MC raid signup for Thurs, Oct 13

[TheDragoon]

Ramala the rogue at 82% health and not taking hits at the moment? I slap a Renew on him and forget about it, because it'll top him off in a jiffy and use very little mana...except that another healer would put a quick heal on him and my Renew is wasted as an overheal. Three non-tank members of my group taking fairly significant but not extreme damage? Cast an uber Inner-Focused, critical-hit Prayer of Healing - only to watch 2 of the 3 get flash healed while I'm casting and thus my big group heal is wasted with a veritable crapload of overhealing - think 400 points healed out of a potential 3,600 (800 point heal since it's not level 60 x 6 players (5 + pet) x critical hit = 2400 + 1200 = 3600). Nice 3200 point overheal there! While in a 5-man group, my abilities at casting the right heals at the right time to survive for the longest time possible are treasured, but in a 40-man group they're a waste.

Renew and Prayer of Healing actually do have some good uses in the Molten Core. Renew is best used when thrown onto a player who is at high life and just starting to take damage. I've found that when I throw renew on people who are relatively high on life that it will counteract a lot of damage that player takes and so other healers are less likely to throw a flash heal on since the character hovers around 85%-90% life.

Prayer of Healing can also be very good, particularly against any bosses/mob with AoE attacks that hit your party. However, because of the mindset that most healers use, you just have to realize that often people will heal someone in your party before your heal lands. You've just got to shrug it off and keep going. :)

The Druid class is actually the superior class for maintaining health on a main tank. Their heals are better for one-on-one healing. What makes Priests shine is their "oh crap" abilities to save wipes on large numbers of people, due to PW:S and Prayer of Healing. A fully Restoration-spec'ed Druid is a better choice for these fights.

The problem is that, in the Molten Core, things go from "oh crap" to "dead" almost immediately. Therefore, most people just heal as best they can at almost all times and things usually work out.

As for Magmadar, that sort of boss is one where you just have to realize that the players other than the main tank can heal themselves. I'm pretty sure basically everyone brings large stacks of runecloth bandages and perhaps some potions to MC raids. Therefore, don't worry so much about getting into range of someone unless they REALLY need a heal. Usually if someone is in dire need of a healer, one is nearby or they are well out of range of any damage they might take.

Speaking of that, do you other healers tend to go through a lot of mana potions or is it just my gear?

Pretty much. Even Silverflail, who probably has the most +mana/5 seconds gear in the Avarice, goes through potions like crazy. They provide, essentially, a larger mana pool and allow you to stave off healing off of your mana regeneration for longer. This is why any mana potions I find with my other characters get sent to Silverflail.