Welcome to Naxxramas.

So, our little guild picked up a few stragglers from LFG and PUGd Naxx last night. It was the first time several of us had been inside Naxx. It was a lot of fun, but I gotta tell ya.... it pretty much looks like every other instance when all I'm looking at is my healing grid.

I just started healing about 3 mos. ago and I love it! Its the most fun I've had in Wow. Its fast and challenging and if I screw up, everybody dies.

I just wish there was a way to make it feel less like whack-a-mole and allow me to heal efficiently by actually watching the in-game graphics instead of Grid (or Healbot, etc).

Has anyone seen healing done better in another game or have any ideas as to how Blizz could improve this aspect of the game? I've been trying to brainstorm some ideas for my own curiosity, but have come up dry.

You are using clique, right?

Beyond that, mana management is a huge part of healing... from what I remember in early Naxx. It is like a little meta game that you can never win.

You could try to heal via graphics but that is extremely difficult.

while you might be able to time heals on your tank by watching the boss swing, watching what happens to the rest of the raid would be near impossible via graphics alone.

I'd see trash as being hard too as the Tank is often surrounded so you don't know how hard he's being hit at any given time.

I suppose you could try turning on the health bars with V.

To be honest, trying to heal with the above method is going to get somebody dead.

I healed for a long time in BC. I loved the guaranteed raid slot, but DPS and tanking are both much more fun.

I'm not sure there are many good options in regards to different ways to heal. To be honest, between the number of raiders, the ridiculous spell graphics and the size of the areas you are dealing with and no collision detection on the characters (i.e. one player standing in anothers character model), targetting player characters in game would be a near impossibility in some cases.

Beyond that, things like Grid or even the regular UI frames, give you a relatively consistent view of the damage coming in which makes it feel more comfortable when the stuff hits the fan. "OMG I couldn't see you get hit with that boulder because there was a bonfire right between us!"

I healed MC and BWL when raids were 40 man and our frame options were a bit less varied. To be honest, I had never seen most of BWL till I ran it on my Death knight to get the achievements for those runs. That is a part of the reason I switched to a dps/tank class. I feel like I am a little more in control of my characters involvement in the game and not just playing whack a mole for loot. "Just playing whack-a-mole"... understatement of the century.

Yeah, I'm using a Clique and Grid setup and it works great. I like it better than any of the previous mods/frames I've used. I'm just trying to imagine something else. Something new. Something that I'm sure doesn't exist. Its one of the things I loved about my enhancement shaman. I was right in the middle and I got to actual see everything that was going on. I love healing. I just miss the view.

I finally installed and tried healbot. I felt like I was betraying grid, but I was up to try something new since I was becoming bored with healing, and I think it was the BLA of grid.

So far, i am totally digging healbot. And, i am thinking of writing more about what I am liking about healbot vs. grid.

I am one of those people that are against healbot...

I used to be too. It got a bad rap for being one-button rank picking back in the day, but that mechanic no longer exists.

Healing as a Holy Pally in BC with Healbot was probably the least challenging experience of my life.

Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, Left click, uh oh better right click, Left click, Left click, Left click.