Updated: 30/12/08

First time I wrote this I had my son dribbling on the keyboard so have decided to ammend and update this to make it easier and add little bits to it...

SO, what have I learnt over the years (cogs begin to wind up). Mainly healing as a priest and recently the exploits of garg tanking but there are hopefully pointers people can take from this for all classes.

1. Buff up your team

It may sound basic but always buff up your team;

For example, Priests = fortitude = more health = less chance for a crit to kill your team or raid = better healing, same could also be said with a warriors commanding shout.

2. Simpler = easier

Make your interface as simple as possible, get rid of any icons or spells you won't/don't use as they'll just make clutter and will slow you down.

I found the best set up for me when healing was to get rid of all the clutter and only use five healing types, these are flash heal, greater heal, prayer of mending, prayer of healing and renew and it was effective. I'm currently simplifying my tanking abilities as I go, working out which I use mostly, which I never use, etc

3. Ranked spells: The same spell but different effects

A good tip is to also look at the ranking system for your spells, some players prefer to use various ranks, as each rank of the same spell will work differently:

Each lower rank of greater heal gives less healing but also reduces the amount of mana used

Each lower rank of some class's fear will reduce the number of mobs feared but also uses less mana (to explain, if you only need 1 extra mob feared away, why waste all your mana with the top ranked fear when you can save that mana and fear the relevant number of mobs)

4. Consider key bindings

when I was healing in ssc+ I found I had to swap from using my mouse to using my keyboard to improve my response times during raids. If you're not a big fan of heal bot then key bindings might be the alternative. Key binding options are located in your main menu options, and simply allows you to attach an icon on your action bar to a key on your keyboard. I tried to keep my 5 healing spells next to each other using zxcvb, it eventually became so natural I never ever had to look away from the screen and simply clicked on the player then cast instantly.

5. Focus and Macros

CCers, ever get sick of reclicking on a target then casting your cc then having to waste more time clicking back on your kill target? Have no fear, here's a macro that'll re cc your cc target but remains targetted on the kill mob:

First set your cc mob as the focus target by typing /focus or creat a macro icon that you just click on to do it for you. Once you're cc mob is focused you'll see him on your screen at all times then use this macro:

/target focus
/cast polymorph
/targetlasttarget

wallah!!! They are re-cc'd but you are still targetting the kill mob, magic! Or just ask me for help in game and we'll set it up for you.

The above macro is only one of an infinite number of macros, there are tons of websites that will teach you the ins and out of it all. I created one similar to above that casts power word: shield on me without losing target on the mob I'm fighting or the person i'm healing. You can set up cast sequences, all sorts, go take a look online, it'll give you little bits just to speed up your spell casting.

6. Mana regen

Quite simply be smart about your mana regen, healers and spell casters, get your gear set up with good ManaPerSecond and spirit as well as your Bonus healing or Spell damage, you could be the most powerful healer or dps in history but if you run out of mana during a fight you are no good to anyone

also be smart about when you apply your mana potions (these should be in your inventory at all times), work out exactly how much they give and if you think the fight is going to be a long one (mainly raid bosses) then pop then at the earliest opportunity to ensure your CD is ready more than once in a fight. Same is said for mana spells like shadow fiend, the BE racial spell (arcane torrent?).

7. Priests, Shadow word: death = A holy priests mana saviour

Ok, how many priests have popped a mending on the tank and it's shot straight back to you when quite frankly you've not needed it? If that happens just cast sw: death on the mob, the backlash damage will make mending heal you then start back on it's merry travels without you having to recast straight away, extra dps and a heal not wasted, make sense?

8. Trinkets

They are there to be used and every little extra is a bonus, use them: nuff said

9. Buff food, alchemy and scrolls

All the best in the game ensure they have every advantage possible, buff foods, elixirs, flasks and scrolls = greater spell power, greater bonus healing, greater health, mana regen etc, need I say more?

I'm sure our alchemists, cooks and inscribers will happily make you the things you need if you ask nicely and provide the mats as it'll benifit them too when in instances/raids/etc

10. Glyphs!!!

If you haven't used all your glyphs yet then get to an AH or speak sweetly to Fen to make one or more for you and get their benifits in play asap


11. I'll think of more soon keep checking for updates

GARG

Edited by garganthus - 30/12/2008, 23:03

Great thread Garg. Sometimes it needs someone to sit down and write something that is just simple and quick to read. Good advice on wow can often be lost in a sea of long complicated maths and people raging about Blizzard, that or my attention span isn't good enough to comprehend long posts.
It be good to have a thread similar to this on all classes and roles, I would volunteer to do a tanking one but my knowledge is very limited, Cal probably knows more than me ^^

Thanks Fen, would be great to find out more about other classes, may give us all a better understanding of each other's class and how we can work better together.

As a frosmage with some cc skill it is useful to downlod the addon Afterlife... then u can keep tracl of ur sheep(penguine in my case) while raiding and instances...very helpful if u need to resheep(Penguin).

Also got Questhelper
Killz2lvl
Deadly boss mods
Omen threatmeter
A mail addon...cant remember the name
Atlas
" loot

A simple question.. How do you setup macros, keybinding??never understood that

I know your addon Mel is really useful. Perhaps you should whack it into its own thread

I agree with you Fen, a section split into the various class's so each class has an individual forum thread to discuss their bits and pieces

I be happy to do a Feral druid thread and perhaps if we ask Mr Yman ever so nicely he may do a Restro one for us. You know I have been playing this for 2 years and I had no idea how to make macros. I think this deserves its own thread too
(the post is looking great and I look forward to reading anything else you may add to it)

I'm working on a warrior tank tips thread, ok, i've still got a lot to learn and kinda gutted as i'd just got my interface as I wanted it and having to now reload the entire game! Lol. Maybe Cal can start a thread or link in forums for different class's so we can exchange tips, i'd do it myself but not sure how easy it is and don;t have the privelidges, lol. But hopefully i've learnt enough about tanking to at least do a tanking guide on the best abilities to use in what situations, etc. Been reading a lot of threads so can hopefully impart my knowledge onto you all. Oh, and you never know, once garg has reached exhalted with kirin'tor and got the epic gloves and gained enough badges for the heroes chest then maybe i'll get another priest made.

Got a great priest guide here: priest surival guide

For now, while the forum is quiet, just have a seperate thread in this forum for each class/build.

If it gets expansive, it's easy enough to make a sticky at the top with links to each classes discussion thread.

Atleast - that's how I'd do it. So yea, do it that way.

Just seen that some of the information is a bit out of date garg (downranking is all but useless now), either you'd better change it or I will

Just word of advice:

If u ever wonder about your class on search engines like Google, try to add word "theorycraft" at the end.
Most of times u get right info u need in next 1-10 results, not 1-100.

U used to read that sequence macros used to make lots of latency problems while playing the game in raids, is it still problem today or not?