The Beginning

About a year ago, I decided to create a Troll Shaman. I had a few friends that were over on the PVP Server Nazjatar. I decided to start off with the enhancement spec in order to help myself level. I made it to level35 and then my friends decided to take a break from the game. Because of this, I went back to my original server (PVE Zangarmarsh) where I already had a level 80 Nigt Elf Hunter.

I spent some time over on Zangarmarsh doing some level 80 quests, grinding rep with some of the Northrend Factions, and enjoying Wintergrasp for the very first time. My DPS sucked pretty bad, so i never really got into doing instances. Life was ok there, but nothing special.

Then a few months ago, my friends came back to the game (they always do), and I resumed my questing on Nazjatar. I levelled pretty quickly and actually made it to Level 70 in about 30 days. I than chose to spend 1000 gold on dual specialization and put my second talent tree into Restoration.

I continued to power-quest until I hit level 80 (about 9 days later). Once there, I began to fall into the same habits as before. I was running Wintergrasp multiple times per day and slowly grinding rep for the Northrend Factions again. Since I was now spec'd as a Restoration Shaman, I began healing. Although not as fun as killing everyone at first, I decided that being a healer wasn't that bad. I got myself some pretty good PVP gear (i thought at the time) in only a couple of weeks.

The Harsh Truth

At this time, I decided that I was going to try to heal a Heroic Violet Hold. I grouped up with two of my guildies and we found two other suckers (um i mean players) to join our group. We made it threw the first couple of mobs fairly well. I was having mana problems and found myself running real low when we got to the first boss. You can probably guess where this is going..... FAIL.

After two attempts, one of the players who joined our group pointed out that "This isn't going to work. We have a tank who can't tank and a healer who can't heal." I took this comment very seriously. I did a little reasearch and found some tips about healing as a shaman. Apparently you are not supposed to just spam lesser healing wave (LHW) on everyone that takes damage. This is a sure fire way of running out of mana (OOM) very quickly. I also decided that I should stay away from trying to help out on damage (when youre a healer, do one thing: HEAL).

Knowledge Can Make a Difference

I created some macros and changed my default healing spells around a bit. I went back to the battlegrounds and started using Chain Heal (CH) more often. I also got in the habit of using Riptide (RIP) and Earth Shield (ES) on a regular basis.

Then in December, life as I knew it changed. The new cross-realm looking for group feature came out. I decided this was my opportunity to try to run some instances (non-heroic) in order to get more healing experience. I started out running a few of the easier Northrend ones (Nexus and Utgarde Keep). I did a pretty good job there. I found my OOM problems had been greatly reduced. I also found a little patience by focusing on healing spells only and avoiding casting any damage spells.

Popping my Heroic Cherry

After having some success in the non-heroic dungeons, I was pretty happy with my results. One day a few of my guildies were looking to get together a Heroic: Culling of Stratholme group and they needed a healer. I had never been there before, but they told me they would walk me thru it. We got there and it couldn't have gone any better. We hade one un-avoidable wipe do to group experience, but after that we ran thru to the end without anyone dying. I completed my first Heroic Northrend Instance.... and it was a lot of fun too!

The Return

After this event, my confidence was way up. I decided it was time to go back to Heroic: Violet Hold. I loaded up the dungeon finder and selected it. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a group was found. I got in there and healed it very easily this time. No wipes or deaths this time and I got my second heroic dungeon achievement.

I began running VH every day. I started to pick up a few other dungeons also. Azjol-Nerub and Utgarde Keep were cake. I had a crappy experience running The Old Kingdom, but we still succeeded in the end. I even tried out Heroic: Forge of Souls. After a huge noob mistake on my part, we made it through to the end and completed it.

Randomization Can Give You an Ulcer

I then decided to start using the Random Heroic Lich Dungeon option. My first one was Heroic: Trial of the Champion. I had failed on normal mode in the past, but that was when I still was firing off LHW like a 13 year old boy and his first porno mag. It was a tough battle when we had to fight the rogue and the mage in the second part but we survived. I made it thru to the end and died right before we defeated the Black Knight (thankfully, reincarnation was on cooldown so i quickly came back as if nothing even happened).

I teleported back to Dalaran, repaired my gear, and jumped back into the random heroic dungeon finder. This time up.... Heroic: Halls of Reflection. I had just tried this one out on normal mode a few days ago and remembered how hard that was. I popped a potion and ate some food to increase my crit and spell power. The group had made it to the second part of the instance and lost their healer so I was joining a group already in progress.

For those of you who have not done Halls of Reflection, let me explain what the second part entails. 1) Continuous mobs coming at you, 2) Crazy AOE damage, and 3) Little time to drink between mobs. Our first attempt...I was one-shotted by the first attacker. Fail. Our second attempt, the tank couldn't hold aggro and the rest of the group was killed after a few mobs. Fail. On the third attempt, we decided to try from a different location. There is a small room to the left side of the instance that allows you to 'hide' from charging mobs until the tank can get aggro. We got into there and started the event. After about halfway through, a glich caused it to reset! (insert fould language here). We restarted it and were able to complete it without losing anyone. We moved on to the last part, utilized the 'Behind the Lich King' Exploit and finished the instance out.

The Future

There are still a few instances I have not done (Occulus, Gundrak, Halls of Lightning, and Utgarde Pinnacle). I imagine I will probably get to them all in the near future. I'm using all my emblems of triumph and frost to upgrade my gear little by little. I am definitely a lot less intimated by heroics now that I've done a few.

Lessons Learned

1. The biggest lesson I've learned from this experience is that knowledge goes along way. If you are gonna try to roll a new class, take some time and do some research. Don't be a noob and expect to succeed without trying.
2. Failing is a part of life. You're not gonna roll a healer, get to 80, and make it through Halls of Reflection on your first shot. If you get into a group that fails, ask yourself the following questions?
   - Why did we fail?
   - What could I have done differently?
   - Is my DPS/Healing amount enough to be running this instance?
   
3. Don't be intimated by the word 'Heroic'. If you get a semi-capable group together, you can still survive through some of the lower Northrend Instances (Nexus, Utgarde Keep). Keep running those until you get better. Then move on to something more challenging.
4. Communicate. If you get into a group of people that just start attacking mobs as soon as you enter, don't be afraid to tell them to slow down at first. If you are OOM and you dont say anything, its your own fault. Don't expect others to be watching your health/mana. They have their own problems to worry about.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, don't forget to have fun. If you find that you hate healing, there is a simple solution..... don't do it. Roll another class. Go play another game if you really want. Just don't take your frustrations out on everyone else by yelling at the tank or questioning why the DPS is in the corner running into the wall. Ok, maybe you should question that but you get my point. Either way, I've said my peace. Happy Questing!