Heals: Druid or Priest?

[Biz]

With a pally tank, what setup would you use.. SPriest and RDruid, or HPriest and Boomkin?

I know the decision may be swayed one way or the other depending on what the other classes are, but I'm just looking for some general opinions. I am inclined to go HPriest Boomkin simply because SPriest dps is harder to maximize than Boomkin dps.

[Talamarr]

A paladin receives mana back from being healed. I think I read somewhere that Lifebloom acts like a self heal and doesn't return any mana.

[Pent]

Druids will be getting a talent that gives mana/rage/energy back on their rejuv, you might want a resto druid come WOTLK
But until then I'd use a holy priest and boomkin

[noir]

For 5-mans, shamans make the best healers. Earthshield is fire-and-forget, and Chain Heal is teh win. Classes without AOE heals are a pain to micromanage if you're multi-boxing.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

For instances, I'd probably go with druid, mainly for innervate in those "oops" situations, though prayer of mending is quite nifty for that first aggroless heal.

[Biz]

Thanks for the replies all!

[Dandy_Moustachu]

A paladin receives mana back from being healed. I think I read somewhere that Lifebloom acts like a self heal and doesn't return any mana.But if he goes Rdrood + SPpriest, the Shadow Priest will give mana back to the paladin with both Vampiric Embrace & Vampiric Touch.

[HPB]

POM is great for generating threat on your tank. I spam it on the tank every time it's up and it helps a lot in raids and heroics.

[voodoogriff]

As far as the Lifebloom, um, "Bloom" that counts as self healing, I'm not positive but I think they fixed Spiritual Attunement to give mana back on this (and Earth Shield and POM which are also considered self heals). I'm not 100% positive about PoM and Lifebloom, because I don't have a druid or priest of the appropriate levels. Earth Shield, however, does give mana back on heals (where it used to not).

[daviddoran]

If this is just a spec question, I say go try it out. My 5 class team has 4 potential healers, so I can experiment. AoE healing seems to be the easiest to micromanage, but tons of HoTs are useful too.

I wonder, if you could take advantage of PTRs and try the specs there? Could save some gold on respecs...

[Biz]

If this is just a spec question, I say go try it out. My 5 class team has 4 potential healers, so I can experiment. AoE healing seems to be the easiest to micromanage, but tons of HoTs are useful too.

I wonder, if you could take advantage of PTRs and try the specs there? Could save some gold on respecs...PTR is a great idea. Can't believe I didn't think of that.

[Bena]

from my experience..
priest - probably easiest for a boxer, aoe heals/pom is nice
druid - really good longevity with mana and good heals but requires more work to keep the blooms rolling, wish they had regular res
shammy - pretty good with chain heal and earth shield, can take a hit, miss hots though
pallies - mana efficient and boring

Personally I prefer a priest for boxing if I'm not running an all shamie crew. I really enjoy playing a druid healer when single boxing, but when boxing they take more attention to play to the fullest. Priests are more hands off imho. I've had least amount of play time as shamy healer but I find priest offers everything that a shamy and more. Pallies.. ugh.. tried it once on my prot .. boring as hell.. never again. though the endless mana is nice :)

[Whowantstoknow]

I had the same question so I have been doing some research.

I finally decided on druid as the main concerns regarding the class are addressed in WOTLK as they will get an AoE HoT and OoC Rezz, indoor CC (root) as well as the talent that returns mana/energy/rage/rune power - I think they will be the preferred 5 man healers.

Pallies also got an awesome 5 man AoE healing ability so are worth looking at but priests CoH was nerfed slightly. Shamans will be as strong as ever. I plan to level both Sham and druid (initially sham as healer until druid gets AoEs) and may keep it like that as Boomkins got some nice AoE dps option in the xpac too.