Miss Medicina posted a questionnaire asking healers about various aspects of what they like and do not like about healing. While the concept is meme-ish in nature, I decided to weigh in with my thoughts without being tagged first (partially because it is a rarity that I get tagged in the first place and partly because I really like the idea). On to the questions:

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

I actually have two, but for the sake of keeping things simple: Byaghro, Restoration Druid.

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Although raiding has been non-existent as of late, I primarily heal in 5 and 10-man encounters.

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

Regrowth. It is a solid direct heal with a trailing HoT component that is tough to beat, especially when glyphed.

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

Tranquility. Stemming from the days when it’s main purpose was an “oh sh** I’ve got to put out massive healing or we all die” ability, I simply never grew to use it more often when we became able to talent to lower the cooldown.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

Versatility. Druids are quite capable of adapting to any healing situation that arises with a combination of focused single-target healing or quickly putting out a lot of raid healing. Combined with being highly mobile thanks to the nature of a large instant cast arsenal of abilities it is easy to switch to a higher priority target in an emergency.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

Being able to respond to burst damage. If a tank is under sustained, heavy fire it is entirely possible for a Druid to run out of mana trying to keep that target alive for a prolonged period of time due to the nature of our abilities. With the introduction of Nourish this has been negated to a large degree, but the mana costs involved in keeping as many HoTs as possible on the target to receive the full benefit of Nourish in such an encounter still takes its toll quickly. Granted, we run very slim on healing more often than not, which taxes healers’ capabilities more than we probably should (two healers in 10-mans), but it really shows where our primary weakness is in responding to significant, sustained damage.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?

Honestly I get extremely bored in 25-man raids. There is so much more room for error that it just isn’t as fun and intense as our 10-man setups are. Generally, though, I end up raid healing in 25s.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

Priests. The variety of heals available to the combination of Druid/Priest healing is simply awe-inspiring and extremely complimentary. Where the Priest may have some difficulty getting enough healing out to the raid in some encounters the Druid can offset that with a huge array of HoTs that allow both to focus on topping off individual targets that are taking more damage than normal. In addition, where the Druid may have some difficulty absorbing all of the damage on the tank the Priest can easily add a single, direct heal and top them off. The synergy between Priest/Druid healing is, honestly, tough to beat.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

Shaman. Nothing against the class specifically, it just seems rare to find one who can work well with Druid HoTs and not consistently hit the same targets. I think this mainly falls to there being few Shaman healers that I have encountered that bother setting anything up to monitor any healing spell other than their own coupled with a very distinct lack of restoration Shaman that I encounter in general.

What is your worst habit as a healer?

Not healing pets. Most of the time in our guild runs someone else is healing the pets already, making me tend to overlook them, which means when that healer isn’t present I forget that the pets have become my responsibility.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

This one is twofold: anyone who calls out for healing and anyone who tries to tell me how to heal. I know what is going on thanks to the vast amount of information I have configured to be shown on my screen, so I certainly know who needs healing and who doesn’t. If you don’t get a heal there is a good reason for it. Couple that with someone who tries to tell me how to heal (I don’t mind the questions or suggestions, but I cannot stand someone telling me I should be doing x or y instead of what I am doing) and I guarantee they will find themselves dead on every… single… pull.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

Yes. While Druids often are the brunt of angry healers for something unique that they bring to the table, having played one of each type of healer (save Shaman) they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

Generally, the amount of damage taken in by the raid and the amount of healing versus overhealing put out by the healing team. Unfortunately there is not a clear-cut way to determine any healer’s performance, so it has to be a combination of raw data and conversations with the other healer/healers. If one person feels as though they were taxed to the limit and the other felt it was a breeze, something is wrong (even if the numbers are pretty even). On the flip side of that, if people die and the healing team felt things were going smooth then evaluating whether something could have been done differently to keep those people alive should be the issue to focus on.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

That we cannot run out of mana. Yes, Druids have a number of ways to keep mana usage low under good circumstances, but they can run out of mana in an encounter rather quickly depending on a number of factors involved.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

Figuring out what spells can be used to heal through an encounter and what cannot. I have seen many tanks die with a single HoT on them and newer Druids wondering why the HoT did not keep them alive. I’ve also seen Druids who do nothing more than cast Healing Touch on the main tank and leave everyone else to fend for themselves. There is a lot of variety to what Druids can do and it takes some time and experimentation to learn what spells and abilities work well under which circumstances.

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?

This varies a lot depending on the group composition. Typically I’m one of the highest on healing output and somewhere in the low end on overhealing (surprisingly enough), but a lot of that has to do with experience and knowing who is receiving a heal from one of the other healers present. Some raid/group/healing leaders will recite the mantra that one should be “spamming heals on the tank, overhealing be damned.” Quite frankly, that’s the mark of someone who either does not understand healing very well or who has to deal with healers who do not understand healing very well.

Haste or Crit and why?

Generally I side with Crit simply due to trying to get more direct healing power.

What healing class do you feel you understand least?

Since I have not actually played a restoration Shaman (well, any Shaman actually) I would say them.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

Grid and mouseover macros. I use Decursive out of sheer laziness, even though I have the same information setup on Grid and a macro for curses/poisons.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Generally I try to keep Spellpower, Spirit, and Intellect fairly well balanced. I do side with Spellpower or Spirit over other stats, however, when I have to choose between gear pieces. I am one of those who maintains at least three different sets for healing, though. One high in Intellect when sheer amounts of mana are needed (think General Vezax), one high in mana regen through MP5 and Spirit, and one that I typically use.