Druids and Priests are known for their sheer healing power in a multitude of settings, but they achieve results with quite different healing styles. Even among themselves there are many different ways to approach healing, such as the Druid who emphasizes HoTs versus the Druid who emphasizes powerful direct heals, or the Holy Priest versus the Discipline Priest, or even the Priest who decides to heal Shadow and the Druid who decides to heal Balance.

What makes these two classes such strong healers, and yet have so little in common from the way they approach healing? Part of it is simply the tools available, but the primary reason healers who excel with one or the other of the two classes, or those who find healing enjoyable on one and not the other, is absolutely related to the style of healing and the challenges each style poses to the player. Neither class is easier or more difficult to play than the other, although going from one to the other will definitely seem as such. Neither class is drastically better or worse than the other, or even marginally better or worse.

There are some very distinct areas where each class excels and some abilities that each class possesses that are easy to fall in love with and prefer to have than not. This is where most healers develop a preference for one class or the other and become markably better with either Priest healing or Druid healing (or Shaman or Paladin, but this is aimed at differences in the other two classes).

Ability Differences:

Druids are king when it comes to fights where stuns, fears, silence effects, or any other form of crowd control is a dominant component of the encounter. The ability to have continuous healing on a player, even if the Druid is unable to cast at that moment, plays heavily into the Druid’s ability to survive such an encounter with relative ease. In addition, tools such as Nature’s Swiftness and Swiftmend allow a Druid to easily catch up on healing when the CC effect has passed.

Priests, on the other hand, have two abilities that make it really tough to discount them as strong contenders in heavy crowd control encounters: Guardian Spirit and Prayer of Mending (and a slight nod to Fear Ward). Although Prayer of Mending relies on damage being done to players during this time, and is somewhat reliant on luck, it is a very strong spell in any encounter where damage is being taken across the party.

Priests are much stronger AoE healers than Druids. As powerful as Tranquility is, especially when talented, Druids simply do not possess as strong an ability to heal strong AoE damage across the entire party. Druids compensate by way of instant-cast HoTs and a subpar equivalent to the Priests’ Circle of Healing in Wild Growth. Yes, Wild Growth heals for more (using base values), but in an encounter where there is more than one healer the trailing ticks of Wild Growth will almost inevitably be overwritten with another heal.

Style Differences:

This is perhaps the most difficult difference between the two classes to attempt to explain. Both classes lend themselves to adaptive healing strategies, and yet both can be somewhat successful skating by with a heavy reliance on “spamming” direct heals. Both classes have a multitude of tools at their disposal, and both classes are generally looked to as the go-to healers for difficult encounters.

What, then, makes these two classes so different?

Without firsthand experience “behind the keys” it is difficult to relate the feelings and thoughts that go on in a healer’s head to others. In many ways it is comparable to the nervousness and anxiousness associated with the first few, or many, times someone has sex. Everyone has some type of idea of what to expect, but no idea how things will actually go. With some practice things start to feel far more comfortable, and then one can focus on improving instead of simply surviving. The parallels do not end there, however. Experimentation and spontaneity in both can prove to be immensely rewarding, but can also go horribly wrong.

Generally speaking, the best way to describe the difference in styles of healing between these two classes comes down to a very basic idea: Druids have to be proactive in their healing because they do not have the healing power to “catch up” if they fall behind, whereas Priests blend a combination of proactive and reactive healing.

Concluding Thoughts:

Both classes are very strong healers. Both classes can easily heal the same encounters in the hands of a capable player and when combined with a competent group. Both classes can be extremely fun to play. The primary reason players choose one class over the other generally comes down to which class feels more comfortable to play.

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This is an interesting time for me, because as of late my roles have changes somewhat on my characters: Byaghro has become a dedicated tank/off-tank and damage dealer, and I have migrated healing to Deamhan (my priest). There will definitely be more information coming for both, and for now Byaghro will maintain a dual-spec feral/restoration combination (until Deamhan’s gear is at an equivalent level). Talk about a huge departure from my norm!