Healing in Zul’Aman

In the wonderful whirlwind that has become my gaming life in WoW, I continue to experience the challenges faced by those of us who chose to raid. It’s funny, at first I thought it would all be about the raid, learning the fights and executing well and it is but it’s also very much about the dynamics of the people in the guild that’s trying to put it all together to make it happen. I’m encountering as many obstacles on that front as in the actual raid. Interestingly, overcoming them is turning out to be just as satisfying =)

Well…almost ;p Turns out that downing some Big Bad that’s been giving grief over time (GoT?) is about as pleased as I get in the virtual world. You might think I’m talking about this Big Boy in Need of a Nose Job:

But I’m not. We did down his stringy ass though and I’ll get back to him in a minute. No, I’m talking about the road to him, the one you’ve probably already heard of, are stuck on yourself or have ‘been there, clobbered that’ already…talking The Guantlet. Uh huh, that little stretch of highway that left my guild huffing and puffing for a few nights. There are all sort of
strategies for getting through it so, hey, knock yourself out, but I’m going to concentrate on what the healers need to know, especially us Trees =)

This fight was a bitch for my guild it seemed until something very simple happened - we (the healers) started to concentrate on keeping our mages (read aoe) alive. I could be wrong, I live in the back of the crowd with limited attention given to anything that doesn’t concern me. If we’re laying out strats for a non-boss mob we’re about to pull and it isn’t going to cause spike damage, come running after someone besides a tank or some such, I’m just making sure I keep my bad jokes off chat and stay awake ;p

Our healing assignments went like this: Pally healer took care of the tanks, Priest and me (ToL) concentrated on Mages who were taking care of pesky-birds-who-will-overrun-your-group-and-kill-your-ass-repeatedly (Raiding has caused an increase in my cursing…sorry) I was throwing heals to the tanks and anyone else besides my dear squishy mages when I could, which was often. It worked like a charm and we were to the top with no deaths, no fuss. It was sweet and extremely satisfying.

As for the previously mentioned Akil’zon - he ain’t all that. (God, that’s so easy to say now that he’s dead.) Positioning around the edge of his slightly raised area was important so that I could run in when he did his Electrical Storm. Not sure if we’re really calling that slow-as-molasses waddle Trees do ‘running’ but you know what I mean. I asked the tank to put a condom over his head (couldn’t help it, was just too funny a thing to say) and he obligingly marked himself with a…triangle. (He did try the orange condom on though ;p) Our group used the strategy of having everyone collapse onto the tank instead of figuring out who was the center of the storm. Much simpler since whoever IS center will be at the tank =) One person called out when it was about to happen so we all (especially us slower waddlers) would have time to get there.

Akil (I helped kill him so I can call him by a nickname) also likes to use Gust of Wind periodically that throws you up in the air and causes fall damage (half your health.) Don’t forget to switch to your Kitty before you hit to mitigate it. Can’t heal up there so feel free to Kitty sooner then later.

I did a lot of raid healing since the tanks weren’t hard to keep up. Damage the birds that Akil calls to help him cause, damage people take from falling and splash damage from Static Disruption all require attention to the raid’s health, something I’ve become a lot more concerned with since The Gauntlet.

Wasn’t a difficult fight really, even though we wiped once or twice learning it. More about timing I think and having enough mana to make it through to the end. I’m still really pleased with ToL’s mana usage. I innervated once, didn’t use a pot and considered switching to using a pot and giving my innervate to another healer but it wasn’t necessary.

I’d like to gather a list of raid healers into a section on my sidebar, so please leave a comment if you raid (or if you don’t - I like comments damn near as much as I like gear!) I haven’t found a lot of healers blogging who are past Kara but not all the way at end-game. I know you’re out there and I’m sure there are lots of folks who, like me, would love to know whats been working for you.

Guilds suppose to head over to Jan’Alai tonight. Which reminds me, gotta figure out how to zoom out my camera!