that it plays off both your spirit and your intellect. However, your intellect has a gradually increasing impact on how much mana you gain back in combat situations as your gear improves.

It appears that will no longer be the case heading into the next expansion. Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) helped shed some light on the issue in a blue post earlier in the week.

The highlights?