So, as I mentioned in my last blog post, I created a Draenei Shaman called Tzoltzil, with the intention of picking Restoration at level 10 and actually STICKING with it this time.
I’ve been a healer before, kinda. My original Shaman, Shamwhoa, was a healer up until about level 60, whereupon I switched to Elemental and never looked back. Sunbuer, my Priest, was a boost to 90, and though I did 90-100 as Disc, that was purely because of the strong self-healing of the spec. When I DID set foot into a dungeon (for the first part of the legendary quest) I did it as Shadow.
Tzoltzil is going to be a dedicated healer. Full on! I’ve not even bought the dual spec for her, and I don’t plan to. I figured I’d document my journey as a wannabe healer, because yay, I can document my miserable failures.
1-17
This was a relatively simple stage. Quest until I hit 15, and then I decided to finish the quests in my quest log, which took me to level 17! Bloodmyst Isle has a LOT of quests, evidently.
Naturally, as Draenei can be Monks, there’s a Monk trainer in Ammen Vale who expresses his shock at being a witness of the crash of the Exodar!
17-50
A large jump in levels here, but frankly dungeons are uneventful at this time. Keep up Riptide, use Healing Surge. Level up, get more spells.
There were relatively hairy bits, however. Scarlet Monastery has some rough patches. The trash between Thalnos the Soulrender and Brother Korloff is relatively compact, with lots of pillars that breaks line-of-sight, meaning that tanks will invariably tuck around them, necessitating you having to hurriedly run around to heal them.
The new versions of Razorfen Kraul and Razorfen Downs popped up in my random queuing, and you know what? They’re pretty good now! Groups seemed to always get lost before their revamp and now? Easy peasy. Navigation simple.
Uldaman’s still annoying though.
50-55
The era of the impatient DPS. Amusingly, this Warlock then went AFK constantly, and died in that room with all the respawning mobs.
That’ll learn you. Sodding Blackrock Depths.
Blackrock Depths and Stratholme have an annoying thing in common. Much like Scarlet Monastery, the trash packs are very compact. Pull one pack and invariably 20 others will join in the party.
And naturally there are a lot of tanks that either don’t know their AoE tanking abilities, or just plain refuse to use them, so the enemy they’re actively hitting will stay on them, but I cast a Healing Surge and everyone else sails over to me.
Sodding Stratholme.
Currently I’m at 55, and I’ve decided to quest for a level or two, as the current dungeons for my level are Blackrock Depths and the Sunken Temple. The former dungeon is annoying, the latter is boring. I’m holding out for Lower Blackrock Spire now, considering Upper Blackrock Spire is now 90+ only now.
Current State of the UI
So I have my cooldown trackers which I will NEED to move somewhere at some point, as it’s getting rather cluttered down there! Short cooldowns I’ll keep close to my health bar, but Call of the Elements, Ascendance (when I get it) etc will be moved to somewhere within sight, but kinda out of the way. I’ve also moved the bars up a bit so they don’t cover my cast bar!
1, 2 and 3 are my DPS abilities, for if I feel like attacking things for some reason (slow damage periods, or when questing). 4 is my Healing Stream totem, 5 will probably be Healing Tide.
So far, I’m finding healing really fun! May stick with it beyond 60 this time.
Panda Steve Types Stuff 
Healing is fun 🙂 Just beware that when you get to 85 or so, mana will start to become something you actually have to pay attention to.
Shaman healing is a lot of fun. If I didn’t learn how to Tree Heal first, I’d probably be “main”-ing on my shaman. Not sure if I’d put Discipline or Mistweaver next on my list.
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