I'm reading over WoWwiki (because it's the only WoW related website I can get to at work >.>) And I seem to have finally been vindicated. Which is funny, because I wanted to get more into it and prove my point with theorycraft. Which I will. You can't make a claim and not back it up I suppose.
Either way.
Please see this website for
Pally Healer info. That said, I'l explain it here.
As you can see from the example listed on the site, while I disagree to an extent, Paladins can do it all. I disagree at being an excellent group healer. But even that is to an extent. I can heal.... Shattered Halls, on heroic (little help from a priest, but I wasn't as well geared then as I am now) I was able to do Steam Vaults till a hidden patrol and a few wipes earlier caused me to give up.
The trick I'm looking for here, is to find a way past the whole single-target issue on dungeons with extreme AOE, like Arcatraz or Heroic Black Morass if things don't go the right way. (I.E. It's always the shadow guy who spawns.) And there HAS to be a way to do it.
Let's go over an example:
Sunday I did Heroic Arcatraz. I was scared outta my mind because the normal one handed me my ass on a silver platter a month or so ago. I actually don't think we finished or we did, but just barely. Anyways, I'm in heroic Arc. And things are going fine. We wipe a couple times against the first boss, but we expected that, it was more for giggles than anything. Blah blah blah, we've all been here before.
The problems started to erupt when we encountered the Eradar about half way through. These guys put out a Shadow based AOE. I drop Shadow Resist Aura and do my best to hang on for the win. Didn't happen. We wiped. So we got back up and did it again.
This went on and on for a couple hours, including wipes near the last boss off those damned abyssals. All in all, we had about...7 or 8 wipes. Frustrating all around.
Now there were a few things wrong here. Number one, I had forgotten to stick something in my Meta Slot >.> I had been waiting for the gem I was looking for, and had forgotten to check that day. I hadn't gotten the mats yet for my +81 healing to weapon, or my Spell Thread. That problem is solved now.
This was just stupidity on my part. However, I've come up with a couple ways around the whole single target problem. It's not really a problem if you are prepared. Here's what I've come up with:
Number 1: Potions and Bandages. Am I the only one that brings them to a dungeon? No. So, I could say "Sorry guys, trying to keep the tank alive. DPS, start drinking your pots and bandaging yourself.
Number 2: I've switched my Flash of Light with a lower rank version of Holy Light. It has the equivalent mana drain on me as Holy Light, but the heals are bigger, plus the get 73% of my +healing instead of 41%. It takes longer, I can get the bigger heals off. This isn't something I do often, but it's good for an emergency, or if you're playing with a new tank that you will rip aggro off easier, because you can wait longer to heal and let him gain hate, and the lower version of Holy Light causes less hate.
Number 3: Use a damned Add-On. And this is where I stumbled and a guildie picked me back up. I've NEVER played with an Healing Addon, I always clicked and healed, and then (after Apa taught me how) started using the Function keys to select group members.
However, you're losing out on a very big thing: Time. Seconds count in raids. Seconds are life and death. Use an addon. I dislike Grid. However, our other healers use it, so I have it enabled so they know what I'm doing. I prefer Healbot. For two reasons.
a) It's easier to see than Grid, and I don't have to adjust it to show everyone in a raid. It does it for me.
b) I can assign spells to a combination of clicks. Example: I left click on someones Healbot Bar and I cast Flash of Light, BUT if I alt+left click I use Cleanse. This way, I don't need to have Grid going AND Smartdebuff. Less addons, means more RAM, means less lag.
