Resto druid healing in Battlegrounds

[dragonhawker]

So, since my hordie troll drood just hit Outlands and is back at the "aaaargh no more HFP please please please" stage, I decided to try my hand at druid-healing in a battleground. I figured druids, with their insta-cast heals and shapeshift-runaway-runaway-runawaaaaaay and cat > prowl capability, would be more suited for battlegrounds than trying

Comments

[hooves]

I use VuhDo to heal, and it's a click-to-heal add-on. Some people suggest Healbot or Clique or something else that's similar but supposedly easier to set up. Either way, it works like this:

You can set it up to right click a name. Right clicking on that person's "name" or box their name is in, casts a heal on them. You decide which types of clicks cast which heal.

For example, on my druid, left-clicking starts casting Nourish. Right-clicking casts Rejuv. Shift-left-clicking casts Regrowth, and shift-right-clicking cleanses/dispells. Ctrl-left-click casts Healing Touch.

^Etc etc. (Wheel up is Swiftmend, Wheel Down is Lifebloom, and I bound Wild Growth to the R key.)

If people are at full health and I get a "Free" heal via clearcasting, I cast Regrowth on someone. If it's free it's another nice HoT to toss up. If someone is at half health or less, I use that free heal for Healing Touch.

The thing about battlegrounds is, you'll probably die. Probably more than once. If a mage sets out a table? Take 80 cakes/pies/whatever depending on the level bracket.

In Alterac Valley there's a lot of turtling for Horde up at the Alliance base. We bottleneck there at the north end and as a healer the only thing for me to do (no matter my class!) is to back up and run away from combat. As soon as I can get out of combat, sit, drink like the lives of my team depend on it, and get back up there. It's much better than dying (dying solves nothing) and you running back in with full or even half mana might even win that little in-battleground skirmish for your team! :D

At higher levels my main focus is to JUST KEEP PEOPLE ALIVE. This is similar to PVE dungeons because more people alive and at lower health > one or two alive and at full health and everyone else dead. If you make it out of the battle you do have a few minutes to drink, let casting DPS top themselves off, etc etc., before the opposing side comes back.

But if you DO die, you come back at full mana, no big deal. This is where the differences start-- you can't do that in PVE, so if you're a PVP healer it's important to remember that the two environments need healed differently. Death in PVP isn't ideal but it won't necessarily lose the battle. Death in PVE is just a bunch of repair bills and you REALLY don't wanna die as a healer in PVE. But in PVP people WILL focus the healer.

And yes, rogues are totally OP in the HFP bracket of leveling. My enh shaman was getting two-shot by them. :|

[danceswithworgs]

This. A healing add-on is very helpful.
Here is a vid that I used to help me set up VuhDo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEWDhq56AEQ