WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.Raid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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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.

After covering monks, priests, paladins, and druids, there is one class left to review: shaman. How are they going to fare entering Mists of Pandaria?

Totems ... gone!

Just kidding!

They're not really gone. They've switched to more of a utility focus now. Looking at the entire list of totems available, not a single one provides any type of stat increase. Totems that provided passive buffs like Flametongue Totem, Mana Spring Totem, and Stoneskin Totem have been removed. Healing Stream took a nerf cannon to the face, now only affecting a player now instead of whole groups.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 06 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ascendancefeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestoresto-shamanshamantalenttalent-guidetalent-treewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSun, 06 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: An overview of druids in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/raid-rx-an-overview-of-druids-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/raid-rx-an-overview-of-druids-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/raid-rx-an-overview-of-druids-in-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: ,

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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.

Last week, we covered some of the more notable monk abilities along with the expected playstyle. Recently, the level cap on beta has been raised to level 87, allowing every class access to their new level 87 spell. Much of the talk this week on the major sites and blogs is about Symbiosis. We touched on it several times, but now we get to take a closer look at it in further detail.

Continue reading Raid Rx: An overview of druids in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: An overview of druids in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>classclass-changesfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmists-of-pandariaraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestorestorationspellstalentswow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowWed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mistweaver Monk 101http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/raid-rx-mistweaver-monk-101/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/raid-rx-mistweaver-monk-101/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/09/raid-rx-mistweaver-monk-101/#commentsFiled under: ,

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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.

Ghostcrawler introduced the monk in detail to us back during BlizzCon 2011. We didn't have as many details available to us until we entered the beta stage of the game. This week, I want to introduce you to the different aspects of healing monks.

The mistweaver monk is a stance-based class that has two forms of energy at their disposal: mana and chi.
  • Stance of the Wise Serpent Healing stance that replaces your energy resource bar and turns it into mana and converts your spirit rating into spell and melee hit rating. Abilities that would have cost energy now cost mana.
  • Stance of the Fierce Tiger Increases your damage done by 20% and allows access to a different set of offensive abilities.
When healing, you'll mostly be in the Stance of the Wise Serpent.

In terms of equipment, monks can use axes, staves, maces, fists, swords, and polearms. Your preferred weapons will mostly be staves or maces (although that may change as more items are revealed). For armor, you'll have access to leather and you'll get the 5% intellect from Leather Specialization. Like the other healing classes, your mana regeneration is going to rely on spirit.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mistweaver Monk 101

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mistweaver Monk 101 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>chifeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmistweavermonkraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 09 Apr 2012 17:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Priest thoughts and the 100k mana clubhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/raid-rx-priest-thoughts-and-the-100k-mana-club/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/raid-rx-priest-thoughts-and-the-100k-mana-club/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/raid-rx-priest-thoughts-and-the-100k-mana-club/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Welcome to the 100k mana club! As you may have heard, healer mana is being normalized across the board so that everyone has 100,000 mana. We heard about this change way back around November. After getting into the second wave of beta invites for Mists of Pandaria, one of the first things I did after setting my keybinds and messing around with my spec was to head straight for dungeon queues.

Waiting 18 minutes as a healer? C'mon, guys! Throw me a bone here!

I'm going to write about two vastly different experiences. Like many other healing priests, I decided to run two different healing specs, discipline and holy. Leveling as a healer isn't going to be that bad when your Holy Fires and Smites are hitting for 40,000 crits.

My eyes were slowly getting crossed between looking at my mana bar on the top left to the center of my screen where I place my party frames. That's before I realized I could poke around in the settings and get mana bars to show up within the frames.

Way to go, default UI!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Priest thoughts and the 100k mana club

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Priest thoughts and the 100k mana club originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Matt LowTue, 03 Apr 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changeshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

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.

You'll notice that there are a ton of new glyphs that have been added for all the classes. That list is by no means exhaustive. I also noticed some slight changes in the way certain spells work. I can assure you it won't be anything too drastic, but these changes are enough to keep you interested and wondering. This week, I'll be rounding up what we know healers will be getting, as well as any other notable modifications.

New for druids

Cenarion Ward appears to be a Prayer of Mending-like spell without the subsequent charges. Good spell to open with before an engagement. Won't have to pre-HoT as much. Just remember to pre-Ward.

Wild Mushroom: Bloom! Hope you love 'shrooms, since you'll be gaining the use of these in addition to your Balance friends. Anticipate a moment where big AoE healing is needed, and plant 'shrooms. Detonate after raid group takes a hit, and relish in the healing spores that explode.

Regrowth can be glyphed to remove the HoT component. Benefit? 40% increased chance of a critical heal. I guess you can configure a HoT-based class to switch to a non-HoT direction.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>disciplinedruidfeaturedglyphsguidehealinghealing-guideholyhow-to-heallightwellmists-of-pandariamonkpaladinpriestraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestshamanwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Yor'sahj healing on hard modehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/raid-rx-yorsahj-healing-on-hard-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/raid-rx-yorsahj-healing-on-hard-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/raid-rx-yorsahj-healing-on-hard-mode/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Did you manage to knock out heroic mode Hagara? Wondering where to go next? The summoner of ooze, Yor'sahj should be next on your list. Perhaps the biggest change in heroic is the extra ooze that spawns that your raid needs to deal with. This means Yor'sahj has more abilities with which to assault your raid. This encounter doesn't exactly have a set script, since Yor'sahj cycles through different slime combinations.

For healing setups, I strongly advise bringing in no more than six healers. Healers will want to configure their UIs so that they can view Deep Corruption debuffs on their raid frames. All in all, Yor'sahj hinges heavily on the ability of your raid to react to the different combinations.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Yor'sahj healing on hard mode

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Yor'sahj healing on hard mode originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>dragon soulDragonSoulfeaturedguidehard modeHardModehealinghealing-guideheroic modeHeroicModehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingyorsahjMatt LowFri, 09 Mar 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: How to heal Hagara on heroic modehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/raid-rx-how-to-heal-hagara-on-heroic-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/raid-rx-how-to-heal-hagara-on-heroic-mode/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/raid-rx-how-to-heal-hagara-on-heroic-mode/#commentsFiled under:

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.

For most guilds, the next step after taking down heroic Mor'chok is either Hagara or Yor'sahj. I'd say both are similar around overall difficulty level but stress different raid aspects. You're coordinating movement and position heavily in an encounter like Hagara, whereas with Yor'sahj, straight-up brute force is all that's required to do the job.

I'll break down each major phase with some of the approaches that can be used to handle the different mechanics and outline anything that's considered critical for healers to know. The 10% buff should make these bosses much more accessible now.

Continue reading Raid Rx: How to heal Hagara on heroic mode

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: How to heal Hagara on heroic mode originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Matt LowMon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughtshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

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.

Were you excited about the latest changes that were made to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator that was introduced last week? Some earth shattering changes all around but who do you think won out? Let's examine!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughts

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughts originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>guidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Can healing be diversified further?http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/11/raid-rx-can-healing-be-diversified-further/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/11/raid-rx-can-healing-be-diversified-further/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/11/raid-rx-can-healing-be-diversified-further/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street (lead developer) published a developer blog post a few days ago and shared thoughts about roles within the game. DPS classes tend to have multiple specs that can be switched to in order to provide a different set of damage spells and utilities. Some of the examples cited included warlocks and rogues, since they're straight DPS classes. Would it be possible to hypothesize and think about single-role healing classes with varied specs? While I don't think it is unheard of, I can already think about the different logistical and gameplay difficulties that are going to come with it.

For DPSers, you have that role divided between those players in the ranged group and those belonging to the melee. With healing, you're limited with just being purely at range. There isn't a classified melee-only healer (and we don't know entirely how the monk will play out).

Continue reading Raid Rx: Can healing be diversified further?

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Can healing be diversified further? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>classdesigndiscussionfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmists-of-pandariaraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderolespecwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 11 Feb 2012 20:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Healing heroic Morchokhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/05/raid-rx-healing-heroic-morchok/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/05/raid-rx-healing-heroic-morchok/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/05/raid-rx-healing-heroic-morchok/#commentsFiled under:

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.

The recent nerf to Dragon Soul with the release of patch 4.3.2 means more players are now within striking distance of Morchok on heroic modes. He's a boss that serves as an execution check for your raiding group more than anything else. If your raid group mastered the art of healing through him on normal, then it should have no problem doing it again on heroic.

Just be prepared to do it twice.

The biggest hard mode change is that Morchok clones himself. His clone has the exact same abilities as Morchok prime, except the timing will be off. Your raid will be splitting in two and pulling the two bosses away from each other. You can envision the fight as two pseudo 10-man groups fighting (or two 5-mans, if you're in a 10-man raiding group).

Come into the raid with six to seven healers, if you're a 25-man raiding group. Actually, I'd consider bringing seven if it's the very first time. For 10-man, it is not uncommon for groups to bring in up to four healers for the first time. You'll need them, due to the amount of damage being dished out to the raid. Ideally, try to insist that when your raid leader splits the raid into two groups, the players will show up in your raid frames in different groups. Having all of the players in group 1 and 2 on one side with groups 3 and 4 on the other can be beneficial. The side that is tanking Morchok is the one that could benefit from the extra healer, as it seems more damage is done on that side.

I strongly recommend bringing in tanks with their four-piece bonuses, because they will be an incredible asset.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing heroic Morchok

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Healing heroic Morchok originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>dragon-soulfeaturedguidehard-modehealinghealing-guideheroic-modehow-to-healkochrommorchokraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidestompwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: How to be the world's worst healerhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/raid-rx-how-to-be-the-worlds-worst-healer/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/raid-rx-how-to-be-the-worlds-worst-healer/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/raid-rx-how-to-be-the-worlds-worst-healer/#commentsFiled under:

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.

Time to take a break from trying to be an awesome healer. It just feels much easier to be the best at being the bottom of the barrel. Without any concerns, you can simply play however you like with no fear. There are multiple steps on the road to being an excellent healer for your raiding guild. As you might expect, the same applies to being the worst healer.

Note: You shouldn't actually do any of these, as they're the exact opposite of the way you should be playing. I would like to add that I've seen parts of this list in action throughout the years in my experiences.

Continue reading Raid Rx: How to be the world's worst healer

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: How to be the world's worst healer originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidetipsworst healerWorstHealerwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Higher-level healing starts with your mindhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/raid-rx-higher-level-healing-starts-with-your-mind/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/raid-rx-higher-level-healing-starts-with-your-mind/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/raid-rx-higher-level-healing-starts-with-your-mind/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

"Wipe it!" my raid leader bellows. I whip off my headset in disgust and sink back in my chair, burying my face in my trembling hands and tuning out the usual post-wipe Mumble drivel. After collecting myself, I pull up any logs and try to figure out what happened. Could I have done anything to change the outcome? In most cases, the answer is a yes. There is always something that any single player could have done differently in the moments leading up to a fateful wipe.

Last week's column about pushing healing performance seemed to have struck a chord with several readers. I wanted to take a moment and examine some of the commenters' approaches to rankings, meters and healing logs.

If you want to play at a higher level than you are now, you must start with your mind. Blaming other players because you are being outplayed is not going to help you get any better.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Higher-level healing starts with your mind

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Higher-level healing starts with your mind originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Matt LowFri, 20 Jan 2012 20:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Start ranking on healing without even tryinghttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/raid-rx-start-ranking-on-healing-without-even-trying/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/raid-rx-start-ranking-on-healing-without-even-trying/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/raid-rx-start-ranking-on-healing-without-even-trying/#commentsFiled under:

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.

It was a Thursday night. For the past few weeks, I've done Ultraxion as shadow for additional DPS time. I'm usually the swing player who can spec into both healing and DPS. Mind you, I'm not the great at shadow. This time around, we were using five healers on Ultraxion because our other regular healer wasn't able to make it that day. On 25-man, Ultraxion has six healing crystal buffs. Using five healers meant that one of the crystals would not be in use. I opened up with red crystal before sneaking the blue crystal later. I think this was the second or third time I've actually healed Ultraxion.

Alas, I was not able to catch our resident holy paladin, who aced me on the meters again. One of these days, I will catch him. I don't have a clue how. Circle of Healing and Prayer of Mending used on cooldown while dropping Prayer of Healing nukes every chance. I'm even waiting until the last possible second on Hour of Twilight before triggering the phase out (which is very dangerous, mind you, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you have the dexterity and reflexes of a hockey goalie).

It wasn't until well after the raid that I noticed we used only four healers on that encounter. Looks like our other priest didn't get the memo and stayed shadow the entire time.

Eventually, your raiding group will reach a stage where you can simply heal full tilt. You can take shortcuts and bigger risks that lead to additional payoffs (like quicker raids and personal satisfaction from ranking, for example).

Continue reading Raid Rx: Start ranking on healing without even trying

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Start ranking on healing without even trying originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>alizabelfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmorchokraid-guideraid-healingraidingraiding-guideultraxionwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 13 Jan 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Why healing rotations spell death for your raidhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/raid-rx-why-healing-rotations-spell-death-for-your-raid/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/raid-rx-why-healing-rotations-spell-death-for-your-raid/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/raid-rx-why-healing-rotations-spell-death-for-your-raid/#commentsFiled under: ,

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.

Are you going through your healing rotation properly?

No question has raised my wrath more than that. The idea of a healing rotation is my ultimate pet peeve. I once had a ret paladin ask me what my healing rotation was. Not even his bubble could protect him from my stony glare that penetrated his monitor.

Healing is all about a priority system. It's about who needs what healing spell when. So as you're progressing through all the normal and heroic modes that Dragon Soul has to offer, learn to cultivate smarter healing habits. Find out what you need to focus on. Figure out what crappy habits you need to break.

Coincidentally, Mike Gray wrote about the DPS side of spell priorities just the other day. He goes into great detail about the history of the DPS rotation and what developers were witnessing from the players. With healing, though, no real rotation exists. It's all about priorities. Two types of priorities exist: spell choices and healing targets. For players who are just getting started with healing, let me go into further detail about each type.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Why healing rotations spell death for your raid

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Why healing rotations spell death for your raid originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehealing-rotationhow-to-healpriorityraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderotationwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 06 Jan 2012 20:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/raid-rx-top-healing-moments-of-2011/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/raid-rx-top-healing-moments-of-2011/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/raid-rx-top-healing-moments-of-2011/#commentsFiled under:

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.

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.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011

WoW InsiderRaid 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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]]>chimaeronfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmists-of-pandariamonkraidraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 30 Dec 2011 21:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Healing the Spine and Madness of Deathwinghttp://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/23/raid-rx-healing-the-spine-and-madness-of-deathwing/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/23/raid-rx-healing-the-spine-and-madness-of-deathwing/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/23/raid-rx-healing-the-spine-and-madness-of-deathwing/#commentsFiled under:

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.

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.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing the Spine and Madness of Deathwing

WoW InsiderRaid 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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]]>deathwingdragon soulDragonSoulhealerhealingLeap Of Faithpriestworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftMatt LowFri, 23 Dec 2011 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Healing Ultraxion and Warmaster Blackhornhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/raid-rx-healing-ultraxion-and-warmaster-blackhorn/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/raid-rx-healing-ultraxion-and-warmaster-blackhorn/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/raid-rx-healing-ultraxion-and-warmaster-blackhorn/#commentsFiled under:

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.

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.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing Ultraxion and Warmaster Blackhorn

WoW InsiderRaid 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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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: How to heal Yor'sahj and Hagarahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/raid-rx-how-to-heal-yorsahj-and-hagara/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/raid-rx-how-to-heal-yorsahj-and-hagara/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/raid-rx-how-to-heal-yorsahj-and-hagara/#commentsFiled under:

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.

Continue reading Raid Rx: How to heal Yor'sahj and Hagara

WoW InsiderRaid 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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]]>dragon soulDragonSoulfeaturedguidehagarahealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingyorsahjMatt LowFri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:00 ESTHealing Morchok and Warlord Zon'ozzhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/healing-morchuk-and-warlord-zonozz/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/healing-morchuk-and-warlord-zonozz/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/healing-morchuk-and-warlord-zonozz/#commentsFiled under:

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.

Continue reading Healing Morchok and Warlord Zon'ozz

WoW InsiderHealing 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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]]>dragon-soulfeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-heallootmorchokpatch-4.3raid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewarlord-zonozzworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-guidewow-healingwow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 02 Dec 2011 17:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Checking out level 90 talentshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/raid-rx-checking-out-level-90-talents/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/raid-rx-checking-out-level-90-talents/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/raid-rx-checking-out-level-90-talents/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

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.

That new Mists of Pandaria talent calculator is out. Had a chance to look through it? You might've been alarmed at the fact that several key spells appear to be missing from the list of skills and such. Not to worry, though, since Bashiok clarified that it was still under development. Anything missing is (hopefully) unintentional. A few classes are given previews of new skills trainable past level 85. The classes that don't have their stuff created yet are presumably still being worked on.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Checking out level 90 talents

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Checking out level 90 talents originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healmists-of-pandariaraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidetalenttalent-calculatortalent-treeswow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 25 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST