Who's Healing Me?

This topic was suggested by Nigiri in the Blog Azeroth forums.

I spend a good deal of time talking about healers on my blog. After all, what's a tank without a healer?

A lot of this I may have said before, so I apologize for repeating myself, but I do believe it's important...at least from a tank's perspective.

Frankly, I don't care what class the healer is. Like the various tanking classes, each healing class brings something different to the table. As far as I'm concerned, there's a bigger issue than the types of heals and buffs they provide.

• Priests: Many of the tank healers I've worked with in the past are priests. Briele and Willy, who I've mentioned, are fantastic healers and they take good care of me.
• Paladins: I've also had the pleasure of working with some amazing Pally healers, like my buddy Vycodin (great name for a healer, right?).
• Shamans: Seriously, who doesn't like the totems? Chain heals are awesome, too.
• Druids: There's something very comforting about seeing a HoT tick away as I'm fighting. A stream of incoming damage getting offset by a ticking HoT is great.

So what's the point? I like them all. I'd take any class into a 5-man or a raid with me, as long as the person at the keyboard is competent. Sure, there are some fights where one type of healer may be better at healing the raid rather than the tank or vice-versa, but, ultimately, if they get the job done, I'm a happy tank.

For me, the chemistry with the healer is far more important than whatever class that healer happens to be. Again, I've touched on this before, but when the healer-tank relationship clicks it transcends class differences.

The healer and the tank are the battery of the group...the pitcher and the catcher. If you watch baseball on a regular basis you'll notice that, once in a while, a pitching change will trigger a change in the catcher position. Also, while the starting catcher may catch for most of the rotation, he may get a day off when a specific pitcher(s) is starting that day.

Why? Because pitchers and catchers get used to one another. They, for the most part, communicate without words. The catcher knows what the pitcher is capable of, and will call the game based on that. The pitcher knows if he can get away with throwing a forkball into the dirt based on whether or not the catcher is capable of getting his body in front of it. It's all about chemistry.

That's why I continue to contend that chemistry is the most important thing when it comes to tanks and healers. It's more important than classes and even more important than gear. It can be spur of the moment, too. I've had healers who I've never met before do a brilliant job because we click almost instantly.

Bottom line, if you're willing to throw some green combat text my way and can anticipate when my tail needs saving I'd be more than happy to tank for you...regardless of class.